liambesaw

Did a glaze firing last night, hope to open tonight when I get home.  Kiln was still at 900f when I left for work.  I've got 35 mugs in there and a shelf of spoon rests.  Trying out a new glaze, coffee nuka.  Went to mix some other glazes this weekend and lo and behold!  No silica. Grrr, I thought I had half of a 50lb bag left when I saw the bin almost empty.  
Oh well!  That just means I get to make another trip to Seattle pottery supply!
This week I'm going to continue to try repeat bowls.  That's all that's on the docket.  I might do another glaze firing midweek if I can, but not a deal breaker

We've got 2 huskies, a 3 year old white one (Kita), she's 65lbs, and a 10 month old cream one (Kodi) and he's 45lbs so far.  We also have a 12 year old daschund (Scotch) and a 15 year old tuxedo cat (meowzer)!
 

We've got 2 huskies, a 3 year old white one (Kita), she's 65lbs, and a 10 month old cream one (Kodi) and he's 45lbs so far.  We also have a 12 year old daschund (Scotch) and a 15 year old tuxedo cat (meowzer)!
 

We've got 2 huskies, a 3 year old white one (Kita), she's 65lbs, and a 10 month old cream one (Kodi) and he's 45lbs so far.  We also have a 12 year old daschund (Scotch) and a 15 year old tuxedo cat (meowzer)!
 

I have an oblate sphere on my banding wheel.  I have roughed in some dancing figures to circle the outside and am thinking about the underglaze treatment.
On a separate table I have an oval plaque, as yet unfired, maybe ten inches by 16." I will probably underglaze that before firing. That one is on a Year of the Pig theme, with a plan of showing up to three red river hogs, a Vasayan warty pig, and a warthog. 

Did a glaze firing last night, hope to open tonight when I get home.  Kiln was still at 900f when I left for work.  I've got 35 mugs in there and a shelf of spoon rests.  Trying out a new glaze, coffee nuka.  Went to mix some other glazes this weekend and lo and behold!  No silica. Grrr, I thought I had half of a 50lb bag left when I saw the bin almost empty.  
Oh well!  That just means I get to make another trip to Seattle pottery supply!
This week I'm going to continue to try repeat bowls.  That's all that's on the docket.  I might do another glaze firing midweek if I can, but not a deal breaker

Did a glaze firing last night, hope to open tonight when I get home.  Kiln was still at 900f when I left for work.  I've got 35 mugs in there and a shelf of spoon rests.  Trying out a new glaze, coffee nuka.  Went to mix some other glazes this weekend and lo and behold!  No silica. Grrr, I thought I had half of a 50lb bag left when I saw the bin almost empty.  
Oh well!  That just means I get to make another trip to Seattle pottery supply!
This week I'm going to continue to try repeat bowls.  That's all that's on the docket.  I might do another glaze firing midweek if I can, but not a deal breaker

Let's race! I'll give you a 2 hour head start! 

Over the years, I have found that I often have to have a "Gestation state", a period of time where I don't do something, but think about it. Then when I return to the activity or problem, I have solved it without even really knowing it. This has happened to me often when dealing with throwing over the years. . . throwing off the hump and having "S" cracks, throwing large and not getting enough out of the base, Wonky rims, that were weak and poorly finished, trimming through too many large plates, cracks in large plates, cracks in large bowls, and the list could last for much longer. Point is, problems do not just disappear when you push more time into it, often you have to figure out why. Research helps, thinking about what you research helps, also thinking about what you know about clay and how it is structurally made up and how to use that instead of fight it. All in a lifetime of working with any material, especially one so simply complex.
 
best,
Pres 

On the subject of “hours vs. years,” I agree that there is a minimum number of hours required for development. But I’m not sure you can speed up the process by cramming in all of the hours within a short period of time. In order to make what I consider “professional” or “sellable” pottery, you need to be a fully-fledged adult with a strong grasp of your own values, tastes, priorities, etc. The pots you make are a reflection of who you are. And if you have not yet answered the “who am I?” question, your pots will look immature too. So even if you’ve spent 4 years in a college ceramics program, putting in many hours of intensive study, a degree holding 22 yr old still has years to go. A college campus is not the right environment to answer the “who am I?” question. The environment is too safe. (I remember as a college design student, I thought the program was so hard, intense and competitive. Then I hit the real world and realized how safe the environment had been.) In other words, the hours of study are just a starting point in terms of technical proficiency. The years of personal development are necessary too. In my experience as a pottery teacher, I occassionaly worked with students who had been practicing pottery for a year or two, and already making wonderful pots. They were mature people (which doesn’t necessarily mean older) who had a good sense of their values, and a large bank of life experiences to draw on and guide them. 

I'll let you know when I get there.  Like pres, I think hours is probably a better measure than years.
I can throw a nice even mug the same way pretty much every time, and I've got 10 months of "recent" wheel throwing under my belt now.  But I have a wheel at home and I am throwing for about 3 hours a night, 5 days a week.  Weekends are mostly glazing and firing so I'm only at the wheel maybe 4 hours.  So that's around 19 hours a week, for 44 weeks, 836 hours total so far and I'm just now feeling confident I can sell my mugs and bowls.

I'll let you know when I get there.  Like pres, I think hours is probably a better measure than years.
I can throw a nice even mug the same way pretty much every time, and I've got 10 months of "recent" wheel throwing under my belt now.  But I have a wheel at home and I am throwing for about 3 hours a night, 5 days a week.  Weekends are mostly glazing and firing so I'm only at the wheel maybe 4 hours.  So that's around 19 hours a week, for 44 weeks, 836 hours total so far and I'm just now feeling confident I can sell my mugs and bowls.

Well I think we all would rather hear what form of education has helped you the most in pottery, but you asked for it!
 

I have to say that people, and then later the forums and other websites were the most helpful things, in that order. I went to every Ceramic workshop from as many people as I could. I had much of my basic technical education before YouTube was a really useful thing for pottery. 
Edited to add:
YouTube was there, it was just a lot more about cat videos. 

I'm making YouTube videos now too!   I thought to myself "what is the internet missing?" And guess what, there wasn't a single video of me in my pajamas making mugs, now there is!  Still trying to figure out the whole YouTube thing but I'll get there!

Nice about these little bats is no cutting (unless I need to free up some bats early), the mugs pop off at leather soft and I thumb trim them.  The bad thing about a system like this is that you need to learn to center on a non-level surface because after some heavy use they don't sit down perfectly in the slot anymore. Hah!  I don't have a problem wiring off the wheel, but with my limited room it can be hard to swing my body to side and place the mugs on the shelves using both arms.

I learned the basics of throwing in a 6 week Learning Exchange class almost 10 years ago. Then I took a couple of junior college classes, Ceramics 1 where I learned more of the overall basics as well as the art aspect of plying the clay. In Ceramics 2, the prof told us to develop the ideas for 3 projects that we would like to complete, make a poster board for each  which was put on display during the semester. Then he faded into the background and told us he would be there if we needed any help with our projects, which he was. I didn't have much interaction with him during the semester since I had a pretty good handle on what I was doing. As time went on, I collected a small library of tomes on the myriad aspects of clay and glazing and have also spent time watching youtube videos as well as the Clayflicks option of my ICAN membership. The last college class was a Raku class which was a more involved and refined during which I learned a lot and which prompted me to build and use my own Raku kiln. At this point I would say that about half of my clay input has been with people while the other half and much of the future would fall in the "other" category. However I really enjoyed the interaction with the other students in the college classes because, while not being the class instructor but also having about 50 more years in the School of Hard Knocks, I was able to impart a lot of my life experiences and skills to both the class professor as well as the students. Most of my life I have made an effort to either learn something new or teach someone else each day.

Well I think we all would rather hear what form of education has helped you the most in pottery, but you asked for it!
 

I got a foundation in ceramics back before YouTube, but had a pretty long hiatus between college and getting my own gear.  Now I spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos on technique and read helpful books like a potters workbook by Clary illian, or functional pottery by Robin Hopper.  I also read back issues of PMI and CM.  I think it's just all around absorb as much as I can.  Of course these forums here are really nice as well.  I have been to a single demo, and it was nice but I was getting annoyed by all of the weird questions that people were asking while the presenter was trying to demo, it felt like they really got in the way.  I enjoy doing stuff by figuring it out so I think I'll stay away from the arts center for now!

I got a foundation in ceramics back before YouTube, but had a pretty long hiatus between college and getting my own gear.  Now I spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos on technique and read helpful books like a potters workbook by Clary illian, or functional pottery by Robin Hopper.  I also read back issues of PMI and CM.  I think it's just all around absorb as much as I can.  Of course these forums here are really nice as well.  I have been to a single demo, and it was nice but I was getting annoyed by all of the weird questions that people were asking while the presenter was trying to demo, it felt like they really got in the way.  I enjoy doing stuff by figuring it out so I think I'll stay away from the arts center for now!

Well I think we all would rather hear what form of education has helped you the most in pottery, but you asked for it!
 

The throwing was great, the PJ’s not so much. I like the Air conditioner stashed back there for comfort as well.

I'm making YouTube videos now too!   I thought to myself "what is the internet missing?" And guess what, there wasn't a single video of me in my pajamas making mugs, now there is!  Still trying to figure out the whole YouTube thing but I'll get there!

At less than a year in, I have gotten way more out of utube, probably by a factor of 5, even though I took 4 or 5 classes since then. There is no option for me to receive physical instruction from a master potter here, I liked my teachers, and they are skilled, but I quickly moved beyond the basics and watching people that have really mastered it helped me tremendously. This forum has also been and continues to be a huge boon. I am still mainly focused on the physical act of making forms.

I got a foundation in ceramics back before YouTube, but had a pretty long hiatus between college and getting my own gear.  Now I spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos on technique and read helpful books like a potters workbook by Clary illian, or functional pottery by Robin Hopper.  I also read back issues of PMI and CM.  I think it's just all around absorb as much as I can.  Of course these forums here are really nice as well.  I have been to a single demo, and it was nice but I was getting annoyed by all of the weird questions that people were asking while the presenter was trying to demo, it felt like they really got in the way.  I enjoy doing stuff by figuring it out so I think I'll stay away from the arts center for now!