LeeU

Indeed!! Even at the most modest venture, those prices are nuts! Not to get too philosphical, but such under-valuation may call into question the integrity of clay art everywhere! Raise 'em up, Liam, raise 'em up!

What is your most unapologetic, shamelessly proud, pat-yourself-on-the-back accomplishment of any type in your ceramics life (a terrific piece, a great sale, a sharp business strategy, a fine friend made, a good deed done, a land traveled, a discovery---etc. etc.)?

What's on my workbench? My sister!! She drove up from Virginia. She has been taking some pottery classes in Roanoke. So she loaded her car with greenware (!!) and we bisqued them over the last few days. Now she is glazing her work for the glaze fire. The 05 fire was very lightly loaded with just her items but I have pieces to add for the cone 5 fire, so the kiln will be more balanced and full. She doesn't know I took these pics--I was sneaking around outside the studio (she doesn't like being photographed--opps, too bad!) It has been great fun doing this somewhat "together".

A rat took up residence in my studio (a converted bedroom in my old-ish mobil home) while I was out of town for a couple of weeks. He ate--completely destroyed--the good welder's gloves with the extended cuffs for stoking the big anagama kiln. He ate my leather studeo shoes. He ate all things cardboard. He ate my foam core and one dry wall shelf board. He ate a plasaic texture roller. He ate through the old semi-crumbling cement foundation (!) to get in and out. He did not eat any food. I did not have a cat. I highly recommend that you add a second cat.

Holy cannoli!!!!

Well golly, Pres. You didn't leave much room for me (can't speak for anyone else) to add much! Your list pretty much covers it all...and much more than I have in my studio (no grinding base or GG-- if it won't Dremel off or respond to the various diamond-based assists and other manual processes, then it's just not happening). Then again, I'm not cranking out jars with lids, and my inherently "rough" style lends itself to very minimal finishing needing to be done. Packing I've got down to a science and am pretty good at it, but I don't do anything special that anybody else doesn't do, as far as standard practices go. If I use newspaper, I do make an effort to use sheets of interest from our local publications, like The Weirs Times, serving the Winnipesaukee lakes region of NH. Here's a sample of a pic I would use as a wrap. And I often include a small moose hanging ornament along with my biz card. My smalls bags are white, blue, or brown Kraft and I have a sticker with my logo to seal them shut.

Following along---had an enjoyable time yesterday refreshing my memory and looking at his work. You (Cactus Pots) might like my Pinterestboard Clay People--has a few pics of him, and some of his work is in my Clay Continued and Clay More boards. https://www.pinterest.com/LeeUstinich/clay-people/

My basics list is the same as everyone else's basics list, pretty much. In addition, my essentials include a variety of wood sticks (chopsticks, skewers, round/square/triangular rods, pieces of thin decorative molding etc.); also scalpels, dental tools, and, mostly, my fingers.

My all time favorite-John Baymore. June 16-19 John Baymore (is) “Headed off to South Korea ...in a week for an exhibition, then (the vessel with the neck will go) into a public collection. The container is my single favorite piece of all things made of clay that I have seen to date. John says " It is not done yet. Next it gets overglaze enamels."