Callie Beller Diesel

I can't speak for others, but throwing took me a long time to learn. I do remember selling a few (worthy, competent) small items around year 3.  They were my best pieces at the time, and not produced in any sort of volume.  I agree that year numbers are a bit arbitrary, and intensive study matters. I needed every minute of those 10,000 hours to make things that, even if I can do better now, I'm not ashamed of. 

I have to say that people, and then later the forums and other websites were the most helpful things, in that order. I went to every Ceramic workshop from as many people as I could. I had much of my basic technical education before YouTube was a really useful thing for pottery. 
Edited to add:
YouTube was there, it was just a lot more about cat videos. 

I'm making YouTube videos now too!   I thought to myself "what is the internet missing?" And guess what, there wasn't a single video of me in my pajamas making mugs, now there is!  Still trying to figure out the whole YouTube thing but I'll get there!

Gabby my mother in-law is doing great,  she didn't end up with any physical problems and she has her speech back.   She still mixes up or forgets a few words but who doesn't do that.   It gives us a little time to find a assisted living facility for her,  there is always a waiting list.    She had 5 mini strokes and going to need some surgery in the future,  my husband spent the night with her.   I spent most of the day working on the tile,  it weighed 12lbs when I started on it and I have taken 4 lbs off of it but I still have a lot of carving to do.     Denice

Welp, had to go get clay again, was down to my last box.  This time I decided to go ahead and bring a half ton home, which is all I trusted myself and my Tahoe to drive safely in crazy downpour.  500lbs of Klamath yellow and 500 lbs of vashon red.  I really like the yellow as a fast, soft clay and the red as a stiffer smoother clay.  Also picked up two new kiln shelves for the kiln I got in December.  The ones it came with were both cracked and covered in lowfire glaze.  Now I can get 3 shelves of mugs in my kiln at once which will be very nice.  
Speaking of kilns, I'm doing a full bisque right now!  So far I've been able to fill my kiln every week with a bisque, I'm pretty happy with that!  
This week on my workbench is more spoonrests and mugs.  I spent this last week doing just a bunch of spoonrests.

I have a 12x12 room and I don’t slab build a whole lot, so in my case it’s a hard pass. I have to be pretty deliberate about what I have in that space, and it’s part of the reason I’m such a fan of low tech soloutions for most things.  I got no room to get complicated!

I have a 12x12 room and I don’t slab build a whole lot, so in my case it’s a hard pass. I have to be pretty deliberate about what I have in that space, and it’s part of the reason I’m such a fan of low tech soloutions for most things.  I got no room to get complicated!

15 flat sponge holders, 11 vertical sponge holders, 19 vertical spoon rest experiments, 1 small planter and 1 large mixing bowl. 1st time making sponge holders and my spoon rest idea needs some refinement.

Trimming the openings in salt pigs. Think it takes me longer to try and get the holes cut more or less evenly and round than it takes to throw them.

My wheel is a Bailey that I got about 20 years ago. It is my 4th studio wheel since 1971. It is slower than Brents. I like that. Most important to me is the control of the form. I have been throwing some larger orbs. I had several go catty-wompus (sp?). I took them off the wheel,  jiggled them to straighten and hung them out until they stiffened a bit. Then put them back on the wheel and and continued throwing. I do give up on some and just re-wedge them.  Very excited about my new work with soluble salts.
Marcia
 

If you really want to do a stress test for freeze/thaw, the best time to do it is in the fall when things are beginning to freeze but the days are still nice, or at the first hint  of spring when you have warm days but nights are still below freezing. You want a nice temperature vasilation between -3 and +3 C. I’ve killed more terra cotta pots by not covering them up soon enough.....

Isn't that great though?  Throw a beautiful form and then slap it around a bit to make it interesting.  I've recently gotten into paddling my forms on the wheel.  Takes some getting used to but it's a lot of fun!  I'm amazed at how hard I can whack a nice tall cylinder and still be able to shape it a bit afterward!
As far as going electric, I have wanted an electric kiln for a very long time.  Gas firing looks very nice and being able to reduce glazes and body is nice too, but it is expensive for me and requires my full attention for an entire day.  It's tiring and I've got a 5 and 7 year old running around, so I am just glad I have one less thing to worry about.  

Hmm a skilled potter and talented electrician. Nice glaze!
Just  finished our Rays Cream to get rid of pinholes and dial in the perfect amount of movement with trapped titanium crystals.
Funny,  just pulled this out of the ELECTRIC test kiln today. (Sorry, I know  I have it made, but couldn’t resist)
 

Got a glaze firing in, was able to fit 40 mugs.  This is a representative sample!  So happy to finally have an electric kiln working!
This week I have a bunch of candles I'm working on, gonna be great!  Right now I have a bunch of lidded containers bisquing, big stuff I have to fire alone, can't really pack it too tight.  Y'all that grew up on electric have no idea how easy youve got it!!!
 

Heisenberg's Uncertainty pots, they are both awesome and terrible at the same time, until the plastic is removed and the wave form collapses 
 

I think good music matters most when throwing .I know that is a little out of the box but for me its true.A nice large light  gathering window in front of me keeps me chipper as well
The other smaller things are speed control  and a good throwing seat.
The speed control needs to work well.
(The pedals on the shimpos at the time weren't nearly as sensitive.) I think Callie thats an understatement as all those old Shimpo's have teriable speed control .The foot pedal on the ring drives seem really outdated-even back in the day.Sure thay are cute but thats about it.
All 5 of my wheels spin only one way-never thrown the other way. No reason to.
 

What matters most to me when throwing is not giving up. The internal dialogue goes something like this:
"I should be able to throw just as well and just as much as I did years ago."
"Oh really? Who sez?"
"OK, let's just see (again)."
"OK, I observe and concede-it just ain't happening."
"OK, practice, practice, practice."
"OK, I am bored, bored, bored."
"OK, I admit that the wrist, back, neck, right knee,  and left hip are not happy campers."
OK, no one can make me and I don't wanna. "
"OK, we'll just call BS on that one."
"OK, I accept reality."
" I'll give it a rest for a few days. "
"Time's up; try, try, and try again. "
"Good girl!" 
It's not about the wheel, which is smooth as silk, reversible (which is useful & I enjoy for some pieces), and the speed is highly variable, readily responsive throughout the process. I'll never use enough weight to worry about torque & my current model Brent would more than handle it if I wanted to pull a whopper some day.  What I'm not up for,  having done my homework, a bit of experimenting w/chiropractor's help, and thinking a lot about what I want out of the time/money I have for this activity, is a brace for standing. I'm OK with a reduced engagement with throwing, and thankful for those bowls that make the cut. What matters most is, as noted, not giving up. 

Speed control is definitely a thing. I have a Brent C which was the largest capacity wheel from that company that didn't need to be rewired to cross the border at the time. I had a friend in college who got the CXC, and it never did work quite as it should after being brought up to code. The C is strong enough and variable enough for my purposes: 75 lbs is still a pretty big pot if I wanted to really max it out. I tried out a number of wheels while I could at school, and I found that kick and treadle wheels were hard on the body:  you're not supposed to have back problems at 22. The pedals on the shimpos at the time weren't nearly as sensitive.
I'm sure there are better things on the market now, but I bought this sucker 15 years ago and I have no reason to replace it. 

Nice holder!
Just catching up on custom orders for mugs and underglazed stuff. Also working through fixing an existing Bristol glaze for the studio . Arrrrgh dislike these glaze recipes  but almost done, I think.
After spraying countless ornaments  and now these little mugs, cups, treasure boxes I think  I need a throwing break from this stuff! Took a picture of myself spraying and I do not appear to be excited. LOL
 

I have been out of touch with pottery for a very long time. Just getting back into it, a lot to try and remember but this is my first project I'm working on.

I got tired of fishing around in a plastic bag full of holders, so I made a simple Holder holder to hold my holders.

Been firing some more tests soluble salts and consecutive followups on good leads from tests. Pots on the left were fired at various temperatures in saggars and foil saggars. pots on the right were retired at 1700F. Additional coats on salts were added.
 

I favour drill bits too, but you have to use them when the clay is really quite firm. If it’s too wet it makes a big mess. 

Edible cones?

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