Pres

I keep business cards with the pieces I have collected when I have one. I am looking into putting together either a database, or spread sheet of the artwork in the house now/ much of it does not need a card as much of it is mine from pottery to watercolor to acrylic paintings. I also have several prints of my own and of old students. Of the pottery Cynthia Bringle, Mea Rea, Tom Roberts, John Glick, Glenn Woods/Keith Herbrand and  a few others are represented. I also have a hanging weaving of Jean Giddings, and  three prints by Giovanni Bonazzon that are nicely framed.  Many of these are because of travels,  friendships, or chances to purchase work I really admire.
best,
Pres

I have collected various pieces over the years with the latest being a couple of pieces traded and purchased from our own Mark Cortright. My favorite, however, is a crystalline glazed vase that was broken and dug out of the trash. My wife managed to salvage all of the pieces and I glued it back together and I keep it as an inspiration for my eventual foray into that realm of glazing...
JohnnyK

Last week, Yappystudent posted the following question in the Question pool for the QotW: Do you collect pottery and ceramics? 
Not an unusual question to be asking fellow potters, but I don't remember anyone asking before. My answer to this is yes, I have collected a few pots here and there of late, to remember some excellent potters, and good times. I decided I needed to do more of this a few years ago when I visited Dwight Hollands home outside of Asheboro, NC while attending the NC Potters Conference. Dwight's home was a potters haven, and home to hundred if not thousands of pots. We were invited in for a quiet party, and Dwight told us all to handle the pots, enjoy them and have fun. I was nearly dizzy most of the night as I was touching pots and seeing actual pieces by people that I had only read about in books and magazines. I decided as much as possible I would begin purchasing pieces that would remind me of and experience, or a person for later years. So I have spent a very small amount collecting  a few pieces that I treasure. My first ones had been at the conference, and others later, I also have some that were given to me as gifts, and have given others mine as gifts, humble as they are. I enjoy seeing them, and remembering a great demonstration, or a talk over coffee, or even a winning smile from them when first met. Memories.
 
best,
Pres

The white mug pictured here  is a back filled handle. You can see that the original strip of clay was probably rolled out quite flat, and would have had a relatively small attachment point. He took a small coil and back filled that space to both reinforce the join, and for aesthetics.  Because the handle or the backfill is often smoothed flush to the mug body (this example isn't totally), depending on your clay and drying conditions, can be prone to cracking. It adds a step, but it looks awesome.
The other mug is one of mine, and is a "dog bone" style, called so because they flare at top and bottom and taper in the middle like a cartoon dog bone. It leaves a shadow around the attachment point that can be more forgiving of drying shrinkage. The slight gap gets filled in with glaze and reinforced that way. It also has its own aesthetic.
edited 2019: at the request of the artist previously used as an example I have removed his name and the image of the mug. He stated that my description of his handle construction was inaccurate, but declined to elaborate on his process.

 

I found that energy begets energy occurs in the classroom also. The more energy I put into demonstrating, getting around to the kids, excitement on my part about projects was returned to me and bounced back and forth by the students. If I was in a slump for some reason, they were too. In the end I found that even if I had a fever, cold and chills that pushing that energy out there made my day. . . and theirs. Of course I slept well at night!

I found that energy begets energy occurs in the classroom also. The more energy I put into demonstrating, getting around to the kids, excitement on my part about projects was returned to me and bounced back and forth by the students. If I was in a slump for some reason, they were too. In the end I found that even if I had a fever, cold and chills that pushing that energy out there made my day. . . and theirs. Of course I slept well at night!

No - backfill,they are extruded handles-cut at a slant. The pot body is scored well and slip (collected while throwing and add some vinagar)is applied with a brushed handle is put on. The top of all my handled pots have a thumb spot or finger rest. Thats another process with slip and no scoring.
The secret if there is one if there are Any cracks they are rubbed out while doing with a small sharp wooden stick. They disappear after that .Most potters do not do this final step but I  stick any cracks as they dry. 

DHPotter had a studio question a few weeks ago: Do you back fill handles at the attachment point? If so, is it for aesthetic or structural reasons?
 
I think that is a good process question, and as I have been having handle problems of late, I will address this.
I used to add a pulled handle to mugs and pitchers that had a few knobs above, one large with two smaller on each side. At the bottom I did not back fill as in never seemed necessary. This was for years with the work, as I would arch the top handle up a bit, and reinforce above the handle with the 3 knobs that were worked into the handle. . center knob with a thumb imprint, other two with a rounded rib I made for the purpose. I have been looking at the dog bone handles that are pulled with round body, and thicker on top and bottom, and they seemed to be complete looking on some pots. . .just not for me.
Nowadays, I cannot make the pulled ribbon handle I used to make, and have started doing extruder handles as my thumb has very little movement in the joint just below the thumb nail, and the thumb has a super wide joint. The extruder handles are working better, especially after I have made major changes in the dies with a dremel tool. However, as it seems to take a little less time, I have started to back fill in the bottom joint, smoothing it with a small rounded rib. They look good, but sometimes I forget to do it, so have seen them both ways.  . don't know as there is a whole lot of difference if the handle is added on well, and finished well. I guess it is a personal decision, aesthetic at best, certainly not needed for strength.
 
best 
Pres

I found that energy begets energy occurs in the classroom also. The more energy I put into demonstrating, getting around to the kids, excitement on my part about projects was returned to me and bounced back and forth by the students. If I was in a slump for some reason, they were too. In the end I found that even if I had a fever, cold and chills that pushing that energy out there made my day. . . and theirs. Of course I slept well at night!

I stand and stare in that exact pose. When i need a kick in the butt, I read, start a home improvement project like shelves in the laundry room to raised garden beds, or clean and rearrange the studio. Take hikes, research natural objects, etc. I often get the AHA moments in my dreams.  I just finished some surprise deadlines AFTER I delivered work to a gallery for an Invitational on May 11. I was a featured artist at 2 more galleries this past weekend. Now I am just relaxing a little bit. Fired new work this weekend using a hybrid technique of aluminum foil saggar chemicals in ceramic saggars. Discovered this technique may 5 so the first gallery didn't get any for their show. The second gallery is taking all the larger pots to the potential buyers house to see how they look on the built in shelves. This client purchased 4 $5000 paintings at the opening. Must be a HUGE house. These were large paintings.
I find pressure to produce to be a stimulus to get the creative juices flowing. I am heading off to a wood firing at the end of next week. Plus an exhibition of our work afterwards.
 
Marcia

Tom (glazenerd) recently asked in the question bank: What are the rituals you follow when the creative juices dry up, or the joys of making pottery becomes tedious  because of deadline demands?
This is an interesting question, and it requires that we look at both sides of the question as to the answer. Yeah, got you scratching your head! Ok, so recently as you all know I completed an order of mugs, and honey jars. It was a large order for me, and with the weather, and all I was in "crunch time". This required a lot of long days of throwing/trimming/assembling. In the long run, I found that I was finding ways to be more efficient, more creative, and able to pay more attention to detail. So. . . .deadlines for me are a good thing.
The main part of what glazenerd was asking is about creative blocks, and how to overcome them. If you check back into posts from a few years back, you will find post from me about wanting to change direction, throw looser, do more creative things with the pots. I asked for help, and got much advice from others and especially from one in particular. . . John Baymore.  John presented a series of options/alternatives to try and loosen up my throwing and the way I worked. These helped me to make changes that I am still using today, whereas I do not worry so much when the pot gets a little off center, and pressing stamps/faceting, wiggle wire cutting and then shaping is becoming natural. Seems though that the more I work, the more controlled they seem to become, but it does not bother me now. I have always been aware of other potters through pictures, and books, but now that I have been to more conferences I have seen much more work, and enjoyed the company of other potters along with having seen some really excellent demonstrations that have inspired new efforts on my part. So conferences at least once a year seem to be a must to keep the juices flowing. Thankfully most of these are in late Winter/early Spring so it is easier.
best,
Pres

I pug clay.  
There is no pressure.  Nothing that must be done.  No finish line.  No phones, no computers, no TV.   No control.  The pug mill tells me how fast to go,  gently ignoring any pleas to go faster...
Just lovely plastic handfuls of clay, Iike the first time you touched it.  In. Out. In. Out.  In. Out.  The mineral earth smell, cold and damp, squeezing through my fingers.  Slap into the hopper.  Down comes the plunger, extra force applied right to the bottom to leave no doubt about who is really in charge of everything in this little world.
Endless, rhythmic repetition (cut, smash, cut smash, cut smash), the low steady drone of the motor, the slow but inevitable extrusion of perfect worms, again, and again.
... hypnotic....like a wheel going round...and round....
...the mind wanders, ...  sequences of thoughts lead strangely down side paths.  Ideas occur, new but vaguely familiar, coming  from somewhere like things that happen in a dream.  Forms appear in your minds eye, once known, then forgotten and now rediscovered...  
have hours passed or only minutes?  No idea.  Cut slap smash.  It goes on.  You are far away now.
a distant call to dinner shakes you awake.. back to earth.  switch off the pugmill.  As the dream fades you quickly you scribble down a few thoughts, rough out a shape or two... 
tomorrow is another day.   As you drift off you know fresh pugs of clay wait silently in a neat stack, filled with possibility, daring you to try something new...
 
 

For me it is not pride or ego ... it is in my nature. I simply cannot sell a pot I believe to be a ‘second’ at any price.
I have learned that for me ... a ‘second’ is a second before bisque. Nothing in a firing is going to save it. No glaze or decoration is going to do magic. No raku voodoo is going to hide it. So I don’t bisque it. No piece is so precious it cannot be made again.
Set your own standards on what is a second for you, then live with it.

Well, it depends. Are you going for a single sale or a repeat customer?
It’s bad enough when your early ‘good’ work comes back to haunt you ... cannot imagine how horrible it would be to meet a second in the hands of a potter I admire.

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

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. 
 

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
 

A triple or double zero "spotting brush" for photography retouching (used for manual prints, to fill-in minute voids left by dust on a lens.) This for fine line work or narrow letters-not wide areas.

assembled and ready for a gallery show.

For text work in letters I use a small squeeze bottle with the glaze or stain and fill the letter voids-far less clean up and messing with things-then I wax over them for glazing.

Pres, the wedding jar is just gorgeous.

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

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

What a lovely wedding present! Such a nice thing to make for them, hope they fill it with love, wishes and dreams.

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