The Show: A Summary

Can you call a show a success and a nonsuccess at the same time? Did I sell lots? No, barely enough to cover booth fees, so the gas to and from every day, my time, printing costs for cards and tags was not covered. So salewise...not a success. But I did meet lots of people interested in pottery. I filled a whole class for next session. So class promo was a success. I even got a photo in the paper.

I can't fault the venue. They brought people to the event. It was fairly busy most the days. I was talking pots and throwing pots most of the day. But the people seemed to have a tight hold on their wallets. The economy still is pretty bad here and it shows in the willingness to part with $ even on stuff they like.

I might be doing a show on August 8th at a different venue. We'll see how that goes, this other show has a whole different demographic. Summer shows are so iffy here in Florida.

Pre-Show Jitters

I have a show next weekend. They always make me a bit nervous. I don't think you can tell when talking to me but I always have a few jitters. This show, I am going to be throwing clay in public, three days of throwing.

I am ok at throwing in front of people, always have been. I remember in college having the campus cops come watch me during after hours labs. I remember this one time that I was throwing, I might have been in my second semester of pottery class, in walks a group of about 50 firemen. They were there to learn about the kiln. After they got a good look at the kiln and their lecture on when to try to put it out and when it was just still glowy from a firing and in no danger of setting the building on fire they wandered over to me.

I was sitting alone in a line of about 15 wheels throwing but now I was sitting in a line of 15 wheels surrounded by 50 firemen, 50 manly firemen all watching me... me nervous?... no lol.

Well I entertained them and humored their recollections of the potter's wheel scene from the movie Ghost. Smiled and managed not to ruin the pot I was working on. Finally their captain decided they had enough fun and called them to the trucks and off they went.

So I was introduced to throwing in public early in my throwing career and can carry on a conversation and center, lift a wall and shape. So I do fairly well demoing in public...me nervous? no lol.......

My Wheel Throwing Class Made Enrollment

The local economy has put a severe pinch on my class enrollment the last couple of sessions, so severe that they didn't meet the needed enrollment to run...sadly. But happy day, I got word that my Throwing Class has made enrollment so this week I again will be teaching Wheel Throwing at the center. I hope this the start of a upturn in the local area. Here is a photo of some work made in past sessions of my classes, there might be a few of mine in there too.