yappystudent

Wedding jar completed except for cleanup a little after it sets up some more.
 
best,
Pres

What are the rituals you follow when the creative juices dry up, or the joys of making pottery becomes tedious  because of deadline demands?
T

Yes that's exactly. originally I wanted the brine shrimp not be attached to anything, but it was too fiddly and one of it's ribs got cut off, so basically I made a rubber stamp out of it to glue the rib in place. It should have nice sharp edges for a long time. I used aquarium silicone to attach it to the backing; more vinyl; which worked great, then glued the whole thing to a small flooring tile because I didn't have a piece of wood the right size. Voila, prototype. I smeared craft paint on a plastic plate, twirled the stamp around in it and stamped it onto to a damp piece of fabric. Worked not so well on dry fabric. Anyway, I'll be using this idea again but without the backing attached it should work better in future for clay.  The sheet vinyl -not the hard 'tile' type flooring- cut super easy. I went into a flooring store I get my flooring tile remnants from and they were happy to give me a scrap. 

I cut out stencils from thick tablecloth vinyl & use iron oxide to stamp.  I use a tub with folded jersey cloth for a pad to keep the amounts of oxide  just right for a stamping  foam brush the pad allows the oxide to fill the stamping tool but not too much.  I stamp on top of a glazes  as control of the oxide is essential,  too little & the stamp fires faded too much & it is dark & messy.  I periodically add water with a small squirt bottle for moisture.
joy

I recently discovered that (Sheet) vinyl flooring makes great easy to cut stamps for making impressions, not so much for picking up color, but I'll be putting color into them and wiping back like Pres mentioned in the topic. With scissors I was able to cut out this in about 20 min with only one boo-boo I had to fix. So far it's working great for stamping clay, and reasonably well for cloth using craft paint. 
Use thin plastic wrap, better yet those clear plastic produce bags from the grocery store over the clay or the vinyl tends to stick toit. 
 

I recently discovered that (Sheet) vinyl flooring makes great easy to cut stamps for making impressions, not so much for picking up color, but I'll be putting color into them and wiping back like Pres mentioned in the topic. With scissors I was able to cut out this in about 20 min with only one boo-boo I had to fix. So far it's working great for stamping clay, and reasonably well for cloth using craft paint. 
Use thin plastic wrap, better yet those clear plastic produce bags from the grocery store over the clay or the vinyl tends to stick toit. 
 

Seconds are just that pots that have flaws-if that flaw can hurt someone it should be tossed out. I have many a second working in the kitchen.Say a chip and dip used for pot lucks-
I do not take seconds to art shows much. I do have a few local shows I save them for if they are fully functional and are super minor flaws.I tend to put them aside and occasionally I will have a metal shift and toss them all out. But if I get a box full I have will take it to a local show and leave it in the box. I often give these away as well.
If that pot functions and the flaw is safe its second.The main thing is can you live with this pot if say you see it at a friends house. Thats the benchmark for me keeping a second.I like Min said below have to explain the reason as they are minor-and the price is 1/2 off as well.

In your question I see two lines, the line between first and second and between second and toss.
There are some standards I think should be relevant to anyone making pottery for sale. For example, if it doesn't work for its intended function or work safely for that function, or if you know it will not be as robust in use as your items typically are (like the interior crack situation you describe), it is tossed (or repurposed as shards for mosaic or something) rather than sold as a second. 
The line between first and second needs to vary by person.  One potter's best ever pot might be a complete embarrassment to a highly, highly proficient potter.   These two will be selling their work at very different price points to account for the great difference in quality. 
That very high quality potter should not even sell as a second something that looks like the work of a far less proficient one.
But the less technically developed potter shouldn't be embarrassed to sell pots that represent his best work in the moment just because he hopes at some point to be, and be considered, highly skilled.  It is very important that pottery is accessible to people across a range of price points, and that purpose is best met when different potters work in different niches.
 

I do sell "seconds" but you have to really look hard to see why they are seconds. I always try and point out why something is a second to a potential customer and 99 out of a 100 times the customer will say "Well that's what gives it character". I smile and think to myself no, you just are pleased to be paying 1/2 price for the pot. 

There has a lot of discussion of late about seconds, and recently yappystudent asked:Q: Where does one draw the line between deciding what is a second and what is OK to represent your name? For that matter, what is a second -perhaps worthy of selling out the back room so to speak albeit with your logo stamped into it forever, and what is junk waiting for the hammer or negative examples shelf? Exemplary work probably speaks for itself, but what about the gray areas below that? A set of rules for these decisions would be helpful. 
Oh the temptations to sell cheap, and make money at the expense of reputation. . . all of us have had it at one time or other. 
Mine came once when I had a perfectly sound paten by looks, really great glaze job, nicely trimmed nice preglaze decoration pressed into the pot when wet. I do a last check on all of my pots. . the ring test. I rap all of them with a light wooden dowel or something else easy on the pot. If it rings it is OK, if it has a double tone or otherwise, it has a hairline crack at sometimes impossible to see. In this case I decided to hold on to it until after I had met with the buyer. He was buying 20 Communion sets for a religious organization. We were talking about quality, and how to tell some things when I brought out the plate and showed him the ring test with the handle of a hammer. He was flabbergasted. . . especially when I used the hammer to break the pot.
All too often, the crack in the bottom, the crawled glaze, or the poor form, or so many other things that go wrong, may not be that bad, but if not up to your norm, then it is bad enough. So when you ask when, if you have to ask, don't keep it. My wife has some of my rejects, that are entirely OK for us to use, but they get recycled out as I get another reject. Lately thankfully there have been very few. As my pots are signed in the green stage, they are all signed. If it is a reject, best to toss it before it comes back to haunt me. And yes, a few have!
As to pieces that are exceptional, put them aside and use them for display, enter juried shows, and make certain you have good photos of them. When you sell, raise the price as this is the ++ line. It always helps to justify that by having them separated from the other pieces in a display of exceptional pieces.
 
best,
Pres
 

Well, my kiln has been pretty good to me so far (touch wood), so I haven’t had to resort to any pagan prayers yet. But I’ve known one or two potters that made their cone packs into various weird critters, sea monsters and dragons. This is one from a friend of mine in college, and he sits on a shelf with a number of other little treasures. Now that I think of it, they could be good additions to fairy gardens. 

Yappystudent recently asked a question that brings up old memories:  I'm curious if anyone else uses "Kiln Gods" or Gremlins when firing their kiln.
I can remember in undergrad school the professor having us make kiln gods to tame the fire and chaos of the gas kiln. We did all sorts of crazy gods and put them on the top of the kiln as offerings. .. . firing went all right as expected as the prof fired it. My first few years of teaching I did kiln gods with the students, and then I let things die a death that seemed natural as I was firing electric! However, at the last NCECA, I saw the really cool peep hole creatures, and I know that if I were still teaching I would have everyone make one of them they are so Cool!

 
 
 
best,
Pres

I have a replacement top in progress for my bubbler fountain on my back patio,  some how the original one was broken last year.   I glued it back together but it really needs to be replaced.   I am ready to load a bisque and have the room for it.     Denice

Last pot on the bench today, carved vase.

Busy day glazing today! These are all waxed and ready to dip.
 

A kiln load has been waiting for a month to be glazed and single-fired. 
After work and weekends have been building a chicken coop with double chicken run. Been raining so much have really put construction behind. Chicks arrive May 8.

The recent greenware. 

When LeeU said “one of my more masculine pieces” in another thread it had me contemplating her comment. Masculine and feminine encompass a large set of related characteristics, would be hard pressed to make a pot that didn’t have curves but that alone doesn’t make a pot feminine. Are visually heavy pots defined as masculine?  At first this seems like an easy question but I’m finding it very hard to nail down what defines a pot as masculine or feminine and yet I have no problem looking at a pot and thinking it is one or the other or neither. Does our subconscious make the decision for us? 

Nothing on the work tables---  ...but  lots of shop prep goin' on in the office.

The recent greenware. 

today i had things on my workbench i would be happy to let anyone see.  hope they all make it through the next steps to finished product.
i would be happy if i could capture in the final firing that soft color of the slip.  who knows how it will look when it is finished?

"bench" is buried.  kiln is bisque firing and i cannot use the space until it is opened and i restore the space.  i only bisque during the winter when i am a thousand miles from my glaze kitchen and big kiln.  that allows me to get the pieces home.

Raw Glazing.  And in the background a first attempt at throwing a double walled vessel and then carving it.

Winter tea bowls in red clay, part of a series I call "Wild Heart." They will all have a red accent somewhere on the bowl.
 I have hand-built some using a simple template that gives them a squared shape at the base above the foot ring, and I threw a couple this morning.
But it is too cold, really, to go very long at all. Today I threw wearing a thermal shirt, thermal pants, and a down vest.
 

working on pieces for Invitational at one gallery, a wood firing in June, and seasonal gallery opening in Nye, Mt.