kswan

As a kid back in the 80s, my dad had a sheepskin cover for the steering wheel and seats. I was always petting the inside of his car.  Needless to say, they were in his BMW, not the family station wagon! 

@ChillyI thought the steering wheel heating was maybe overkill, but I like it more than I thought I would.

That's number one on my wishlist for next vehicle.  In a country where we rarely get temperatures at or below 0c.

You should consider what type of show setting you are going to as well. Some people I've seen use an RV that they camp in if it is in a place where RVs are allowed, to save on hotel fees. In a city, you'll have to think about available parking for your vehicle.  For example, a trailer in a parking garage costs a lot more than just a regular vehicle. When you apply to a show, check out whether or not they have dedicated parking for you. 
I have a 2010 Subaru Forester that worked for me as long as used my Tetris skills to pack it. I got a 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan now as well (for free from downsizing parents, thanks mom and dad!) that is also comfy, as @GEP says. I can now leave tables and shelves in there since I have another car to drive. 

I don't have a lot of other people's work-don't get around much & don't have the spendoolies. I like meeting clay artists and then may get a piece they've made. My little collection includes  (from the top left) Andy Hampton's cosmic tea dust mug, a nice box that holds my collection of fortune cookie slips, and a  tasty shallow  square catchall. Andy is the president of the NH Potters Guild and who I got to do a raku firing with. Then there is  Maureen Mills' little willow vase-she was the director of the NH Institute of Art's Ceramic Dept. and author of Surface Design for Ceramics (Lark); the next mug is by her partner, slip trail master Steven Zoldak-I got the mug at their studio during the recent Portland Art Tour. The small plate is one of  Maureen's "seconds" and  shows off her signature design w/implied text. The 5 lovely tiny vessels are by Joseph Painted Bear, who I met online. The tiny vase is by Karen Orsillo, who specializes in the Japanese technique of neriage. I met Karen at the NHIA anagama firings at the Sharon Art Center. Last, the gorgeous cacao pod, glazed in Palladium, is by a South Afrikan artist whose name escapes me now- met her in an online ceramics group. Then, since I couldn't afford one of John Baymore's pieces (John & students built the huge anagama kiln at the Sharon Art Center and of course he is well known to some in these Forums) I got the next best thing: I carried off one of his cone holders from a firing that hit  2400 f, ^12.
Update: I happened to re-read my post and noticed that the auto-censor has changed my text! "Then there is Maureen Mill's little willow vase..." Nuh uh...I did not write "little willow vase". What I wrote was the correct description of her slip-trailed piece, which is a  "little p--ssy willow vase".  I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.
 

@Kelly in AK Wow, that's gorgeous! Nice find! Beautiful oxblood (?) glaze and nice carving. 

I really get a kick out of visiting other potter’s houses and seeing pots from potters I know on their shelves. It always feels like some wild unexpected connection, a sense of community. 
 I have a few pots made by people I don’t know anything about, but most I’ve either met or I know their work. Got some real gems from the NCECA cup sales. One rare thrift shop find, a mysterious little beauty nestled in among all the “Beginning Ceramics” pots that wind up at the Salvation Army. No idea who made it, but that didn’t keep me from buying it. Probably helped that it was $3. 

You should consider what type of show setting you are going to as well. Some people I've seen use an RV that they camp in if it is in a place where RVs are allowed, to save on hotel fees. In a city, you'll have to think about available parking for your vehicle.  For example, a trailer in a parking garage costs a lot more than just a regular vehicle. When you apply to a show, check out whether or not they have dedicated parking for you. 
I have a 2010 Subaru Forester that worked for me as long as used my Tetris skills to pack it. I got a 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan now as well (for free from downsizing parents, thanks mom and dad!) that is also comfy, as @GEP says. I can now leave tables and shelves in there since I have another car to drive. 

I think of ceramics as artworks that draw me in. Like Callie, I think about the potter's personality in addition to the work they make, because they are really intertwined. For me, I can get really amped up by seeing the first spring ephemeral flowers coming up, and that motivates me to create work, even if my work may not be directly related to what I see.  I can sometimes feel that from someone else's pieces. For example, Noel Bailey makes porcelain pieces that look like ice as it has frozen and melted over a cliff face. He does ice climbing apparently, and my husband used to ice climb. This connection made me purchase one of his pieces although I've never met him. He sent a very nice note in the package, and he seems like someone I'd like if I met him. 
I also don't buy large quantities of work from specific potters because I want a little of everything! My cabinets are a lovely mishmash of things I made as well as other potters' work and purchased pieces.  I don't have any space left in my cabinets, so I've got things on shelves and in bookcases too. I also tend to purchase mugs or other small or nesting pieces that I can fit into the kitchen when I admire someone's work. I've seen people build specific beautiful shelving units to store their mugs collections. 

I think of ceramics as artworks that draw me in. Like Callie, I think about the potter's personality in addition to the work they make, because they are really intertwined. For me, I can get really amped up by seeing the first spring ephemeral flowers coming up, and that motivates me to create work, even if my work may not be directly related to what I see.  I can sometimes feel that from someone else's pieces. For example, Noel Bailey makes porcelain pieces that look like ice as it has frozen and melted over a cliff face. He does ice climbing apparently, and my husband used to ice climb. This connection made me purchase one of his pieces although I've never met him. He sent a very nice note in the package, and he seems like someone I'd like if I met him. 
I also don't buy large quantities of work from specific potters because I want a little of everything! My cabinets are a lovely mishmash of things I made as well as other potters' work and purchased pieces.  I don't have any space left in my cabinets, so I've got things on shelves and in bookcases too. I also tend to purchase mugs or other small or nesting pieces that I can fit into the kitchen when I admire someone's work. I've seen people build specific beautiful shelving units to store their mugs collections. 

I think of ceramics as artworks that draw me in. Like Callie, I think about the potter's personality in addition to the work they make, because they are really intertwined. For me, I can get really amped up by seeing the first spring ephemeral flowers coming up, and that motivates me to create work, even if my work may not be directly related to what I see.  I can sometimes feel that from someone else's pieces. For example, Noel Bailey makes porcelain pieces that look like ice as it has frozen and melted over a cliff face. He does ice climbing apparently, and my husband used to ice climb. This connection made me purchase one of his pieces although I've never met him. He sent a very nice note in the package, and he seems like someone I'd like if I met him. 
I also don't buy large quantities of work from specific potters because I want a little of everything! My cabinets are a lovely mishmash of things I made as well as other potters' work and purchased pieces.  I don't have any space left in my cabinets, so I've got things on shelves and in bookcases too. I also tend to purchase mugs or other small or nesting pieces that I can fit into the kitchen when I admire someone's work. I've seen people build specific beautiful shelving units to store their mugs collections. 

I think of ceramics as artworks that draw me in. Like Callie, I think about the potter's personality in addition to the work they make, because they are really intertwined. For me, I can get really amped up by seeing the first spring ephemeral flowers coming up, and that motivates me to create work, even if my work may not be directly related to what I see.  I can sometimes feel that from someone else's pieces. For example, Noel Bailey makes porcelain pieces that look like ice as it has frozen and melted over a cliff face. He does ice climbing apparently, and my husband used to ice climb. This connection made me purchase one of his pieces although I've never met him. He sent a very nice note in the package, and he seems like someone I'd like if I met him. 
I also don't buy large quantities of work from specific potters because I want a little of everything! My cabinets are a lovely mishmash of things I made as well as other potters' work and purchased pieces.  I don't have any space left in my cabinets, so I've got things on shelves and in bookcases too. I also tend to purchase mugs or other small or nesting pieces that I can fit into the kitchen when I admire someone's work. I've seen people build specific beautiful shelving units to store their mugs collections. 

As far as doing the parts you don’t love goes: just because you don’t like doing a given task as much as you like throwing, doesn’t mean you won’t like that task at all. I find I like doing check ins on my finances to see how they’re going. I farm out the accounting, but do my own book keeping because I like seeing where I’m at. There are some tasks that you might dislike doing as part of a more mainstream job, but suddenly become a lot more interesting because you’re doing them for yourself.

This week, we have another question from the pool for QotW. This one comes from @Babs as an aside from a discussion of @Mark C.and his pottery business where a woman collected a large amount of pottery by him. Babs question is: 
QotW: When you buy a number of a potter's pieces do you feel the need to meet the maker? 
Over the years, I personally never collected pieces other than a few mugs here and there, At the time we really couldn't afford to collect pottery, and if we needed a piece. .. I made it. There just wasn't the room in a teachers budget for that. However, I did go to conferences with the specific reason of meeting a potter I had read about or seen their work in some magazine or book. John Glick was one of those. Another was Martha Clover. At the same time, I would wander the Penn State festival looking for potters and pots that I had seen examples of their work. In these later years, we have made purchases at the Penn State festival of work that I have seen or from potters that I have met digitally. It is interesting to see how the pots made seem to fit the personalities of the potters.
 
best,
Pres

there are many, many pots in my house that i have collected since the 1970s.  the first was from a small store in georgetown, DC.  the price of $15 was a lot.  it was made by a man who lived in the mountains of west virginia.   a round lidded jar totally unglazed,  brown clay rubbed with black and rio red slips.   i still admire it, signed van nostrand.  a local magazine featured him in a story and i visited  his studio and home later. 
john glick lived a few miles from my sister.  i have several of his things, bought during the visits i made to his plum tree pottery on ten mile road.   
there are some made by tom coleman, one that could have come from the first book written about him and a later one in the warm, toasty colors of the desert.   i attended two workshops tom gave,  more than two would have made me a groupie.   the second was with tom and elaine.   fabulous!
a tiny town sits on the mantle and fills a bookcase.  they are Windy Meadows hometown buildings,  jan signed all of them.   she lived across the river, only a few miles.
there are lots more, some made by potters you may have heard of and some you have not.  i watched seth cardew make the one in the corner during a workshop in maryland.  i bought the cup i used in a visit to the michael cardew studio that seth inherited.  many of michael's pots were still there.  
john leach did workshops for our guild for several years.  i visited his studio with a friend.  she bought a huge pot that she shipped home to los angeles and i got a few of the very small ones.   i have a david leach and one not made by him but from his studio.  i was fortunate to be in bovey tracey for a huge retrospective of his work and visited him in his studio.  
everywhere i look i see something beautiful made by a potter, some of which i use often were  made by members of this group,  it is a pleasure to be surrounded by handmade pieces made with love.  they make me smile.
 
 

I definitely own pieces from people I have only met in glancing, or only know by reputation. When I went to NCECA a few years ago, I picked up a couple of small pieces by potters I’d only seen online, and there wasn’t really a chance to talk to either of them unfortunately. I don’t have parasocial relationships with them online either, so there’s no personal connection. I’m free to admire the work and enjoy it. 
On the flip side of that coin, I do own a piece from a person who’s work I admired, but found out after I bought it that I strongly dislike them personally. I have no idea what to do with it. I can’t use it without thinking of that person, I don’t want to give it to someone else because of how the creator present themselves, and I won’t donate it for the same reason. Smashing it is spiteful, and that’s not warranted. It’s in the back of my cupboard, and I see it when we’ve used almost every other mug.
 

I have a couple of those as well for dipping. I thought I could do it without waxing an area. Ha. The dent puller stuck nicely on the bottom of my unwaxed piece, but after dipping in the glaze, the dent puller detached and my bowl landed in the bottom of the glaze bucket. Of course, I tried it again to see if it was just a fluke and yes it did fall off.

So you folks seem to be saying we need a QotW about the mentality of potters?  
 
best,
Pres

As pieces are fired, the glaze and top layer of the clay are literally melting into one another. In this case, it's your slip. Where it's thicker, it still has enough coverage of the clay underneath that the top part melting into the glaze doesn't show. You need that zone to melt together to make a stronger glaze fit. 

I have a couple of those as well for dipping. I thought I could do it without waxing an area. Ha. The dent puller stuck nicely on the bottom of my unwaxed piece, but after dipping in the glaze, the dent puller detached and my bowl landed in the bottom of the glaze bucket. Of course, I tried it again to see if it was just a fluke and yes it did fall off.

I have a couple of those as well for dipping. I thought I could do it without waxing an area. Ha. The dent puller stuck nicely on the bottom of my unwaxed piece, but after dipping in the glaze, the dent puller detached and my bowl landed in the bottom of the glaze bucket. Of course, I tried it again to see if it was just a fluke and yes it did fall off.

I'm 52 and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. So much about me makes sense knowing this. I can work on something like pottery where I'm using my hands for hours at a time, and then forget the rest of the world exists. That's both good and bad, as I don't get around to doing other things that need to be done, and my back or shoulders will get stiff. Thanks for bringing it up and discussing it in this topic. I've got a lot I'd like to learn about this.
I've had back injuries where I have to be very careful when I'm working or carrying things, so it doesn't get exacerbated. Sometimes just leaning down the wrong way will have me hurting for a week or more. I got an adjustable seat for my wheel but I know I still need to take breaks and get up every few minutes anyway. I need to keep up with my PT exercises, but ugh it gets boring! I used to rock climb up until about 5 or 6 years ago, and I was really strong. Unfortunately, I also had chronic tendonitis in my forearms and tears in both shoulder cartilage. I went through surgery for one, and once the other one tore I decided I was done. It's too bad I haven't found an activity I like as much as I did climbing. I became even more of a homebody during the pandemic lockdown so now even carrying a 50 box of clay is difficult. 
I started doing hand building a few years ago out of necessity when I hurt my back again. It was months before I was fully recovered, but I still wanted to do work. I got a slab roller and now that's what I use probably more than my wheel. 

There are many potters who skillfully use this effect to their advantage. A couple of Matt Kelleher’s lovely pots, white slip on dark clay:

I have a couple of those as well for dipping. I thought I could do it without waxing an area. Ha. The dent puller stuck nicely on the bottom of my unwaxed piece, but after dipping in the glaze, the dent puller detached and my bowl landed in the bottom of the glaze bucket. Of course, I tried it again to see if it was just a fluke and yes it did fall off.

I have to say I have had some of the most delightful customers over the years.  Some are educated to the world of clay and others not.  I too, love the questions.  Kids are great!  One young person (probably 7 or 8 years old) buys a small piece from me each year telling me he likes pretty things.  One of the more interesting questions I had a few years back was a woman whose adult daughter was having health issues, auto immune of some sort, and she was asking exactly what are the components of glazes.  Specifically.  We talked for a long time about that.  I explained what most of the ingredients were.  I think she was trying to determine if there were ingredients in certain glazes that could cause health issues.  She didn't buy anything, but it a great connection!  
customers who flip a piece over to check the bottom looking at the foot or comment on the weight of the piece, you know it's not their first piece of handmade pottery.  The customers who seek me out each year to buy another piece, who tell me they won't let anyone else in the house use their pots, kids who express awe and wonder that I have made everything from a ball of clay....that's a joy, right there.