I'm curious what everyone (ok, not everyone) does with the work that you have finished and then decide that it is actually not very good?
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Less than perfect pieces
- Thread starter David Aion
- Start date
I hope for perfect, but I'll keep very good.
Does the less-than very good have utility? If so, then give it away but express no appologies for your lower level of expected outcome. Don't discredit yourself, you learned a valuable lesson or two from that piece. Someone will always say, "Wow! Cool!" Smile, tell them it's theirs, and walk away knowing someone is taking pleasure in it.
Does the less-than very good have utility? If so, then give it away but express no appologies for your lower level of expected outcome. Don't discredit yourself, you learned a valuable lesson or two from that piece. Someone will always say, "Wow! Cool!" Smile, tell them it's theirs, and walk away knowing someone is taking pleasure in it.
Well, I still do one show a year, and I always have a box of "seconds", most of which are cracked or have knots in them. None over $5. They are gone in less than half a day. Some times, I have had pieces that I considered very ugly. I put them on the shelf anyway. Funny how some one always comes in and goes straight to the ugly pieces and think they are the most beautiful things in the world....
robo hippy
robo hippy
Good answer!
Funny, I just finished a beads of courage box I’m not happy with. Debating if I should give it to them or not.
I like the “seconds box” idea!
I like the “seconds box” idea!
Depending on how “bad” (or not very good), I have a fire pit out back that we sit around with the neighbors some evenings. I had a neighbor last week pick one out before I lit the fire, look at it, say “nope” and throw it back in. We burned it along with a number of others.
Seriously bad goes in the burn barrel. Ok but damaged goes to family member that wants it.
We do monthly coffee get togethers so they don't stick around long.
We do monthly coffee get togethers so they don't stick around long.
I have used a failed bowl as raw material for different project. It was a thin wall bowl that I was sanding while outside. A gust of wind, gravity and a concrete driveway resulted in it being cracked beyond repair. I traced a leaf outline, cut it out and then a little woodburning for veins and airbrush some autumn colors and voila a curved leaf.
I don't really want to do anymore shows or deal with a gallery, so I cleared out quite a few pieces from my shop recently. Our Empty Bowls event appeared to be a big success today. 
If you don't like it then you can always use it to practice something, a new finish, a new embellishing technique, etc.
David, sell only the best, burn the rest.
Sacrificial fancy firewood is always fun. The way I see it, the less than perfect pieces are just stepping stones to the ones that deserve the spotlight.
If it's not too bad, I'll give it away. The bad ones go into the burn box, but my wife tends to rescue those for reasons I don't quite understand and use them around the house.
Same here, bowls are scattered around the house filled with earrings, plant seeds, coins, etc. I get rid of the bowls I never want to see again now, before she can get them.
I have not made any but Richard Raffan has a video of half bowls glued to a board for little wall hanging storage trays. Thought it was a good idea.
I have bins full of "less than perfect" pieces. I go through them once in a while and pull out the ones I can re-turn. Luckily i'm not one to turn things really thin so I can usually make a new tenon or flatten the base to add a glue block. A second chance often ends with better results and because I do a lot of surface embellishments then make good canvases for that.
all my 'rejects' are used by my wife as 'yard art' - drill a drain hole in it and it becomes a biodegradable plant pot.... many last years before they won't hold soil
What is less than perfect? That would have to be a personal judgement by the maker. I see bowls on Reddit that only their Mother would appreciate, but yet the maker is proud enough to show it to the world on the internet and ask what a fare selling price should be. So in my opinion less than perfect can not mean the same thing for any 2 people.
My story of the worst bowl I ever turned. (I told about this a few months ago)
It was shameful, the wood was ugly, the form was ugly, the finish was ugly - it had NO redeeming value, was headed for the BTU barrel.
I pitched it on the ground near the barn towards a pile of some other scrap wood.
Our good friend the vet came by and saw Bad Bowl on the ground when she got out of the farm-call truck. She obviously lacked something basic and liked it.
In a moment of poor judgement I asked if she wanted it, maybe for cat food. I made her promise one thing: NEVER tell anyone where it came from. Promise secured, Bad Bowl left the premises.
Some time later my wife and I went to their house for a birthday celebration. As I walked in I saw the bowl on a table with nuts or something in it - she announced: "Hey everyone, this is John - he made this bowl!" Can’t quite describe how I felt…
My advice for bad work - act promptly on instinct. Enjoy the nice flames. Maybe cut it into pieces first just in case.
That gives me an idea - turn the worst bowl you can on purpose and post a photo - terrible form, bad tearout, smoothing, finish. Describe in detail what you dislike about it. No positive comments allowed! Might make an interesting challenge - who can turn the worst bowl!
JKJ
I don’t have to turn one-I just go to the pile outside and pick one. That will be the hard part.
I’m very critical of my work and if it doesn’t meet my standards it is usually cut up and put in the burn pile. I will give some away but refuse to sign them. I have a large pile from 2-3 years ago that I’m getting ready to g through and many will be tossed but have to wait until my wife is not home since she can’t see anything wrong with them.
If one has a crack in the rim I usually try to fix it with CA glue. That’s what I tried on this one, dropped it on the floor and had a big crack on the rim, I found out you can’t apply CA with a hammer
If one has a crack in the rim I usually try to fix it with CA glue. That’s what I tried on this one, dropped it on the floor and had a big crack on the rim, I found out you can’t apply CA with a hammer
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It looks like you could salvage the bottom half by putting a walnut segmented ring for the rim? I think it would be stunning.
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My good friend is a famous potter. When he was doing a lot of craft fairs he was making a LOT of utility pieces, mostly raku fired. Behind his house was a big pile of pottery shards. Anything he wasn't satisfied with he smashed on the pile. I think he got some satisfaction from that.
I just recently got rid of (meaning threw out) some early work that was OK, but not really very desirable from a design or artistic point of view. Plus these pieces were not up to my current level of quality. It's rather rare to get something perfect for me since I'm a perfectionist and tend to find something wrong with the finished product I'd improve on if I were to do something similar again.
If they have any potential to be saved on the shelf it goes, otherwise off to the bandsaw
That reminds be of something Richard Raffan said in one of his books. It's good to occasionally cut a piece in half. Either pieces you don't like in form or feel or sacrifice a piece you really like, maybe something that feels good in the hand. This lets you better see what is wrong or right about the piece. what makes it feel bad or good.
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If deep enough, that bottom shape can make a nice pencil holder.
I made one similar to that shape for a friend in a wheelchair from an accident which damaged his spinal cord and limited most of his arm and hand/finger control. The shape spread the pencils out so he could get one easier.
JKJ
This was from a couple years ago. The color on this vase was outstanding and I was getting ready for the final turn. I hit the vase as I was turning around, swung around fast to grab it, flipped it straight up in the air across the table and heard the crack when it hit the floor. So I basically released my frustration out on what remained
Some years ago, I was walking into a local Christmas craft show and heard the unmistakable sound of breaking pottery. Then I heard a lot of cheering???? It turned out that the potters were having a fund raiser where they would bring in their ugly pieces and then people would bid on them, just for the purpose of being able to smash them. I think that event continues to this day.... Strange to me, but it works for them.
robo hippy
robo hippy
Speaking of less than perfect. This was supposed to be a hollow form till a catch took the top off.
Will be a vase now. one coat of sealer applied.
Will be a vase now. one coat of sealer applied.
I make fire-bowls out of them. Fill with dry shavings, place a piece of wax on top and light it outside or in fireplace. Burns for a long time. Get cheep taper candles from a thrift store and break them into pieces about 2-3 inches long.
Want it to burn longer? Use multiple pieces or put one on the bottom before chips and then one on top.
Want it to burn longer? Use multiple pieces or put one on the bottom before chips and then one on top.
Give it to my wife
My more serious answer is that I tend to judge my work more harshly than others. Were I see imperfections others may see a piece that speaks to them. I have a collection of imperfect pieces that I give away to friends and neighbors when that visit and say "oh I like that one". It's usually a piece that I'm ok with giving away.
Well, WOW. Thanks everyone. I've done some of all of your suggestions. The longer I turn, hopefully< the more skilled I become. Here's something new.
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I have another take on this - my personal collection contains several pieces that, when they were made were intended as ‘proof of concept’ pieces - just to see it it was feasible to continue down the path to a more perfected form. These were ideas on everything from ‘mechanical pieces’ like how to turn a doorbell made from salvaged bell and turned sheaves, crank and cord…or just a new way to secure the lid on a lidded bowl or box. Even if they’re only moderately successful, I like to keep them around to see if another way to get the job done will appear in my sketchbook. Most of these would never pass as completed pieces, at least to my eye, but they sit on the shelf where I can keep track of whether the muse has brought a better solution.