Yesterday I mixed glazes - not my favorite job. It requires complete concentration. If a recipe calls for 3000 grams of feldspar, and my gram scale can only handle a thousand grams at a time, it behooves me not to lose count of how many containersful I've dumped into the glaze bucket! All of the glaze components work together to create color, flux, and texture. But yesterday I did that job, and today I'll wax the bottoms of the pots and any lid rims to resist the glaze when they are dipped into the buckets.
People ask me if making pottery is a viable occupation in this modern world.
We ask ourselves that same thing from time to time! What I love most about making art for a living is staying home. All aspects of our life are integrated, whether it's growing a fair amount of our own food in the garden, or interacting with our animals, or cooking, or cutting firewood or just noticing what is happening on the land. And, of course, making ware, throwing pots and sculpting additions to the pots, doing it all from scratch and no molds,no short cuts, and then traveling to sell it at juried art fairs. Meeting customers who appreciate our work is a big plus. There was a time, more than 30 years ago, when I commuted every day from Livermore to Oakland for a teaching job. I'm glad I don't have to go off every day now and drive in traffic. However, someone looking at our business costs once said, partly in jest, "Jan, you and Chris could take minimum wage jobs and clear more than you're making now !"- but then, we'd miss the real pleasure of creating art. We sell everything we make. So, what do I tell young people who ask if making pottery is a viable occupation? I say, child, you've gotta love it.
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