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Molly Walter | Episode 770
Molly Walter creates sculptural and functional ceramics with a focus on deeply carved patterns. Molly is a graduate of Haywood Community College’s professional craft program. Originally from Illinois, Molly has lived and worked a variety of jobs in Western North Carolina since 2009. March 2021 marks Molly’s first attempt at working full time in the studio.
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Was having a cash savings account critical to your courage?
I love change and I might have done it anyway. But because of that I really knew it was the time. It was a good time to do it, it was the right time to do it.
While you were working your other job were you saving knowing you were going to be cutting those ties and trying this out?
No, I have worked so many different jobs over the last ten years and I always choose a job I think is going to teach me something new, where I am going to get to work with interesting people, or something that’s going to challenge me and just be interesting to me. So I would have kept this job it was just a transitional time at that job. Things unfold.
Do you have anything other than making and producing pottery for producing extra income, like teaching or something like that?
Yeah, I’ve done some teaching. I really enjoy that and I will take on commissions for friends and family where I will make work with their pet or relatives ashes. That is still a made piece but those are more special. I would love to teach more. I love working with people of all ages.
Do you have a financial goal every month that you try to hit so that you know how well you are doing? Or do you look backwards at what you spent and see if your savings is disappearing? So one is a forward looking and one is a backward looking?
I’m just laughing because any one who knows me and listens to this knows I am not a planner. So it’s very weird that I understand what’s going on right now. I just look at the numbers and see what the numbers say at the beginning and the end of the month and make sure I can pay my bills. So yes, I have a goal. My goal is to pay my bills and I recognize as a craftsperson that each month will be different because of the way that the craft economy works.
Do you have a calendar that you are using to plan how you are going to be making and what you are going to be making? Such as the holiday season?
No, I don’t yet and I think that’s because I am just starting…I just want to take this year to get a feel for where I am at with things, make my glazes, make work, and connect with people. I have the savings to do that this year and as my understanding grows of what I need to do to succeed. I want to bring that next year and be more methodical about what I’m doing. But right now I just try to spend as much time in the studio as possible and talk to as many people as I can and just keep experimenting with it.
Do you have a mentor who is helping guide your path in the business portion of it?
Not necessarily. Not anyone specific. But I do have several people who I certainly look to for advice or feel confident that I could ask for advice if I need it.
What is one thing that you do in ceramics that you say, I could probably tweak this a little bit and it would be better. ?
Glazing. Finishing the pieces. If I could just make leather hard work and it could just stay that beautiful leather hard state. Ah. That would be glorious. That’s why atmospheric kilns are the best because they do the hard work for you and everyone’s work looks amazing in a soda kiln.
Book
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Contact
Etsy: MollyWalterPottery
Instagram: @mogrizzles