good elephant pottery

Congrats! It was a great idea and a very informative project for all of us following along. I appreciated how methodical you were and the conclusions you drew from your records.

I loved this article and the thought that has gone into it. You are to be congratulated for keeping all the records FOR A YEAR! to get to the bottom line figures. What I would really like to know is how many hours per week do you put into pottery v. into graphic design?

As a designer, it is easier for me to do the design work, which I get more instant and sustaining feedback from. When my clients let me know that I am providing them with marketing materials which work for them over and over I get a smile, an ego massage. Creating my own "look" in ceramics continues to be a bigger, but pleasant, struggle. Divided time does short change both the design and the pottery. I move forward slowly.

Hell Mea, I just got my Ceramics Monthly in the mail (I haven't even opened it) but was also just on the Potter's Council website and happened upon your article. What a resource! And you have inspired me to hold my own open house. Thank you so much.
Yvonne (Ceramics Teacher/artist in California)

Mea, Ive read you recent Cermaics Monthly article & agree with your findings. One thing that appears to be missing however is the cost of travel i.e. fuel cost, the many hours spent driving, & lodging. There are many shows that we dont apply for because these costs are just to high. Where travel costs included in your calculations somehow? Looking forward to your response. Best regards, Karl

Congratulations on getting featured, nice to see so many people dropping by your blog!

Your article and your dedication to this project is remarkable. Thanks so much. I have so many friends in my community that work with clay, but I am having trouble considering sharing some of what you concluded, because there is one part of your calculation that really concerns me;

You looked that the cost of a wholesale order from the BMAC show as a percentage of the total costs and that is essentially not allowing for the golden part of wholesale that REALLY makes it very profitable: re-orders. I have one client who has been reordering for over 10 years and it all started with my Wholesalecrafts.com membership in 2002 which at the time seemed a risky and big expense - nearly $400 to join. But I got $1600 in orders in the first 2 months and this one gallery alone has spent about $4000 a year every year since. I just got an order last month for over $1400 and will likely get another in another month as the holidays are upon us all.

My point is that re-orders from a single event from a single gallery can more than cover ALL the expenses of one wholesale trade show and must not be counted as a static number. On the retail side, we must find a new and often one-time purchaser over and over and over again and that cost of doing business is not as efficient. I also looked hard at the article to discover what "price" you placed on the time away from your wheel while organizing and being involved in a show and that time is money, too. If you have a rate per hour spent making work and you don't make work while at a retail venue selling (which you did put a value on) then THAT missed production time must also be considered an additional expense. I shoot for a minimum production value of about $1200 wholesale dollars a week in my studio and doing a retail venue that takes upwards of 6 days away from production to organize, attend and re-group afterwards, is money lost forever and hard to make-up even in retail dollars.

Clearly the home open studio showing is the most valuable venue, but finding new or old clients who might come more than a few times a year is tough and market saturation is inevitable depending on your region. I live in a small population base and saturation can happen quickly here.

And you allude to having not gotten onto esty et al: I think the math on that idea will have you running to BMAC or any retail show as an alternative to the low profits on a $40 sale on line. Way too much time has to be spent getting that model to be profitable.

Hopefully my comment is not too disruptive, but math is math and part of your formula is missing an essential part of the wholesale equation.

And finally: WOW you are so talented!!! Thanks for contributing your beautiful work and generous spirit with the world!

Mckenna