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Self Assembly with Chris Edwards

5/8/2018

First Hawaiian Bank has it's main headquarters, First Hawaiian Center, on Bishop Street in the business district of Honolulu. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox from New York City and is a work of art in its own right. First Hawaiian has made a unique commitment among local businesses to stage continuous art exhibits at First Hawaiian Center curated by the Honolulu Museum of Art.

The most recent exhibit features the ceramic sculpture of one of my friends, Chris Edwards. Chris is a graphic designer who started working in ceramics only 6 years ago. Now he's making monumental ceramic sculpture, many of them constructed from separate pieces. His work represents the most impressive burst of original creativity in ceramics that I've ever seen. Below are images of the pieces on display. If you're in the Honolulu area, the exhibit will be up through June 15 and is definitely a must see. If you'd like to see more of Chris's work, go to https://christopheredwards.net/

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Spring Sale at My Studio

4/29/2018

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On Saturday, May 5th, I'll be having a holiday sale at my studio from 9am to 2pm. I have lots of cups for $15 and small bowls for $20 to $25. I've been making more medium size bowls and vases as well. I enjoy hosting people and showing them where I make my pots, so I hope you'll stop by and see what I have available. You can park in the driveway if there's room. If not, there's on-street parking as you head for Manoa Falls just after the five-way stop. If you can't walk that far, I'll have my assistant drive your car to a parking spot. Below is a sample of the sorts of things I'll be offering for sale. Hope to see you this coming Saturday!

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Selling Pots

1/30/2018

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Forming, trimming, bisquing, glazing, firing, marketing, and selling pots are all part of the process of studio pottery. Potters for thousands of years have made pots and have made money by selling them. Why shouldn't we?

When I first started making pots, it took me forever to make one thing but still it usually made it's way surreptitiously into the dumpster. As my skills improved, I began making pots better and faster, and fewer of them ended up in the landfill. After a year, I was making more pots than I could personally use or even give away to family and friends. I began selling pots so they wouldn't multiply like tribbles and take over my house. I also hoped my creations would bring pleasure to someone else, and I wasn't opposed to making a little money while doing it.

Following are some things I've learned about selling pots that I hope will be helpful to you. First, make a commitment to sell your pots. This can mean something like signing up for a craft fair or a sale through your potters guild. Don't wait until your pots are perfect before making the commitment. When you commit to sell your pots they'll start to get better because your mind will be focused, you'll have a goal to reach, and a limited amount of time to reach it. I talk with potters all the time who are planning on doing a sale "next year" or "next time." When that next time rolls around, they're not going to participate but loudly proclaim they'll do it "next year" for sure. Procrastination is the biggest obstacle to selling your pots, that and fear, fear that maybe you won't sell anything, that everyone else's pots will sell because they're so much better than yours. Put all that aside and make the commitment to a sale.

Second, bring only your best work. Don't surround your great pieces with lots of mediocre stuff. You're developing a reputation, a brand, that will attract collectors over time, so don't put things out that detract from your reputation, only things that build it up. I found out early on that when I tried to sell bad pieces, my good pieces suffered. It was hard to sell a really nice bowl for $150 when I had a similar bowl next to it for $20 with a one inch crack on the rim. You may think you're wasting money by throwing things away, but just the opposite is the case. If you want to charge good prices for your work, you need to put only your best work on the table.

Third, learn how to price your pieces. Visit local sales and look at stores online. Start with examples that are closer to yours in quality and find out what sorts of prices are being charged for them. Also watch how quickly pots sell at what price points. It's easy to put a $50 price on a mug, but that doesn't mean you'll sell it. Start lower and charge more as you get better and you create more demand for your work. When I first started making and selling small bowls and cups about a year ago, I was charging $20 for them. My sales were not that great so I dropped the price for most of them to $15 and they started selling well. The most I've ever charged for a piece, and then sold it, was $350. I've done that twice. Almost everything I make sells for $200 or less. I know people who sell ceramic sculptures for quite a bit more than that, but that's not what I'm making. I also have an interest in making at least some things at a price point that anyone can afford. That's why almost all of my small cups and bowls start at $15. My dream is not to sell my pieces at stratospheric prices to a few very rich people. Well, I wouldn't mind selling some of my pieces for absurd prices to those with more money, but I don't want them to be my only clients. A few years ago I had an interesting conversation with a local wood turner whose work is in museums and is very expensive. During our conversation he shared the following cautionary tale from his own life as a craftsman. He told me that sales of his bowls started out slowly but picked up momentum as time went on. As he sold more bowls he charged higher prices. As his prices went up, he attracted fewer and fewer collectors because only a handful of people could afford them. Ironically, as he told me, the more he charged for his bowls, the less money he made. As he put it, he "choked off the market" for his bowls by making his prices so high. Once sales slowed down for this small clientele, he couldn't lower his prices to sell more pieces to those with less money since that would have enraged those who had payed more money.

Fourth, learn how to market your pots. One of the most essential things to learn about marketing is how to take good photos of your pieces. It's not that hard anymore since even most smart phones have fabulous cameras. Get on Instagram and share photos of your pieces. Start following people and commenting on what they share. I know this will sound like humbug to some of you, but you can get more bang for your buck from Instagram than any other method for marketing your work. Get business cards and start handing them out. I use Zazzle or Vistaprint. Build a data base of contacts and stay in touch with them. I have an always growing email list that I contact about sales by sending them images of about 20 pots that I'll be offering. Sometimes people will contact me to buy pieces before the sale even begins. I don't bug them about every sale I'm in but only those where I'll have a large number of things. Make contacts in radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. They may not be willing to cover your personal sale, but they will often be willing to cover group sales that your potters guild is putting on. I have three or four sales a year at my studio/garage. Before each sale I put up a sandwich board in front of the house with signs facing both ways that say there's a pottery sale this coming Saturday from 9am to 2pm. I also post signs on telephone poles in the area. I have posters and postcards made at Vistaprint and put them in local businesses. I put up a big banner in the front yard that I ordered from Vistaprint that's 8 feet long and only cost about $60 because I got it on sale. These are just a few ideas about how you can promote your sales.

Fifth, learn how to sell your pots. Most people are pretty timid and don't feel comfortable trying to persuade people to buy their pots. I think it helps if you don't think of selling as the art of persuading people to buy something they don't want for more money than they should spend. Selling is helping people to make decisions. Most people don't know much about ceramics and they need help to make a good decision, especially when they're confronted by multiple examples and they have to choose one. Here's an example. I was at a sale for the Hawaii Potters Guild a few years ago and I noticed that a woman was looking at a few Japanese lanterns that one of my friends had made. He was so shy that he wouldn't approach her so I decided to step in when it looked like she was ready to walk away. I asked her where she planned on putting the lantern and she said she had a place in her yard that was perfect for one of these. They all looked so nice, however, that she couldn't make up her mind so she was ready to leave without buying any of them. I asked her which ones she liked best and she pointed out two. They were all on the ground and a little hard to see, so I took both of them and put them on a table so she could see them better. Then I asked her to think about what each would look like in her yard and it became clear to her that one was a better choice than the other. She was excited to take the lantern home and my friend made a sale. No high pressure tactics. When I'm at a group sale like the Windward Potters, I like to talk with people about my pieces if I see them looking at them, but if I see them looking at someone else's stuff, I'm happy to sell their stuff as well. If someone asks me if I make teapots, I'll tell them "No, but let me show you some terrific teapots that some of these other potters have made." I've found that lots of people need some hand holding when they're trying to buy a pot, and the more expensive the pot, the more hand holding they need. They don't know much about pottery and would appreciate you telling them something about how you formed it and glazed it. Often people want to know why I made the pot in the way that I did and my description becomes part of their enjoyment of it. Sometimes the art of selling means solving a customer's problems. For instance, I've had many people from out of town wander into my sales. Their concern is how to mail a piece or how to transport it on the plane. I help them figure all of this stuff out which leads to a sale.

Sixth, learn how to sell what you don't have (yet). In other words, learn how to generate commissions. At my last sale in December, I had two people who came and were interested in my pots in general but couldn't find the exact thing they were looking for. One liked my plates but wasn't crazy about the glazes I had used and he told me so. I told him that I could make more plates in the same style with different glazes. He saw some other pieces that had glazes he liked and he ended up ordering an eight setting dinnerware service. Another guy told me he was looking for sake cups but didn't see any. I told him I could make some and he ordered them in porcelain. At one sale a few years ago, a lady returned to buy one of my vases only to find that I had already sold it. I told her I could make another that would be almost exactly the same, so she ordered it.

Finally, don't sell your very best pots. Keep them for yourself. I've met several world-class potters and all of them keep at least some of their very best pots. When I met John Glick at his studio in Michigan, he told me he had kept over 1,000 of his best pieces. So be the best collector of your own stuff.

Selling pots can be fun and you can make some money doing it. So sign up for a sale, do the best you can, and then try to do it better the next time.

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Refiring Pit Fired Pieces

12/20/2017

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Sometimes, oftentimes, we don't get the pot we want after it's been fired. Even if a piece has survived the fire without warping or cracking, its color or lack of color can be disappointing. That's as true with pit firing as with glaze firing. Until this year, I thought I was pretty much stuck with a piece after pit firing it once. Then I watched a YouTube video about pit firing in which the person stated in passing, "And if you don't like how a piece looks, you can always fire it again." I've fired many pieces more than once in a glost kiln, but I'd never considered refiring a pit fired piece. The major problem I've had with pit firing is that quite a few pieces turn out almost completely black, usually because I was using pieces of wood that were too large and hadn't dried out enough. Large pieces of wet wood produce long firings at relatively low temperatures. Now when I fire or refire pit fired pieces, I use wood that's cut into small pieces and that's been dried for at least 6 months, longer if possible. I also try to get the fire as hot as I can near the beginning. During the first hour, I use a box that's been folded flat to fan the flames which significantly increases the temperature inside the can. Rather than vague blushes of red or yellow or peach, the higher temperatures leave well-defined splotches of color, and the color is driven deeper into the pot which makes it look more three dimensional. I'm also experimenting with spreading coarse steel wool around the pot. What I'm finding is that the steel wool catches the ash and helps create patches of color with distinct edges. After the first hour I stop fanning the flames. Why? Because if the temperature is too hot for too long, it will burn color off the pot instead of putting it on the pot.

This past Monday, I refired a piece that I'd fired in the spring. I'd thought about refiring it but decided to wax it and try to sell it. It didn't sell at any of the sales I had in the last 5 weeks so I decided to refire it. I wasn't sure what would happen since I'd already put Johnson's floor wax on it and polished it. I thought it would probably just burn off, and I was right. In fact, it became one of the most successful pit fired pieces that I've ever made. I also fired three other pieces, all for the first time, and none of them turned out well. The four pieces were fired in two different containers. One cracked and had to be thrown away, and two had very little color at all and will need to be refired. There was one, however, the one I was refiring, that turned out well.

One other thing that was different about this firing was the Miracle Gro that I used. I always put Miracle Gro around my pots because it has lots of stuff that creates good color on pots. In this case, I'd left the bag in a spot outside where water got inside and had melted almost all of it. I almost threw it out but decided to add it and see what happened. Since I didn't have that much, I put it around only the pot I was refiring. I noticed something unusual when the fire had burned down but the coals were still very hot: strong green flames were coming up on both sides of the pot for at least 20 minutes which was quite unusual for this time in the firing. I'd also used copper carbonate in powder form around all of the pots, but none of them showed any green flames at this time except around the one around which I'd poured the liquid Miracle Gro. In my next firing I'm going to purposely mix Miracle Gro with water and maybe copper carbonate as well and adding it using a squirt bottle. It would certainly be easier to apply and would be easier to keep off the surface of the pot which can cause problems.

Below are photos of the pot after the first pit firing and then after the refiring. Let me know if you have any comments or questions about any of this.

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Holiday Sale at My Studio

11/27/2017

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On Saturday, December 9th, I'll be having a holiday sale at my studio from 9am to 2pm. It's always my best sale of the year both in terms of what I'm offering and how many pots I sell. It's hard to transport some of these pots from place to place without them breaking, so I only offer them for sale in my studio. I also enjoy hosting people and showing them where I make most of my pots. If you're in the neighborhood next Saturday, I hope you'll stop by and see what I have available. You can park in the driveway if there's room. If not, there's on-street parking as you head for Manoa Falls just after the five-way stop. If you can't walk that far, I'll have my helper drive your car to a parking spot. I'm also giving a small bowl or cup to anyone who spends more than $100. Below is a sample of the sorts of things I'll be offering for sale. Hope to see you on the 9th!

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What clay is best for beginners?

11/19/2017

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During my first class at the Hawai'i Potters Guild, all of us purchased our first bag of clay. The clay bin was full of bags with black clay and brown clay, red clay and white clay and beige clay. The sign above each stack said things like "Black Mountain," "Death Valley," "Russian River," "Rod's Bod," "Jamaica" or "B-Mix." Standing in front of all that clay, one of us asked what all of us were thinking: "What clay is best for beginners?" The answer came back immediately: "Soldate." "Why?" we asked. "Because Soldate is the most forgiving."

I've heard this many times since then, that Soldate is the best clay for beginners because it's the most forgiving. So how can clay be forgiving? Maybe some of us really should ask the clay for forgiveness after we've molested it, but we can't literally hurt clay and it can't forgive us. I think "the most forgiving" means that clays like Soldate have lots of grog, and clays with grog can absorb more water without collapsing. They also dry more evenly since the grog creates pathways for water to escape so pieces don't crack. These are important advantages for any potter. We carry Soldate 60 at HPG, the 60 being the mesh size of the grog. Grog is just clay that's been fired and then ground up into larger and smaller pieces. The smaller the mesh size number, the larger and more coarse the grog overall; the higher the number the finer the grog, so 60 is pretty coarse. Many experienced potters use Soldate for making larger pieces and for raku and pit firing. All of that grog helps the clay carry more weight and withstand intense thermal shock.

Does that make Soldate the ideal clay for beginners? No. It's absolutely the worst clay for beginners. Why? Because it becomes increasingly more difficult to throw under the conditions that all beginning potters experience. Here's what I experienced and here's what all beginning potters experience. A beginner puts a fresh piece of Soldate on the wheel and starts to center it. She struggles with it, adds more water and pushes it toward center some more. Finally a piece starts to go up but after 30 minutes the whole things collapses. She cuts it off the wheel and puts it in a bag. The next time she comes to the studio she wedges some of the same Soldate she threw the last time, puts it on the wheel, and starts centering again. After trying to center it for 10 minutes, she starts to shape it but the piece collapses and she throws it back in a bag until the next time she comes to the studio. Each time she adds water, more of the soft clay liquefies and becomes slip which ends up in the bucket or in the splash pan. The more clay that liquefies, the higher the proportion of grog becomes. After throwing a piece a few times, she can hardly budge it because the proportion of grog to clay has become so high. Just last week I saw a beginning potter struggling to center a piece of clay, about 4 pounds. I watched him and was surprised that a strong young man would have such trouble getting the clay on center. I asked if I could coach him a little and he said "Sure." After watching him and giving him a few suggestions, he still was struggling, so I asked if I could sit down and show him. As soon as I touched the clay, I knew what the problem was. It was so groggy that I could barely move it. I told him to cut it off and recycle it. I came back a few minutes later and he was struggling with another piece of Soldate. Turned out this was a piece he'd thrown a few times before and it was just as groggy and just as hard to move as the first piece. I asked him if he had any more clay that was fresh. He said he had a bag of Black Mountain so I asked him to get it. With a fresh piece of clay he was able to center it and shape a bowl in about 15 minutes.

I've used Soldate 60 many times and it starts feeling very coarse if I don't get it centered quickly. The point is that beginning students don't center quickly, they use lots of water that washes the soft clay away, and they tend to throw the same piece of clay again and again because they can't successfully complete a bowl or a vase. So Soldate is really the worst clay to use under the conditions that all beginning potters experience. Then what's a better clay for beginners to use? In my experience there are two clays that are ideal for beginners: B-Mix with Grog and Black Mountain. Both have grog in them so you get the benefit of grog, but the grog is finer and less harsh on the hands. They're smooth and plastic and the same piece of clay can be thrown again and again without losing its original characteristics. Again, if clay loses its original characteristics too quickly it can't be good for beginners, and Soldate becomes coarser and harder to move every second you're working it. In the hands of more experienced potters, Soldate 60 can do wonders; in the hands of beginners, it can lead to frustration and even injuries to fingers, wrists and shoulders. So if you're a beginning potter, scrap the Soldate and try something like B-Mix with Grog and Black Mountain.

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Hawai'i Craftsmen 2017 Exhibition

11/8/2017

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The Hawai'i Craftsmen 2017 Exhibition is taking place at the Honolulu Museum of Art School from October 25 through November 10. The visiting juror is Magdalene Odundo who also taught two workshops on O'ahu and the Big Island while she was here. I had a chance to meet her after one of her lectures at the Honolulu Museum of Art. During the question and answer period someone asked her where she got inspiration for her pieces. She told us the following story: One day in London she was getting ready to get on a train and she saw a lady get off the train whose appearance struck her. She was tall, slender, very pregnant, wore high heels, and had her hair tied up in a bun that stuck out far behind her head. She made a few sketches while on the train and that became the inspiration for one of her vessels!

Below are all of the ceramic pieces in the exhibit. I didn't submit anything this year for several reasons.

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Sho Fu Kai Hanaire Exhibit: An Exhibit of Traditional Tea Ceremony Flower Vases

10/28/2017

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For the last few years, a group of potters from the Hawaii Potters Guild have met on Friday afternoons with Sachiko Furuya to learn more about the Japanese tea ceremony. Besides learning the philosophy behind it and how it is conducted, participants learn how to make the different "utensils" that are used. The group is putting on a special exhibit of traditional tea ceremony flower vases (hanaire) at the central location for the Hawaii Public Library in downtown Honolulu. Not every potter in the group participated, but the ones who did were required to write up a piece about their pots and that was included in the boards that accompany the exhibit. The exhibit is up through October 31.

Here is a list of the participants:
Sachiko Furuya, Sensei (Shofu)
Roy K. Yamashiro (Roy)
Masako Kiwada (Gafu)
Marie Y. Kodama (Bifu)
Ryuko Kokuzo (Ryusetsu)

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Raku Ho'olaule'a 2017

9/30/2017

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The 41st anniversary exhibition of Raku Ho'olaule'a is taking place from September 8 to October 7 at Gallery 'Iolani at Windward Community College. Raku Ho'olaule'a is an annual community raku ceramics workshop, firing and campout in a beach park on O'ahu's North Shore. Ceramic artists have been gathering together since 1977 to raku and pit fire pieces together. Approximately 70 potters participated this year as part of a group and the six groups that participated this year are Burn-outs, Kama'aina Potters, Wainae Coast Clay Creations, Hawai'i Potters' Guild, Krackpots, and Windward Community College. Pieces that were fired over the weekend were juried by Marilyn Sochi Naka (traditional) and Shigeru Miyamoto (contemporary). The exhibit features the pieces they chose in both categories.

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50 Years of Hawaii Craftsmen: An Invitational Show

7/27/2017

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From July 14th to August 20th, Cedar Street Gallery in Honolulu (817 Cedar Street off S. King) is hosting an exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hawaii Craftsmen. If you aren't familiar with Hawaii Craftsmen, check out their website: www.hawaiicraftsmen.org. You'll find out more about their programs and many of the artists that are listed have links to their websites. Below are photos of all the pieces in the exhibit (hopefully!). There were some surprises. For instance, Ron Kent is well known for his turned wooden bowls but the pieces he has in this show are all made of felt.