Mark C.

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

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.

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.

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.

That clay looks like sandstone buff-has the same baby poo look to it.

One thing of note-in my 45 year ceramic career my art BA has never come up-not in any sense-galleries -shows-etc.

(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.

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.

Sorry about the the link -goggle is your friend here is the link to my friends http://www.onedreamdesign.com check them out at a show near you (west coast states)

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 http://www.onedreamdesign.com

Mine are mini vases and mini bowls-sponge holders and spoon rests -small cat bowls-extruded soap dishes. Smalls are where I make the most money selling as they sell to everyone.

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.

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 .

Pres I kept bees for 20 years so I have a soft spot for all things honey-I used to sell my honey along with pottery at shows in the early 80's. Now I trade pottery for 5gallon buckets of clover/mix honey from a larger bee producer.I use honey every day instead of sugar.

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.

MY handles look like this

Mine are the F unctional ones-every one has a thumb spot on top as well

40 soap dishes 200 sponge holders a few hundred mugs-20 small miso bowls 4 oval platters and A partridge in a pear tree.