Mark C.
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Posts posted by Mark C.
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Two Kilns are cooling with glaze wares so tables are empty-New throwing starts in am-salt cellars,miso bowls and small cereal bowls for am.
Only a few fires left this year. I'm way ahead with at this point a canceled show from broken arm-sounds strange but van is still packed full and back sock is piling up priced and boxed.
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45 years ago I thought pots all needed feet. That changed in the 1st 10 years for me. I like feet but not all wares need feet. I still feel bowls do need feet.If I have a form with no foot I still have a glaze catching ridge and it tapers under and appears as a foot to small degree. It also catches running glazes.Its one of my styles I'm know for along with the plate and platter nubbins-or any nubbin on the Botton which I sign.
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This is a tough one-I have made a good living on glazes that RUN-but thats not my favorite
I like salt pots and and the flashing slips and crystals on them as well and heavy salt look of pebble.
The effects of salt like on my fence post demon dog series below
- Pres, Gabby and Callie Beller Diesel
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Art engages my thought process more-In collage pursuing a BA in art I made art-that art is still around my world .Ceramic sculptures in the yard drawings in tubes-painting long ago destroyed .I no longer make much art. I know how-I like to view others at shows .I still do some for myself daily for fence and yard-never to sell.
For me its a luxury as I'm in the business of making money with ceramics and making ceramic art is just to hard to do that with. I have made some for fun in my salt kiln like kiln demon dogs for my fence but never to try to sell.I like to make art for myself as noted as its an outlet for expression I like .
Salt pots are the same deal for me I cannot make them along with my weekly fictional work . I must clear the plate and have fun with salt wares as they are not meant for the market.
I think you know art when you see it-most of my pots are not art but functional wares.Yes I have made a salt face jug or two and that was art.
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When I ran two color bodies-stoneware and porcelain -I used two wheels two wedging areas and two separate piles of bats.
(toss a few where the lids weren't quite matched up.)
just use a chuck and trim the lids to fit.If its a wider jar well then you need to throw a larger lid.I always write inside with wet finger on lids the metric CM
that way I know what it was.
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I like to use every day other potters mugs-coffee and milk as well as my stoneware dinnerware set every day that I made in 1976.I use the salad plate almost every lunchtime as well.
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That clay looks like sandstone buff-has the same baby poo look to it.
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(I'm starting to wonder if this topic keeps resurfacing because those who have a piece of paper want to reassure themselves they're safely in the elite and everyone else is not. It must be a very warm, secure place to be. I wonder what that's like? )
Yappy-I would like to add that a piece of paper has zero value-its the experience that one needs-its the quest for knowledge-not all can go to school and thats the way it is -but community collage is more affordable and adult Ed later in life is most avordable. The point is learning makes for better people .
You have that drive from what I know about you .Its the quest for learning that is more important than any piece of paper. My real learning was after school in the real world.I also went to school when one could work their way thru it as it was cheaper back then.
I have spent the last 7 years giving back some of my learning in ceramics in this forum and mentoring-much of that knowledge was gained by the school of hard knocks.I have no paper that shows those bruises but they have the same value -maybe more.
I have never felt elite or thought of my BA as anything other than a lot of work.I do feel very lucky to do something I never felt as work like a regular job.
And that I get to use the school knowledge to work thru problems as there always problems with ceramics.
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Formal education is a key element in the whole process. I was raised in a art friendy home by educators. I was exposed to ceramics in 5th grade and again in high school. It took hold of part of me and I do not know why. I went on and got an art degree in collage over a 5 year process. I happened to learn from recent graduates from the golden age of Alfred graduates who got their 1st teaching jobs. They learned from the greats-like Rhodes etc. I was at the right place right time. Also one could find materials on the cheap and build kilns and obtain permits may back then. Thats all changed now.
Back in school I fired gas and electrics worked as a tech and fired kilns for work study money-built kilns-made bricks learned clay and glaze formulation
did low fire and high fire and raku and pit firing-made sculpture and made functional wares. Only in school is one exposed to it all and to get all the knowledge one needs to see it all.U-tube cannot hold a candle too this experience.
School was the beginning of my learning experience -Really just a jump off point looking back. Its the foundation of my career but the real learning was in the real world of business and the sheer number of years it takes to get good and succeed .Throwing really well takes everyone different amounts of time to master-for me it was about 7 or eight years to get handles and forms perfected and have then sell well.
I'm a big believer in formal education-our society improves with formal education.
The only downside these days is ceramic education has been slashed nation wide and there has been at least a twenty year bias towards sculpt vs functional wares in many collage programs. You can now get a degree in what I call (jar opening) where you learn very little except low fire sculpture making.Finding a good school these days is work.
- Marcia Selsor, Pres, LeeU and 2 others
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Sorry about the the link -goggle is your friend here is the link to my friends
check them out at a show near you (west coast states)
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Soap/lotion pumps outsell soap dishes for sure
But soap dishes are a perfect stuffer-I wholesale them and they sell in all 9 of my outlets.I like making them as well. I make about 1/2 of them with drain holes
I now use the metal covered (stainless heavy duty flat head pumps-)on my lotions and charge $5 more for them. I no longer offer plastic pumps. The metal tops made sales pick up.I buy them in $500 lots (I buy them in 200 lots to save $$ that saves a few dollars per pump)from some fellow potters I know who import and resale parts as well as they are high end crystalline potters.
You can view them at
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9 boxes (262#s)left yesterday to Harmony Ca .Another potter stopped by on way south and is taking them for me on His way to Santa Barbara. I sweetened the deal with a 50$ bill for them for extra gas. One less thing on the bench.
Big show this weekend so bench is clear.
Another out of state show in 3 weeks so lots of greenware piling up.
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Pres-My squeeze bottle has a metal tip
you can see the results on this photo post on this thread-the surface is also curved .
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Looking good Pres-I'm working on a $3,900 wholesale order myself due on the 11th-I got it last Monday.
Should help pay for my upcoming trip diving in Bali.
Those pots look great by the way-I really like the honeycomb texture. Asa you are finding out extruded handles are very strong and so much faster. Its 99% of all my handles the past 35 years. Never had a mention about folks missing the taper.
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I am on a midsummer break and the bench is empty-just returned form my really big show and a few days of diving.No clay for another week.
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QotW: So there is my question. Recognizing that some days are obviously different from others, and some here have studios that are available only in warmer weather or not in really hot weather, what is the typical day, hour block by hour block, during a t
in Int'l Ceramic Artists Network (ICAN) Operations and Benefits
Typical day starts at 9 am in studio throwing until 12 to 1 pm -putting wares in sunshine (may-oct)break for lunch and expresso. Depending on drying conditions-start to trim/handle wares- after lunch.The idea is to finish all the work that day. sometimes get to throw some for am trimming as well. Try to finish up by 6-630pm
In winter pots are forced dry in shop with natural gas heater or if coastal fog come in for days -Like past few days -I light up heater and dry work inside.
This cycle repeat's until bisque day which usually has some throwing or trimming in am and firing goes into the evening hours. Load and fire bisque car kiln- while making glaze that day.
Glaze day starts at 9-ish and runs long (7-8pm) I load two kilns most of the time and fire them the next day.I have an assistant for glaze day and putting on handles the past 25 plus years as well.I usually do all the kiln loading and she helps with most of the unloading.I usually cool one and 1/2 to two days and we unload the next and pack and price all the wares in one long afternoon.That we glaze on Fridays and I fire on Saturdays-unload on Monday afternoons orGlaze on Mondays I fire Tuesdays and we unload Friday afternoons.(glaze days usually are Mondays or Fridays occasionally Wens) Then the cycle repeats itself.-Been this way for many decades -maybe more-
Sundays is usually a day off as the kilns are cooling and I am trying to do less in clay.Sometimes a Market pottery drop off happens on Sundays.
Thursdays are also a slower day usually with pottery deliveries to wholesale accounts and loading a bisque and glaze making .
Things that affect this schedule are fishing /camping /trips away/diving/off season break/ Vacations/etc.
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Moat of you know my story-in fact its the reason I came to this site in the 1st place-to ask the question can you still throw pots after having a PRC wrist surgery. Which for me was unknown at that time.
That was my 1st post on this board back in 2012 if I recall
I had some trama to my right wrist sometime in past 30 years and hurt that wrist and the wrist became to painful to do much with.The scaphoid bone drifted into the lunate after that injury (unknown to me) and arthritis ate it all up.
Had this procedure done
http://www.sonjacerovac.com/procedures/hand-wrist/proximak-row-carpectomy/
They cut out the 3 of the 9 bones we all have in our wrist.I have 6 bones now-you all have 9.
I found the best surgeon specialist on the west coast and got several opinions first as I really wanted to stay in clay.
I ended up 6 hours south in San Fransisco at UCSF . It was a 6 month recovery-(5 clay free)
Now I have a limited range of motion and only have 105#s of grip (once was 130) in that hand.
Its slowing degrading from use and my next option will be full wrist fusion when I cannot stand the pain my Docs says. If I baby it It may last my lifetime but I have found that clay work is not babying it enough and its slowly getting more painful. Thank goodness I have a high pain threshold.
The timing is such that hopefully I can slow down in time ( less pottery making)not to have full wrist fusion. (no wrist movement at all)
I could throw even with full fusion but I'm not keen on that idea.
Now at 65 my hands get cramps and get sore but I generally work thru it.My wrist is a bigger issue than finger arthritis for me.
On the economic notes I can hang it up anytime but I really like my job at times and would prefer to just slowly do less.
I built this business over 45 years ago and Its not something I look forward on closing the door on.I know at some point in the next years I'll stop with shows -thats a given with age but I like the idea of still suppling some choice local markets I have delved over the past 45 years.
Its a gamble either way.
I did get a power pugged right after wrist surgery and should have gotten one a decade sooner-all the labor saving devices really help in the long run.
advancer shelves -power wheels electric slab rollers-Peter Puggers-all very worth it if you do this for a living.
Another issue for me is all my other hobbies are heavy stuff-like diving with tanks and lead and heavy underwater cameras or shipwreck salvage. My fun is all heavy stuff.
Qotw: Do you close down for Winter, or how do you heat your studio
in Int'l Ceramic Artists Network (ICAN) Operations and Benefits
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I stop studio work on Christmas and take a 4-6 week mandatory break-work in office on tax prep.
My studio has a natural gas heater and can start up any time its needed.It does not freeze much around here only now and then.
I do not close for winter and usually do get back to work in Feb. depending on winter vacation trips.
Things slow down in winter except my grocery store sales keep on trucking so goods for them need to keep being produced . I often back stock most of that stuff so I always stay ahead of demand.