LeeU

I am going to finish cleaning my studio  today and start throwing molds for my antique glass bottle bottoms tomorrow.  The mural they go in is still drying,  I am hoping to have them fired and ready for glass before my husband has colon surgery.   He has to take it easy for a month so I hope I can fire the glass while he is down.     Denice

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. 

… reflections on 61+ years in this life, local Public Radio, KPIG (also radio), mp3 library - all through 6.1 surround sound, the local birds (when door is open), passing neighbors, an' good ol' Jack the Nanday conure.
 

Busy guy! I thought you were retired 
I just went through 150 lbs of porcelain trying to find one that I can throw with.  I found one that I think I like, but need to see how it does firing.  I made a bunch of bowls, bottles and flower pots with it.
I need to make a lamp for my mom, and I need to get back to bowls, plates and mugs soon.  This week I am going to do a lot of work, hopefully get a bisque and 3 glaze firings in this weekend.  
I contacted a new farmers market in my town and I have a list of things I need to borrow or buy in order to do the market.  A square reader, a canopy, business cards and a sign at the very minimum for this one, and hopefully will start to be able to build up enough show things to sign up for a few holiday shows.  Fingers crossed anyway.

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.   

Not on my workbench, but to let you know what I have been doing. These shots were from delivery of pieces to Savannah Bee on June 24th.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
best, Pres
 

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.   

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." 
 

I think we should include Marcia Selsor  in our list,  her work with soluable salts, raku and pit and saggar firings is mind blowing .  She has probably has created as many potters has she has pots teaching at universities and around the world.     When I visited her in Yellowstone I would have bought one of her soluble salt pots she was taking out of a firing but they were already sold.   Denice

So, anyone need me to post post pics of BT, or ya'all following along?

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." 
 

And they are lookin' good! Nice and simple, no jarring  distractions, conveys the info just as it should! Hope building the webite is at least a little bit fun--I loved doing mine even though I have neglected it lately. 

I'm not sure that a contemporaneous period, or movement, is possible to be named and categorized while still unfolding and in motion.  History, to me, is an amalgam of hindsight with a mix of alleged and actual facts shoring it up. It is always a bit twisted---sometimes very, very twisted.  I don't see art history as being exempt from the ways in which history (formed from records, opinions & observations, critiques, all kinds of analysis, supposition,  explanations, and relational interpretations) may be, and has been,  "used" as a political, cultural,  socioeconomic, even religious, dynamic that affects entire populations and subgroups, sometimes quite negatively (think post-Soviet actionist art). There are deep roots and reasons why the general U.S. population was initially disgusted with and fearful of the emergence of "abstract" art.  People had to be taught how to be "the viewer", how to enter a new visual reality, how to participate in the dialogue, how to "appreciate" what made no sense to them.  Once history has blessed an art movement/period with the names of the identified heroes and generated enough money to give it credence, even the most impenetrable or nonsensical works, the most blatantly naked emperors, get to assertively confound us with challenges to our discernment of what is art and what is artifice.  Most of us can't tell 'em apart, but once we slap a label on the period or movement in question, it's pretty well settled. One hopes that there is a strong core of intelligence and benign creativity when articulating an art movement or period and that art historians may bless us with insights and context, and not leave us in the dark (think of Ai Weiwei and the urn--you have to understand it to understand it). 
Yep.

I'm not sure that a contemporaneous period, or movement, is possible to be named and categorized while still unfolding and in motion.  History, to me, is an amalgam of hindsight with a mix of alleged and actual facts shoring it up. It is always a bit twisted---sometimes very, very twisted.  I don't see art history as being exempt from the ways in which history (formed from records, opinions & observations, critiques, all kinds of analysis, supposition,  explanations, and relational interpretations) may be, and has been,  "used" as a political, cultural,  socioeconomic, even religious, dynamic that affects entire populations and subgroups, sometimes quite negatively (think post-Soviet actionist art). There are deep roots and reasons why the general U.S. population was initially disgusted with and fearful of the emergence of "abstract" art.  People had to be taught how to be "the viewer", how to enter a new visual reality, how to participate in the dialogue, how to "appreciate" what made no sense to them.  Once history has blessed an art movement/period with the names of the identified heroes and generated enough money to give it credence, even the most impenetrable or nonsensical works, the most blatantly naked emperors, get to assertively confound us with challenges to our discernment of what is art and what is artifice.  Most of us can't tell 'em apart, but once we slap a label on the period or movement in question, it's pretty well settled. One hopes that there is a strong core of intelligence and benign creativity when articulating an art movement or period and that art historians may bless us with insights and context, and not leave us in the dark (think of Ai Weiwei and the urn--you have to understand it to understand it). 
Yep.

I'm not sure that a contemporaneous period, or movement, is possible to be named and categorized while still unfolding and in motion.  History, to me, is an amalgam of hindsight with a mix of alleged and actual facts shoring it up. It is always a bit twisted---sometimes very, very twisted.  I don't see art history as being exempt from the ways in which history (formed from records, opinions & observations, critiques, all kinds of analysis, supposition,  explanations, and relational interpretations) may be, and has been,  "used" as a political, cultural,  socioeconomic, even religious, dynamic that affects entire populations and subgroups, sometimes quite negatively (think post-Soviet actionist art). There are deep roots and reasons why the general U.S. population was initially disgusted with and fearful of the emergence of "abstract" art.  People had to be taught how to be "the viewer", how to enter a new visual reality, how to participate in the dialogue, how to "appreciate" what made no sense to them.  Once history has blessed an art movement/period with the names of the identified heroes and generated enough money to give it credence, even the most impenetrable or nonsensical works, the most blatantly naked emperors, get to assertively confound us with challenges to our discernment of what is art and what is artifice.  Most of us can't tell 'em apart, but once we slap a label on the period or movement in question, it's pretty well settled. One hopes that there is a strong core of intelligence and benign creativity when articulating an art movement or period and that art historians may bless us with insights and context, and not leave us in the dark (think of Ai Weiwei and the urn--you have to understand it to understand it). 
Yep.

Been making yunomi around the clock. I have been testing a lot of clay mixes and additions and I have some big plans for my standard white glaze work. Also been making some new marks on my work that I haven't usually made and I plan to leave the areas rawish of clay. Hopefully, once I can get what is in my head down on the pot it will be as beautiful as I imagine it. I could literally make yunomi and nothing else for the rest of my life. They are the absolute perfection of a pot.

Been following this topic, but I know just enough about Japenese/Chinese/Korean culture to say something wrong. One of the many times I wish Baymore was around: these cultures were his speciality. Being a Westerner, I will add a twist to it.
 Modern technology has managed to put most of the worlds population onto a single stage/platform. The assimilation of culture that once took centuries, now only requires a mouse click. Marco Polo bought back porcelain pieces from China: and Europe spent 500 years trying to replicate them. Any potter can click Sung/Ming dynasty and start throwing in an attempt to duplicate it. The unfortunate side effect of instant knowledge, is the loss of culture and application.
 The old saying goes "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  Should the blog writer be offended or flattered that others are trying to imitate her culture?  Obviously some have hijacked strictly for ill advised sales promotions. Yet others love the work, love the culture, and are sincerely trying to imitate it.  Personally I think she should educate rather than reprove. It is a futile effort to chastise those who have no respect to begin with.
thats my 5 cents  worth.  The extra 3 cents if for shipping and handling.
Tom

I realize this topic is 6 yrs old, however, as a local potter who took classes and went to night school for ceramics as well, albeit without a degree, if I had had all the technicalities dumped on me from the beginning and the strict guidelines, it would have killed any desire I had to enjoy clay.  I think the first things to establish are, how do you like the feel of clay in your hands, moving on to experimenting  with it to see if you like it well enough to take serious classes, and then college courses where you spend time on how to and when to and why.  And by the way, there are many correct ways of getting from point A to point B depending on how you perceive it.  I don't think strict rules do or should apply in the world of art.  Clay and it's manipulators are constantly evolving.  I began at age 56, I will be 76 in August.  I love it, I've sold it, I have to have it and to keep making , but I do it my way, always trying new things and I'm still enjoying my passionate and very personal relationship with clay.  All this is to explain that a one or two week clay class is to allow who's taking it, to see if this is something they want to pursue, whether for pleasure or profit.

I still love my drycleaner bags, I can't remember the last time I actually drycleaned anything, but it didn't keep me from stopping in one and asking if they had any discards. I'm still using them, and that was 5-7 years ago, with a bag of them still in storage lol. They are light, they drape well, I double, sometimes triple them up to control drying.....and sticking with the subject, my workbench is clear, I'm ready to start again, pitchers are the need for this week

Moving on from glazing bisque to finishing the edges/surfaces of greenware. When I do this I pretend I have no eyesight so I can feel my pieces; if they feel satisfying, they get to live; if I am not enchanted or intrigued when holding them, they gotta go.  (Oh good grief--I have a cultural appropriation (incorrectly called a waving lucky cat -Google "maneki-neko") on my workbench!! And there it will stay.)

Lee: let me give you an example of being me.
YOU form your favorite stoneware clay and notice how pliable it is, how it takes texture, how fast it dries, and how plastic it is.
i form the same clay and: 80/10/10, with 8.2CEC,  potassium body flux, with 30% plastic materials. 
You have much more fun than I do    But TY.

Speaking of photography, what is on my workbench at the moment are  3 bins of pieces from a recent wood firing that need to be shot and inventoried, plus about half of a backlog of some bisque smalls that still need to be glazed. 

Moving on from glazing bisque to finishing the edges/surfaces of greenware. When I do this I pretend I have no eyesight so I can feel my pieces; if they feel satisfying, they get to live; if I am not enchanted or intrigued when holding them, they gotta go.  (Oh good grief--I have a cultural appropriation (incorrectly called a waving lucky cat -Google "maneki-neko") on my workbench!! And there it will stay.)

I want to say something about language. It is essentially ingrained & inherited from how and where and with whom we grew up and hung out with.  When someone like me (old school NY street life) says things like "look, pal", or a southern waitress  calls me "sweetie or dearie", we are not name-calling. It is just habitual expressiveness that has not been willfully changed. I used to say "F- this and  F-that, you M'rFk'r (which is now more commonly expressed  as mofo--go figure!)  repeatedly, every sentence, non-stop. And I could not stop--had no reason to, and then when I did have a reason to, it was rough.  I had to be taught how to change my world view, my stance in the world, and my mouth. I had to--painfully, I might add--practice, practice, practice, literally for years until I could speak like a decent mainstream person in a variety of settings and communities. 
Most of us have a working brain-it is not about having the smarts, even tho using certain language can make one look stupid, or aggressive, etc..  The waitress saying "Can I get you more coffee sweetie" and me saying "Look, sister, I'm not your sweetie" are really the same thing. Except it sets us worlds apart (like different cultures around the globe) , and maybe at odds with each other, as I think she's of low intelligence and she thinks I'm a biker's broad.  
So with all due respect to everyone---I see nothing in this thread that is less than civil. I hope that as group members, we are not being required by moderators to  become hyper-vigilent and super-sensitive about what we say or how we say it (or how Lee writes stuff-which is quite hard to reign in from my natural style-seriously). I hope there is some reasonable wiggle-room, so we can be "who we are".
If someone is offended, I trust they can speak up for themselves and with private messaging, we can usually work it out. If it is perceived as offensive and ongoing, we can report it to a moderator and they can handle it politely and privately. When it can't be worked out, either the offender or the offended will leave the group. Isn't it partly how things were said (and badly misinterpreted, in my opinion) that provoked the loss of some great foundational members/mentors/experts not all that long ago?  Compassion & respect are as perceived,  as delivered and as received; they not always clear absolutes that are identifiable by all as such, on both the delivering and receiving ends.  Lee's rant of the day-or, to put it in a more paletable form, just some food for thought.