Gabby

I have an oblate sphere on my banding wheel.  I have roughed in some dancing figures to circle the outside and am thinking about the underglaze treatment.
On a separate table I have an oval plaque, as yet unfired, maybe ten inches by 16." I will probably underglaze that before firing. That one is on a Year of the Pig theme, with a plan of showing up to three red river hogs, a Vasayan warty pig, and a warthog. 

Did a glaze firing last night, hope to open tonight when I get home.  Kiln was still at 900f when I left for work.  I've got 35 mugs in there and a shelf of spoon rests.  Trying out a new glaze, coffee nuka.  Went to mix some other glazes this weekend and lo and behold!  No silica. Grrr, I thought I had half of a 50lb bag left when I saw the bin almost empty.  
Oh well!  That just means I get to make another trip to Seattle pottery supply!
This week I'm going to continue to try repeat bowls.  That's all that's on the docket.  I might do another glaze firing midweek if I can, but not a deal breaker

On the subject of “hours vs. years,” I agree that there is a minimum number of hours required for development. But I’m not sure you can speed up the process by cramming in all of the hours within a short period of time. In order to make what I consider “professional” or “sellable” pottery, you need to be a fully-fledged adult with a strong grasp of your own values, tastes, priorities, etc. The pots you make are a reflection of who you are. And if you have not yet answered the “who am I?” question, your pots will look immature too. So even if you’ve spent 4 years in a college ceramics program, putting in many hours of intensive study, a degree holding 22 yr old still has years to go. A college campus is not the right environment to answer the “who am I?” question. The environment is too safe. (I remember as a college design student, I thought the program was so hard, intense and competitive. Then I hit the real world and realized how safe the environment had been.) In other words, the hours of study are just a starting point in terms of technical proficiency. The years of personal development are necessary too. In my experience as a pottery teacher, I occassionaly worked with students who had been practicing pottery for a year or two, and already making wonderful pots. They were mature people (which doesn’t necessarily mean older) who had a good sense of their values, and a large bank of life experiences to draw on and guide them. 

Mea makes the vital point here, I think.  Many people seem to find a market, at least for awhile, with pots that are "student pots."  Different people will buy them than those who seek only professional work.
I don't think this is particular to ceramics. There is a market for clothing that is not well made as well as a different one for well made clothing.
There is a market for prepared foods that have their issues as well as for gourmet.

Mea makes the vital point here, I think.  Many people seem to find a market, at least for awhile, with pots that are "student pots."  Different people will buy them than those who seek only professional work.
I don't think this is particular to ceramics. There is a market for clothing that is not well made as well as a different one for well made clothing.
There is a market for prepared foods that have their issues as well as for gourmet.

Mea makes the vital point here, I think.  Many people seem to find a market, at least for awhile, with pots that are "student pots."  Different people will buy them than those who seek only professional work.
I don't think this is particular to ceramics. There is a market for clothing that is not well made as well as a different one for well made clothing.
There is a market for prepared foods that have their issues as well as for gourmet.

Best wishes for a solid recovery for your mother-in-law. Take good care of yourself also.

Honestly, I saw the photo before reading the words and thought "Someone is making frogs!"

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.

I now have the 9th piece --a textured bowl--to add to what I'll fire in the anagama kiln in April. I'm aiming for 15, and those still to come need to be spectacular---well, at least they need to reflect some elevated creative effort on my part!  The 3 pieces shown are a fair example of where my head is heading--pun intended.   

I was trained on a large gas kiln and never used electric until a few years ago. Having occasional opportunities to get into community wood firings and raku firing, I'm a happy camper. I finally got  OK with the fact that as much as I loved making my own clay bodies and glazes, and was pretty good at it, my situation just doesn't accommodate that today.  So I am using commercial bodies and glazes and find I like them just fine. I did a head-adjustment on myself to get out from under the old tendency to think gas/wood was superior to electric and that not mixing your own stuff is sort of a petty crime. Now I'm working to get Ok with limited throwing facility and getting into an appreciation of the conceptual and process aspects of hand-building.
My workbench today has a thrown and altered bowl form, then hand-worked with stamped, paddled, & incised techniques. I like how much work actually goes into making something look "other-than" a properly, nicely, thrown bowl.  
 

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!!!
 

Making some multi-purpose holders for an April anagama fire.  Need another shelf and a half worth of pieces for a bisque fire. I only need a full shelf for the wood fire, so the rest of the load will be various mid-fire bodies.
 

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.

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
 

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.
 

1st bisque of 2019, everything looks good so far!

Ha....this one was made just for me! These are face-pressed. The white one is slip cast, the next is porcelain w/clear and Pallidium glaze, next is stoneware  with granite dust , multiple firings, micro glitter & a bit of gold enamel (mounted in an open frame); the last was angama-fired.   HMS is my Hidden Mask Series--a bit of self-absorption with therapeutic properties.  The mask concept, using my own face, emerged in defiance of the ceramics instructor who told me "Art is not therapy" (no, art is spirituality in drag) and wanted me to quit because I was falling apart a bit at the time and I was arguing that I should be allowed to hand build if I didn't want to throw. Titled in order: Art Is; Two-faced Selfie; Assembling the Surviver, and; Emerging.

finishing a few pieces from a raku firing 

I draw on the Kraft paper that covers some of my work surfaces, and sometimes make sketches in a small drawing pad. Mostly I think & visualize. I take photos of some processes & all finished pieces. I don't like ceramic note-taking so I use the Pottery Logbook smart phone app. Most of what I make is not meant to be particularly  congruent with repetition, standardization, nor for retail purposes, and I'm a low volume producer in any event. I used to sketch everything, do all the math etc. made sure that things fit that needed to fit, and worked as intended (i.e. spouts, fittings for bird bath etc.)--just don't, these days.  

We may need a different word than "event. " I think of "event" as signifying something that is going on, or about to go on, like a conference or workshop.
Perhaps Significant Ceramic News would capture better what you are looking at here. 

I do a mix of drawing and then "sketching" with clay.  I usually have something in mind but will play with the design in clay until I'm happy with it.  Once I have a form I like, I will make more and save a finished piece as a reminder when I go to make more.