Jenny Lewis on mon 17 dec 01
I've done an arts n crafts sale at work - lots of hidden talent around
here, and I personally enjoyed being able to shift a few of the pots
that were threatening to take over all available shelf space at home.
In past years I had learned a few important lessons, and this time guess
what - all confirmed! So here is my summary of What Is Important:
1. Blue sells.
2. Brown doesn't, green is not so great either.
3. There's always ONE awkward pain in the whatsit customer (if you are
lucky - of course, there could be more than one).
4. Turquoise sells, but not as fast as blue.
5. If you tell people that something is porous and not for food use
(some raku pots), and put a big label and a sign and everything, they
will probably ask you if they can use it for food.
6. Or liquid.
7. I love the Clayart quote "Good art does not have to match your
sofa", intended to put it in a frame above my table, but didn't in the
end. There were more than a few customers who agonised over whether
something was the right colour for their furnishings (blue, natch).
8. Did I mention - blue sells.
It was good fun, VERY tiring, my face got stuck in a forced smile when
the awkward customer was going on and on and ON about whether "not for
food use" meant it was ok to use it for food.....
Jenny Lewis
tired but happy
in London, UK
maker of NOT NEARLY ENOUGH blue pots....
(are there ever enough?)
--
Richard Mahaffey on mon 2 aug 04
We had a glaze that we called Granny Grabber Blue. It was quite loud.
In Grad school we had two sales a year in Tacoma, Washington. In 1973
we sold $48,000.00 in two days
In later years they sold even more. On Friday at noon people would be
lined up at 11:00 am in the rain for the Noon opening with boxes and
shopping bags ready to buy.
When the doors opened we were slammed with customers who were loading
their boxes and bags with pots. There would always be these elderly
ladies with the most hideous of the blue pots that they loved and took
home on the first day of the sale. Sometimes there were disputes over
the ugly blue pots. Hence the name Granny Grabber. As it was said
"You will never go broke underestimating the taste of the American
public".
Rick
Ps. we do not have such a glaze where I teach, would not allow it.
Pps to Paul MLB in Seattle stands for Minor League Baseball in Seattle
(half the team is made up of the Tacoma Rainiers, the other half is
playing like minor leagers).
Peter Grieve on tue 3 aug 04
>From: Richard Mahaffey
>Reply-To: Clayart
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>There would always be these elderly
>ladies with the most hideous of the blue pots that they loved and took
>home on the first day of the sale. Sometimes there were disputes over
>the ugly blue pots.
>Ps. we do not have such a glaze where I teach, would not allow it.
You do not allow your students to make something that many many people
love, and it appears that you are proud of this.
PG
Joseph Bennion on tue 3 aug 04
I have stated my feelings already about blue as a coloring for pottery.
There is nothing inherently evil in a color. There remains the
possibility of ugly pots and aesthetically dishonest potters. None of
us can or should make those judgments about other's work. With all that
said, I saw this little bit of advice on the wall of a toilet stall at
the Kansas City Art Institute some years ago.
"If you can't make it good, make it big. If you can't make it big, make
it blue."
Let's get making.
Joe the Potter
--- Richard Mahaffey wrote:
> We had a glaze that we called Granny Grabber Blue. It was quite loud.
> In Grad school we had two sales a year in Tacoma, Washington. In
> 1973
> we sold $48,000.00 in two days
> In later years they sold even more. On Friday at noon people would
> be
> lined up at 11:00 am in the rain for the Noon opening with boxes and
> shopping bags ready to buy.
>
> When the doors opened we were slammed with customers who were loading
> their boxes and bags with pots. There would always be these elderly
> ladies with the most hideous of the blue pots that they loved and
> took
> home on the first day of the sale. Sometimes there were disputes
> over
> the ugly blue pots. Hence the name Granny Grabber. As it was said
> "You will never go broke underestimating the taste of the American
> public".
>
> Rick
> Ps. we do not have such a glaze where I teach, would not allow it.
>
> Pps to Paul MLB in Seattle stands for Minor League Baseball in
> Seattle
> (half the team is made up of the Tacoma Rainiers, the other half is
> playing like minor leagers).
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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> melpots@pclink.com.
>
=====
Joseph Bennion PO Box 186 Spring City, Utah 84662 435-462-2708 www.horseshoemountainpottery.com
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Richard Mahaffey on tue 3 aug 04
Chris wrote:
Are potters the only people on earth who are proud they don't
supply what their customers want?
Do you have that much contempt for your clients' taste?
-------------------------------------
I don't have clients that buy pots, I do have students who are "clients"
We do have a blue glaze, in fact we have two. We also have Leach's
Chinese Cobalt for decoration along with Cobalt Carbonate for the matt
glazes (Chinese cobalt goes black on those).
---------------------------
My follow up thought is:
Blue is easy to get as a glaze color, but so very hard to get as a
really good glaze color.
One of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen is the Iron Blue
glass we made in the years BC (before Chihuly) at San Jose State. Had
a real hard time ever getting close in a glaze.
This blue was quite deep, not pale like a celadon blue (real one made
with iron in a glaze with low Titania). It was so pure that it sang
the most beautiful note ever.
I have nothing against blue as long as it is a beautiful blue.
As for not supplying what customers want, if I make pots that are not
"me" then they are a "lie" to a certain extent. I can't do that, never
could, not good enough at pulling that kind of thing off.
If I want a job I can make more money doing other things for less
hours in the week and have more time for fun.
I do not expect all or perhaps many to understand this. For me if I
want to make the best pots I can then I must be true to myself and, for
me, it is not worth attempting to make the best you can at any given
time. I get little enough time to make pots as it is.
Rick Mahaffey
Not a blue hater.
Anne Webb on tue 3 aug 04
>"You will never go broke underestimating the taste of the American
>public".
>
>Rick
>Ps. we do not have such a glaze where I teach, would not allow it.
hey richard..
so are you saying that you dont have any blue glazes where you teach or do
you just not have any gaudy blue glazes where you teach? ;)
that's true what you say about the public. sometimes their taste is all in
their mouth. i remember some pots my mum bought in quebec in the 70s that
turned my dad off pottery to this day.
(they werent blue btw). after the 70s past she switched to buying pots with
little blue flowers... at least THEY werent gaudy.
anne
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Gary Elfring on thu 5 aug 04
RM> Blue is easy to get as a glaze color, but so very hard to get as a
RM> really good glaze color.
RM> One of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen is the Iron Blue
RM> glass we made in the years BC (before Chihuly) at San Jose State. Had
RM> a real hard time ever getting close in a glaze.
I make my own celadons and use some standard ones. (Tom Coleman's
Celadon formula is one of my favorites.) If you want an unbelievable
range of colors, with litterally hundreds of different blues (or
greens, or browns, and even a transparent black!) just take a good
base celadon with no colorants/iron oxide and add from 1% to 4% mason
stain. At around 4% you begin to loose transparancy with most stains.
You need to make sure the mason stains you pick will work at the cone
you fire to, but there are plenty of mason stains that work well at
cone 10R. I typically use about 2% for most of my colors, except for
black, which needs 4%.
--
Best regards,
Gary
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