shawnhar

A grand a month is a good beginning. It’ll increase during the holidays too.

congrats!
and I agree with BAM2015, a steady $1k a month is nothing to sneeze at! 

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Good for you! Sounds like you are off to a great start. I think that your numbers are quite impressive.
Betty

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

I hope you need more shelves soon.   Denice

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Way to go! Isn't it great to be in total control, doing what you want to do? What kind of retail store is it and why only one shelf?

Congratulations!   How wonderful that you have a built-in retail shelf to display and sell your wares.  It's  so satisfying to be able to do for a living what you love.   Keep up the good work and enjoy!

Well, I am officially a potter now, sort of. Still a long way to go but the foundation is there. We have a retail store that has done well and I finally left my corporate job to pursue pottery further (and our store). We have a shelf in the store to sell my wares and it does around 1k a month, I know it's not much but that is passive, it just sits there. looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!
My sponge holders have come a long way!

Pretty sure every store bought mug bowl or plate we own would not survive this, lol.

Yes, I havemade small terracotta pots for a eucalyptus distilery for 30 plus years. Local folk,  also do small slipware bowls and trinket plates with euc leaf design 
Easy and nearby. Pocket money

This...
It sounds like your physician could be the but of an old joke...
Doc, it hurts when I do "this". Doc- then don't do "that".
I wish you luck and hope you can find a way!  - I like the idea of throwing small items, less clay is always easier on my bones.

Mark, I aspire to reach your level, but alas, I have entered a strange new world, and I am but an egg.

Depending on where the arthritis is surgery might be the best outcome. As with Mark, I've had both my thumbs operated on with great success and have had trigger fingers repaired on both hands, also with great success. My hands work better than they have for the 10 years prior to the surgeries. Full recovery on the thumbs took about 5 months each and the trigger fingers, about 2 months...A good hand orthopedist should be able to help you.

I get a gallery order twice a year for a huge amount $ worth of wholesale wares. Its a dependabke thing -I think now I;m his largest supplier of wares.This order is always outstanding 
I just dropped his fall order off as I have no time this fall to make them so I did it early. I'm on a 24 day dive. trip in Indonesia in Oct-Nov so made the pots and dropped them off so I can get wet.
 
Started  with him about 12- years ago with a twice a year order of 110 sponge holders and has expanded to this huge order twice a year. I fill my wife subaru with about 20-23 boxes (mostly banana. boxes). I drop it off somewhere in between this this gallery is about 11 hours away. lately its been at theowners broths house about 4.5 hrs away. I just made that drop last Friday
That order is from mugs to smalls to larger bowls and in-between -I only offer limited forms to him. I usally every year offer a new form-this year its a small fish tray
I had have never been to the gallery and I just met him last fall at a remote drop after my last NV show on way home-20 boxs from my van to his subaru.He is also my favorite business person always pays right up front.I was referred to him by another potter who did not want to make sponge holders-I still sell him 220  sponge holders a year.
I have the same sort of thing every xmas and spring with a few local outlets a well-it is always the same.Now that I think about it its with 4 local outlets. I also supply mugs every two weeks to to Bagel /bakeries-year around.
I mix this up with some art shows as well. I am doing my LAST out of state (biggest/best show) in a few weeks
Then its two local shows from now on.
Slowly my wholesale business has taken off as I got older. Just a bit easier for me

As someone who lives farther north, although I’m not super humid: MOST of the time, none of the kiln firing stuff is an issue, but it might happen a couple times a year. It will be a non-issue if your studio is heated. If you have a kiln in an unheated shelter of some kind, a hairdryer or heat gun won’t cut it to warm the thermocouple. You’ll burn it out. You will want to get a small electric space heater, and pop it in the kiln to run for a little bit before you load. Bonus, this will make loading more pleasant!  You need the inside of the kiln to be above freezing so your thermocouple can register anything. For the coldest times, Keep the thermal mass of your pots and kiln furniture in mind if you store them outdoors/unheated. If you have an old cone sitter kiln with no electronics, none of that is an issue. You can just turn it on and go, whatever the temperature. 
Humidity wise. In the beginning, you’ll want to be able to check your pots a few times a day to get the feel of how it’s working. My “humidity” can fall as low as 35% in the winter, although that’s a pretty dry week. Speeding up your drying is not the problem that time of year! Rims and edges will dry out very quickly, and I’ve seen freshly thrown pots go to nearly bone dry in 12 hours or less. If you make a lot of pots, I recommend building some form of damp cabinet, even if it’s just a matter of having lightweight vapour barrier plastic that you can drape over your shelves. If you don’t make too many things, you might be able to get away with clear plastic bins. You don’t need plaster inside if you don’t want, just a reasonable seal on the box. Or if you want to go old school, dry cleaner plastic over your wareboards. A spray bottle, or some damp sponges inside a container or damp cabinet can help slow things down as well. Flip anything that needs trimming as soon as it can support itself: rims will dry a LOT faster than the thick part you left for the foot, and trapping the humidity inside the pot is very effective at keeping things even. You’ll want to cover mugs for an hour or so after attaching handles to let the pieces marry properly. 
Right now because it’s a La Niña year, I’m getting rain, the air is heavy and it’s weird! 95% humidity is alien to me! If I had to live with this on a more regular basis and had to turn things around faster, I’d get a dehumidifier. While it’s slowing my drying, it’s not currently impeding my production too drastically, although I did add a one hour soak to the start of my bisque to make sure everything was fully dry before climbing above 100*C. 
If you’re going to be working in an unheated building like a shed, garage or barn, when the weather cools off, it takes longer and longer during the day for the inside to warm back up. It shortens the number of weeks you can work comfortably in your studio. If you want to work year round, you will have to insulate the building and find a way to heat it. The most fuel efficient thing when it gets really cold is to keep a minimally insulated building at a relatively steady temperature, and if you have a thermostat, not move it more than 3*C/6*F up or down if you are adjusting it when you’re not there. Much more than that, and you waste the energy you saved when you rewarm the space. 
Even though wet pots are more or less okay until the actual freezing point, working in an unheated studio when it’s cold is unpleasant. When I was still working in rental house garages, I found that once the weather dropped below 10*C/50*F overnight, the cold clay would hurt my hands when I was wedging. I’ve heard of some keeping their clay in an old unplugged fridge/freezer/cooler, but I’ve never tried this personally.  I highly suggest using hot water for throwing. While I haven’t tried this personally because I found the tip after I got a heated space, others have suggested using a thrift store crock pot in studios without plumbing to heat their throwing water. 
Something else to watch are your glaze buckets. Some glazes, especially ones that contain lithium, or borocalcium frits (looking at you,  Ferro 3134) can precipitate out some solids if they’re stored below I want to say 15*C/59*F. I don’t remember the exact number off the top of my head, and if someone else does, I’d be obliged.
The lithium crystals can be incorporated back into the glaze by dissolving them in hot water. The little calcium balls are much more resistant to being added back in. They don’t redissolve, and it’s a right nuisance to grind them down again. You need a mortar and pestle and a lot of frustration to work off! If you only wind up with a few of them, or small ones, it’s not a big deal, although the lithium glazes will have a much lower tolerance for material loss. If your glazes sit for 2 months and you get a lot of them though, it can affect your chemistry. My suggestion is to keep these glazes somewhere at least room temperature, and don’t allow them to freeze. Or, if you mothball your studio for the winter, use up what you have before the cold and mix fresh in the spring.
If your glazes do freeze by accident its not the end of the world, although it is a job of work to get them back in working condition. If the buckets freeze solid, they’ll hardpan like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Some will recommend scraping the solids off the bottom of the bucket with a large loop tool, but I favour a commercial sized kitchen whisk. You will be tempted to pull out a drill and a paint mixing bit: don’t. That will compact it harder. It’s slow going, but you can work out the lumps and re-sieve. 

That is awesome thank you for the inspiration!

I have more than one friend IRL who make a solid living only (or 95%) making mugs. Have a look at Blair and Sarah Dawes at Salty Sea Dog Designs, and Pixie and Shpriken (they don’t like using their given names) from Shprixieland Studios. Both couples make mugs with VERY different styles, and both will occasionally make additional items because they like doing it, or as special editions. They’ve both decided that in the wake of the pandemic, they’re taking their business models almost entirely online. Pixie and Shpriken do a few shows as working holidays/reasons to visit friends. They both spent a number of years doing the show circuit up here, and built up loyal followings/email lists, and their online overhead is MUCH lower than booth fees+travel costs+pet/house sitters. The more they really lean into what they like making, the faster they sell. 

This x1000
I learned this the hard way!

Yeah but... he only makes mugs!
That was my dream, to just make mugs, they are my favorite.

This x1000
I learned this the hard way!