How do you work?

[Apocalypticamerica]

Hi all, 

I'm interested in hearing how everybody organizes time and workflow.  If there is a already a good thread that covers this in depth, please feel free to direct me towards it. 

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-Do you work alone or have a partner/team?

-If you have a team, how do you like to split up the schedule (everyone does a little of everything, or different people specialize, etc.)?

-What is your biggest continual goal? (Maximizing efficiency, or being on the cutting edge of new styles and techniques, etc.)?

-What do you find you spend the most time on? Are you happy with that being the case? 

-Are there any daily or frequent practices you wish you had been doing earlier in your career, but didn't learn until later? 

 

These are some specifics I'm interested in, but please feel free to include anything important that you think of, including what style of ceramics you make, your location and market type, your time and experience in the industry, etc. 

Or... if this feels too much like a homework project, feel free to just throw out a single piece of advice that helped you a lot in managing your workflow.  

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Hmm.  This is a pretty broad question, and is going to result in one of those really obnoxious "it depends" answers.  I think I want some more information from you, or I'll be writing for days.

How you handle your work flow really depends on how much work you have to do, in what kind of time frame, and on the facilities and equipment you have or are working with. Are you looking for tips on how to set up your own workflow, and if so, what kind of volume are you needing to produce, or projecting to produce? What equpiment do you own? Are you wanting to hear about everything from the design stages through to marketing, or are you just interested in production steps? What are you making?

[Apocalypticamerica]

I'm interested in developing a better understanding of the community as a whole, but I'm also just curious to hear about different people's work acumen.  I may or may not be able to adapt or apply the same techniques to my work, but I'm at least interested to learn about what people are doing.   I realize it's a broad overall subject, but I did my best to ask a lot of specific questions.  

 

11 minutes ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

Are you looking for tips on how to set up your own workflow, and if so, what kind of volume are you needing to produce, or projecting to produce? What equpiment do you own? Are you wanting to hear about everything from the design stages through to marketing, or are you just interested in production steps? What are you making?

Yes, I'm looking for tips on how to set up my workflow, but moreso, I was hoping for this to be an ongoing thread that would be beneficial to many people looking for ideas and formats for managing their workflow and space effectively.  

Honestly, I have no problem with the volume of my production.  In fact, I've halted production this month (my busiest month of the year) because my inventory is overflowing (so yes, marketing help is what I really need).  But there is always room to improve, and in particular, I'm looking to be more efficient, leaving me more time for sales/shows. 

To answer some more of your specifics - I am primarily slip casting a red clay.  I cast anywhere from 8 to 18 molds at a time, 2x/day 5 days a week.  The slip cast pots are self-watering seed starters.  I also throw functional pottery, which is a very small part of my income, but I'm looking to find a balance between the two.  I run a 27" kiln, and I have a small test kiln for design and testing of new glazes, etc.  I'm interested in everything from R&D through production, to marketing.  

[Mark C.]

On December 17, 2018 at 5:13 PM, Apocalypticamerica said:

Hi all, 

I'm interested in hearing how everybody organizes time and workflow.  If there is a already a good thread that covers this in depth, please feel free to direct me towards it. 

---------------------------

-Do you work alone or have a partner/team?

I have a part time assistant

-If you have a team, how do you like to split up the schedule (everyone does a little of everything, or different people specialize, etc.)?

she puts on handles and glazes interiors and does slab work as well a few other things like hot dip waxing

-What is your biggest continual goal? (Maximizing efficiency, or being on the cutting edge of new styles and techniques, etc.)?

Being efficient and profitable not cutting edge styles as that does not apply to my work

-What do you find you spend the most time on? Are you happy with that being the case? 

I spend the most time on work-that is the business of making pottery-throwing trimming and firing-selling is less time as i have my markets dialed in

-Are there any daily or frequent practices you wish you had been doing earlier in your career, but didn't learn until later?

Bought a dedicated vehicle for pottery -Mine came in 1999-I wish it was earlier-so much easier on my back and more efficient .

 

These are some specifics I'm interested in, but please feel free to include anything important that you think of, including what style of ceramics you make, your location and market type, your time and experience in the industry, etc. 

I make functional work for the home in everyday use-about 35 forms(see ceramics monthly Feb 2018 for the list)

I'm in extreme Northern California

Wholesale,retail and some consignment .

Or... if this feels too much like a homework project, feel free to just throw out a single piece of advice that helped you a lot in managing your workflow.  

Think about handling the work less -where it comes in and flows out and improve that down to the least times to move it.

 

[Stephen]

Ya know I think the whole community is about answering these questions in detail. Pottery is very much about organizing your pottery world around you.  Do you do this full time or part time? Do you want to create a masterpiece a week and keep or gift it when done? Do you want to do local shows and farmers markets, selling mostly dishware like mugs and bowls for mostly under $30? Do you want to do high-end fine art shows every other month with high priced work. Maybe you want to design dishware that can be slip cast and then shipped around the country, etc etc etc.

You need clay, a way to form it into something and a way to fire it. Everything else is a series of decisions based on what you do.

So what exactly do you do? 

    

[Apocalypticamerica]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Mark, there's some good info there.

On 12/18/2018 at 6:12 PM, Mark C. said:

selling is less time as i have my markets dialed in

Was there a time before a tipping point where you had work dialed in but not markets, and were spending a majority (or near) on marketing? 

 

13 hours ago, Stephen said:

So what exactly do you do?

 

On 12/18/2018 at 11:20 AM, Apocalypticamerica said:

I am primarily slip casting a red clay.  I cast anywhere from 8 to 18 molds at a time, 2x/day 5 days a week.  The slip cast pots are self-watering seed starters.  I also throw functional pottery, which is a very small part of my income, but I'm looking to find a balance between the two.  I run a 27" kiln, and I have a small test kiln for design and testing of new glazes, etc.  I'm interested in everything from R&D through production, to marketing.  

 

[Mark C.]

2 hours ago, Apocalypticamerica said:

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Mark, there's some good info there.

Was there a time before a tipping point where you had work dialed in but not markets, and were spending a majority (or near) on marketing? 

yes but that was 35 years ago and marketing was not what it is now. I was out there on the street selling my wares and building a brand (although I did not realize it at the time).I did all our local events leaning what worked and what did not.I sold at my University shows Long after I graduated (maybe 10  years) sold at galleries p-at co-ops on consignment whatever as I need money to live. Then I started to leave our small area to SF area  art Showa and broader markets .
I'm good with people and they saw me a lot in my county after 20 years my business name meant something.Now thats extended to distant cities where I sold for over 25 years every year.It all takes time-no short cuts.

Most of ceramics is the making of it-the selling should not take up the majority of time.

It sounds like you have a wholesale business.

Some products do best that way and not everyone can sell their wares to the general public.