Lindsey M. Dillon

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve written the first sentence of “my next post” in my head in the last month. My favorite, which came to mind at the very beginning of May, announced, “If my life was an early 2000′s slice of life movie, this would be the part where you’d see a series of repeating mini scenes of me collapsing into bed in various ways to indicate repetitive, exhaustive days in the most efficient fashion.” I always got stuck at what the next few sentences would be. I’m still stuck on what these next few sentences will be, which is why I’m writing this post a month and some change after that thought first entered my head.

—

One A.M. this morning was about the time I concluded that I wasn’t going to be getting enough sleep. Nowhere near enough to prepare me for the 7:30am shift at my part-time job as a specialty coffee shop barista. Might as well chuck the eye mask and do the one thing I was sure I wasn’t going to want to do after 8 hours of serving as Saturday’s beleaguered cleric of the coffee gods: organize my Google Drive. Amidst the hastily titled JPGs and PSDs, I found a neatly labeled little PDF: “Brick by Brick: Principles for Achieving Artistic Mastery” by Stephen McCranie.

Past Lindsey had purchased this $5 gem over a year ago after seeing an excerpt on…Imgur was it? It’s rare that I thank Past Lindsey for impulsive purchases, but I was glad to have the opportunity to make an exception. 

See, I’ve been in a bit of a rut of self and artistic improvement. My copy of “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” stares me down every morning as I trod heavy-footed and half-naked into the kitchen after hitting snooze until the last possible moment. My copy of “The Artist’s Way” judges me silently at night as I sneak past it into the living room for another Netflix or Crunchyroll binge. I have “arts and business” articles sitting prettily on the Pinterest board of a fellow ceramic artist, on my phone, in my hand…

Somehow, still, one chapter, one article, has seemed like too much.

I admit, I – like many people – probably have some good reasons to be incomprehensibly overwhelmed by some 12 pages of Times New Roman. Going through my 20′s was complicated enough before the death of my sister from an accidental opioid overdose introduced a level of “shit getting turned on it’s head” that took my life from Renoir to Goya overnight.

In the aftermath of something like that, yeah, your idea of what a realistic goal is changes a bit. I can’t tell you what an achievement it was the first time I did laundry and put it all away in the same day. 

Whether it’s a single life-altering event, a day-to-day fight for mental health, or good old fashioned self-doubt, there are so many things that stand like snarky sphinxes between where we are and where we want to be.

Maybe it takes inconveniently-timed insomnia to hit the GO button when you feel like you have no logical reason not to do something you know will help. Maybe, as I read in the witty, concise, and honest comic that is “Brick by Brick”, it’s about finding the smallest possible bite you know you can chew. I think it’s also a bit of that elusive thing called timing: something about the ways I’ve struggled and grown between now and when I first saw that excerpt made the messages in Brick by Brick resonate with me the way they did last night – both for my personal growth and my growth as an artist.

Maybe if I’d read this comic when Past Lindsey bought it, I could have skipped some of the trouble. But maybe now I have more reasons to remember what it has to say.

—

I always get stuck at what my ending statement will be. I’m still stuck on what the ending statement will be.

Perhaps I’ll simply conclude with a tribute to the man who has graced innumerable birthdays, first days of school, and graduations with his eternal words…

“And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done. You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? And IF you go in, should you turn left or right… or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind…

If I were a scientist, I’d be sitting in a ruffled white lab coat, glasses askew, and hair a mess, writing in an old leather-bound log, “My experiments are yielding no results...I’m missing something, I must keep trying.”

Unfortunately, the scenery this evening was much less dramatic, yet the sentiment is the same. Sitting on a little beige pillow at my coffee table with Supernatural in the background, I spent almost 3 hours contemplating -- and experimenting with -- the ideal tensile strength and flexibility for a ceramic stencil. Zip Lock bags should become my sponsor, because after testing various plastic bags (most too easily torn) and layers of clear packaging tape (not flexible enough to show the design clearly), my hope rests on their quart-size freezer bags. Only more experiments will tell.

The last few days have been rather eventful, and I’ve not spent nearly enough time taking account of the lessons learned.

1. When taking a commission, write down and clarify as many of the options as possible. Will the inside of the cup be the same color as the outside? (Consider the additional time that could take.) Do you want the same clay for each piece? (If multiple pieces are being ordered.)

2. When taking a commission, have standard glazes made in larger batches, and offer those. If another glaze is requested, allow time for glaze testing (on the correct clay body), and have the price of the piece account for the increased cost. 

3. Speckled Buff clay gets rough when fired to cone 5/6. I’m not sure how I missed that memo, but remember that if you’re going to make functional pieces, it’s going to take time to smooth out that bottom rim so it doesn’t scratch the surface of your customer’s coffee table. That could ruin their Supernatural-watching experience.

4. Be sure to apply the Amaco Velvet Underglaze thickly enough. Overall it does well, but when fine text is called for, give it a twice over.

No “Top 5” today. Just four. Sorry.

Spring promises to be a busy time. I’ve started an Independent Study (kind of), and it’s really exciting to be working with a small group of people who are pushing to bring their work -- and their business savviness -- to a new level. The other members of the cohort work in small metals (jewelry), but all of us aim to have a cohesive series to have up for a time in DISPLAY in Oak Park. Fanime also looms on the horizon, and I’m hoping these early experiments will save me time as the convention gets closer. I think I’m going shopping tomorrow though...I’m going to have to get those freezer bags.

Sac City College:

Made Oli’s Casting Slip

Sodium silicate is a magical thing. Some tablespoon of it mixed in another tablespoon of water changed a chunky too-thick-for-the-griddle-pancake-mix texture into a smooth, viscous slip. Well, not completely, but I could see the process starting to happen. 

I’ll post the recipe for the casting slip. One day I’ll need to get a video of the remarkable transformation.

Interview with Manjar Ceramics:

It was awesome having the opportunity to chat with Alejandra. Both of us wished we’d had business training as part of our BA, so I’ve become increasingly convinced that these kinds of conversations -- asking other artists how they do what they do and handle the business of being an artist -- is necessary not only to fill that gap in our educations, but to build a community of artists sharing information and supporting each other. 

Alejandra was very forthcoming. She got her teaching credential and had been teaching ceramics full time at a high school before the stress of the bureaucracy forced a change in her life. Or rather, she made a step to make that change. She believes in “ceramics as a way of life”. You’re an artist all the time, not just putting on the metaphorical fancy beret for the two hours you’re in the studio. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort. Thank god I’m not the only one who finds that hard to manage sometimes.

Some overall points:

There is a small business program offered through Sac City at their West Sac campus -- short, 1-unit classes that sound like they’d be helpful.

Online markets for indie stores are a place to sell, Midtown Sac has proved a good market for her work rather than more suburban areas.

Taxes *shriek*. Filing as an LLC protects your own assets from being sued, and you can also be a Sole Proprietor. Keep receipts for at least a year. 

If you get an Employee Identification Number, you can get discounts at some stores when you get supplies for the business.

Books to check out: Big Magic, How to Sell Like an Artist

App for receipt-tracking: Waves

App for mile-tracking: MileIQ

Home Studio:

Glaze Notes

- Duncan EZ Stroke (yellow, black, white) - Manganese Dioxide (filled in cracks) - Tan

Manganese ran and pooled, but did not show up as dark as it looked like it would over the yellow leaves.

Slight purple veins over black under badger, possible effect of Tan glaze.

Visible smudging from multiple attempts at writing on back.

Writing bled slightly during application when bisqueware had already absorbed some water.

Glaze Notes

- Duncan E-Z Stroke Jet Black - 1 dip Mystery