Just the Facts

Big thanks to those of you who commented last time. It's good to know there are actual live readers out there. Well, either that or AI has really advanced.

I know some of you detest politics. Some of you love politics. Can we agree that we all hate stupidity? PLEASE !!! I've been seeing too much mouth foaming knuckle dragging stupidity since this internet thing got popular. Just because someone posts a statistic it doesn't mean their conclusion is true.I want to quickly thank Dr, Josephine Phillips one of my college( I went, really!) mentors for this simple saying "Figures don't lie but liars always figure."  A dear friend shared a link yesterday that included the alarming news that 1 in 912 people who got a certain vaccine died. If you wait long enough, they all will !!! There was NO evidence that the deaths were linked to the vaccine but it didn't stop the author from making that huge leap from coincidence to causality and rousing the rabble by spreading the alarm all over Facebook.There have been pundits claiming that college women are getting raped to get special benefits and congressmen questioning the link between carbon emissions and the death of the dinosaurs.Get out the torches and pitchforks. Seems like it might be time to post some facts of my own.

Over 90% of people who died last year had eaten chicken in the months preceding their death. Don't eat chicken and you won't die.

More people die in hospitals than at home. If you have a heart attack, be safe, stay home and a doctor won't kill you. This is 100% true unless you have a resident doctor at your house.

If you drink Coke there is a 100% chance you will die. (eventually, of something)

Climate scientists predict with 100% certainty that the drought will be followed by some rain. Plan accordingly.

Half of all Americans have below average  intelligence. There is nothing we can do about this. They do seem to cluster in certain groups and geographic regions. A significant subset will be elected to public office and think they can do things like ban talking about fracking chemicals or convince people they are better off with an $8 an hour job than a $10 an hour job.

If someone agrees with you 100% of the time, they are probably lying 50% of the time.

Here's the obligatory pottery picture. I visited a little show last Saturday and saw a friend who bought this big jar last year. So glad it has a good home.

One other thing. After reading Tony Clennell's book I'm considering writing one of my own. It's about a 16 year old boy's dreams for the future.., titled "A Wang and a Prayer". Thanks for stopping.

A Little Show, A Little Rant

I started my pottery addiction at The Middletown Art Center and still teach the kids classes and take a Wednesday morning class. Every year we have a student show from all the disciplines and there are some very talented competitors. This year I took second with a big jar and was thrilled that my friend Gloria Fraley took first in ceramics with her handbuilt bowl. Another friend Jan Holladay took best in show with her watercolor.

Best in Show

Gloria Fraley
1st in Ceramics

My Second in Ceramics



Another by Gloria

Judy Schnieder

 

That's it for the good news. Now allow me a little rant. Last week I posted about measuring lids and received a few hits. Actually, as of this morning it had been visited over 950 times and checking my sources, they were legit visits, not some spammer. I received a couple of comments on Facebook and 3 on the blog itself. Four if you count my response.

Comments are the currency of the Blogosphere. If you wouldn't go to a restaurant and not leave a tip you shouldn't go to a blog and not leave a comment occasionally. This works best as a conversation instead of a monologue. Most bloggers I know have this same problem and it really feels like you are SETI broadcasting radio pulses into space waiting for an answer. We are not asking you to buy anything, give us your personal secrets, or admit to past crimes just leave a trace of your passing so we know who is reading. Thanks.

Actual Pottery Related Post

Hi there. Since Spring Fair, I've posted a song and a pitch for Tony Clennells' book but not much about pottery making. Well, for a couple of weeks, I wasn't making anything but this week I started getting back into it. I often get requests for covered casseroles but don't usually make them. They are time consuming and when I compare that to a $30 open baking dish I have trouble charging enough to make them pay. I have to make a gallery in the body of the pot, throw another pot for the lid  (that fits said gallery), put a handle on the lid, put two lugs on the body of the pot and get them to line up and match each other. Their bowlish nature also requires extra trimming because the lid has to be heavy enough to support itself without sagging on the wheel. I think this turns a $30 baker into an $80 or $90 pot but the market seems to be about $50 to $60 around here. I would love to hear how some of you other potters handle this.

Having some time on my hands and needing some big bowls. I threw the bowls. Then I said well, make a couple of the lidded casseroles for the fall shows. My approach was to standardize as much as possible. All the information I need is written on a measuring stick that sizes the gallery the body of the pot and the lid.

 

No need to look things up as long as I can find the stick.

 No calipers to knock out of adjustment, no ruler to read, and the lids

are generally interchangeable.

 

 

Here are a couple of shots for lid fit. These lids are not quite as dry as the bowls so the gap will increase slightly. No I don't have issues with warping or spreading.

 



Lastly, Tina decided she needed something a little roomier to haul her dogs in. She claimed this thing followed her home.

 

Thanks for stopping by and if you have any thoughts on making or pricing casseroles, please chime in using the comment section.



Stuck



A few weeks ago I received a copy of Tony Clennell's new book STUCK IN THE MUD in the mailbox. Tony is still standing by his mailbox looking for a check he thinks I sent him. SHHHH ! For a $24 investment you get the life story of someone who has been in this business since , well before most of you were born. Back when man was busy trying to climb out of that primordial ooze, Tony dove in head first. As a small boy on the great plains of the frozen Hell called Canada he had to trudge through waist deep snow and make his way up the buffalo trace to get to school. There were hungry bear and roving bands of Sioux on both sides. Were it not for his trusty wolf pup Shep he may never have survived. Even so, little Tony made it through school and learned to make pots from his uncle Jimmie. With a business school degree in hand he did the only logical thing, he hung out a shingle and started selling pots to passers by. I think they were mostly French trappers but trading mugs for beaver pelts enabled him to eke out a meager living (meager= great for a potter) . Life and years intervened and many adventures and moves later, Tony and wife Sheila are still at it.
I'm not going to spoil it by telling you about the pirates, the storms at sea, or his time in the Queen's service as 006 1/2 .

I can tell you he knows a good hat, a good whiskey, and a good joke. He knows how to do what he has loved to do for all his adult life and manage to earn a living from it. And especially, he knows how to weave a good story. This is not a book about how to make pottery, it is a book about making the choices that allow you to stay in the game. It is a book about the past and future of the craft and Tonys' struggles and choices that got him where he is.

Since I started reading the book, my sales are up, I have lost 10 pounds, I've been sleeping like a baby and I think my hair is thicker. Women stare at me as I walk through the market and yesterday I made $10 singing and playing guitar. Usually people pay me to not sing but apparently the times are a changin' . I won't guarantee that you will have the same results if you buy the book but I will guarantee that it will be $24 well spent. Find out how to get yours at http://smokieclennell.blogspot.com. Thanks for stopping by.

California Blues

Thanks again to all who helped make Spring Fair a success, especially the patrons who come back every year. I took a little break from throwing big bowls this afternoon.