shawnhar

all of the above works for the folks who use those methods.  they may be exactly what you need,  dookie.   i just want to make a comment on the fear of using an oven with heat on greenware.
there seems to be an opinion that heat in an oven is detrimental.   heat is only changing the state of the clay from wet, or moist, or damp or whatever stage it is in to drier.  and warmer for awhile.   that does not mean it cannot be returned to damp, moist or even wetter than moist.    i have been using the oven in some cases for years with no bad effects.  
potters should know their clay.   its qualities and its limits.   some clay likes to be thrown but will fight being made into a slab and bent to a shape.   others are the opposite.  it is your job to seek its limits.    the very easiest thing to learn is how does it react to water.   it will not hurt the potter to simply dry out a piece of clay and test it.  a piece about the size of a business card allows a lot of tests.   totally dry it.    use a cup of water and dip the short end in deep enough for half an inch of wet to show on the clay.  pull it out fairly fast.   look at the surface to see if it still shines or not.   remember that.    now, scrape the wet area with a sharp tool to see how deeply wet that part is.   probably not very deep.   remember that.   try the opposite end of the clay and dip it longer.   remember that.   scrape it and see how much more the wet has grown.   remember that.  dip the alternate end in long enough to make it separate from the original shape.   remember that as too much.  anything before destruction can be reversed with heat or time.   just try it!
by now, you might have realized that it does take a LOT of water entering a totally dry piece of clay to destroy the original piece.    so many folks think just getting something wet will kill their piece and they might be surprised to learn that was just fear and they need not believe it anymore.    i know a potter who thinks if she is interrupted while working, she has to start again from the beginning.  to her, there is just a short window to have the "flow" of making a piece work.    nonsense?
 

I definitely recommend working a half day into your schedule to document new work if you can. My photo set up is in between my kiln and where I pack pots for shows. They come out of the kiln, into the kitchen for quick pics, and into bins. The more lead time you can grant yourself the lower the stress levels. 

I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

Well I am not up to the level of many of you but every so often I really like the way a mug works out. I make one or two "experimental" every time I throw a big batch of  mugs.
Anyway I feel like those that do work really elevate the look of my display and I just wish they would stay around longer for that contribution.

Well I am not up to the level of many of you but every so often I really like the way a mug works out. I make one or two "experimental" every time I throw a big batch of  mugs.
Anyway I feel like those that do work really elevate the look of my display and I just wish they would stay around longer for that contribution.

Normally I have no attachment but there have been several pieces in the last few months that I wish would have stayed around longer because they looked great to me and I priced them higher, they all sold immediately and my display is left with the "boring" work.
How do you deal with/feel about the ones that are "elevated"?
 

Normally I have no attachment but there have been several pieces in the last few months that I wish would have stayed around longer because they looked great to me and I priced them higher, they all sold immediately and my display is left with the "boring" work.
How do you deal with/feel about the ones that are "elevated"?
 

Normally I have no attachment but there have been several pieces in the last few months that I wish would have stayed around longer because they looked great to me and I priced them higher, they all sold immediately and my display is left with the "boring" work.
How do you deal with/feel about the ones that are "elevated"?
 

I always just add wateer to thin it.. Once you fine the right specific gravity (I write that # on side of bucket)

I am not an artist so I can't speak to being creatively stuck, but every time I do chores that keep me from potting, like sieve glaze, deep clean, deal with reclaim, etc... I think about all kinds of new things I "want" to do in the studio, lol.

I am not an artist so I can't speak to being creatively stuck, but every time I do chores that keep me from potting, like sieve glaze, deep clean, deal with reclaim, etc... I think about all kinds of new things I "want" to do in the studio, lol.

90% of the time un-sticking tactics for me involve filling a need that I’ve been neglecting. Is it my mind, body or spirit that needs attention? Do I need to rein in my caffeine consumption so I can get some sleep, do I need to get out of my head and go visit friends, or do I need some time to sit and noodle over a problem? Do I need a new playlist or audiobook? Am I hungry? Mostly getting unstuck is some form of “go away and do something else for a while so your unconscious can work on it.”I don’t love everything Julia Cameron does in her Artist’s Way books. I don’t think that treating a creative block as a pathology or an inner child is necessarily the best, but the parts of her approach that involve treating yourself gently and giving yourself mental/emotional space and time are good general life advice.
Creativity is play. You have to feel safe and warm and fed, and a little curious and a bit bored in order to begin to play. If one or any of those elements are missing, you have to do whatever it is that will get you into that state. 

One of my undergrad profs used to say 'If you can't center your life, you can't center your clay'. I think there is some truth to that. I see my students struggle on the wheel when they're having a bad day. They have to put aside their troubles for a couple of hours and just focus on the task at hand.
They often refer to pottery class as therapy, because they know that the other students will listen to them if they need to vent about something that's troubling them. It's nice to see, all of the them supporting and helping each other. They come to class as much for the friendships as they do for the pottery.

Drywall will mold too, I use it for wareboards and if I wrap up some wet stuff for later, it will mold in a couple of days.

I think Pres is right from a technical standpoint, the same way a guitar player can hear the flaws in a pink floyd solo, but no one that does not play would ever even hear it, and many people tell me they prefer flaws in pottery because it shows the maker's mark and is truly one of a kind.
 
I have started leaving some little scuffs and marks in my greenware for this reason, before I would sponge them all smooth.

I think Pres is right from a technical standpoint, the same way a guitar player can hear the flaws in a pink floyd solo, but no one that does not play would ever even hear it, and many people tell me they prefer flaws in pottery because it shows the maker's mark and is truly one of a kind.
 
I have started leaving some little scuffs and marks in my greenware for this reason, before I would sponge them all smooth.

I'd been recycling pieces that don't make seconds criteria as planters - drill a hole, fill with sand and potting soil mixture, add a succulent cutting, then wait.
Once the cutting has started to root, it's ready to go. I've sold some, but mostly given them away or donated them to a local nursery operation.
I'll keep doing this but will either hide them or drill them right away, for folks have been nipping them off the garden bench!
To make it as a second, the pot has to look and feel "right," have no cracks or crazes, no crawling on the food surfaces.
The flaws that demote ware to second have minor imperfections, like a tiny crawl or pinhole on the outside, near the foot, not on the top half; slightly out of round; pieces that haven't sold; small scratches...
Seconds out of my Studio only, I've stopped hauling them anywhere since building some inventory, as it doesn't seem worth it.
When I point out the flaw, folks usually scoff, or can't see it (many of us don't see as well as we used to!). I've yet to experience anyone being put off by a second's flaw!
Maybe that's good.
added: if not worthy of repurposing as a planter, hammer

It's a bit of a weird feeling when a customer almost apologies for buying a second, saying something along the lines of they prefer 2nds as they have more character. 

Vases are a slow sellers for me except at holiday times  like this week and Valentine's Day and Mothers day
You need to know not only what sells  best but When it sells best to take advantage of the market.
Keep making spoon rests -I can do 48 in about 40-45 minutes  (one pug cut into 48 pieces) No trimmers
they are recession proof
after 25 years I just raised my price on them last year
Gas is up 60-70+ percent last bill (todays bill came and it was $1,313)  for  big kiln and 4 small kiln glaze fires.

shawnhar, spoon rests are a good thing to sell, they are not expensive and people using dishwashers need more than one.   but, i do remember two men who were looking at a small tray about 6x10 and they planned to use it as a single spoon rest to hold 3 spoons at a time.   kaching!

You need skill, drive, passion and discipline, and the ability to market yourself.
 
I have a friend that has been making a living playing guitar for decades, but he plays the songs the crowd wants to hear, not his favorite music.
I would have never imagined I would be making so many damn spoon rests. I thought I would be selling vases, lol.

@DirtRoads About 10 years ago I was doing a lot of wholesale work and feeling overwhelmed by the workload. So I sat down with my accountant and said “I think I need an employee” with the intention of creating an EIN and a payroll system. But my trusty accountant said, without pausing at all “DON’T DO IT.” He said I would spend all of my time being a manager instead of a potter, I would make the same amount of money, and I would be a lot less happy. He told me to restructure my business so I could handle it by myself instead. I took his advice and started phasing out my wholesale accounts, and got rid of them completely in a year or two. And started doing more and better shows. Now I make fewer pots and a lot more money. And I’m much happier than I was. 
I figure he has 100+ clients, all self-employed and small businesses, and he has seen all of the mistakes that business owners make. It’s a common fallacy, that a bigger operation can make more money. And being a manager really sucks! It’s far more valuable to be selective and to say “no” to things that aren’t really productive. It’s great to have someone in my corner who has that kind of perspective. 

Ok I showed up at noon and others where walking thru house buying up stuff. Looks like a small amount of my work had sold . . But the tables where still stuffed.I told the fellow for me its all or nothing deal. I made a quik  rough list and  and down sized my offer to 450 $ cash. I said I have the boxes and paper and will take only my work as there was other ceramics mixed in especailly on the floor under tables (not in the photos)He took the offer which is about 16 mugs for me sales wise these days. I boxed it into 6 Banana boxes  full and dollyed it out feeling great. The womans sister spoke to me and said the lady (her sister) had a stroke and was in full time care now in North Caralina.I said she had the most work of any customer I ever knew  of and gave her my card to thank the sister . I have never met here as 99% of all the work was from a few outlets and they all had the price labels and cards inside of them. Not my own show price labels but those of my Eureka outlets. The largest amout of stuff was from a co-op organic market I pulled out of a year ago as I am slowing it down with a plan. I put a care and feeding tag in every pot  then and all those where still in every pot. Now I have a nearly a 35 cubic feet whole  kiln worth of new old stock. Its insane really. In my 50 years I never in my dreams would expect this to happen. I'm selling the stock twice this time without having to make or glaze or fire it.  Of couse prices have risen since I sold this  originally so I'm really ahead . I'm making 4 dinner plates for the friend who sent me the info last night. She really came thru for me.
There where two tables of pots  like the one photo  as well as a bunch on the floor
Just when you think you have seen or heard it all   -boom something new surfaces .

After my first failed attempt at building my own stands for firing jewelry, I've succeeded in fabricating new stands which held up to ^6 firing! The first time around, I made the stands with ^5 B-Mix and bisque fired them to ^04. They seemed solid enough, but when I fired the assembled stands, the weight of the jewelry caused the stands to sag, which, in turn, caused most of the jewelry pieces to run together and touch its neighbor. The melting glaze joined the pieces permanently. In the cases where the pieces were not co-joined, they were stuck to the stainless steel wire I used to string them because I drilled the mounting holes just big enough for the wire to fit AND I didn't clean the holes of glaze, thus fusing the pieces to the wire.
This time around, I added a strut to the B-Mix w/grog ^5 stands and fired them to ^6. I drilled the jewelry holes bigger and cleaned the holes of glaze. The stands held up to the firing and I had only 2 pieces stick to the wire but was able to break them loose without breaking the pieces. The photos show the first failed attempt, the second successful attempt, the layout of the stands, the assembled stands, and a selection of copper-toned pieces that I thought came out looking pretty darned good! (The penny is to show proportion.) In a number of the pieces, I was going for a raw, organic look with the rough edges which I think will look great as part of a necklace.

Can I be a functional fine artist? Actually, isn't that what the decorative arts are? I think that's me, as I like to make functional work but with a hand painted surface. When people ask me, I've been saying "ceramic artist" too, because I handbuild many pieces. I associate a potter with a wheel even though I know that's not strictly the case.