And then we have the quintessence power. Ah, the possibilities...
It's an instantaneous creation effect, so it lasts forever until destroyed, can't be dispelled or disjoined, costs nothing but a bit of pp (and since shapers are one of the most stamina-centric psionic classes around, you should rarely use more than half of your pp in any given day past level 5 or so), and stops time essentially forever for anything coated in it.
Now, consider what happens when you combine it with delayed blast fireball. Or a portable hole-cum-instant pit trap. Or on a solid glass cage with everything but the seal on the door coated, which you bull-rush a critter into, slam the door shut, then seal.
Use a bit of imagination, and you can do a lot with it.
And as for psionic minor creation...
Consider the hamster ball. You can make a transparent amber one large enough to hold a Small humanoid at relatively low levels (see level 1). It won't be any larger than your space, and if you affix it with trapdoors that your psicrystal can open and shut, you can manifest out of it with no problems. It won't block line of sight, but it will block line of effect...meaning that you have full cover against everything. You're safe from all targeted effects, and from most area effects (since they'll have to go through your hamster ball before they get to you). It's also easy enough to escape from, as it's dismissible, and you can also use powers like dimension swap to trade places with your psicrystal after it escapes and moves off.
You can also create food, weapons, armor, keys, masterwork tools, holy symbols, and whatever else you might need in a pinch. Combine with Link Power for speedy manifestations.
And energy wall is a good way to protect yourself from projectiles; most will dissolve on contact with a sonic wall, meaning it's just as good as a wind wall or protection from arrows, if not better. And since it's opaque, it blocks line of sight, which is quite nice.