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Hi all Had our gallery's Christmas bash recently and a debate broke out about our personal definitions of who we are and what we do....... some thought 'potter' and 'pottery' was outdated, some kind of 1970's 'hippy' brown 'mug and jug' concept others said 'ceramicist' sounded like some inflated, interllectual self-justifying 'label' for a craft already practiced for thousands of years others thought 'ceramics' allowed for broader interpretations than functional wares and ALL were horrified that handmade artisan work could get lumped into 'paint-a-plate/hobby ceramics'!! ............the impetus for today's question was one person's strong assertion that ....'in the US and UK theyre called ceramicists not potters!'..............really?? .......it does not seem the case as I read through CAD but maybe I can't read.........so I will ask the question.... How do you define yourself and what you do?....... potter/pottery, ceramics/ceramicist....or some hybrid or variation? Look forward to the answers....... Have a great Christmas/New Year holiday!! ......btw, 35C here today...no snow Irene

I'm not sure which section this would be best under, so I'm putting it here first. If anyone thinks it would be better under a different heading, I'll switch it. My family is heading to Saipan for Christmas break next week. Several years ago I began collecting handmade mugs or cups from different places I visit, rather than buying Starbucks city/place mugs like some of my friends and coworkers do (I work in an international school in China, so there's a lot of travel to interesting places going on). I am looking for locally-made pottery to add to my collection of mugs. So far I've only been able to find one shop via Google that sells handmade pottery but their site doesn't say if it's locally made or not. Does anyone know of any actual pottery shops on Saipan? I did so a search here on the forum, but it yielded no results for Saipan. Thanks. Bob

I recently found this video again. It's been around for a while but it's easily enjoyed twice. The studio and making work seemed the most appropriate place to share it. http://www.joshburton.com/about/

This is some information about that rare thing - a new film about ceramics We're been working on 'Out of the Tub' these past few years which will be premiering it in November in London. The film focuses on the life and work of the British Ceramist RJ 'Bob' Washington and sheds new light 20th century ceramics. Here's the trailer Enjoy.

I fire with another potter in his gas kiln. He is a great guy, but his work never changes. It has stayed the same for the last 20 years. His casseroles just walk out of stores.We both decorate. He uses slips under a glaze. I do on glaze decoration. Our work will never overlap. I am always testing glazes, looking for that elusive colour. I am working on a turquoise and also a great yellow. I am always searching for something new. I call myself an artist although I trained as a production potter.There are some things that I won't make, like soap dishes. Who are you and what are you called? Why?

I'm working on performance plans for 2015, and was trying to figure out what level of productivity I can expect from my employees. I'll provide some background and if anyone has any insight I would appreciate your comments / input. We can fire 61 mugs in a single bisque / glaze firing. And, I want to fire a glaze every other day. So, I need 61 mugs made, dried, and ready for bisque every other day. When the bisque is complete, I glaze those mugs, and fire glaze the same day. We typically run 3 bisque and 3 glaze, but can run 4 of each during a rush, like now. So I need to move 61 pieces into the kilns every other day, which means I need to have the pieces assembled and drying about 48 hours in advance of bisque. To keep that pace I need to assemble 61 pieces a day (hand builders). Right now I'm at 32 to 40 pieces per day assembled. My wheel potters out pace my hand builders and then switch over to hand building to clear the backlog. Wheel Potter: 1. How many cylinders should a potter with about 7 to 10 years in clay be able to throw in an hour? Each cylinder uses approximately 2.75 lbs of clay No handle attachment Throws cylinder on small square bat, moves the bat and form to a shelf Fills 12 forms per shelf Cart hold 7 shelves 2. Each potter trims his / her own cylinders Bottom of cylinder is flat, no foot cut into floor of cylinder Lower sidewalls need to trimmed on about 1 out of 5 forms Curved foot ring cut into sidewall at foot using rib template Trimming generally occurs on day after throwing Trimmed forms placed into damp box and transferred to hand building Hand Builder: 1. How many mugs can a hand builder assemble in a hour / day? Pulls empty shelf from drying rack and places on bench Removes trimmed cylinders from damp box and places on bench Extrudes handles Shapes extrusions to form using jig / template Rolls slabs for tiles in slab roller Strikes slabs with die, and cuts tiles used as surface design Attaches tile using slip / score technique Attaches handle to cylinder using slip / score at upper / lower join Cuts triangular thumb rest and attaches to top of handle using slip & score technique Inspects work, cleans up crumbs, scratches, dents, canvass marks, etc. Places assembled mug on shelf, completes 12, and returns shelf to drying rack This is the process we use today. I understand there are lots of things we can do to improve the process, those suggestions would also be helpful. Yes, we could use a ram press, and we do plan to test one in the first quarter of next year, but right now I have to measure this process and need to know what is reasonable productivity? The potters currently throw between 5 and 15 cylinders per hour when throwing and trim at about twice that rate. My feeling is this is low, but I don't know if that's a reasonable belief, and what is a reasonable expectation of performance? The hand builders assemble from 3 to 5 mugs per hour. My feeling is this is very low, but again... Typically 2 or 3 mugs per hour is achieved when multiple tiles have to be attached to the mug. A rate of 4 or 5 mugs per hour is achieved when only a single tile is attached to the mug. Again, I lack experience in a multi-potter production environment and so I don't know if my thinking is accurate or in line with industry norms. Hand builders perform extrusion tasks, slab rolling, and tile making tasks separate from assembly tasks. Each position has studio maintenance responsibilities which affect daily production, but not hourly. Maintenance is generally conducted at end of shift and involves cleaning assigned work areas and common areas as part of ongoing dust abatement efforts. All up surfaces are wiped down, filters changed, floors mopped, HEPA vac, etc. Your insights would be most helpful...

Not too many years ago, entering the search term "potter" into Google's search engine would deliver all sorts of images, web sites, and resources about clay subjects near and dear to many of us. When JK Rowling's books and the Harry Potter movies exploded onto the scene, the popularity algorithm at Google search pushed those clay-related search results somewhere past the bowels of Middle Earth. Here is my question: When you are looking for information about people who prefer to call themselves potters (lowercase 'P'), what search terms give you the most reliable results?