As a child, I spent many hours puttering in the backyard with found clay. I even discovered I could form a bowl out of ground sandstone and it would hold together after it dried. As I got older, I learned from the indian ladies. We weren't rich and I never asked about the possibility of seeing one of my pieces fired so the truth is, I never discovered firing until I discovered the world of poured ceramics when I was 40 years old.

I was born artistic, never went to college, never exposed to the art world. You see, back in my day nobody was offering free money to go to college. There were troubles in the home and the last thing on my mind was my own future. I was busy surviving.

At the age of 30, my father dreamed up a fantastic project and asked if I could reproduce a miniature 'jawbone of an ass'. Since I had no idea how to start, I wrote to my grandmother who had been working with plaster products for years. She wrote back with instructions and I went on the hunt for materials, I had never heard of. By letter, my grandmother taught me how to make a rubber mold using liquid latex. My first taste of mold making.

This being my first attempt, and working alone, those first molds were (to say the least) crude but I sure turned out replicas of a jawbone. I borrowed a neighbors yard ornament (a jawbone) and sketched it then went looking for modeling clay which I used to form an exact replica. Then I built that mold, just like grandmother instructed. Somehow, it all worked out. And on the kitchen table, mind you.

Years went by with no thought of those days, when I had learned a marvelous new trick. I was 40 years old when I first walked into a ceramic shop and was just overwhelmed with all the greenware. This was a little shop in south Dallas that produced high volumes of greenware for all the other shops. Don't you know, the shelves were crammed.

Believe it or not, I was embarrassed to admit I'd never touched the subject of poured ceramics and had no idea how to approach it. I selected a gourgeous little piece, so intricate and detailed simply because I love a challenge. Then I went snooping around for some instruction. The only thing I could find, was the Duncan catalog and from glancing through that, I got the idea that maybe, just maybe, it was 'underglaze' I was looking for.

I found the jars of paints labeled 'underglaze' and bought the colors I thought I might use. According to the catalog, these were the colors one could mix and that's all I needed to know. I had no idea what the differences were between 'underglaze', 'glaze' and 'stain'. It's a good thing I accidently started off with the right thing.

Looking at the tools, I had no idea what was proper so I just went by instinct. Something called 'cleaning tool' sure sounded safe. I bought that and a small sponge and took my new found treasure home. My background being 'bend the clay to your demand', I set about carefully cleaning, scared to death I'd do something wrong and not knowing that my carving out the ears and eyes was actually a 'no-no'. I worked on that piece for a week, after work each day.

Mind you, I was the clumsy idiot who had never been taught what this stuff was all about. All I knew was from my childhood and years of making pots. I didn't know if I had screwed it all up or if I had somehow managed to pass under the 'she knows her stuff' bar.

After having returned the piece for my first experience at seeing something (anything) fired, I arrived to pick up the piece only to discover that it was sitting smack dab in the center of a large table with a bunch of ladies sitting around, working on their ceramic pieces. I wondered if that was mine. I asked about my bisque and was told , "Oh, I hope you'll forgive us. This piece is so precise, so detailed and exquisite, we couldn't help but admire it and leave it out where the ladies could use it as a guideline." Do I really have to tell you what went through my mind?

After that little bit of praise, I was motivated to try again with another piece.

Then life happened and I didn't touch ceramics again for another year or two. Some time later, and during those first months after a horrendous divorce, fearing to be found, I went underground. In a possition like that, one cannot just go out and get a regular job without exposing oneself to harm. That's where the education in ceramics and mold making began.

I had to find a way to support myself and I looked to my own talents.

One of the first things you'll discover, when you make a move like this, is that there is completition out there that doesn't want you to know what they know. This was before all those mold making books started flooding the market. I had to figure out a lot of things on my own, while hiding the fact that I had no idea what I was doing.

Then I went to work, helping out at one of biggest local ceramic shops, just helping them get through the Christmas rush. And RUSH, they had. I learned to pour 100 huge molds per day, empty them all, reband and ready for the next day. That little old lady taught me the lesson of my life and as a result, I wound up being the best pourer in the state.

Using that experience, I went to work for myself, mass producing miniatures and then it expanded into all kinds of things. Learning how to make the molds, using my own designs, turned out to be my salvation. The business just kept growing out of my ability to keep up.

Before long, I was the 'hip pocket' secret of New Mexico. Many of the successful ceramics producers and artists, got their business off the ground, using my designing and mold making abilities. They over ran me until I was working from 9AM to 2AM, 7 days a week with no let-up. Finding help, in a business like that, is just about impossible. I tried.

It was when I took on a business loan to buy enough equipment, so that I could keep up with the volumes of huge vases and platters, that the troubles started. My customers were so used to my working for peanuts that when I tried to raise my prices to cover the growing overhead, they bailed on me. They hired illegal mexicans, paid them under the table and taught them things they had learned by watching me. Eventually, I was struggling to survive and finally just gave up and closed up business.

My own customers who had depended on me for an edge on the market, who had built empires on my back, who had bought homes and cars off the growing profits, couldn't thank me by giving me my share.

So folks, that's where it's at. You can't help others in their own business because they will eventually turn around and stab you. If you're going to produce ANYTHING, design it yourself, make your own molds and keep your techniques and designs so close you sleep with them. Being nice, doesn't pay. That's what I'm here to teach you.

Since I'm no longer in the business and don't plan to start (I'm too old), I decided to share with you those things I learned, along with the warnings and hints on how to market your own product.