Mark C.

Soap/lotion pumps outsell soap dishes for sure
But soap dishes are a perfect stuffer-I wholesale them and they sell in all 9 of my outlets.I like making them as well. I make about 1/2 of them with drain holes
I now use the metal covered (stainless heavy duty flat head pumps-)on my lotions and charge $5 more for them. I no longer offer plastic pumps. The metal tops made sales pick up.I buy them in $500 lots (I buy them in 200 lots to save $$ that saves  a few dollars per pump)from some fellow potters I know who import and resale parts as well as they are high end crystalline potters.
You can view them at 
http://www.onedreamdesign.com
 

Soap/lotion pumps outsell soap dishes for sure
But soap dishes are a perfect stuffer-I wholesale them and they sell in all 9 of my outlets.I like making them as well. I make about 1/2 of them with drain holes
I now use the metal covered (stainless heavy duty flat head pumps-)on my lotions and charge $5 more for them. I no longer offer plastic pumps. The metal tops made sales pick up.I buy them in $500 lots (I buy them in 200 lots to save $$ that saves  a few dollars per pump)from some fellow potters I know who import and resale parts as well as they are high end crystalline potters.
You can view them at 
http://www.onedreamdesign.com
 

Mine are mini vases and mini bowls-sponge holders and spoon rests -small cat bowls-extruded soap dishes. Smalls are where I make the most money selling as they sell to everyone.

Mine are mini vases and mini bowls-sponge holders and spoon rests -small cat bowls-extruded soap dishes. Smalls are where I make the most money selling as they sell to everyone.

Mine are mini vases and mini bowls-sponge holders and spoon rests -small cat bowls-extruded soap dishes. Smalls are where I make the most money selling as they sell to everyone.

Soap/lotion pumps outsell soap dishes for sure
But soap dishes are a perfect stuffer-I wholesale them and they sell in all 9 of my outlets.I like making them as well. I make about 1/2 of them with drain holes
I now use the metal covered (stainless heavy duty flat head pumps-)on my lotions and charge $5 more for them. I no longer offer plastic pumps. The metal tops made sales pick up.I buy them in $500 lots (I buy them in 200 lots to save $$ that saves  a few dollars per pump)from some fellow potters I know who import and resale parts as well as they are high end crystalline potters.
You can view them at 
http://www.onedreamdesign.com
 

Mine are mini vases and mini bowls-sponge holders and spoon rests -small cat bowls-extruded soap dishes. Smalls are where I make the most money selling as they sell to everyone.

9 boxes (262#s)left yesterday to Harmony Ca .Another potter stopped by  on way south and is taking them for me on His way to Santa Barbara. I sweetened the deal with a 50$ bill for them for extra gas. One less thing on the bench.
Big show this weekend so bench is clear.
Another out of state show in 3 weeks so lots of greenware piling up.

Looking good Pres-I'm working on a $3,900 wholesale order myself due on the 11th-I got it last Monday.
Should help pay for my upcoming trip diving in Bali.
Those pots look great by the way-I really like the honeycomb texture. Asa you are finding out extruded handles are very strong and so much faster. Its 99% of all my handles the past 35 years. Never had a mention about folks missing the taper.

40 soap dishes 200 sponge holders a few hundred mugs-20 small miso bowls 4 oval platters and A partridge in a pear tree.

Pres I kept bees for 20 years so I have a soft spot for all things honey-I used to sell my honey along with pottery at shows in the early 80's. Now I trade pottery for 5gallon buckets of clover/mix honey from a larger bee producer.I use honey every day instead of sugar.

MY handles look like this
 

Mine are the F unctional ones-every one has a thumb spot on top as well

Typical day starts at 9 am in studio throwing until 12 to 1 pm -putting wares in sunshine (may-oct)break for lunch and expresso. Depending on drying conditions-start to trim/handle wares- after lunch.The idea is to finish all the work that day. sometimes get to throw some for am trimming as well. Try to finish up by 6-630pm
In winter pots are forced dry in shop with natural gas heater or if coastal fog come in for days -Like past few days -I light up heater and dry work inside.
This cycle repeat's until bisque day which usually has some throwing or trimming in am and firing goes into the evening hours. Load and fire bisque car kiln- while making glaze that day.
Glaze day starts at 9-ish and runs long (7-8pm) I load two kilns most of the time and fire them the next day.I have an assistant for glaze day and putting on handles the past 25 plus years as well.I usually do all the kiln loading and she helps with most of the unloading.I usually cool  one and 1/2 to two days and we unload the next and pack and price all the wares in one long afternoon.That we glaze on Fridays and I fire on Saturdays-unload on Monday afternoons orGlaze on Mondays I fire Tuesdays and we unload Friday afternoons.(glaze days usually are Mondays or Fridays occasionally  Wens) Then the cycle repeats itself.-Been this way for many decades -maybe more-
Sundays is usually a day off as the kilns are cooling and I am trying to do less in clay.Sometimes a Market  pottery drop off happens on Sundays.
Thursdays are also a slower day usually with pottery deliveries to  wholesale accounts and loading a bisque and glaze making .
Things that affect this schedule are fishing /camping /trips away/diving/off season break/ Vacations/etc.

The same is true for me-but it may be the technology vs the fact that  we wore off our fingerprints-or at least parts of them.

Typical day starts at 9 am in studio throwing until 12 to 1 pm -putting wares in sunshine (may-oct)break for lunch and expresso. Depending on drying conditions-start to trim/handle wares- after lunch.The idea is to finish all the work that day. sometimes get to throw some for am trimming as well. Try to finish up by 6-630pm
In winter pots are forced dry in shop with natural gas heater or if coastal fog come in for days -Like past few days -I light up heater and dry work inside.
This cycle repeat's until bisque day which usually has some throwing or trimming in am and firing goes into the evening hours. Load and fire bisque car kiln- while making glaze that day.
Glaze day starts at 9-ish and runs long (7-8pm) I load two kilns most of the time and fire them the next day.I have an assistant for glaze day and putting on handles the past 25 plus years as well.I usually do all the kiln loading and she helps with most of the unloading.I usually cool  one and 1/2 to two days and we unload the next and pack and price all the wares in one long afternoon.That we glaze on Fridays and I fire on Saturdays-unload on Monday afternoons orGlaze on Mondays I fire Tuesdays and we unload Friday afternoons.(glaze days usually are Mondays or Fridays occasionally  Wens) Then the cycle repeats itself.-Been this way for many decades -maybe more-
Sundays is usually a day off as the kilns are cooling and I am trying to do less in clay.Sometimes a Market  pottery drop off happens on Sundays.
Thursdays are also a slower day usually with pottery deliveries to  wholesale accounts and loading a bisque and glaze making .
Things that affect this schedule are fishing /camping /trips away/diving/off season break/ Vacations/etc.

There has been lots of questions on belts and foot pedal adjustment on Brent/Amaco equipment lately. I have answered most of them.
This page I posted below answers most of them.
I'm hoping this will help those in the future with questions-a moderator could pin it in at the top.
https://www.amaco.com/equipment_how_tos

Yes many of my glazes run and a good foot ring catches them.Its also my signature style of foot. A solid strong foot is something most pots need.
learning to make a  good strong solid  non chip foot is a key deal. I spent a year working with a mentee on her foot style.Most just ignore the foot or half -a--one or do not have one.Good feet are part of good pots.All that said I have a few forms that I do not have feet on. I used to 40 years ago foot everything .
In my temp range of cone 11 porcelain many glazes are moving and they fill that foot space above the foot.
My pie plates for example are flat bottomed but still have the side edge foot that catches glazes.
If you are working in cone 06 runny glazes will not be an issue but a good foot on a pot will always look better.

I have older cotton towels for shop use-one hangs on a hook near the door. I have a stack of clean folded ones in studio. They only get used for clay.They vary from hand to bath size.I was them in a. shop cold water only(no soap) washer-its a front loader I bought new a few years ago -I get about 10 years on machines before clay kills them.The last machine wash a hand me down from friend. The water is used as grey water on berry patch in summer from washer.In winter is piped into shop underground rainwater pipes (from hitters) that take it long away from house onto more bamboo. Towels and shop clay cloths are washed in they system removed from house laundry system.No clay in house on cloths or towels.I wash once a week during weekend cheap power.
I sponge off surfaces with large sponges.
I have a dedicated clay sink with facet on a pipe about 18 inch from sink bottom.Water from sing goes into a two tub settling system outside.That water is hosed via gravity feed to timber bamboo patch year around.
since this is a full Time gig all this make sense. For most it makes little sense

Well lets see the past two days has been high production-These pots which I'm sponging on the white table and in the far distance (not the ones that need handles or trimming on plaster bats) where loaded today at noon and are now at 8pm about 1200 degrees. I sponged them today in sun dried them a few hours -still wet and slow fired them about 10 hours in gas car kiln today/night
That load was about 150 spoon rests and 60 sponge holders and a lot of mugs and bowls some where serving size.
Glaze day is friday
 

Well lets see the past two days has been high production-These pots which I'm sponging on the white table and in the far distance (not the ones that need handles or trimming on plaster bats) where loaded today at noon and are now at 8pm about 1200 degrees. I sponged them today in sun dried them a few hours -still wet and slow fired them about 10 hours in gas car kiln today/night
That load was about 150 spoon rests and 60 sponge holders and a lot of mugs and bowls some where serving size.
Glaze day is friday
 

Ok today was sponge the load day as well as throwing and trimming.
I had my wife shoot these for me just before loading the kiln with them
This is what 45 years of hard clay work will do to your hands
 

I'm not a big spend time in the office guy. As it is I have to bookkeep more than I would like and I try to limit this to winter hours as much as I can. I try to spend time outside more in outside season and less office time. If the weather is crappy then its office time.
Also now that I'm only doing 6 shows and more wholesale /and some consignment then planning is less hard. 
I have always done the same shows so I do not have to think much about when as they are always about the same times yearly.
I used to calendar up as Mea does now but it no longer like that for me. I used to work backward from the show to calculate the fires and times.
But now for example I have a show next week on the 4th of July-I packed 95% of van last week. All the pots are in that load. There is some what I call loose ends left to add but its not pottery.
I'm working towards my Big summer show in Anacortes Wa and most of that work is also done and just needs to be unloaded from two kilns priced and packed. I still need to make some wall fish art and some more spoon rests (just threw 200 in last two days)
I tend to glaze on Mondays or Fridays-Glaze fire on Saturdays or Tuesdays. Throw Heavy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -deliver pots on Thursdays to markets-Unload and price on Fridays-this is General schedule not fixed in stone and it varies.Things like fishing diving or shows change this basic schedule
At a certain point you just know what needs doing without much thought and an office/computer is not needed.
I make a list at the show of whats needed to fill in the stock and work from this list-same with general Market stock(wholesale and consignment)
I also make another list of that shows Best sellers-I alway pull this list out at least a month before show and make sure that all those items I'm well stocked in. They seem to always be about the same with some yearly variances.On this list It may say bring 350 spooniest or two boxed of sponge holders or one plates sold well,or 8 boxes of mugs.
I try to never run out of stock and get ahead as much as I can so I can do what I want when the weather/Ocean cooperates -especially in summer.
I know come late December I will spend days accounting in the office-right now the sun is out and pots are drying and need trimming or handling.

I'm not a big spend time in the office guy. As it is I have to bookkeep more than I would like and I try to limit this to winter hours as much as I can. I try to spend time outside more in outside season and less office time. If the weather is crappy then its office time.
Also now that I'm only doing 6 shows and more wholesale /and some consignment then planning is less hard. 
I have always done the same shows so I do not have to think much about when as they are always about the same times yearly.
I used to calendar up as Mea does now but it no longer like that for me. I used to work backward from the show to calculate the fires and times.
But now for example I have a show next week on the 4th of July-I packed 95% of van last week. All the pots are in that load. There is some what I call loose ends left to add but its not pottery.
I'm working towards my Big summer show in Anacortes Wa and most of that work is also done and just needs to be unloaded from two kilns priced and packed. I still need to make some wall fish art and some more spoon rests (just threw 200 in last two days)
I tend to glaze on Mondays or Fridays-Glaze fire on Saturdays or Tuesdays. Throw Heavy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -deliver pots on Thursdays to markets-Unload and price on Fridays-this is General schedule not fixed in stone and it varies.Things like fishing diving or shows change this basic schedule
At a certain point you just know what needs doing without much thought and an office/computer is not needed.
I make a list at the show of whats needed to fill in the stock and work from this list-same with general Market stock(wholesale and consignment)
I also make another list of that shows Best sellers-I alway pull this list out at least a month before show and make sure that all those items I'm well stocked in. They seem to always be about the same with some yearly variances.On this list It may say bring 350 spooniest or two boxed of sponge holders or one plates sold well,or 8 boxes of mugs.
I try to never run out of stock and get ahead as much as I can so I can do what I want when the weather/Ocean cooperates -especially in summer.
I know come late December I will spend days accounting in the office-right now the sun is out and pots are drying and need trimming or handling.

I'm not a big spend time in the office guy. As it is I have to bookkeep more than I would like and I try to limit this to winter hours as much as I can. I try to spend time outside more in outside season and less office time. If the weather is crappy then its office time.
Also now that I'm only doing 6 shows and more wholesale /and some consignment then planning is less hard. 
I have always done the same shows so I do not have to think much about when as they are always about the same times yearly.
I used to calendar up as Mea does now but it no longer like that for me. I used to work backward from the show to calculate the fires and times.
But now for example I have a show next week on the 4th of July-I packed 95% of van last week. All the pots are in that load. There is some what I call loose ends left to add but its not pottery.
I'm working towards my Big summer show in Anacortes Wa and most of that work is also done and just needs to be unloaded from two kilns priced and packed. I still need to make some wall fish art and some more spoon rests (just threw 200 in last two days)
I tend to glaze on Mondays or Fridays-Glaze fire on Saturdays or Tuesdays. Throw Heavy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -deliver pots on Thursdays to markets-Unload and price on Fridays-this is General schedule not fixed in stone and it varies.Things like fishing diving or shows change this basic schedule
At a certain point you just know what needs doing without much thought and an office/computer is not needed.
I make a list at the show of whats needed to fill in the stock and work from this list-same with general Market stock(wholesale and consignment)
I also make another list of that shows Best sellers-I alway pull this list out at least a month before show and make sure that all those items I'm well stocked in. They seem to always be about the same with some yearly variances.On this list It may say bring 350 spooniest or two boxed of sponge holders or one plates sold well,or 8 boxes of mugs.
I try to never run out of stock and get ahead as much as I can so I can do what I want when the weather/Ocean cooperates -especially in summer.
I know come late December I will spend days accounting in the office-right now the sun is out and pots are drying and need trimming or handling.