Best Rebecca Ickes Carra Podcasts (2025)

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Ep 621: Can You Make a Living from a $45 Mug? 26:57

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4d ago26:57

26:57

Send us a text Can you make a viable living from creating a wheelthrown mug that you charge $45 for? According to a video currently racing around the internet, the answer is no. But is that true? According to some of the past potters I've talked to here on the podcast over the last 4 years, that answer would be no, that's not true. In fact, they ar…

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Ep 620: Protecting Your Artistic Voice with Martha Grover 1:18:10

18d ago1:18:10

1:18:10

Send us a text What happens when we approach our artistic development not as lightning-bolt inspiration but as intentional practice—exploring the minute details that fascinate us while carefully choosing which external voices we allow to influence our work? Throughout her 23-year career, Martha Grover has done just that, and the iconic look of her …

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Ep 619: Building a Creative Practice Across Continents with Eva Champagne 1:13:38

25d ago1:13:38

1:13:38

Send us a text As makers, we often believe that stability - often in the form of continuous access to the same studio and materials - is essential for building a creative business, but Eva Champagne's nomadic journey reveals a different path. Throughout our conversation, Eva shares how she's built a ceramics practice while constantly relocating - f…

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Ep 618: A Journey to Gallery Ownership with AnnMarie Cooper of Good Earth Gallery 1:05:23

1M ago1:05:23

1:05:23

Send us a text As makers, we often envy others' seemingly polished creative lives without seeing the winding path they took to get there. AnnMarie Cooper's journey from gallery employee to pottery gallery owner, cohorts program manager, and shared studio founder reveals how real artistic careers evolve through countless iterations - from taking com…

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Ep 617: Part Two with Amy Roadman 1:02:45

2M ago1:02:45

1:02:45

Send us a text Missed Part One? Listen here! Having established her community studio through careful listening and intentional growth, Amy Roadman now faces the challenge many creative entrepreneurs encounter: balancing business sustainability with personal fulfillment. What happens when you're finally the boss but struggle with pricing your work, …

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Ep 616: The Slow Growth Community Studio with Amy Roadman (Part 1) 48:24

2M ago48:24

48:24

Send us a text Transitioning from classroom teaching to entrepreneurship - In some ways it’s a huge shift, in others, it can be all too easy to maintain the old habits of overworking and prioritizing others’ needs over your own. So many of us can struggle with finding the balance between serving our communities or caring for ourselves. Is it possib…

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Ep 615: The Importance of Mentorship with Lisa Orr 1:15:30

2M ago1:15:30

1:15:30

Send us a text Here on the podcast, we often talk about the delicate balancing act between creative fulfillment and business sustainability - a struggle that can feel overwhelming without guidance. What if finding the right mentor could be the pivotal moment that transforms your creative practice and career trajectory? When Lisa Orr sought out Bett…

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Ep 614: The Aligned Potter with Elizabeth Schlatter 1:06:41

2M ago1:06:41

1:06:41

Send us a text Many of us learn to accept the aches and pains of making as just part of the creative journey, assuming sore wrists and "potter's back" are inevitable companions to our craft. What if the physical discomfort of creating could be significantly reduced through simple awareness and intentional adjustments to how we work? Elizabeth Schla…

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Ep 613: Where Are They Now with Kara Leigh Ford 1:23:20

3M ago1:23:20

1:23:20

Send us a text As an avid podcast listener, long before I ever started this show, I was always curious about what had happened to entrepreneurs and small business owners after the interview was over. was everything still working the way they described during that interview or had things changed? On this "Where Are They Now" series, we answer that v…

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Ep 612: Being Your Own Boss with Amy Brummond of Pine Zen Potter 1:11:03

3M ago1:11:03

1:11:03

Send us a text As makers transitioning from hobby to business, we often forget the most powerful perk of self-employment: you're the boss who makes the rules, not just the employee doing all the work. What if setting clear boundaries, creating a sustainable schedule, and giving yourself permission to evolve creatively are actually your responsibili…

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Ep 611: When Things Need to Change with Megan Sward 1:43:34

4M ago1:43:34

1:43:34

Send us a text Most of us dream of turning our craft into a thriving business, but what happens when achieving "the dream" — the large following, sold-out shop updates, and steady sales — still doesn't translate into a sustainable living? When former full-time potter Megan Sward faced this reality, she discovered that the gap between making work yo…

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Ep 610: Business is... Boring? 35:17

4M ago35:17

35:17

Send us a text There is an underlying current of anxiety about keeping up with the latest trends and strategies, especially when it comes to running your business online (and even more especially when it comes to social media). But what if the real secret to success isn't about chasing every new thing, but rather embracing the "boring" parts of bus…

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Ep 609: Where are They Now? - Restarting through Trauma with Sarah Wells Rolland 1:19:23

4M ago1:19:23

1:19:23

Send us a text When I last spoke with Sarah Wells Rolland, The Village Potters in Asheville, North Carolina was 13 years into it’s incredible, communal existence. And frankly (at least from my perspective) was a well oiled machine. With a residency program, community classes, a gallery, and 17 kilns it wasn’t on my short list wondering “gee, I wond…

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Ep 608: The $20 Mug with Isaac Shue 1:19:05

5M ago1:19:05

1:19:05

Send us a text The ways in which our decisions in life are so interconnected it feels endless. The same is equally true in business, especially a ceramics business. And there's no way you stay in business, as a fully self-employed household with kiddos, while offering a $20 mug without thinking through all of that interconnectedness. My chat with I…

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EP 607: Financial Systems with Seanin Rosario 1:27:43

5M ago1:27:43

1:27:43

Send us a text When it comes to the topic of money, for many of us, it stirs up less than happy feelings. But in many ways, money is just data. Yes, it has an outsized effect on our lives and the decisions we do (or can) make, and that’s annoying as stepping on Legos. But, as much as we can feel a variety of emotions around money, finances are actu…

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Ep 606: Not your usual year end recap {The Launch} 22:58

5M ago22:58

22:58

Send us a text I had thought this solo episode would be some nice big grandiose end of year recap for you. I also, had intended it to actually air in 2024, but alas… here we are, kicking off 2025 with it. The plan was lists of what worked and what didn’t in our ceramics business this year and a nice, reflected wrap-it-all-up and make-it-make-sense …

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Ep 605: Finding Your Niche with Sue McLeod 1:15:19

5M ago1:15:19

1:15:19

Send us a text A self-described “failed production potter” Sue McLeod still very much makes her living from ceramics. Yet, she doesn’t make her living from actually making pots… As is true with any industry, we often forget just how many different supporting and tangentially related sub-topics and professions there are available to us. And, at leas…

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Ep 604: Working with Intention with Bill Schwenzer of Aliveguy Pottery 1:34:39

6M ago1:34:39

1:34:39

Send us a text Described as the most supportive guy on the internet by numerous people, today’s interview with Bill Schwenzer feels long overdue. Better known as Aliveguy Pottery, we talk about his career transition from corporate quality control to clay, his commitment to thoughtful encouragement online and his unique approach to delayed gratifica…

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Ep 603: Receiving Delayed Attention with Stanley Tong 1:10:18

7M ago1:10:18

1:10:18

Send us a text I reached out to chat with Stanley after seeing his “Thoughts and Prayers” series - a powerful body of work creating strong visuals on the actual effects of a bullet striking a form. A series, he actually made more than a year ago. And yet, only recently and quite suddenly, has gotten quite a lot of recognition. We talk about how the…

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Ep 602: The Catharsis of Supporting Others with Tim Clark 1:25:18

7M ago1:25:18

1:25:18

Send us a text If you weren’t learning how to carve intricate designs in sourdough bread in 2020, odds are, you might have been learning how to make pottery. And while this is true for today’s guest, Tim Clark, that wasn’t all. Tim also was learning how to make pottery and navigate the rest of life after a spontaneous tear of the retina left him ha…

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Ep 601: Staying Okay (even when your business isn’t) with Clare Barboza of Poppy Bee Surfaces 1:17:13

7M ago1:17:13

1:17:13

Send us a text How do you stay okay even when it doesn't feel like your business isn't going well? Because while we might feel pulled to log the long hours and push ourselves to "work harder" to "grind it out," in reality, we can't really come up with new, interesting, creative solutions when we're exhausted or stressed or frankly, freaking out. As…

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{Replay} Ep 206: Why Your Sales Results have Nothing to do with the Value of Your Work 41:45

7M ago41:45

41:45

Send us a text We're quickly approaching the holiday season and makers around the world are hustling to get their listings online and take advantage of increased sales during this time of year. But what if your sales aren't going as planned? What if you haven't sold as much as you'd hoped? What if you haven't sold ANYTHING? What does it all mean? O…

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{Replay} Ep 116: Real life vs. Instagram with Sophia McEvoy 54:34

8M ago54:34

54:34

Send us a text Do you ever think about what happened BEFORE the Instagram photos? Or BEFORE your favorite potter hit 25 thousand followers? Off and on, many people will talk about the real-life vs. Instagram life, and there are plenty of hilarious memes floating around the internet about them, but I’d wager a bet that while many of us (myself inclu…

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{Replay} Ep 217: The Social Responsibility of Businesses (and side-hustles) 44:27

8M ago44:27

44:27

Send us a text Our work as artists can feel disconnected with the immediate needs of the world. On this week’s solo episode, I’m peeling back the curtain on how I process that for myself. Alongside my originally planned episode of discussing a few of the various business models you can choose in order to create a business that serves your life and …

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{Replay} Ep 123: Alex Matisse of Eastfork Pottery on the Importance of Vision 53:40

8M ago53:40

53:40

Send us a text How do you go from a farm with a woodfire kiln and two potters to an industrial warehouse that already feels too small? Vision. And a bit of luck. At least, that's what worked for Alex Matisse, founder of the one and only Eastfork Pottery. On this episode, Alex shares insights into the pros and cons of growing such a large, successfu…

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{Replay} Ep 125: Mental Health & Finding Your Community with Katie Meili 1:17:46

8M ago1:17:46

1:17:46

Send us a text We’re taking a quick season break but in the meantime, enjoy this chat from way back in Season 1 that I had with Katie Meili. We chat about the difficulties of mental health and how it feels when life takes unexpected turns that throw you off a path everyone else around you is on, the silver linings that brought us to clay, and the i…

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Ep 525: When Plans Change with Xioma Ortiz 1:16:56

9M ago1:16:56

1:16:56

Send us a text Leap and you’ll learn to fly… The key to success is action… The best way to predict the future is to create it… How many of these tropes have you heard? They are usually associated with that scary first step of making a change in your life to go after something you are dreaming about. And while yes, sure, there is often a moment wher…

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Ep 524: Adjusting to Full Time with Rhianon Vichta 1:10:36

9M ago1:10:36

1:10:36

Send us a text Thinking about becoming a full time artist is a dream that lingers in the back of many people’s minds. And my assumption is, whenever any of us are dreaming about a change, we mostly think that if we took this leap, if we didn’t have to be bothered with showing up to an office for someone else Monday through Friday, we’d have more ti…

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Ep 523: Immaterial with The Met 49:38

9M ago49:38

49:38

Send us a text So what does it mean if the work we’re making isn’t as impermanent as we think? Does it have to be in order to have value? Is there still value when it breaks? Today, I’m thrilled to partner with the one and only Metropolitan Museum of Art to feature an episode from their own podcast - Immaterial: 5,000 Years of Art, One Material at …

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Ep 522: The Case for Curiosity {The Launch} 45:40

9M ago45:40

45:40

Send us a text As I reflected on what we're doing differently for this market season compared to last year's, I realized a trend that I've also seen after teaching over 200 makers inside our MPSS photography course and journeying along side nearly 100 makers inside of The Community for the past 3 years. And while I don't really believe in magic sil…

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Ep 521: Becoming an Artist with Isaac Scott 1:18:47

10M ago1:18:47

1:18:47

Send us a text What does it even mean to “be an artist?” Does it mean you are making work you like to make? Is that art? Does it mean someone else considers you to be whatever their definition of “artist” is? Does it mean not having another job? Or can you be an artist and do something else? Does doing something else actually better allow you to be…

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Ep 520: Embracing the Side-Hustle with Nicole Bernard of NB Makes 1:44:40

10M ago1:44:40

1:44:40

Send us a text If you’re side-hustling your ceramics, are you anxiously awaiting the day you can quit the day job? But what if the day job was actually providing you with the chance to learn to be better at your craft? And no, I’m not talking about a job associated with what you make. I mean a day job totally different than what you dream about mak…

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Ep 519: The Reset Button with Henrik Van Ryzin 1:35:59

10M ago1:35:59

1:35:59

Send us a text 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…

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Ep 518: The Economics of Clay with John R Hamilton 1:21:23

11M ago1:21:23

1:21:23

Send us a text 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 perfe…

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Ep 517: Being a Pottery Educator with Ian Childers 1:48:06

11M ago1:48:06

1:48:06

Send us a text 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 form…

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Ep 516: The Cara App - The App for Artists? 44:28

11M ago44:28

44:28

Send us a text 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…

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Ep 515: Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zone with Dave Conrey 1:01:52

12M ago1:01:52

1:01:52

Send us a text 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 pi…

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Ep 514 - Defining Your Own Success with Joy Hanford 1:28:16

12M ago1:28:16

1:28:16

Send us a text 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 experienc…

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Ep 513: Moving Abroad as a Ceramicist with Joy Hanford 1:24:20

1y ago1:24:20

1:24:20

Send us a text Living abroad. Sometimes, it sounds like the solution to all of my problems. All I need to do is choose a country with national healthcare and town with relatively low cost of living, and TA DA! Making a living from the things we make is solved, right? Right? It can look incredibly romantic online - strolling through tiny streets see…

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Ep 512: Working with Retailers with Steve Tubbs 1:23:41

1y ago1:23:41

1:23:41

Send us a text Wholesale… The assumption is there’s no way to reasonably make a living, as a maker, by doing wholesale. But is that true? Since I’m generally pretty skeptical of any sweeping statement that says an entire concept doesn’t work for anyone, at all, I jumped at the opportunity chat with Steve Tubbs, an ex-retailer turned potter, when he…

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Ep 511: Starting a Community Studio with Lindsay Langsdale 58:29

1y ago58:29

58:29

Send us a text You’ve taken a few classes at your local community studio and you know you want to make ceramics a larger part of your life. In fact, you want to build your own studio, but what does that even look like? And what might be all the tasks and overhead that community studio has been handling without you even realizing it? What is it actu…

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Ep 510: Live at NCECA - Building Relationships with Collectors with Louise Rosenfield & Peter Beseacker 1:13:45

1y ago1:13:45

1:13:45

Send us a text Having a collector buy our work... It sounds… amazing! Awe-inspiring? Relieving? Luxurious. All of the above really. But how does it even happen? During the 2024 NCECA conference, Coalescence, held in Richmond, VA I sat down with Peter Beasecker and Louise Rosenfield to chat about their perspectives as maker and collector on how buil…

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Ep 509: Etsy vs. Your Own Website {The Launch} 39:20

1y ago39:20

39:20

Send us a text “Etsy vs. Your own website. Which is better?” It’s a question I see asked online endlessly. I see the responses fought over just as endlessly. But is it really an either/or? We dig into that on this next installment of our “The Launch” series - where I dig into the firsthand experiences Francesco & I are having in starting our own ce…

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Ep 508: Instagram Real Talk with Allie Mason 1:25:04

1y ago1:25:04

1:25:04

Send us a text I know I'm not the only one who finds social media to be exhausting. The idea of keeping up with trends sounds equivalent to nails on a chalkboard to me. But at the same time, I know there is a huge opportunity on social media. After all, Instagram alone has 2 billion users. Enter Allie Mason. A data-based marketing strategist who un…

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Ep 507: The Assault on Creativity with Connie Cole 1:23:05

1y ago1:23:05

1:23:05

Send us a text On this week’s episode I talk with founding Community member, Connie Cole, about her winding path to becoming a full-time potter. We discuss her battle with imposter syndrome, what finding a “gateway drug” has done for her business and the assault on creativity she’s experienced over time (and of course, how she’s battling against it…

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Ep 506: Business FOMO (and NCECA) 27:09

1y ago27:09

27:09

Send us a text Feeling the FOMO because you aren't going to NCECA? Come hang out inside of The Community - Learn more & join for 1 month by clicking here. One of my favorite books: Deep Work by Cal Newport (purchasing the book through this link helps support the podcast!) Today’s episode is brought to you by the following sponsors: The Rosenfield C…

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Ep 505: Creating Environmentally Friendly Pottery with Yuliya Makliuk of Here & Now Pottery 1:06:50

1y ago1:06:50

1:06:50

Send us a text Do you get overwhelmed at the idea of making your studio practice environmentally friendly? It can seem impossible to figure out where to start and what actually makes an impact. The science of climate change is complicated at best, and more often than not confusing. Which is exactly why I’m so grateful for people like Yuliya Makliuk…

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Ep: 504 - Setting Boundaries & Vetting Educators Online with Hope Limyansky-Smith 58:57

1+ y ago58:57

58:57

Send us a text The internet can be amazing for connecting us all to resources we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. But it can also be absolutely overwhelming. With so many people teaching online, how can we tell who actually knows what they are doing? How do we know (especially if we decide to pay) that they are actually qualified to teach us? I’m…

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Ep 503: Instagram: The Good, The Bad & The Weird with Hope Limyansky-Smith 50:08

1+ y ago50:08

50:08

Send us a text How often do you look at what other makers are sharing on social media and think to yourself - “How do they have time to make all this CONTENT? Daily reels, stories, thoughtfully designed themes, not to mention the actual pots!” It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This week on the podcast, we’re going behind-the-scenes with Hope Limyansky…

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EP 502: Waiting until the Time is Right with Victoria Brook 1:14:37

1+ y ago1:14:37

1:14:37

Send us a text What were you doing 15 years ago? Were you already making? Had you not even found clay yet? It’s amazing the twists and turns our lives can take, and yet, without them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today. On today’s episode, I sit down with Victoria Brook, who first introduced me to wheel throwing 15 years ago, when I lived …