Pam Cresswell on tue 8 mar 05
Sheesh, I need to vent a wee bit about bad mannered potters at
our guild. We have a 30 cubic foot gas kiln, that is loaded once or twice a
week, on average. For about the last year, I have been one of 3 people who
load the kiln. We three load it 99 9/10 of the time. We follow a rule that
those who pay $$ to fire (our students and those who pay per shelf) get
priority, and our volunteers who get free firings come next. We also try not
to let anyone's pot sit on the shelf too long, whether they pay or
volunteer. If someone has an upcoming show/sale that we know about, we try
to work them in. Overall we do our very best to be fair and timely. It is
human nature that people always think we do not fire their stuff fast
enough, my hide has gotten pretty thick about that. Here is what I have
discovered though: after we have loaded the kiln, a job that takes all
morning, working out the best way to fill it tightly and do right by the
members, we have guild volunteers, volunteers!!!, come along and take out
pots and put their own in. Not squeeze in one little pot, but take out
several, so they can (as in the most recent case) put in 2 casserole dishes!
A volunteer, taking out student work, and putting in her own! I consider
this the same as stealing. I knew this was going on, on a small scale, but
when we unbricked the kiln after the last firing, and I saw how much student
work had been put back on the shelf for these casseroles, I was fuming.
Still am. I think we need to put a nanny cam in the kiln goddess's navel,
and show the film at the next meeting...
Anyone know a good way to keep rats out of the kiln?
Pam, glad the door is bricked up already..
dannon rhudy on tue 8 mar 05
I think that unless someone is able/willing to keep an eye
on the kiln, you can't do anything but light it to keep them
out. Or - confront them about it, and/or have a guild
meeting and sort it out. there's always grief of that kind
in group settings. Part of the deal.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
005 6:08 PM
Subject: bad kiln manners at the guild
> Sheesh, I need to vent a wee bit about bad mannered potters at
> our guild.
Gail Dapogny on tue 8 mar 05
Such volunteers should become non-volunteers immediately, unless they
agree to become part of the group.
Greed has no place in a group situation. Develop your guidelines and
rules to suit the needs of your cooperative as equitably as possible.
Otherwise you will all go down the tubes.
Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
On Mar 8, 2005, at 6:08 PM, Pam Cresswell wrote:
> Sheesh, I need to vent a wee bit about bad mannered
> potters at
> our guild. We have a 30 cubic foot gas kiln, that is loaded once or
> twice a
> week, on average. For about the last year, I have been one of 3 people
> who
> load the kiln. We three load it 99 9/10 of the time. We follow a rule
> that
> those who pay $$ to fire (our students and those who pay per shelf) get
> priority, and our volunteers who get free firings come next. We also
> try not
> to let anyone's pot sit on the shelf too long, whether they pay or
> volunteer. If someone has an upcoming show/sale that we know about, we
> try
> to work them in. Overall we do our very best to be fair and timely. It
> is
> human nature that people always think we do not fire their stuff fast
> enough, my hide has gotten pretty thick about that. Here is what I have
> discovered though: after we have loaded the kiln, a job that takes all
> morning, working out the best way to fill it tightly and do right by
> the
> members, we have guild volunteers, volunteers!!!, come along and take
> out
> pots and put their own in. Not squeeze in one little pot, but take out
> several, so they can (as in the most recent case) put in 2 casserole
> dishes!
> A volunteer, taking out student work, and putting in her own! I
> consider
> this the same as stealing. I knew this was going on, on a small scale,
> but
> when we unbricked the kiln after the last firing, and I saw how much
> student
> work had been put back on the shelf for these casseroles, I was fuming.
> Still am. I think we need to put a nanny cam in the kiln goddess's
> navel,
> and show the film at the next meeting...
>
> Anyone know a good way to keep rats out of the kiln?
>
> Pam, glad the door is bricked up already..
>
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Vanessa Miller on wed 9 mar 05
In a message dated 3/8/2005 7:08:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
pamcresswell@SBCGLOBAL.NET writes:
Not squeeze in one little pot, but take out
several, so they can (as in the most recent case) put in 2 casserole dishes!
A volunteer, taking out student work, and putting in her own! I consider
this the same as stealing. I knew this was going on, on a small scale, but
when we unbricked the kiln after the last firing, and I saw how much student
work had been put back on the shelf for these casseroles
Well, I would suggest that the first thing you do is speak to the volunteer
about it. Obviously you can figure out whose it is without the nanny cam just
by keeping those casseroles until someone asks for them. Let the volunteer
know that the next time that it happens, they will lose the pots. If it happens
a second time, remove the incentive for it by destroying the pots. I
guarantee that will be the end of the problem.
I am the lucky recipient of a new class member because a local place has the
same problem as this. They let all the paid employees fire for free, and
have now displaced the work of paying renters from a firing that only happens
every few weeks. This renter had work that needed to be done in time for a
juried exhibition that they had already paid the entry fee on, and their pots
were displaced for tiles for the studio owner's kitchen. So the renter, who has
spent literally thousands of dollars in firing fees and space rental and
equipment purchases at the old place, has started working with me instead. Lucky
me, too bad for them. Let the volunteer know how costly it ends up being to
lose one renter/student.
Laura Davis
_www.amphorastudios.com_ (http://www.amphorastudios.com)
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