shawnhar

Roughage!

Same for me.
I don't trim unless I have to, I give my pieces a visual foot while throwing and be done with it.

Must be nice to have all those trees,   not many trees in Kansas.   I have tried planting them a couple of times and the deer manage to kill them.   We have a creek about 3 blocks from our house with a large population  on deer.  Did anyone else get snow yesterday,  it looked like Christmas card snow.    Denice

The snow is all gone now-this is the view outside behind my cut & slam set up-I just happened to look up w/the camera nearby before he was gone.

Absolutely, the pots definitely work, very nice.
As for qow, there are some pots I don't trim, but not many.
I like
a) to establish the ring where the finger catches on the bottom, particularly for unhandled ware, so there's a closed angle between thumb and fingers (I have "bad" thumbs)
b) to trim the portion within the ring to match the contour of the pot, which typically has a slight arc to it, which then flattens a bit in drying
c) to glaze the portion within the ring
d) to burnish the clay, particularly the bare part
e) to tool the portion within the footring
f) chatter mark
Hence, both, it's clean-up, for there's clay to remove, and enhance, per I like, above, however, trimming is just part of my process, and the ring is mainly practical for me.
As for being part of the creative process, yes, I believe so. The humble portion - it's part of the pot, after all! 
Here's the mug I brought with on my trip - the size I like, just over ten ounces.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty pots, they are both awesome and terrible at the same time, until the plastic is removed and the wave form collapses 
 

I don't have a photo, but there's a 5L wine box.
And bills. 

Years ago I watched on interview with Ruth Duckworth  that inspired me to work with clay until the end of my life if I could.  She was in her studio sitting comfortably and smiling at the interviewer as he asked her questions.  In the middle of the questions she excused herself and said her kiln needed a little reduction.   She picks up a few small sticks of wood and throws them in the kiln when she opens the door.   She sits back down, tells the interviewer that the kiln is taken care of  and smiles.  She was so comfortable and happy in her studio.  I wanted to have that in my old age.    Denice

I only use like 12 tools so they are not that hard to find when I need them. Throwing tools and sponges live on the wheel and trim/handling live on a small table behind the wheel. Wax and tongs, drill/mixer live on the glaze table, kiln stuff by the kiln
 Having said that, I do have a ton of duplicates, and other tools I rarely (or never) use,  most of them live in a clear plastic gallon bucket and if I need one I can see it, and one other plastic bin filled with useless crap I will never use, but I might, maybe, but I won't, but I might find a use for it.... bah! Need to Marie Kando that ...

For me coaching was from the start as a kid. My older brothers where track stars-one was 11 years older the other 5 years older. The oldest went on to be Stanfords best high hurdler (on a scholarship) and went on to be an olympic athlete . The other was also on the record books so by the time I was in Junior high the coaches all knew what I was capable of. I grew up with a pole valult and high jump pit in backyard. I was the Junior highs best jumper. Turns out my older brother pulled his achilles tendon the meet befor the plane left for Toyko Olympics in 64 and dashed him from the team. He then quit his doctors training path and became an art professor later for 25 years in the california UC stystem at UCSB Santa Barbara in print making.  He died of melanoma cancer in 92. My other brother also excelled at art but took his life at 23.That  brother made it almost thru High school before his art interests overran the coaches interests . For me in Junior high seeing both brothers records still on the board the coaches (all track and fild and some gymnastics) had big plans and worked me to death. In late 9th grade I had enough as I wanted to just high jump and they wanted me to run track as well. I have medals from those days still in the long runs 400 and 800 meters and and relays but the high jump records are what I really liked (the western roll at that time). At some point in an endless running around the track one day  in May in 9th grade I had had enough . I told the coach I was done running for him and he should do the 20 laps that day. I turned my interests to art like all my brothers before me. The rest is history except I really cut my own path thru school and beyond. 
For me coaches are all in my past. What I learned form coaches is I was not meant to be in the herd with the rest I excelled on my own paths-What they learned is I was a independent thinker and most coaches where NOT

Jerry Marshall, the guy turning out lids offa mound in the You Tube vid.
Bill Van Gilder, because his book, articles, vids and that ancient (1986) cbs interview were (still are) helpful and inspiring - it'd be worth the trip just to thank him;
Hsin-Chuen Lin, also because - his vids so helpful and inspiring and I'd like to just say thank you;
Bunzy Sherman, err, I'm happy to wait a very long time for that ...when I get to meet alla people I miss or never met;
ditto Warren, Ruth, Ziesel, and others.
Someone who is an expert thrower who (somehow, amazing, right?) also clearly recalls the learning process and has the incredible knack of teaching and communicating, oh, and toss in a biting and insightful sense of humor please. ...and I hope the presenter is both small and a woman, just to turn gender bias on its ear, and the big strong thing at the same time. 
 

So true, that giant molded non-removable splash pan would suck in a class environment unless you connected a drain hose to the hole and literally hosed it out after class, they are a pain to clean when really messy. They do keep the mess pretty well contained though, which I really like. Anyway it was not what I would have chosen, the cost made the choice for me.

Bought one of those for the HS I worked at. Great wheel, solid, good motor and controller. For most potters it would do well, but for the HS with 50 min. periods and clean up at the end, better to have the other version with the removable splash pans. Next 3 were those.
 
best,
Pres

I plan to have an open studio sale type thing, but will miss this year due to the move and having no inventory left. We are going to make it Labor Day weekend and have a big party at the same time. Lots of food, games, tents, cots and what not. 

I plan to have an open studio sale type thing, but will miss this year due to the move and having no inventory left. We are going to make it Labor Day weekend and have a big party at the same time. Lots of food, games, tents, cots and what not. 

I originally fell in love with fuel firings of all kinds. When I went to college, all functional work was done at cone 10 reduction, and cone 6 wasn’t really a thing. Salt, soda, wood firing, even raku. Any time I could heat up some pots and throw something dirty at them, I was a happy kid. The chemistry is cheaper, and you could still build a small gas kiln in your backyard. I turned down a number of offers to come get a gas kiln out of someone’s yard when they were moving after helping a friend secure one. Sigh.
Ten years after graduation, I still hadn’t been able to set up a business though, because gas kilns are regulated under the same section of the code as industrial boilers and fracking equipment (custom built appliances). Because of a few workplace accidents, they started actually enforcing the rules around custom appliances.  If I build my own kiln, it’ll cost about 20K including a mandatory CSA approval sticker before someone will hook it up. I can’t even buy burners if I don’t have a gas fitter’s ticket. If I import a prebuilt one from the US, probably about the same cost, last time I priced it out. There are a couple of places to rent gas kilns available to me, but it’s prohibitive to do that as a business.
I wound up learning cone 6 chemistry because gas kilns weren’t feasible to use anymore. It was either not make on the scale I wanted to, or change chemistry. I resisted it for a long time because I had put so much work into making at cone 10, I didn’t want to loose that time investment. When it became unavoidable, I decided to challenge myself to build work that was durable, had rich surfaces that I could appreciate, and still had a focus on good form that is one of the strong points of atmospheric firing. A bad form with a brown glaze is (insert your own colourful euphemism). 
I have found that cone six presents some interesting challenges for me that I really enjoy. Before, I was making so that I could enjoy the process. Now, I’m interested more in the finished results. The clay is cheaper, but the glaze chemicals cost more. I have found that cone ten had left me a little complacent with my chemistry because I was relying on heat to solve a lot of problems. Learning cone 6 has made me a more technically adept potter. I have a lot more material knowledge now, and that really helps with testing. When I first began potting, I had to learn to love brown, and I was always a little sad there wasn’t more bright colours to contrast with the earthy tones. Now, I can shamelessly indulge in pink and yellow in addition to green and blue. I can have the contrast between the subtle earthy texture of my red clay, and highlight it with some bright colours that were previously a lot more difficult to achieve.

Mine is really loud as well and I was really bummed about how loud it was,  but as far as bothering the neighbors, i would say there is NO way someone could complain about that level, our HVAC is WAY louder than that and it runs all the time.

Thanks for all of the great advice - my new plan is to find a suitable inline fan motor to swap out, keeping the rest of the apparatus, the collection cup and hose, and see if that is a better solution. 

If your choices are pottery plaster or plaster of Paris, use the pottery plaster. PoP won’t stand up to the level of moisture and it’ll crumble. 
 
I personally lay a bedsheet over my wire shelves and lay slurry out on that. 

They're fun to make, but my arms are killing me! 95% of what I make is under 5 pounds so this is rare. When I do these I center the 12 pound pieces in two parts- center half, add the other half, center all that. It's easier that way, and almost as fast. Saves my wrists a lot of strain. I could just muscle it all when I was younger, but now I try to work smarter when I can.

Set o' mugs

My wife is very sensitive to mold and I have a studio in our bathroom. It's not the clay, it's your local studio. I NEVER smell mold in my studio space, except sometimes when I first open a bag of clay. Cheese never bothers me either. Like Liam, I get a little anaerobic bacteria from the iron in our well water and that's the worst offender.