The big plunge...

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

Hi all,

I’m back in the pottery game after 5 years away from a wheel. I’ve been using a local communal studio at a community art center and paying $25/mo for studio fees. I pay $64 for a 25lb bag of clay. The cost of firing I’m assuming is why the clay is so expensive.

I’ve found a niche market with one commission I keep getting, and my work is getting some attention in this niche circle. There are new commissions coming in from family members too.

It’s enough that it’s got me thinking about the limitations of this communal studio.

I cannot bring outside glazes into the studio, even if they are commercial, proprietary glazes. My client wants a specific color for her pieces, and the glaze we have in the studio that was that color has almost run out, and it’s been discontinued by its creator. I have a very limited palette here otherwise. Nothing that inspires me.

I have peers who have home studios who have offered to “rent” kiln space, but I’m not just wanting to fire a single load and be done with it. These are the glazes that I want to work with full time.

So I’ve reached the decision we all inevitably reach... should I set up my own studio?

We have the space in our basement. We would need to get the electrician out for the 240, but the kiln would be right next to the breaker. There’s running water down in the basement, so we could set up a slop sink, and dump the clay water in the woods out back, or on the driveway (my husband’s preferred disposal method, to help with potholes, since we have very sandy soil anyway).

But, as you know, it’s a big expense. Even if you get a secondhand kiln or wheel, it’s a lot. I may be selling at a boutique in town, and I may be getting commissions now, but as any artist knows, it comes in waves. You can’t guarantee your market.

I do have a full time job, but it doesn’t pay much (I work at a non-profit). I think in a few months I could have enough saved up for a new wheel (I like the shimpo whisper, and I’m willing to splurge there). I will NOT be quitting my full-time job anytime soon, but I’m finding the constraints of a communal studio (scheduling/time away from home/glaze limitations) are making this hobby less fun than it started out being.

(I’ve reached my quarter-life crisis because I feel like I’ve finally found what I was meant to be doing...)

What tips or advice do you have in setting up a home studio? Where should you improvise/“make your own”, and where do you need to buy commercially? What was your breaking point that made you start your own home studio? Was it worth it? Has it paid off?

Thanks for helping the new fish out.

[Denice]

I have never worked in a communal situation,  the closest I came to it was in college.   Even then I didn't care for the way they handled the firings,  my senior year I manage to convince my professor to let me   work with oxidation firings.    I was  building up my studio at home so I already had a used Skutt,  I had also purchased a used kick wheel.   The only equipment in my studio I have purchased new is a small test kiln and a Bailey slab roller,  I couldn't find them used.    You can find some real deals if you look around,  Last year I  needed a new  wheel  and Marc  C found one on E-bay for me that was pick up only in the city I live in.  I bought it for $300 it was a used Brent with a new motor.  Last summer I found a new kiln for $250  that had been purchased in 1968 and never used in the basement at a estate sale.   You can start building your studio on a tight budget  and eventually end up with a  good set up.  Denice

[liambesaw]

You have the benefit of time, so start looking on Craigslist, OfferUp, eBay, letgo and all of the other second hand places and slowly gather what you need.  Took me more than a year to gather a wheel and kiln but is totally worth it, especially if you have a place to store greenware.  I had a few kiln loads of stuff before I got a kiln, was nice.

Good luck, it's a lot of fun but yes the equipment (and especially electrician!) is a big initial cost, and maintenance is an ongoing expense.

[LeeU]

6 hours ago, Tumbleweed Pottery said:

What tips or advice do you have in setting up a home studio? Where should you improvise/“make your own”, and where do you need to buy commercially? What was your breaking point that made you start your own home studio? Was it worth it? Has it paid off?

My kind of questions! All tips/advice I have fit into one short sentence:  Do your homework and you'll be just fine. (And probably much happier.)  Sounds like you have a great space to work with, you are already selling and getting traction, and the smartest thing is that you're not jumping away from your paycheck prematurely. So--what have you got to lose (which you should identify when doing your homework, if there is a serious downside to consider) ? 

[GEP]

Tumbleweed, I agree it’s time for you to get your own workspace. Good for you for keeping your day job for the time being. Building a pottery business is a slow process, and having an income during that process will get you a lot farther. 

When I made this move back in 2002, I opened a separate bank account to deposit my pottery income, and viewed it as my “studio fund.” Any time I wanted new equipment I had to sell enough pots first. I recommend you do the same. This will keep you motivated to sell, and will keep you out of debt. I started out with a 3 cu.ft. kiln that somebody gave me for free. Less than two years later, I bought myself a brand new 7 cu.ft. kiln. 

[oldlady]

you have not entered your location.   if any of us finds something, it could be 2000 miles away.   tell us more about yourself.  do you visit other potter's studios?   are you in a big city or a rural location?   do you dream of having a salt kiln or are you happy with electric?   wheel now, handbuild later?   do you use power tools with gusto or do they scare you to death?  can you build a table for the studio or not?

everyone is different, their studios reflect the kind of work they do.  

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

1 hour ago, GEP said:

Tumbleweed, I agree it’s time for you to get your own workspace. Good for you for keeping your day job for the time being. Building a pottery business is a slow process, and having an income during that process will get you a lot farther. 

When I made this move back in 2002, I opened a separate bank account to deposit my pottery income, and viewed it as my “studio fund.” Any time I wanted new equipment I had to sell enough pots first. I recommend you do the same. This will keep you motivated to sell, and will keep you out of debt. I started out with a 3 cu.ft. kiln that somebody gave me for free. Less than two years later, I bought myself a brand new 7 cu.ft. kiln. 

Oh wow that’s excellent advice. I will stop by my bank today. I haven’t registered a business yet... don’t know anything about that side of things yet. But I’m stopping by the bank today so I’ll pick my banker’s brain about what I need to do.

[Mark C.]

Yes a bank acount with your business name is a good start .

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

18 minutes ago, oldlady said:

you have not entered your location.   if any of us finds something, it could be 2000 miles away.   tell us more about yourself.  do you visit other potter's studios?   are you in a big city or a rural location?   do you dream of having a salt kiln or are you happy with electric?   wheel now, handbuild later?   do you use power tools with gusto or do they scare you to death?  can you build a table for the studio or not?

everyone is different, their studios reflect the kind of work they do.  

I’m in Northern Wisconsin. I do go to my mentor’s studio now and then.

I’m happy with cone 6 electric firing for now. When I learned, my studio fired up to cone 10 in a huge kiln you could walk into, but I’ve seen some lovely results out of our cone 6 glazes, and love the Amaco cone 5/6 glazes.

I scoured Facebook marketplace last night and found a potter 3 hours away liquidating her studio due to health restrictions, and I’m snagging a basically-new Shimpo RK whisper for $750, and she has a few kilns for sale. Baby kilns really, but I’ll get more info soon. Probably will want a larger capacity because I’m throwing so much lately, I don’t want to have to do 4 firings in a week just to catch up.

She also has some of the clay I work with (continental clay), and ware boards, etc... I am going to hopefully make out like a bandit.

[Mark C.]

Learn to make your own glazes-its all  upside. Cost of commercials is high. 

[GEP]

I don’t know the specifics for Wisconsin, in my state (Maryland) the only license I needed was a sales tax license, so I could collect and remit sales tax. You don’t need an official business bank account. You can use a personal checking account, which is cheaper.  I am a sole proprietor, which makes things very simple. If you want to incorporate then things get more complicated. 

[Mark C.]

I started out with personal account myself and since this is a extra income only deal Mea's advice is good. State reseller # was a must for sales tax collection. 

 

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

21 hours ago, Mark C. said:

Learn to make your own glazes-its all  upside. Cost of commercials is high. 

My mentor makes his own, and his studio is this mass of 5gal buckets of chemicals. Really impressive stuff! But he’s amassed these chemicals over decades. I believe he said he bought all his cobalt in the 70s before the Rhodesian mine shut down.

I went to his studio and helped make a glaze, and it’s not been turning out well on our clay bodies. It’s very frustrating for someone like me. He was a chemistry teacher once upon a time, so he tweaks and adds more cobalt here or more what-have-you there. I doubt I will ever know even a 10th of what he does about glaze chemistry.

For now, the commercials are fine. I happen to like the colors that are more expensive to make (apparently tin oxide is expensive, but makes up a lot of the colors I like), so I figure it’s a wash, buying commercial or making my own.

When I’ve had my operation up and running for a while, I will start mixing up some test glazes. It’s too bad the proprietary glazes are... well, proprietary.

[GEP]

42 minutes ago, Tumbleweed Pottery said:

For now, the commercials are fine. I happen to like the colors that are more expensive to make (apparently tin oxide is expensive, but makes up a lot of the colors I like), so I figure it’s a wash, buying commercial or making my own.

It’s not a wash. Yes, some glaze materials like Tin are expensive. But the bulk of glaze making involves cheap materials like silica and EPK. Tin, cobalt, etc. are used in small amounts. It pays to do the math. I spend only about $300-400 on glaze materials per year, and glaze over 2000 pots. $150 of my glaze budget is spent on Tin! But still, commercial glazes can cost $200/month for this quantity of production. 

If your production output is small enough for now, you can use commercial glazes. If your business starts growing, you really do need to learn how to mix glazes. 

Edit to add: Don’t be intimidated! Glazemaking is a large subject and takes time to learn, but it’s not as difficult as it might seem to a newcomer. 

[Magnolia Mud Research]

Glaze making is sort of like cooking soup or stew.  You first start with a base recipe of specific liquids, flour, meat, veggies, and flavorings.  After a short time you begin to change the chicken to sausage, the red onions to green ones, red wine instead of water, and so on. If you like the taste you keep making it, if not you try another mix of ingredients.  
Glaze making follows the same pattern. Knowing the chemical details can be useful and fun if you are inclined, if not, then just mix a few ingredients together and find out what works and what does not.  Susan Peterson's "The Craft of Art and Clay" textbook is a good starting point for glaze making, and "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" by Hesselberth & Roy is the guide for stable glaze making for 'functional' ware. 

LT
 

[liambesaw]

3 hours ago, Magnolia Mud Research said:

Glaze making is sort of like cooking soup or stew.  You first start with a base recipe of specific liquids, flour, meat, veggies, and flavorings.  After a short time you begin to change the chicken to sausage, the red onions to green ones, red wine instead of water, and so on. If you like the taste you keep making it, if not you try another mix of ingredients.  
Glaze making follows the same pattern. Knowing the chemical details can be useful and fun if you are inclined, if not, then just mix a few ingredients together and find out what works and what does not.  Susan Peterson's "The Craft of Art and Clay" textbook is a good starting point for glaze making, and "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" by Hesselberth & Roy is the guide for stable glaze making for 'functional' ware. 

LT
 

Mc6g is my favorite glaze book.  It only has maybe a dozen recipes in it, but it is packed full of useful information.  I love that they keep durability in the forefront and show examples of how to still get interesting visual texture while maintaining that durability, something that I think a lot of people poopoo about liner glazes.  Definitely a wonderful read and a black and white version is available at the book patch here:

https://app.thebookpatch.com/BookStore/mastering-cone-6-glazes/d2bea83c-2c34-4ed0-8a00-a6f12113515d

I believe that's the only place it's still being printed

[Stephen]

I went on a glaze kick going on a decade  ago now and bought several thousand in glaze materials and every imaginable tool you could buy and bought a thousand dollar plus test kiln with the same Bartlett controller as our 9cf kiln to test glazes with. I also bought a licence to a glaze software package https://digitalfire.com/index.php (he now does it online) and all the usual suspects of glaze books.

All good stuff and did spend a few years doing it. I also bought a bluebird mixer and mixed our own porcelain as well.

Had every intention of taking good advice of keeping it simple with limited number of glaze colors and establishing a good gloss and matt/satin base and using oxides to color but like many the allure of chasing down great recipes took over and I ended up with dozens of recipes. Some glazes worked great without any fuss, some needed a little or a lot of adjustments to get a fit and some ended up piled in the corner with either notes for more work to get a good fit or just not ever being used. 

I got tired of it all as it really just became a job in and of itself and a distraction to making pots so we started buying more and more of the glazes we use now commercially. I do still make a some (notably Val's Turk (fantastic seller) and have a lot left to use up.

We buy commercial from a small shop in the northwest in dry form to mix 5 gallon buckets. A lot of them are about $75-$80 for around 4 gallons of glaze, so pretty cheap. I did not find it that much cheaper to mix my own recipes when I was doing all of ours but that was because of the way I did it ( having so many different recipes) and that meant a lot of materials and to get good prices you have to buy in bulk. I still have many 100's of pounds of a dozen base materials in huge bins and boxes of expensive under a pound,1,2 and 5 lb oxides and smaller batch expensive materials so it will be a very long time before all of that stuff is actually mixed as glaze and actually saving what money it does. 

I would recommend just mixing a few and buy a few while you are starting out and just kind of get a feel for it. If you are a potter that really can keep it to under 10 glazes total then mixing most of yours might be a good thing and if you love doing it yourself then regardless it will be a good way to go but from a business stand point, in my opinion, the cost of glaze and clay is really a very small part of pottery and reducing the cost of a mug by 10 cents is often offset with some of what I've mentioned here. I think almost everyone buys there reds so start with that commercial one. I tried so many red glaze recipes and never really nailed it. 

Have fun.

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

6 hours ago, Stephen said:

I went on a glaze kick going on a decade  ago now and bought several thousand in glaze materials and every imaginable tool you could buy and bought a thousand dollar plus test kiln with the same Bartlett controller as our 9cf kiln to test glazes with. I also bought a licence to a glaze software package https://digitalfire.com/index.php (he now does it online) and all the usual suspects of glaze books.

All good stuff and did spend a few years doing it. I also bought a bluebird mixer and mixed our own porcelain as well.

Had every intention of taking good advice of keeping it simple with limited number of glaze colors and establishing a good gloss and matt/satin base and using oxides to color but like many the allure of chasing down great recipes took over and I ended up with dozens of recipes. Some glazes worked great without any fuss, some needed a little or a lot of adjustments to get a fit and some ended up piled in the corner with either notes for more work to get a good fit or just not ever being used. 

I got tired of it all as it really just became a job in and of itself and a distraction to making pots so we started buying more and more of the glazes we use now commercially. I do still make a some (notably Val's Turk (fantastic seller) and have a lot left to use up.

We buy commercial from a small shop in the northwest in dry form to mix 5 gallon buckets. A lot of them are about $75-$80 for around 4 gallons of glaze, so pretty cheap. I did not find it that much cheaper to mix my own recipes when I was doing all of ours but that was because of the way I did it ( having so many different recipes) and that meant a lot of materials and to get good prices you have to buy in bulk. I still have many 100's of pounds of a dozen base materials in huge bins and boxes of expensive under a pound,1,2 and 5 lb oxides and smaller batch expensive materials so it will be a very long time before all of that stuff is actually mixed as glaze and actually saving what money it does. 

I would recommend just mixing a few and buy a few while you are starting out and just kind of get a feel for it. If you are a potter that really can keep it to under 10 glazes total then mixing most of yours might be a good thing and if you love doing it yourself then regardless it will be a good way to go but from a business stand point, in my opinion, the cost of glaze and clay is really a very small part of pottery and reducing the cost of a mug by 10 cents is often offset with some of what I've mentioned here. I think almost everyone buys there reds so start with that commercial one. I tried so many red glaze recipes and never really nailed it. 

Have fun.

Interesting to see you tried the recipe route but it became its own monster... What's the company in the northwest you use? 75-80 for 4gal of glaze is phenomenal (I'm looking at local companies like Minnesota Clay and their cheapest glazes run at 125 for 25# of dry mix).

[liambesaw]

There's only 3, Georgie's, clay art center and Seattle pottery supply, I'm going to guess clay art center in Tacoma.  Go with your local guys because shipping would be insane!

Also, one of the more important parts of mixing your own glazes is that you can know what is in the recipe.  You're relying on the ambiguous "food safe" labeling and all that means has acceptable levels of lead and cadmium and THAT IS ALL.

[ErikL]

Hi Tumbleweed, 

i wish you good luck in your endeavor! It is rewarding to run your own business but can be scary at first as you learn and make mistakes that we all inevitably did at the beginning. 

I'll relate my experiences through the years as I remember them. I've been at this for 25 years.  I'm not an authority, just my opinions on what has worked for me . Clay has not made me wealthy, but it has paid for my house, my college and retirement...

First and foremost find a design/product that people will buy! It sounds simple but is the most important aspect of your business. Trust your customer feedback even if you think their recommendations are ugly and embarrassing. They pay the bills, don't let ego get in the way of success.  I found a niche 25 years ago and have been doing the same basic thing ever since.  Treat it like a business, not a hobby. It is work after all. 

I started small, in a garage and worked part time at the local clay supplier. The only new equipment I had was a wheel, everything else was used. Be frugal in the beginning, if a new piece of equipment won't make you money in either time or sales you don't need it - yet. Wait till you have enough sales to justify shiny new equipment. I started off throwing everything for the first few years  until the sales were too overwhelming to keep up.  I got a jolly/jigger machine next and used that for years until I could afford a hydraulic press. My point being that you need to be able to sell a lot of pots to make a living. Some people can do it on the wheel, I could not keep up. I only wholesale so my price per pot may be lower than those retailing. 

My marketing strategy may not be relevant if you plan on retailing. Trade shows and sales reps are worth the cost in my opinion. Websites are necessary but not as productive as trade shows and sales reps for finding customers.  Eventually you will have enough customers to service that you can slow down on trade shows. If business falls off do another trade show to get new customers. If things get slow, poll your existing customers for new color schemes, it has always generated sales for me. 

Ok, sorry for rambling! Just stream of consciousness coming out. I hope everything works out for you. 

Erik

[liambesaw]

1 hour ago, ErikL said:

Hi Tumbleweed, 

i wish you good luck in your endeavor! It is rewarding to run your own business but can be scary at first as you learn and make mistakes that we all inevitably did at the beginning. 

I'll relate my experiences through the years as I remember them. I've been at this for 25 years.  I'm not an authority, just my opinions on what has worked for me . Clay has not made me wealthy, but it has paid for my house, my college and retirement...

First and foremost find a design/product that people will buy! It sounds simple but is the most important aspect of your business. Trust your customer feedback even if you think their recommendations are ugly and embarrassing. They pay the bills, don't let ego get in the way of success.  I found a niche 25 years ago and have been doing the same basic thing ever since.  Treat it like a business, not a hobby. It is work after all. 

I started small, in a garage and worked part time at the local clay supplier. The only new equipment I had was a wheel, everything else was used. Be frugal in the beginning, if a new piece of equipment won't make you money in either time or sales you don't need it - yet. Wait till you have enough sales to justify shiny new equipment. I started off throwing everything for the first few years  until the sales were too overwhelming to keep up.  I got a jolly/jigger machine next and used that for years until I could afford a hydraulic press. My point being that you need to be able to sell a lot of pots to make a living. Some people can do it on the wheel, I could not keep up. I only wholesale so my price per pot may be lower than those retailing. 

My marketing strategy may not be relevant if you plan on retailing. Trade shows and sales reps are worth the cost in my opinion. Websites are necessary but not as productive as trade shows and sales reps for finding customers.  Eventually you will have enough customers to service that you can slow down on trade shows. If business falls off do another trade show to get new customers. If things get slow, poll your existing customers for new color schemes, it has always generated sales for me. 

Ok, sorry for rambling! Just stream of consciousness coming out. I hope everything works out for you. 

Erik

What is a trade show and where do you sign up?   I'm guessing this is where potters get restaurant orders and store orders from, but I've never seen one advertised.  How did you get into that part of your business?

[ErikL]

10 minutes ago, liambesaw said:

What is a trade show and where do you sign up?   I'm guessing this is where potters get restaurant orders and store orders from, but I've never seen one advertised.  How did you get into that part of your business?

Hi Liambesaw, 

In my case I am speaking of industry specific trade shows. My business is in the pet industry and there are a few large trade shows each year.  I Have done the NYC gift show as well. They are basically a place that retailers go to find new products and where manufacturers go to find new stores to sell in. It is strictly a wholesale thing. You do not sell pots at these shows, you take orders to ship out when you return home. 

[GEP]

9 hours ago, liambesaw said:

What is a trade show and where do you sign up?   I'm guessing this is where potters get restaurant orders and store orders from, but I've never seen one advertised.  How did you get into that part of your business?

I haven’t done a trade show since 2013, so my information might be out of date. Most of the trade shows for handmade craft work are on the east coast. The New York Gift Show, which @ErikL mentioned, is now called the NY NOW show, and it is the gold standard of trade shows. “Gift Show” means that most of the exhibitors are selling mass-produced or imported goods, but NY NOW has a substantial handmade-only section. http://nynow.com

The second biggest one on the east coast is American Handcrafted in Philadelphia. This show is only for handmade work. https://americanhandcraftedshow.com/

The American Craft Council has a wholesale component in their Baltimore show. Again, it’s only for handmade work. http://craftcouncil.org

Other cities also have “Gift Shows.” A google search shows there is a Seattle Gift Show, but I couldn’t tell from a glance if it is appropriate for handmade pottery.

Some groups tried to hold handmade trade shows in Las Vegas, but failed. When I did trade shows on the east coast, artists and buyers came from all over the country, because there weren’t any good ones anywhere else.

Trade shows take place in February and August. They are not cheap, expect to spend about $5000 to participate. For a lot of artists, it’s a worthwhile investment. And a lot of artists lose their shirts. 

The craft gallery industry took a massive hit during the last recession (2007-2010) and did not recover. It’s maybe one-third the size it was before the recession. Many galleries went out of business, or the owners decided it was time to retire. And these galleries have not been replaced. Before the recession, lots of craftspeople made a steady living by attending one or two trade shows per year, then spending the rest of their time producing and shipping. Very few artists are still doing that. Most found that their wholesale income is maybe half of what it used to be, and are supplementing with art fairs. 

According to one of my former buyers, too many artists (like me) figured out we can make more money by skipping the middleman, and selling directly to our customers at art fairs. Wholesale is definitely less profitable, so it is only for those who really don’t want to do art fairs. And she said that the new artists who are trying to wholesale are making work that is not worth buying, and charging too much for it. So this is another thing that is hurting the current wholesale scene, artists are not charging realistic prices. Again, if you want to wholesale, you need to be modest with your pricing so the gallery can make a profit too. 

[Hulk]

Mastering Cone 6 Glazes still available via Apple Books, $19.99 ...reading same on a PC, hmm.

Hmmm

[Stephen]

On 5/29/2019 at 8:44 PM, Tumbleweed Pottery said:

Interesting to see you tried the recipe route but it became its own monster... What's the company in the northwest you use? 75-80 for 4gal of glaze is phenomenal (I'm looking at local companies like Minnesota Clay and their cheapest glazes run at 125 for 25# of dry mix).

Ya know i guess I would say it can become involved and if you do go the recipe route then that's going to probably mean a lot of additional materials and expense. If you enjoy that aspect of pottery it can be a lot of fun though . If you can keep it more simple then you will likely save money and you do have a lot of control over the final look and that's cool.

One thing I think you might want to keep in mind is that once you go down the road with the choices you make now and put them in production for a number of years it does become tricky to change.  The company we use for commercial is Clay Art Center in Tacoma, Wa and buy most raw materials from them and Seattle Pottery Supply. 

We've been dealing with Clay Art Center for a really long time and still have both glaze and porcelain shipped to Texas by the pallet.  Have loved working with these guys and have a few dozen buckets of glaze in production. We could buy porcelain in more local for about 45 cents a pound and pay closer to 70 cents having it shipped. Glaze also has about a 20-25% shipping add-on. We do this because we have been using both for so long and have no current issues and thousands of pots out in peoples homes with no complaints. Our home kitchen is full of pottery seconds we use every day and have for over 10 years and everything is holding up just fine. Sure at the end of the day we might have some of the shipping $$ in the bank but on a per pot basis it just is not worth the hassle to use to try and switch everything, not even close. A one pound coffee mug going from 70 cents in clay and glaze to a buck is just not a big deal. We would have to spend half a day and drive several hours round trip to go to pick it up so there's that to consider as well.     

If I were in your shoes I would establish a local supplier IF you like what you find, otherwise I would buy or make what works well for you and deal with the added cost of shipping if you have to.

Have fun!