DirtRoads

Think about a location where you sell, live, work.

"lead carpenter on the pottery museum rebuild"

From working?

Update: The mayor of Canton, MS shut down the Canton Flea Market October 8. He vetoed the decision made by city aldermen. However, they say they can reverse the decision next Tuesday. I decided I wasn't going before this. So not planning to go even if they reverse. They said No. Then Yes. No again. And now it's up for decision again next Tuesday .............

Hey Stephen. I've done the Garden Extravaganza in Jackson, MS in a previous business and have put some jewelry in a booth for the last 3 years. I never did as well as I have in other shows. I don't recall seeing many builders or designers at the show (could have just avoided my booth). That fee is a little high. Some buyers go there just for gardening items and bedding plants. Some don't like seeing "junk" in the show and avoid those booths. The booth I was in had Raz flower jars, some metal outdoor pieces, home decor and a small display of my best selling jewelry. I go do

Didn't mention it but 3 of the shows are indoors, in the Mississippi Trade Mart Building. That building is old and a new one in place sometimes next year. Ventilation is not great in that building. The Canton Flea Market and Fair are both outdoors. It's truly appalling those indoor shows are going ahead. My area at the Canton Flea market is going to skip spaces between booths. I usually have 6 booths on a corner and will cut back to 4. If I do it, I'll form a square and customers will only be able to shop on the outside of the square. I have a service road on front, a house in th

Shows in Mississippi that are going forward: The Market Shows Sept 18-20 https://www.midsouthmediagroup.com/holiday-market-of-jackson-ms Canton MS Flea Market October 8 http://www.cantonmsfleamarket.com/ Mistletoe Market Jackson MS Junior League Nov 4-7 https://www.mistletoemarketplace.com/ Hand Works Jackson, MS Nov 20-21 https://www.handworksmarket.com/ Another event, Mississippi is having the annual state fair. I was told that this is the main reason for all of the other shows going ahead. https://www.mdac.ms.gov/bureaus-departments/state-fairgrounds

July store sales down 15% from 2019. August store sales down 30% from 2019. Only 5% down from August 2018. The store is still profitable. Labor cost down more than 50%. I've permanently eliminated one position and for now my Saturday help. (I can easily handle store on Saturday. My full time pottery worker fell and had to have hip surgery and won't be back for 3 or 4 months. I've bought enough stoneware bisque to equate to about $12K extra sales. I should be close to the projected pottery demand. I had calculated on losing my October show, the Canton MS flea market Oct

If I wanted to add specs to a white glaze to make it look more like this, what would you use? This spec comes from grog in the clay. I'm looking at a few poured pieces and Laguna told me they didn't make a slip from #65 stoneware. So the pieces are smooth, no specs. I bought a glaze that says "with specs" but it's not enough.

- Shoppers must sign up online for scheduled entry ^This especially seems too restricted. Overall, I see a lot of things that will deter shoppers. In my experience (which is in the millions for these 2 categories), customers like to try on both jewelry or clothes. That would be a complete no go for me if I had those categories. So ... people can't touch the pottery? Haven't they shown that almost no cases are transmitted by touching objects? I think hand sanitizer is way more important and they don't show that. My take is that only person that will make $ is the promote

Sent out over 100 items in Christmas bags on Friday and Saturday. Sales are very brisk. I've been bagging more Christmas than usual since May but not to this extent. I have no idea why so many came in Friday and Saturday for Christmas gifts. Top selling item is a holy family ornament followed by holy family platters. #3 are candles. Can't say I've ever sold any of these items this early. One comment I've heard several times "I probably won't see you again before Christmas". I've only heard this from people that live out of state before and only travel this way once or t

Yes same clay Laguna #60. Only clay I've ever used. Strange that it's only happened to 1 piece 6 or 7 years ago and now .... 3 pieces in one bisque load. I'll research lime pops.

I did get a SBA loan. 3X more than the requested amount. No payment due until next July. 30 year term 3% interest. They are just handing out this money way way too easily. I would be 94 years old if I paid that loan on term. That is plain crazy. I paid off an open note line of credit I used on my last building , I had planned on paying that building off in 3 years, with the first year paid. The early pay off saved me $7200 in interest. I still have 1/3 of the loan which I'm using to stock for 4th quarter, no budgeting. I may pay it off next July. I'm not adverse to deb

I've only seen one other piece do this and that was 6 or 7 years ago when I accidentally fired a bisque kiln on fast with no preheat and only 1 piece did it then. I had 3 pieces do this. One ornament completely flaked in half. Nothing changed and the pieces were dry. I'm not sure if this was pugged clay or not. It happened on 2 cross plates. I personally made both of these. We have used these same imprints 100's times and have not seen this.

I've gotten 2 small grants and a SBA loan. I have one year to start paying on the loan and show what it was spent on, maybe not pay all of it back. Not at all sure if that will be the case. One of the state grants, which was $2k, I didn't even fill out an application. All this money floating around. I can't see where we won't have increased inflation.