2 days in a row, I think that is a record

I managed to post items to Etsy 2 days in a row. I do believe that is a record for me. Mind you, I only managed to post 1 little cup last night, but it's better than nothing. It is the picture taking and photo editing that really bogs me down. I am using programs that I am not really well versed in and every time I open my lap top I scratch my head and say "now how did I do that last time?" I usually stumble upon the correct process eventually, but it always seems a trial and error kind of thing. On top of that I had to charge my camera's battery before I could download the images to the computer directly, so that delayed me by an hour or 2 as well. So here it is, the one little lonely teabowl. I really do love this one. The glaze (although a commercial concoction) really feels nice, it is a silky satin mat and just feels really good in the hand. I almost didn't post it, but what do I need with another little bowl? My cupboards are FULL of them.

What I did for the Canada Day Long Weekend...

Ok, so I'm a little behind with this

On Friday, I met a new customer who is looking for a custom made bowl. He had, and I quote, “a very vivid dream” about the bowl and was looking for someone to create it for him. Apparently it is a “ceremonial fire bowl”. There will be a bowl that will go inside this bowl that will contain the fire, so I don’t have to worry about direct contact with the flame, but I decided to use a really groggy body to help prevent any issues with thermal shock. The bowl itself is fairly simple, ~10” in diameter and ~5-6” tall. There are some specific design elements that he is looking for. He wants 6, equally spaced “people” around the outside. At least I think they are people. Essentially, a “Y” with a circle in the upturned arms of the “Y”. He wants the “people” to be turquoise, and the rest of the bowl to be a medium brown, easy peasy. I threw the bowl on Saturday, trimmed it on Monday and then cut out the “people” from a thin slab of clay and then attached them. I rounded all the harsh corners and I think it looks pretty darned good. I figure it will take about 1 month to finish, as I want to dry it really slowly to avoid inadvertent peeling up or cracking off of the appliqués.

Friday was also the day that I completed the additional 2 mugs for the custom mug order that I delivered last week. They wanted 2 more, but with a raised appliqué with the initials and year. I did everything I could to get them done in one day, as this customer wants them by this Friday (if possible). I really doubt the completion time, but I may be able to squeak it through if I can access a small test kiln to do both the bisque and the glaze. I might be able to sneak them into a student kiln load when Dave isn’t looking.

The customer who wants the custom bowl was more than OK with the 1 month timeline. He was just really happy that I took this project on. I guess he had looked into this a little bit and found it really difficult to find anybody that would do it. Are all the potters out there just so overloaded with work that they are turning it away? I doubt it.

Aside from these 2 custom orders, I threw several large casseroles and cannisters, , and one complete rip off of a “pumpkin” casserole. I had been reading some past blog entries from John Bauman and was inspired to “copy” his method. I have made lots of pumkiny pots before (mostly teapots), but I have always carved out the “lobes” of the pumpkin. I was particularly keen to try out his method of attaching the “knob” which is a pulled handle in the shape of a pumpkin stem. I have always either used a different coloured clay, or glazed the clay a different colour for the handle. John paints on an iron rich slip midway through the pulling process and then continues pulling to incorporate the iron into the clay. Of course he did this without getting any iron on his nice white stoneware pot. Mine looks like it was in the middle of a bloodbath.

Sorry for the blurry pics, they were taken with my iphone and not the new camera.

This is the Fire Bowl (now under wraps for a while to dry)

Here is one of the casseroles (the other ones not pictured were thrown from BMix)

And lastly, a cannister and a pumpkin pot. I wiped it clean for the photograph. . Also, I don't believe John puts the handles on the sides of his pots. His pumpkins are more true to life.

Can't we all just slow down a bit?

I’m sure this has already been written about a zillion times, but here is my take on it as it pertains to a craft that is by its very nature, slow.

Ever since the introduction of the personal computer and by extension, the internet, our lives have become a bit more hectic (as if you needed me to tell you that.). Every time you turn around now, the new technology that just came out is obsolete. It also seems that along with the increased pace of turning out the newest, fastet, smarter gadget, so too has our desire to be instantly gratified. Everyone wants what they want now, not tomorrow, and definitely not next week or next month. OK, so what’s my point?

Well, here it is. I got a referral last week for an order of approximately 24 personalized mugs. Sounds great and I have no issues doing small orders as that is usually all I have time for. They wanted oversized coffee mugs with a specific text stamped either on the side or the bottom. Again, not a problem. I did mention that I usually require about 1 month to complete these types of orders. They came back to me and said that they needed them by June 28th. I agreed, as it was not that far off from the month that I would usually require and as luck would have it, I had already thrown 10 mugs the previous weekend but had yet to trim or attach handles, so they would work. My issue is not by any means with this particular order, but it did cause me to reflect on the reality of making pottery by hand (vs machine) and what the general buying public seems to expect when it comes to the hand made vs the machine made product.

I have run into this scenario a few times:

Customer: “I was wondering if you could make me a gift for a wedding present.”

Me: “Sure, no problem, when is the wedding, or when do you need to have it by?”

Customer: “Next week, Friday at the latest.”

Me: While trying not to choke “Um, no, I can’t do it by then, but would you like to look at some of the stuff I have that is already finished?”

Customer: “I was hoping to have it personalized with their names and the date of the wedding, so no. How come you can’t make it by Friday?”

You can see where I am going with this. There is a perception out there that what you want/need now, should just be available to you whenever you want it. For these people, I am very glad that Wally World and other similar purveyors of crap exist.

The slow process of making pottery is not meant for this type of consumer. I have tried to explain to more than a few people, when they ask how long it takes to make something, that it is more than just the making. I could say “Oh, about a minute”, but that would only apply to the initial throwing of the basic form. I could also say “ about a month” as that is sometimes how long it takes for things to dry, trim, attach handles, dry some more, bisque fire, glaze, fire again”, or (in my case) I could say (and I know they never really get this) “12 years”, to which I usually get blank stares.

I even had someone question why it took me so long, because they were able to pick up the mugs they made with their kids at the u paint it place the day after they did them.

I don’t think she saw my eyes roll to the back of my head…

So, not to be a Luddite or anything, but there seems to be an odd overlap of wants and expectations born from the mechanized mass produced world, with the hand made world. To me, it seems that the consumer must be unconsciously thinking “I want to buy a unique, hand made object that means more to me than what I can buy at the big box store, but I don’t want to spend too much, and I don’t want to have to think ahead and just be able to pick it up off the shelf as soon as I need it”. They want the best of both worlds, and I am sorry to say, at least in this, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. I also don’t believe that this could be a conscious thought pattern, it’s just too ridiculous, but if it is, then there is really something wrong with our world. It kind of reminds me of an open air street fair that I had a booth in a few years ago. People were more than willing to shell out $15-$20 for non permanent tattoos, but not for a hand made mug that would last way longer than the tattoo they paid too much money for. My booth was right beside the tattoo tent, so I was a wee bit bitter by the end of the day. I guess a mug was just too cumbersome to carry around while drinking beer and getting a fake crappy tattoo.

Perhaps I get too wrapped up in the beauty of a well made object and tend to expect the same of everyone else. I mean, what is better than a handle on a mug that was lovingly attached in such a way that it looks and feels as if it was designed for your hand to hold, and not 3 billion other hands as well? (this is what I was doing on Saturday – lovingly attaching curvaceous and uplifting handles, back filling the attachment points to give visual balance to the overall piece, wiping away the drool …).

So back to my point, if there even really was one. I think we need to slow down, expect that something of quality will take time, not be in such a rush and accepting mediocrity as the price for immediacy.