The mudcat is a wonderful archive of useful information (as my friend Mark Clark mentioned). Even as a relative outsider I use it and will continue to do so. As such, I should pay for it. I'll send in something when I get a bit on my feet -- my show schedule hasn't really taken off yet this year.

I've been approached in the past about contributing a piece for auction. I fear I came off poorly in my declining to do so. It's not exactly an unwillingness to contribute my work. It's really just the reality that it would cost me more to contribute work than cash -- AND a pottery contribution would net the mudcat very little if any. The most I'd expect from an auction of a pot would be pennies on the dollar. Nobody here is familiar with me or my work and one shouldn't expect a pig-in-a-poke auction to net much $$.

So if I sounded stand-offish about the donation of a piece (I can't remember who all has asked me for one), I probably didn't make myself clear. It's not the worthiness of the cause that has me hesitate -- it's that it just wouldn't be a cost effective way to meet that goal.