TESTED BY FIRE POTTERY https://www.testedbyfire.com/ We produce handmade pottery in San Antonio, TX Mon, 27 Mar 2023 11:31:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.testedbyfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/logo_tbfp-100x100.png TESTED BY FIRE POTTERY https://www.testedbyfire.com/ 32 32 Kiln Problems https://www.testedbyfire.com/kiln-problems/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/kiln-problems/#respond Sun, 13 Feb 2022 17:11:50 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=4679 When You Open a Kiln You never know exactly how the pottery is going to look after firing. But sometimes there is more reason to be anxious about the outcome. In the last few firings of 2021 we were having problems with the kiln walls that hold the beams that support the shelves. During the [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/kiln-problems/feed/ 0 Wooden Spoons and Spatulas Part I https://www.testedbyfire.com/wooden-spoons-and-spatulas-part-i/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/wooden-spoons-and-spatulas-part-i/#respond Sun, 11 Jul 2021 03:48:31 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=3322 What drew me to Guatemala. In July of 2007, I went to Guatemala on a mission trip with my mother.  She went on the mission trip the year before and she thought that I needed to go.  I didn’t necessarily agree with that, but my father had died a couple of years before and I [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/wooden-spoons-and-spatulas-part-i/feed/ 0 I’ve Had An Education https://www.testedbyfire.com/ive-had-an-education/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/ive-had-an-education/#respond Fri, 18 Jun 2021 12:58:07 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=3189 The Basis For My Experience Thankfully, I love to read.  My mother instilled that in me by reading to me regularly.  She claims that she started reading to me not long after I was born.  This closing stanza from a poem by Strickland Gillian is one that I heard years ago that stuck with me [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/ive-had-an-education/feed/ 0 Marketing and Selling Part VI https://www.testedbyfire.com/raising-teenage-boys-and-running-two-business/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/raising-teenage-boys-and-running-two-business/#respond Fri, 11 Jun 2021 19:11:35 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=3149 There to Old to Stay By Themselves Life is complicated, and sometimes it gets more complicated.  In the late 1980s, my life got more difficult when I took over running the Ceramic Supply business.  Then I had two companies to run. Then at the end of 1991, my first wife and I separated.  She took [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/raising-teenage-boys-and-running-two-business/feed/ 0 Marketing and Selling Part V https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-v/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-v/#respond Thu, 27 May 2021 20:22:48 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=3059 Checking Out New York On my first trip to Philadelphia, I decided to travel from there to walk the New York Gift Show.  I wanted to see how the show management laid out the show.   Plus, I was also interested in finding a few items to compliment my pottery in the showroom that I had [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-v/feed/ 0 Marketing and Selling Part IV https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iv/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iv/#respond Tue, 18 May 2021 15:55:03 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=3013 The Shows in Philly and New York In the early 1990s, I heard that the shows in the Northeast made some changes in how they dealt with the carpenters union.  Apparently, other exhibitors also didn’t want to pay a union carpenter to do something they could do themselves.  So, I looked into doing the Buyer’s [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iv/feed/ 0 Buying the Ceramic Supply business https://www.testedbyfire.com/in-1987-i-complicated-my-life-by-buying-the-local-ceramic-supply-business/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/in-1987-i-complicated-my-life-by-buying-the-local-ceramic-supply-business/#respond Fri, 30 Apr 2021 20:24:05 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2940 A Little History In 1987, I took a step in another direction.  V.R. Hood Clays, the ceramic supply business in San Antonio, was on the market.  Its name, sake V.R. Hood, started the company.  He was notoriously grumpy.  Years later, I found out that he and another man his age had a competition between them [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/in-1987-i-complicated-my-life-by-buying-the-local-ceramic-supply-business/feed/ 0 Perils of Firing a Kiln Part IV https://www.testedbyfire.com/papal-mass-pottery-part-iv/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/papal-mass-pottery-part-iv/#respond Thu, 22 Apr 2021 21:22:25 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2911 I get by with a little help from friends As far as the Papal Mass pottery was concerned, two fellow potters in San Antonio came to my aid.  Bob Fromme, an expert at making large pieces, threw the large covered jars needed to hold any host that might be leftover after everyone at the Mass [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/papal-mass-pottery-part-iv/feed/ 0 The Perils of Firing a Kiln Part III https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-iii/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-iii/#respond Fri, 16 Apr 2021 00:27:06 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2891 At The New Hospital things had been arranged. It was 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening when we arrived at the new hospital and the nurse in charge of pre-op had been on a choir trip recently with my wife.  She was able to help my wife feel more assured about what was happening. As [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-iii/feed/ 0 The Perils of Firing a Kiln Part II https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-ii/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-ii/#respond Fri, 09 Apr 2021 17:56:17 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2877 The accident That evening about five or six, I went out to the studio to change out the kiln car and start the next firing.  I put on a pair of Kanthal gloves and opened the kiln door.  Kanthal is a fire and heat resistant material that is good at lower temperatures.  As I pulled [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln-part-ii/feed/ 0 The Perils of Firing a Kiln https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln/#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2021 20:18:11 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2862 For the next couple of weeks, I will take a break from the Marketing and Selling theme and focus on some significant events that occurred during the 1980s Making Pottery for the Papal Mass in 1987 Several things happened in the 1980s that challenged me; one of those nearly killed me.  In 1987, the Catholic [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-perils-of-firing-a-kiln/feed/ 0 Marketing and Selling Part III https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iii/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iii/#respond Fri, 26 Mar 2021 21:13:40 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2838 Perspective: As I look back, I notice that the significant changes that I have made in my approach to marketing and selling my pottery have occurred about every 10 years.  These changes were often precipitated by changes in the economy.  Usually it was tied to an economic downturn that happened at the end of the [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/marketing-and-selling-part-iii/feed/ 0 This is part two of part two (a continuation of last week) and entitled Wholesale Markets. https://www.testedbyfire.com/this-is-part-two-of-part-two-a-continuation-of-last-week-and-entitled-wholesale-markets/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/this-is-part-two-of-part-two-a-continuation-of-last-week-and-entitled-wholesale-markets/#respond Thu, 18 Mar 2021 21:40:58 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2810 Paying Your Dues The show lasted the better part of a week when you included the drive to Dallas from San Antonio and back, plus the setup and tear down.  Not included in all that was the massive queue to get in and out of the elevator.  I decided that it would be better if [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/this-is-part-two-of-part-two-a-continuation-of-last-week-and-entitled-wholesale-markets/feed/ 0 Marketing and Selling: Part 2 https://www.testedbyfire.com/looking-for-alternatives/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/looking-for-alternatives/#respond Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:47:32 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2787 For several years, I continued to do art shows and do what could be called drive- by-selling.  That is driving around looking for shops to sell my work.  It took a great deal of time and energy to do both and going out of town to do an art show was hard on my family [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/looking-for-alternatives/feed/ 0 Step 15: https://www.testedbyfire.com/step-15/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/step-15/#respond Tue, 02 Mar 2021 22:34:16 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2769 Marketing and Selling: Part 1           Even before I was making pottery full time, I began to look for ways to sell my work.  It had to because I quickly ran out of space in my home, and my family became overwhelmed with gifts, plus I needed to pay for my pottery-making habit.  There was [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/step-15/feed/ 0 Building My Fourth Studio: Part Two https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-fourth-studio-part-two/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-fourth-studio-part-two/#respond Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:41:16 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2739 The inflexibility of Government: We have rules! Why most potters live out in the country. By finding and buying the property, I thought that the hardest part had been accomplished but soon discovered I was wrong.  I set about trying to rezone a portion of the property in order to build the new studio and [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-fourth-studio-part-two/feed/ 0 Building My Forth Studio https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-forth-studio/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-forth-studio/#respond Fri, 12 Feb 2021 21:19:59 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2687 Needing a Studio Closer to Home: After having been in the studio on Simon Street for only a couple of years, we decided we needed to move to another location.  We wanted to locate the home and studio in the same place.  Our two-bedroom home on Weizman would get smaller quickly because my wife was [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/building-my-forth-studio/feed/ 0 Unloading the Kiln and Inspecting the Ware https://www.testedbyfire.com/unloading-the-kiln-and-inspecting-the-ware/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/unloading-the-kiln-and-inspecting-the-ware/#respond Fri, 05 Feb 2021 21:54:54 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2659 The kiln can be opened when it has cooled to about 200°.  On my kiln, the door and car are all one piece that roll out together.  We use clamps to hold the door tight against the kiln’s shell, so the first step to opening the kiln is removing the clamps.  Then you grab the [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/unloading-the-kiln-and-inspecting-the-ware/feed/ 0 Firing the Kiln https://www.testedbyfire.com/firing-the-kiln/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/firing-the-kiln/#respond Fri, 29 Jan 2021 22:18:43 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2635 Step 12: Firing the Kiln           It takes 25 or more hours to fire the kilnandwe usually start the firing sometime around 1 p.m. The first part of the firing, which is about five hours, is dedicated to slowly removing any remaining moisture from the ware, latent water and chemically combined water.  If all the [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/firing-the-kiln/feed/ 0 Making Pottery: Steps 10 and 11 https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-pottery-steps-10-and-11/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-pottery-steps-10-and-11/#respond Fri, 22 Jan 2021 22:15:56 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2608 Step 10: Cleaning Glaze off the bottom           Once a pot has been glazed and decorated, the bottom needs to be cleaned before it can be loaded in the kiln.  This is done with a damp sponge much like wiping the kitchen counter. If the glaze is not cleaned on the bottom, it will melt [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-pottery-steps-10-and-11/feed/ 0 Three more steps in the process. Waxing, Glazing and Decorating https://www.testedbyfire.com/three-more-steps-in-the-process-waxing-glazing-and-decorating/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/three-more-steps-in-the-process-waxing-glazing-and-decorating/#respond Fri, 15 Jan 2021 22:01:52 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2586 Step 7: Waxing the Bottom and or Rim           After applying the signature and before glazing the piece, the bottom has to be waxed.  This will also include the rim of any piece that has a lid.  The wax is paraffin that is heated up to somewhere between melting and the paraffin’s flash point.  We [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/three-more-steps-in-the-process-waxing-glazing-and-decorating/feed/ 0 Why I Do What I Do: The Steps in making a piece of pottery https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do-the-steps-in-making-a-piece-of-pottery/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do-the-steps-in-making-a-piece-of-pottery/#respond Thu, 17 Dec 2020 22:36:53 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2387 I put a slip trialed decoration on some of the pieces that I make. Slip trailing is done while the pottery is still moist because otherwise, the slip will not adhere to the piece. The slip I use is a watered-down porcelain clay. I use a porcelain body because it fires very white and is a good contrast to the clay body that I work with.

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do-the-steps-in-making-a-piece-of-pottery/feed/ 0 The Process: 15+ Steps from Start To Sold https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-process-15-steps-from-start-to-sold/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-process-15-steps-from-start-to-sold/#respond Sat, 12 Dec 2020 21:02:19 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2356           It may sound strange and at the same time obvious to say, but everything that a potter does affects the final product and you don’t know until the piece comes out of the kiln how it will look.  The below is the start to finish when a potter makes a pot.  I think that [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/the-process-15-steps-from-start-to-sold/feed/ 0 What Is Perfection? https://www.testedbyfire.com/what-is-perfection/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/what-is-perfection/#respond Fri, 04 Dec 2020 21:16:53 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2322 Why I Do What I Do:  What is Perfection?           There are different ideas of perfection.  Most of the time, perfection means flawless and every piece is identical or everything moving in lockstep.  We see one type of perfection when we see something made a machine. That is the identical type of perfection.  But, when [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/what-is-perfection/feed/ 0 I Throw Different https://www.testedbyfire.com/i-throw-different/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/i-throw-different/#respond Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:32:33 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2291 Why I Do What I Do:  I throw different.           Throwing is the process of making a piece of pottery on the potter’s wheel.  The process consists of a series of steps.  Centering, Opening Pulling and Shaping.  I will provide links to videos at the end of the article so you can see the process. [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/i-throw-different/feed/ 0 My Second Studio https://www.testedbyfire.com/my-second-studio/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/my-second-studio/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2020 19:57:49 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2266 Why I Do What I Do: A Little More History           For a little over a year and a half, I made pottery in my one car garage studio, adapting the space over time to make it more efficient, but I quickly outgrew that space.  Knowing my need for more workspace, a friend alerted me [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/my-second-studio/feed/ 1 Pottery Art or Science https://www.testedbyfire.com/pottery-art-or-science/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/pottery-art-or-science/#respond Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:50:36 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2231 Seth Godin: One difference between Art and Science. “If you cannot replicate the work and get the same outcome, then it’s not science. If you can replicate the work and get the same outcome, it’s not art.” Is pottery Art or Science? No two pieces of pottery are exactly alike:           I am a functional [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/pottery-art-or-science/feed/ 0 Out On My Own https://www.testedbyfire.com/out-on-my-own/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/out-on-my-own/#respond Wed, 04 Nov 2020 19:55:25 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2214 The Second Jump           I worked at San Antonio College for a little over a year and I had no intention of cutting the cord even though it was a thin cord.  In that year, I learned a great deal.  I realized that I don’t fit all that well into highly structured hierarchical institutions, which [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/out-on-my-own/feed/ 0 Making the Jump https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-the-jump/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-the-jump/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2020 17:55:09 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2187 Making jump from carpenter to full-time potter:           In 1973, I bought my first potter’s wheel.  Before that, I added a little greenhouse on the front of our house where I set up my potter’s wheel.  It allowed me to make pots without the necessity of going to the pottery shop at the Art Institute [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-the-jump/feed/ 2 Making Space https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-space/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-space/#respond Tue, 13 Oct 2020 21:25:28 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2135 Why I do what I do: Form and Function or Making Space and Connections I came across this quote not long ago in Jordan Peterson’s book 12 Rules For Life, and the perspective struck me. It is shorter than the original quote, but this part coincides with what I have thought for a long. It [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/making-space/feed/ 0 Signing My Work https://www.testedbyfire.com/signing-my-work/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/signing-my-work/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2020 18:35:03 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2104           One of the first questions that every artist has to ask themselves when they start making things to sell is; how do I sign my work?  It took me the better part of a year to make that decision.     In the fall of 1971, I had what I call a run-in with God.  [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/signing-my-work/feed/ 2 Why I Do What I Do https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:32:19 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=2027 Why I do what I do.  First a little history 49 years ago this September, I started taking my first pottery class at San Antonio College.  In July of that summer, while on a trip, I saw a potter working in his studio in Indianapolis and I was very intrigued,  so much so, that I [...]

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]]> https://www.testedbyfire.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/feed/ 4 My Boy Came Home in a Box https://www.testedbyfire.com/my-boy-came-home-in-a-box/ https://www.testedbyfire.com/my-boy-came-home-in-a-box/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2020 21:21:24 +0000 https://www.testedbyfire.com/?p=1556 The title of this blog came from a line in a song by Country Joe and the Fish a band during the Vietnam War era. I don’t know if they ever had another hit. I don’t know if I ever heard another of their songs, but that line stuck with me.

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