The Maker's Playbook Rebecca Ickes Carra

Do you ever think about completely changing your life? Like literally, everything - Your job, where you live, what your day to day looks like, maybe even your identity in a way… Or maybe you have done that already, and you are living the dream you had 5 or 10 years ago, but now, as it turns out, it’s not actually the dream? Just even thinking about saying that out loud feels crazy because you worked so hard to get where you are right now. How could you ever change that? Why would you? Should ...

I thought John & I were going to talk mostly about burnout. How it “happened” to him, how he got through it, and perhaps, what he’s doing differently now. But (perhaps rather obviously) it can’t really be broken down that simply. Instead, John and I wound up not only talking about burnout, but also the pursuit of the impossible perfect cylinder, the responsibility we all have to educate others on what we do while also hopefully exciting them, and particularly the realities of the economic...

In an internet world where there are seemingly endless “educators” available to learn from, what actually qualifies someone to teach a skill? Is it a traditional piece of paper, or diploma, saying that some institution has decided you can? Is it the number of years you’ve been doing the thing? Frankly, there’s really not a fixed formula we can say where x+ y = qualified educator! However, during this chat with Ian Childers, a potter who, as often happens, fell into education by necessity and ...

There’s a new social media app in the virtual neighborhood. Will it solve all the frustrations we artists have? Maybe. Maybe not… In this week’s solo episode, I dive into all things social media marketing, why a new app probably won’t solve your problems (but it could!), and why maybe it’s a good thing that it’s hard to get attention on the internet. Plus how everything is changing and yet, nothing is changing. Always. I swear it makes sense once you give a listen.Need help telling your own s...

A rare non-potter conversation today on the podcast with Dave Conrey, graphic designer turned email newsletter educator. We talk about the realities of making art and trying to sell that art, approaches to marketing our work without needing to be a part of the hustle-bro culture, and eventually get around to the notion that really piqued my interest when I first met Dave online - committing to one project and one project only for a set period of time in order to focus. It’s a rare conversatio...

We’re back for part two! In this continued conversation with Joy Hanford - a Midwest gal, much like myself, who now lives in Portugal - we get into the topics of the complexities of learning about and navigating bureaucracies in other countries, art as a form of grieving and processing world events like the lockdown and the experience of a global pandemic in another country, starting a business amidst covid, and most of all, defining success for ourselves. Yes, it’s a heavy one my friends. Bu...