Easy money in pottery

Right from the git go let's get something straight- there ain't no easy money in pottery. There is easier

money but not easy money. Whenever I have come up with the brilliant way to make some easier money fast it has dragged out and it only took me away from what I love about making pots- variation, creativity and freedom.

The other day I was spent. and running out of clay.  I had no big ideas so since I was trained as a repetition potter I made some cups, some bowls and some plates. That's an easy afternoon for me. Repetition is the easier of the hard money. Almost no thinking involved as your hands are your memory and they do what they are supposed to do without really being told.  These pots are destined for my gas kiln since it is the easier of the hard way of wood firing. 

If I really wanted easier money I would have skipped putting two handles on each bowl. Easier has never really appealed to me.  I sincerely doubt the handles add any real value to the pots other than I insist they be there. They are my signature and as my dad taught me "It's what you do when you don't have to that really matters!" Thanks Dad, I could be rich if you didn't sit on my shoulders each day.

Last night I finished Cheryl Strayed's "Wild". She said something that has puzzled me all day long "There's no way to know what makes one thing happen and another not."  I blame it on The Universe or my brother the Hawk. Today on my bike ride I saw two of my brothers staring down at me from the telephone lines.  Sometimes I feel in the drivers seat and sometimes I feel someone else has the wheel and the direction I'm headed.  The days of repetition are the days when I let someone else do the driving. It doesn't happen often but sometimes a guy needs a rest.