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Stephen

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Everything posted by Stephen

  1. Tired of doing shows so we are working on getting it all worked out with both platforms like Etsy and our stand alone website. Bummed to hear Etsy didn't work out. Did you spend a lot of money on Esty marketing.? The artist I know personally who has an active Etsy store has to spend heavily on Etsy ads to drive revenue, When she runs the ads she gets orders, if she stops running the ads the orders dry up. That jives with a deep dive surfing on Etsy I've done although its hard to separate the hype. I think normally the marketing budget together with Esty fees can approach 50% of revenue. A big negative is you have to ship a lot of really small orders at essentially wholesale prices with retail hassle and back and forth messaging with customers can be a time sink. Still if she works it she makes money and she hates shows so she just does Etsy and galleries and that works for her. Last fall we decided to try a blend of ads across several social media platforms and with such a larger audience it just sucked a thousand bucks so quickly with slow results I stopped, Might have worked if I hadn't yanked the plug so fast but I just didn't trust that I wasn't going to blow a ton of dough real fast and I panicked and hit the brakes Either way everyone seems to agree you have to learn how to run digital campaigns by experimenting or hiring someone to do it for you and be prepared to spend a lot in the beginning to build audience with either approach.
  2. Ya know I have no direct experience but thought that the NS soak was the accepted remedial thing to do . Dunno, there are a LOT of old 70-90's kilns that are in use that very likely are affected, some really large and expensive. I am assuming some are in schools and community programs and badly needed to continue to exist. I have not heard of any big effort to test and get rid of all the ones that have ever glaze fired any pots with lead no matter how trace the lead is detected. I do agree we all want to be safe just hate to see people start throwing out well ruining and perfectly safe old kilns on a mistaken, well intentioned warning that's not valid. Many of these old kilns provide a way for financially strapped people to enjoy pottery even though they are struggling to make ends meet in other areas. Again though if they are truly unsafe they should not be used.
  3. Well the one thing that stands out to me is that from hobby to pro is very different than say a college student who choose studio pottery as their profession. As a hobby, after a day in front of a computer, throwing a dozen mugs might be a blast and having to fill a kiln 3x a week and sell 4-500 pots a month not so much. As an alternative to building a business 100% pottery one can consider pottery being a component
  4. You can do cone 8 firing schedule with Nepheline Syenite to absorb then retest. I’m hesitant to declare everyone’s old kiln dangerous.
  5. I'm by nature a little suspicious but this seems like a post to get people to click that link. Are you legit or just pitching your website? looks like they took it down, was a post here going to a link
  6. Lots of great business people here to help you along the way. My advice after a dozen years, mostly part time (my wife has been doing it full time for 15) is to make a LOT of pottery and sign up for any local shows you can find and just let it happen. It will all come together if you keep at it and you are enjoying yourself and it wont if you don't. If your stuff is any good it will sell and if its not then you have to be able to get it to that level. Once you work that out then you can dial in your version of making a living at it. Most, not all, but most people I think make modest amounts of money. But ya know there is a lifestyle side of it that has value as well. You can do online sales through places like Esty and get wholesale customers (mostly tourist shops) and do small markets or weekend shows. The expense of out of town shows can really make it risky to do those shows so I would not do those until you have dialed it all in. We do a local market almost weekly these days and for 4 hours of selling and 2 hours setup and tear down on Saturday they top out usually around $6-750ish and occasionally we tag closer to a thousand. That's not a lot of dough for 2 people once you factor in the work and cost of what we sold but its a light day about 10 minutes from our house so it's fine and I love dealing with customers. You meet a lot of really nice people. Mark C did a show a few months back and had over 700 customers over a 3 day period but he said it was one of the best shows he ever did and he's been doing this as a production potter for over 40 years and other people on this board talk of really big pay days at some of their shows so its possible to make a very good living, just not probable. Remember to have fun.
  7. In WA I filed everything online through department of revenue. Took a couple hours and cost a couple hundred bucks I think in 2007 if I remember right and in WA you needed a registered agent which serves as the legal agent that receives all official notifications. They scanned it all in and you viewed it online and could download if you wanted. Went with Northwest Registered Agent and it was about $100 a year. I had to renew every year with the State for $65 but if noting changed it was really a couple clicks and a credit card payment. While taxes can be accrual you can also just file on a cash basis if you are single owner (or married couple) LLC so its just an additional schedule C for the business listing revenue and expenses. Good luck.
  8. Hey late to the thread but congrads on the great the final road show. Nice that you have been able to restructure your business to work like you want on your terms. Mark I have always have appreciated your post and the extra time you took to offer me advice and encouragement few years back. It made a difference. Your success shows the rest of us that making a living in this business is possible. I don't know how many potters in the country do the kind of sales that you do but my guess is that its a pretty small number and a testament to the fact that your work is something special. Good luck with your new schedule!
  9. whoa I didn't realize how attached so many were to their GG. I hope the company doesn't see this thread because those suckers already cost a couple hundred bucks.
  10. I hardly ever use it anymore. I like using a foam bat so much more. With sharpie rings at almost every conceivable size it seems so much more convenient but I prob don't make near the number of different forms that need trimming that many of you guys make (A lot of mugs and cups) and trimming is really just a minute or two hit and the GG also seemed to be more likely to cause slight warping for me (my error I am sure) and take more time than it was worth to setup. Ditto with wads of clay. The foam with a light hand to steady just seems to work really well.
  11. ya know I get it, I'm a thirty-five year IT guy and a gadget person so it's always fun to consider this stuff but man you could be setting yourself up for a huge distraction from your 2 passions and before you know it its been a couple of years since you made any pots. I know I do this stuff to relax after spending 8-9 hours programming all day. If I were you before I went down the electric kiln route I would maybe take Hulk's advice and explore a propane conversion if you can score an old kiln to gut or maybe a small wood kiln. I can't remember the book off hand and my copy is buried somewhere but I think it was alternative kilns or something like that and there was a design for a 10-12cf wood fired kiln that the guy claimed could be fired with a half cord of wood. Could be fun and not IT related which for me would be appealing. Just a thought.
  12. I readily concede that old kilns last a long time if they are kept in top condition. Of course the flip side of that is that if you invest in a new kiln now and keep it in top condition it may well last you for the rest of your life so unlike something like a new car there is value in that. Shortly after I started this thread I came to the decision that it was worth it to me to just buy a new one. That was a few years ago and I got a new Skutt 1027 for just under $2500 with vent and tax and I picked it up and drove it 2 thousand miles to Texas. The used ones I found that had electronic controllers (non starter for me) were a grand or so the savings would have been around $1500 and I put the first miles on it. Since a lot of used kilns will need a new set of elements sooner than later and maybe some minor repairs the extra cost was probably really under a grand when alls said and done. At least that is how I justified it In addition to starting with a new kiln I also was able to pick out the right kiln for me. Shopping the used market I was pretty much trapped in whatever was available and since I was adamant about having an electronic controller that meant little choice (the cost of external controllers or the retrofits available at the time really made buying new a no brainier). All of that said if I was broke I would get the best $200 manual kiln I could find and move on.
  13. I would suggest calling library or going to their website to see if the have digital books available, many do and if so I bet they also have a kindle tutorial on checking out their books. don't know about tutorials but I use the fire's as my tablet. We use Amazon delivery enough to justify the price of Amazon prime so I also get access to the prime video's. For $10 a month you can subscribe to unlimited library. Lots of Indie pubs here but there are over a million book available and no extra charges. I signed up for a three month 99 cent intro in Jan and I think I will renew. Lot of junk but good stuff too and I like being able to just start reading and just go to another if it doesn't grab me.feel free to pm me with a question and I can look on mine and try and help. edit: Here's a link on the current free 2 month trial, can't beat free. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://moneysavingmom.com/hot-kindle-unlimited-trial-deal/&ved=2ahUKEwiF_NTx56voAhUGC6wKHbTXAuMQFjAJegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw0PqPgvejbA-XLYAcnDOMMh
  14. like everyone I was just blindsided with this so health for ourselves, friends and family is a huge concern. Luckily finances are in good shape so not worried about livelihood too much. I work from home as do my immediate coworkers so we should be good for a while. Only been out of work a couple of times over the years not by choice and job hunting sucks but that just part of life. It always works out. Like everyone I an anxious about if and how long it sill take for the market to make back everything we lost over the past two weeks. That has been huge. I feel so bad for folks that arent 8,9 years out from retirement, hopefully it will be a fast recovery. Passion, no problems there. As others have said this is a time to get way up on making. Been working in the studio even more right now but was already putting in a lot of hours around my job so passion for the pottery business has been high for a while. I wish everyone luck in navigating this. In my 59 years I have seen many worldwide events and the sun always comes up everyday and we all just have to do the best we can with our situations and remember for the vast majority of us, this too will pass.
  15. started out by buying a bluebird mixer and mixing a pretty nice white stoneware for a couple of years. Not a true porcelain recipe but close. I forget his name but recipe was touted by a hippie dude that once streaked naked (or so the rumor goes) at the national convention (NCECA??) a while back. I'm pretty sure he passed away but he was a pretty colorful guy from the sounds of it. Also mixed dozens of glazes. Like a lot of things I do I just went overboard and making clay and glaze, by the time I bought everything bulk, added test kiln, mixer and expensive everything, was very expensive and time consuming. I know its cheaper by volume and I am sure plenty of folks here did/do it right and keep the number of glazes down and pass on the costly stuff and by doing that it really does save them money. I sold the mixer a few years ago and although we have a few glazes we still make, we buy porcelain and a line of house glazes from Clay Art Center in Tacoma along with some gap fillers from Amaco and the like. Bottom line, I think making all your own stuff is really only for those folks that want to do it for enjoyment unless you really have the discipline to on get the stuff you absolutely have to have and keep the number of glazes to a small number.
  16. The problem with the CL free section is that it is just mostly folks who want to re-list it for dough, it would be nice if your moms kilns went to to a potter or potter wannabe instead of someone that will just turn around and sell them. You might list them on this forums marketplace as free. Just go back to the main page and go further down the list of sections. If no one here responds I would check the closest community college and community center and see if they know of a student that might want one.
  17. ya know I hear ya but the slow movers do sell and those sales are sweet when they happen. If the slow sellers are the more elaborate and higher dollar pots it gives you a chance to stretch and builds the cash register as they sell. We have had some 3 digit pots that take a number of shows to sell but worth it when they do.
  18. I work in the studio a few hours b4 work every day so yeah coffee and protein bar. First coffee get proper attention the second sits around all morning getting cold but I still drink it over the course of the morning.
  19. I realize the third pic is kind of an optical illusion but still isn't this kiln venting right into a wood side of your house? Is that safe? I mean I know heat dissipates pretty rapidly but that sure seems close especially since you are talking abut increasing it. I don't know much about kiln construction so just ignore me if my ignorance is showing through.
  20. ha ha, hopefully they are not still trying to move it 6 years later :-)
  21. Hi Erik,

    Is your business still for sale? 

  22. I didn't see marks post. I would certainly listen to him over me. He builds large gas kilns. I might be exaggerating the cool down a bit but it does seem to take longer or at least as long as the 50% larger one with smaller brick. They both ramp down to 1200 and shut off. The smaller space inside though I think is a serious thing to consider as the Skutt 1027 already is small at 7.5cf and becomes a 7 with bigger brick. One issue with trying to fire at different temps is that your studio is all one thing and it gets tricky to have other stuff. The clay and glaze can't get mixed up with each other and that includes scrap. Have never tried it though so don't know if its worth the effort. We always do the same things that have settled in as working to avoid pissing off the kiln gods. Paid 75 cents a pound to have a pallet of porcelain shipped from the PNW to Texas to avoid changing clay after using other one now for almost 10 years. We have a kitchen full of pottery we use daily that marks years of use without issues and have never had anything returned by a customer and we want to keep it that way. .
  23. ha ha, had this debate on this forum years ago. It defies logic but everyone has always been pretty adamant about this in previous threads, a cone 10 electric kiln will only fire to cone 10 when elements are brand new so it is recommended that you fire 2 full cones below max. I have no direct experience. All three of our kilns are cone 10 and all are fired to cone 5 with 20 minute hold and we use mid-range porcelain 4-6. I would think the way around that is to fire lower and use a hold for heat work or just replace the elements a lot I guess. Our largest kiln has 2.5" brick and is a 9cf oval from Seattle Pottery and we have a Skutt 1027 with 3" brick. The energy cost are about the same per cf (cheap) but the Skutt takes forever to cool down and by going with 3" brick we lost half a cf interior so I would never do a 3" again for these small kilns. I guess I just see electric as really cheap and at the end of the day it must be pennies on a per pot basis.
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