Another Day, Another Trip to FedEx

Stacking Sculpture
in Sunset Colors

Pottery sales tend to ebb and flow for me. For a few years I sold all of the "Happy Children" and stacking sculpture like this that I made. It takes quite a few pots to add up to selling a bigger piece. They help sales quite a bit.

Well, then the 2000s hit and I would haul these to fairs and haul them home. After doing that a couple of times it gets to be a drag -- especially since these are supposed to be my fun, spontaneous pieces.

Fast forward to 2012 and Sunset magazine reprinted some photos of Ketzel Levine's garden with one of my stackers in the background. A couple people managed to track down who made the sculpture. They contacted me, weren't too shocked by the price and commissioned sculptures for their gardens.

I've always used fairly light bright colors to show up in a Pacific Northwest garden, but one of the clients wanted sunset colors for her home in the San Diego area. Here's how it turned out. And yes, I cut the pole so the bird wasn't left high and dry before shipping. Just didn't have time to stack it all back up and take a photo before shipping it onward.

It would be nice to think that selling a few larger pieces again is a good sign that the economy might be picking up, but it feels a little ego-driven, small world-centric. And I wouldn't want to jinx anything. (smile!)

Dinnerware Set No. 2

Another set of dishes has just left for its new home. This time it was a set of 10 each plates and bowls in two sizes, mugs and some serving ware. As always I'm hoping the new owner understood my warnings that glazes can vary quite a bit from the top to the bottom of my kiln, and that the photo conveyed this properly. She said it looked good to her via seeing these photos on her smart phone while on a camping trip, but I will still be nervous until she's opened up and seen it all.

Now it is a fervent wish that everything will remain safe from the many hands and conveyor belts the three boxes will encounter over the next few days in transit. There was nary a speck of movement when I picked up and shook each box before double boxing into a second box, but know they will get jostled and upended which can loosen up even the tightest of packages.

Being a potter can make one a little superstitious and nervous. Hopefully will also get to experience a lot of happy with a safe arrival and satisfied customer. 

P.S. All arrived safely and the customer liked them. Yay!

Large and Medium Bowls 

Plates showing the glaze variation top to bottom of the kiln.

Gimme one more hour!

Spent today making pots in front of an audience of fellow potters at the Benton Center Pottery Studio at Linn-Benton Community College for the Spring Workshop. Took requests and someone wanted to see one of the more complex twists I do. Of course. 

Many have been made, but not many have been successful, but what the heck. It was a chance to let them see just how rough and crazy it all happens in real life. Decided to make a mini-version and cut out all the pieces to make two-thirds of the shape.

On my side: dry air, a couple extra hands, a concave form and a warm bisque kiln helped get the beginning shapes dried out enough to put together.

Against me: Time. It ran out before I could get the base part dry enough to add the final touches. Came home and used all the scraps that were still wet enough to piece together the top curved piece in gradual sections, and then goo glue it all together and gave it shape with some very soft clay. 

Tomorrow after this is dry enough to work on I'll attack it with my stainless rib with the teeth to give it more defined shape and then see if it's thick enough to carve.

Is It Done Yet?

"Seaform Figure" at Ceramic Showcase 2012

Theme shows can push us to explore in fun new ways. In the two weeks leading up to my deadline, the big piece in the middle of this photo was still in a state of Yuck! It was part of our Bette Feves Tribute installation at Ceramic Showcase last weekend at the Oregon Convention Center.

The base was a sculpture from 2010 (as it states so permanently next to my signature) but I'd never liked the top so it has been clogging my tiny studio since then waiting for me to do something with it. So I started my Betty tribute at a bit of a disadvantage as remaking tops to fit bottoms is always tricky. I erred on the side of too big instead of too small.

After firing the top, using the same clay body and layered velvet underglazes on it as I had the bottom, the results were very different and mis-matched looking. So heated up the entire sculpture, added Apt 2 to some white glaze to have a clean surface to start anew and cooked it. Still not so great. Another coat of white to cover it all up a bit more. Finally just a hint of its previous life showing through. While still warm from the kiln dripped and poured some glazes, ala Betty, and back in the kiln to cook. It took a few hot from the kiln glaze painting, dripping and pouring sessions (8 in all) to get this pebbly, drippy look. At the show, with these other pieces the blue worked just fine. Love how the drips accentuate the curves. But now back at home there might be a 9th firing in her future...

New Series Baby Steps

Ceramic Boat with wire and paper skin

Amazing what a deadline can do. Last week the bi-monthly critique group was scheduled to meet at my house and I needed something to share with the group. Since last year I've been working on these ceramic forms that have holes around the edge so they can be wired up later. I've got several kicking around the studio now in various stage of greenware and bisque. Trouble was I didn't know how to finish the inside surface and so couldn't do the wiring until the inside was finished, blah, blah, blah. Stymied. Finally told myself that if I didn't like it I could just take it apart and try something else. D'oh.

Ended up making some simple pencil accent marks and adding a little gold leaf to the small center section that can be seen through the reveal space in the center. Turned out I liked how the simple inside and outter skin turned out. Received good feedback from the critiquers that simple worked. Suggestions were to beef up the center contrast a little and leave it as a boat instead of working to make it a hanging piece as I'd originally intended. Will do.

A small reveal in the skin allows for peeks into the inside

Awwwwww....!!!

Srap-pile Heart for WCG Extremes! Show

These little Scrap-pile hearts, made from end of the day clay, have taken on a life of their own. I began making them for my local ceramics guild's "Extremes" show encouraging us to make work totally different than our normal fare. I think I succeeded.

After affixing this one onto a nice, inexpensive frame to finish it, it still didn't feel finished. It needed a title or something. The space looked about fortune cookie paper size. Looked through many saved fortunes with sentiments of "This week a financial breakthrough will come to you," and "Accept the next proposition you hear," and decided to write my own.

"Love comes in all shapes and sizes" fits with the idea that these hearts were made from what used to be scraps of clay.

On a technical note, the heart was wired into the frame rather than glued, since pottery and glue have a way of parting. Some of the other hearts were made to epoxy headless screws into them so they can be easy accents on the wall.

Business of Art Should Not Be All or Nothing

There have been editorial commentaries being forwarded about on Facebook encouraging artists to disavow ourselves of giving artwork to charity auctions and commission-based galleries. While I agree with some of the arguments, I will not be making any such pledges. There is room in my life for a less black and white approach to my business and here are some off the cuff things that come to mind in this debate.

"Genesis" My last fundraiser donation 

In my 30+ years as a potter, I've come to realize myself as the experiential/process oriented person I am. That means I will always try a little of this and a little of that, do it the wrong and slow way before learning the best and/or quicker way, and learn as I go.

Thus, I've consigned and wholesaled and had good and bad experiences with both. Most consignment galleries have paid on time within 30-days of the sale and in keeping places stocked with a good selection of my work I've formed nice relationships with gallery owners and managers. In the bad experiences side, I have had a gallery go out of business without telling me and before giving back work, and sometimes payments have been late or non-existent unless I press. 

I stay in the consignment galleries where I have good relationships with people. The better you know them, the more enthusiastic they are as ambassadors of your work. Giving them some of my inventory motivates me to make more work--especially if I don't have any orders from my wholesale shops. Wholesale galleries are great, but not a panacea when you visit and see your artwork on a bargain table because it was marked up triple your regular retail price and marked down to its normal one. It's best to have a mix of both if one can.

Donating to Charity Auctions has been the same hit and miss. When work has sold at value or higher it's felt like a good thing. If I've received my regular artist commission on the sale price, that has been even better. If it's a podunk event that doesn't bother to send a personalized letter or give a personal appeal and it's a cause that isn't necessarily mine, I've learned not to give because there is usually no follow-up, nor thanks. When it is a cause that I believe strongly in, I give artwork to them for their fundraising efforts because I can’t write a big check. No matter what the eventual sales price is, I figure that someone will purchase it and give this worthy organization more $$ than I could've given myself and am just ok with it. So there are limits to my largess.

I think we also need to reconsider that we need to be marketing our work as much as possible to make a living, and charity auctions and consignment galleries get our work out in front of people who we may not be able to reach all on our own. As social media activities show us, the emphasis now is on making relationships and maintaining them on this funny life journey. A donated pot to a charity event is a way to make new or cement old relationships, and consignment galleries have the potential of getting more frequent feedback from the people on the frontline pushing our work for us. If that gallery is in a tourist location there can be a constant new audience for our work. 

Traditional marketing/advertising meant printing expensive business cards and brochures, having multiple photographs and slide copies, placing expensive ads in publications. Social media activity and online internet shops means we can update images at the drop of a hat, and can meet many new people who are all sharing their interests with others. But a digital online photo of our pottery isn't the same as the real thing as a wonderfully made piece of pottery in the hand.

We need to make the most of all potential relationships however we are doing biz. When you donate a pot to a charity event, make sure you get a free invite to that event and then use the evening to meet potential new customers and see how people react to your work. It is an opportunity for people to see real art instead of just images on their computers. If you are in a consignment gallery, check in with their Facebook pages and repost things you think are of interest, and whenever you can, give a visit and get to know the people who are helping you sell your work.

So, I've toned down and tried to make coherent my reaction against the consignment and charity donation naysayers. Again, these are my semi-random thoughts . . . at least today.

I'm interested in hearing other people's thoughts on all of this.