Starting a business, questions and frustrations

[Kpotter]

Hi, so happy I found this forum full of information. I'm starting a business and my focus is pottery decoration. I'll be selling glazes,  stencils, carving tools, underglazes, stains, and more, as well as providing information and videos on how to use each of this techniques. 

My question for you is; As a potter what is your biggest frustration when making pottery? 

I've attached a 5 min survey that would help me to better understand what other potters do and want. (Link removed, see below.)

Thank you in advance for your time!

UPDATE, Feb 2023:  link removed by moderator as the form is no longer available. 

[oldlady]

welcome to the forum>

canada has a lot of open space, where are you planning to have a store, if that is what you plan to do?   the kind of business you describe could be called a pottery supplier if you sold equipment and clay.   it sounds a little like a "paint your own pottery" place.   where do you plan to draw customers from, an urban area or do you plan to ship things? 

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

There used to be a store set up like you’re describing in Calgary, one that sold glazes, lustres, china paints and decorating stuff, but no clay, dry materials or equipment. She retired a couple of years ago, but did quite well. So you are describing a proven business model.

Nancy’s clientele was a lot of learners and hobbyists who relied on bottled glazes, and the china painting groups. She had the best selection of underglazes in town. And for a while, it was the only local place to get lustres and china paint, because Ceramics Canada didn’t carry them. (They started selling gold when she closed down.)

As to your question about what frustrates me, that’s a little tricky to answer, because I think it depends on what point in your pottery making adventures you’re at. My pain points as someone with a lot of experience now is very different than what I was frustrated with when I was starting out. And I have always mixed my own glazes, so I’m probably not your ideal customer. I’d be more likely to come to you if, hypothetically, I was interested in adding china paint to my work and needed help with that because they didn’t cover that in my college courses. Or less hypothetically, if you sold tissue transfers and stock decals that I didn’t have to buy out of the States. None of the other regional suppliers carry them. 

What I can say from observing a lot of questions here over the years though, is that folks come in with a lot of questions about how to fix glaze flaws. Even though commercial glazes and underglazes are set up to be as easy to use as possible, the key words there are “as possible.” And it’s tricky to troubleshoot that stuff, because the recipes are proprietary. If you can offer technical help based on skill and experience, that would be very valuable.

 

[Kpotter]

Thank you for your answers, and thank you Callie for the observation note on the glaze flaws, that helps a lot.

I believe that as potters we are all extremally creative people and my mission is to inspire this creative minds through learning and exploring of new techniques and discovering new pottery tools.  

Thanks again

Karla

[LeeU]

On 8/20/2022 at 1:08 AM, Kpotter said:

a 5 min survey

Are you ware that this is not available? dead link

[Stephen]

I'm by nature a little suspicious but this seems like a post to get people to click that link. Are you legit or just pitching your website? 

looks like they took it down, was a post here going to a link

Edited February 21, 2023 by Stephen

[Callie Beller Diesel]

@Stephenthe post you’re referring to is marked as spam now, and has been removed. 

If anyone ever has concerns about spam posts, don’t hesitate to dm a moderator. We have email notifications turned on so we can remove this kind of thing quickly, even if we’re not on the forum when it happens.