Mark C.

Some work is better than none-You should contest that ruling as its a mistake.Our state has a covid deal with unemployment I heard

Ok not on my workbench yet -but really this does not fit on any workbench. Todays greenware load-just loaded at 7pm and candling a few hours. This is one and a 1/3 glaze load-stacked to the moon with most forms full of other forms.Some tumbled stacked large platters and rectangle footed sushi dishes on top .I still have one more bisque like this one to do in a week as well. Most is a future wholesale deal-no matter what the world is doing I make pottery -its what I do.

One thing that has popped up this week is more than usual one off small orders mostly mailed out a few UPS .They are coming thru e-mail or phone calls. Like today a call came in and I shipped out a garlic keeper to San Diego via usps all thru texting today as that was her prefered way to comunicate . Some like e-mail some want to talk. Two huge mugs (36-42 onces) this week as well to far away places. Yesterday my local gallery called (they are closed) with a customer wanting a 8 square plate set and was wondering if I stocked that? She also said the gallery was closed but my pots where the only thing still selling mail order from them-I felt good about that news. Folks still want stuff and they are finding ways to find it. Since travel is out they are calling and texting and e-mailing. I try to never use my personal cell phone # for business as I need a firewall from customers is some areas of my life. My cell phone is one of those walls My wife hates business on the weekends when customers call I the am. On the land line.Slowling this is dissipating over time.It still happens-They call at all hours (I have said many times customers are clueless). For example I got a call a few days ago asking if I sell cones . Because the local ceramic shop is closed (they still have a pick up service) but you have to leave a message.I often get calls on clay or lessons or can you fire out stuff.

A motorized wheel is an incrediable time saver over a kick wheel even a motorized one . Enjoy the freedom. And now your leg can be the same size as your other one. I have thought a few things may happen in the future once the Governor (whom we pay attention to in this state way more than the anyone else) lets businesses on the non essential side open again as well as the restaurants .I have a wholesale account at a popular one.I know the shops and Galleries will all want pots all at once. I'm planning now for that time. No one knows when this will be so I have zero idea on timing -i just know that my consignment outlets who get pots for free will want more .Just before the closure of galleries I got a large consignment order from my locally biggest selling consignment outlet. If this happens during the summer time it will be more than say spring time-if its fall then its a xmas deal and they will be even more greedy on the orders as the potsare free. As to wholesale I'm thinking depeending on how flush they are feeling the orders could me meduim size.I'm doing some stockpiling now for this situtaion in the future. I have a large order now for a few months from now-Its all made in the green state(finiskhed today) but needs bisquing and glaze fired.Its a simi annual order for many years now. That gallery is closed and the open date is a unknown as is everything else but he wants the pots in a few months either way.Locally I have 5 food/market outlets that are still selling pottery but at a reduced rate.Folks still need food and pots are hard to find elsewhere so they still sell ok there.With the slow down of the economy I'm planning on a long period of time selling very little. Its a time I plan on making pots for the future. They do not go bad. I have a plate full of projects and our acre likes to get mowed alot in spring and garden needs planted as well as all the projects that I put off that now can get done . As of this week I have worked harder than most weeks-anymore free time and it will kill me.I'm staying isolated as its my age group although my health is great (bad wrist and hand )but good lungs and no disease except a type A workaholic. I have yet to see that the virus preys more on that condition than others . I do have blood Type A+ but its only a small uptick on death rate on what I read.Since I;m usually at home all the time this seems just fine now staying home all the time.I shipped out some pottery packages this week via UPs which is normal here-just put my flag out on fence and they take the box of pots away. I do not want to feel overwehelmed when orders pick up so I'm planning for this now. I'm box up pots like crazy soon and will be ready when they are needed .My other thought is when the world is ready for travel once again I want to get back to being underwater in Bali with a camera like I was last fall. I have a few diver friends all with the same idea and If I have the stock it will not matter time wise as much when I can go. So thats another driver to box up work NOW.Travel is a long ways off I know but it will come back. We just canceled a long planned trip to Iceland in June where you can fire pots with geothermal power.Nothing like fire and Ice .

(basically doing all of the things I should have been doing instead of throwing pots for the last 6 months) Welcome to my world

Here is a photo my wife took back in February 2017 in Indonesia of snow the way we like it along with a snow suit and required snow gear to enjoy the snow.Once you experience snow like this you to will like snow better this way.

OH snow -well I like snow and this is how I like mine-1st it falls in some place that has rath for winter months long cold dark snowy nights. It melts and flows down rivers to the sea. This is where the process I like begins. That water is diluted with salt water and the ocean currents slowly take it towards the warmer latitudes where it slowly warms to the right temps-say about 82 degrees -then slowly tropical fish as well as other inhabitants take over and make it thier home-corals and such. My snow is shaded by a plam tree on white tropical sandy beach. Thats how I like my snow.-No shovel needed but fins and a mask will help as well as a snorkel.An underwater camera is the right tool in my snow world.

When it sinks I have the dive gear to stay alive underwater-for awhile I have an overly active imagination I'm told.

what is snow shovel for??

Looks like a canoe (bottom image) One could make a full scale one from WSO clay and float the Lewis and Clark river trip. Build a fiber kiln around it to fire it next to river bank(it will be heavy and stink like a stone) of course the clay will weep a bit so a bailer would be needed-if the thing flips its going down fast-maybe best for you midwesterners centrally loceted to river-also a good time for trip as social distancing in river will also be helpful .If you complete the journey you can youtube the adventure and be the first to do this in a clay canoe so Guinness has a spot for you in next issue as well. It will be great thing or the stupidest-risk reward-perfect thing for invenciable youth to try Headline - They followed Lewis and Clark track and are the first on the planet to make the trip in a clay canoe Heros in home town with keys to the city and unlimited high speed Internet for life Headline Two youths got the Darwin award for trying to float a long haul river trip in a clay canoe-it hit a snag and broke in 1/2 and sunk like a stone and they fanished in the brown spring runoff waters never to be seen again.

I miss tree fishing but since breaking my arm shaking our rotten apple tree limbs My tree fishing days are over I'm sad to say. speaking of fishingh I am picking up my big boat today as its an essential service to me and after waiting 5.5 months for it to get out of shop I'm getting it unless arrested on the way.Of course I only del with one person about 6 feet away as its paid for and I have access to it.

Made my last pottery drop offs today to food markets-I have 5 outlets that carry food 3 of them are large natural food markets even had my wife sell a bunch of pots to a studio customer who had a date set up long ago to pick up a butterdish but went big with two glaze kilns open .This will be the last customer I service out of the studio for a long time. Our county is on lock down at midnight for non essential business like pottery. I have only been out a few times since Sunday and will hang tight now. The sales will slow to crawl and thats fine. Life is slowing down and I'm looking forward to the slower pace. maybe I can learn to relax.Spring is here now with warm temps and the daffodils are in bloom-the lawn needs mowing soon as well.

We pay for the post and read it daily-been pretty happy with it. Always solid reporting Working at home is what I do so staying at home is no big deal-We have chest freezer of frozen fish and cased of canned tuna (by product of my fishing hobby) so food is of a less of an issue-Also have a power back up if that goes out. I'm in the age risk factor(over 65) but am in very good health-except my planter fasciitis on heel I'm in a shelter at home mode-my wife who is younger is going out just little like food shopping in early am when store is empty. Since we are in a simi rural are staying isolated is easy. Becuase of lack of testing (feds dropped the ball badly) we have no known cases so far in this county(had one but was cleared) but thats means nothing as testing is so low here now. I am like GEP in terms of trying to avoid people -The mail comes out on the street daily and so does UPS but I have no contact with them.Its best to be isolated now and I will do just that. I have a few potterty drop offs in the next month and My wife says she can do that but I may let it go depending on whats going on in our already isolated county -we always say its behind the Redwood curtain and we mean it.Pottery sales will slow way down and I;m fine with that.

McMastercarr is one of my go to suppliers for many items-not cheap but always top quality. They have a incrediable selection of materials. I have a box of parts coming tomorrow . https://www.mcmaster.com

Put them on Craigs list in the free section and they will be gone in 1 day

Sometimes OEM parts are the way to go -that said If I can make it better/stronger/work longer with other better parts I'm all in with that. So really its a mix.

For most of my 49 years in Humboldt we had very little clay access. The nearest was in the SF bay area about 5-6 hours one way. We potters formed a few group buys over Time in the 90s and filled a truck to bring it behind the redwood curtain on a yearly basis. We would always get the 12 ton price breaks.As many potters turned into very few (full timers). Back in the 70s I started hauling in as much as I could material wise and became self self sufficient in terms of yearly supply.For example I bought #3,000 of kingman feldspar from Az mine direct in 1980. Still working with that supply )down to last 400#s. Since supply was so far away I filled my 3/4 pickuop every time I drove south for the 1st 20 years .I stock a huge amount of materials now and can coast for years without much. I became a laguna distributor myself some time back for best pricing and truck in my own stuff-I used to gather orders with others but there are very few left now to add on the order . About 15 years ago another Laguna distributor opened up a small shop about 5 miles away as well and they have a meduim selection of materials.They sell manly to hobbist market (local clay art center) and a few schools nearby.

I used to make clay when I was young and dumb-it takes a lot out of you as clay is cheap really. The only reason to make clay yourself is for special clay bodes not made commercially . I learned about 30 years ago that making clay is not worth it. I have always made my own everything -heck I stated out with home made balance beam made from wood to weigh materials-bought my 1st sieve at a restaurant supply. Those where the old days 1971. I make all my own glazes-I do have a ton of my own glaze made for me every 5 years by Laguna ( rutile blue) with my formula and materials list. I have lots of space so storing is not an issue.I'm still using Kingman feldspar from a 3000# buy in 1980-down to 400#s left. I'm a glaze material horder . Always have been. Its paid off in spades. My glazes look the same over the decades.I like to know whats in my products I sell so I know that 100% always and that important to me.

I tend to fix everthing myself. A few exceptions-I sent my two oxyprobes away for platinum wire repair. I wired our whole house and plumbed it and did the forced air system-solar water system-so when things need repair I learn about how they tick and fix them. I also did the roof install twice on the house-last time I put up 50 year singles and am done withg that as well as 25 year paint so thats also done for my lifetime now. I did hire the last of my foundaytion work (65feet) after my wrist surgery so I have to baby my wrist and working with concret is no babing your wrist. That 20k was the best wrist health I could buy. I do not like to work on cars but I can ( I have rebuilt a motor in my youth) but usually farm that out so I can make pots instead. I am replaceing a radiation in my 1989 restored Toyota small 4x4 pickup truck this week. Of course the truck has a brand new motor and transmisssion /clucth so the radiator (OEM) is the last topping .Its my personal local get around rig not connected to either of my businesses so no write off there. Tax /account day was yesterday for me so I do farm that out as well. I am installing a 5/8 baltic birch subfloor in our office this week over the fir subfloor to stiffen it as well but hired a pro flooring person to install and finish the wide plank maple. I could do it but I would rather make pots. This was our last carpeted space which now the whole house is hardwood and tile floors.Its also the last remodel on the interior we will do-YA.I'm having a cherry writing/comuter desk made for this new space as well from a talented wood worker -Yes I could do that but would rather make pots. Having skills as a potter has severed me well.Electrical and plumbing and mechanical and woodworking -hey jack of all trades -its dying art these days with so many just skipping thru life on their phones.

No I try not to. I will on a hot day when loading the car kiln which is outside drink a cold drink-no alcohol I occasionally will finish my noon expresso walking into studio before working again

I as a professional I need infrastructure -I'm good at supplying it as well (meaning I have those skill sets). My studio is insulated and has cold water into a lage flat sink-that sink drains into a two tired settling tubs outside then runs to a timber Bamboo patch. I shovel the clay out of the tubs after it settles and dry it and throw it away in the trash can.I heat the studio with natural gas heater and alos can heat water on that stove with all metal pan. In winter the heat also dries the wares as well as warms our bodies.The drying pots is really important midwinter. I also have speakers and a sound system and pipe tunes into studio from house with a volume control in studio and one outside in kiln laoding area (must have tunes to work)-also a central vacuum system for clay dust control. I also have a few telephones on the wall-one in the main studio and one next to my wheel in throwing room. With all the time i spend in the studio it has to work well. The floor is wood so leg fatigue is cut downas well.

Bench is covered with kiln sections and parts and elements. I emptied all the control boxes of swtches and wires and anything inside and wire wheeled them down to bare and am repainting them a new high heat primer and then a high heat copper color-New band jackets (tghe right ones hopefully?) came today as well. Going whole hog on the rebuild. Of course I'm putting is new heat shields around kiln area outside . I spent a few days moving the whole area around kiln into a new more space saving shelves and storage area .Gives me a larger area for kiln and work flow.Just bought a few sheets of 1/2 inch 3x5 cement board for new heat shields as well.I derusted the kiln stand and high heat painted it as well.

Nothing ceramic for a month for sure-only taking pots in van to outlets as needed until they are gone. Back to throwing later in Feb. I will rebuild my skutt kiln next week if that counts-

I'm sure I sold a thousand plus items in last 3 weeks at all my outlets and most where xmas gifts so Mayby I can say yes I did get some ceramics out under the tree this season. My guess Is I brought a lot of happyness to many on this the 25th day of Dec. Its always a good feeling around this time .I feel I'm in a happy business.

Nope not this year. After 47 years they do not need anymore clay items. I did give some ceramic fish to nephew for hous warming gift for his new house last October if that counts?