John Baymore on thu 23 nov 00
As a lot of you might already know, clayart's Steve Branfman runs the bes=
t
pottery bookstore around though he seldom pitches it here. So I will do i=
t
for him.
Let's support his store by purchasing our copy of Vince's book through th=
e
Potters Shop if possible rather than Amazon.com. If we want to keep a
resource like his alive we need to send business his way.
I have to jump in here and second these thoughts.
In America we tend to always focus on "best price". "WOW...I saved three=
cents by purchasing this at XXXXXXXX". Price is not always the most
important determinant of what to buy. Sometimes it is best to pay a litt=
le
bit more for some other aspect of the bigger picture. =
(I have always wondered how the astronauts must feel when they are sittin=
g
in the shuttle waiting for ignition ...... with the whole construction
project having gone to the low bidder .)
And in many if not most cases I have found Steve's prices to be very
competitive if not better than most.
What you are really supporting when you buy from people like Steve, is th=
e
availability of people like Steve to the ceramics field. He contributes =
to
all of our lives in many subtle ways by "being there". =
For example a number of years ago when I tracked down the Phoenix Films
"Art of the Potter" videotape of Hamada Shoji, I could not personally
afford the $400-ish plus price tag the commercial distributor wanted for =
a
copy of the tape. I gave Steve the info, and as a book and video store h=
e
was able to get them to make the tape available to individual potters for=
about $80. That film/tape is one of the best in the pottery field....and=
it had basically been out of availablity to the general ceramics audience=
for many years (shot in the 70's). Without Steve........ few of us would=
have access to it. (If you haven't seen it.....buy it from Steve . I=
t
is worth every penny.)
Steve writes reviews of pottery books. He loves to talk about pottery
books. He READS the pottery books, and knows which ones to recommend. H=
e
talks to potters about what books THEY think are best. He's an active
professional potter himself. He knows clay. Try asking a salesperson at=
a
place like Amazon.com a question about what book they recommend for
information on building a raku kiln, which one is best for intro to glaze=
chemistry, or what good ones are available on Islamic ceramics .
So....... let's support the people who do so much to support us. If we
don't.......... only the mega-stores and the dot-coms will eventually be
left and the range of diversity in products available will tend to shrink=
to the most commercially viable. If we don't, many of the people we can=
turn to for good solid information will no longer be out there to talk to=
..
Best,
.........................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)
JBaymore@compuserve.com
John.Baymore@GSD-CO.com
"DATES SET: Earth, Water, and Fire Noborigama Woodfiring Workshop =
August 17-26, 2001"
Wesley C. Rolley on fri 24 nov 00
>What you are really supporting when you buy from people like Steve, is the
>availability of people like Steve to the ceramics field. He contributes to
>all of our lives in many subtle ways by "being there".
>
John,
I use the same arguement to purchase books from my local supplier of clay,
glaze materials, etc. That is The Claymaker in San Jose.
Wes Rolley
Wes Rolley
"Happiness is to be fully engaged in the activity that you believe in and,
if you are very good at it, well that's a bonus." -- Henry Moore
http://www.refpub.com
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