good elephant pottery

My ego will return to normal any day now.

5/18/2011

This is the pottery fame I hinted about a few weeks ago. I have been featured in Ceramics Monthly!

If you are already a reader of this blog, the article will be familiar to you. The Hourly Earnings Project was a year-long effort that was recorded on this blog. The editors of Ceramics Monthly asked me to develop it into an article last summer, then patiently waited through the end of the year while I finished collecting my research. It now appears in the current issue, which is their annual "Working Potters" issue (June/July/August 2011).

If you are visiting this blog for the first time, you can read all the raw material that went into the project by clicking the category The Hourly Earnings Project. And there may be more analysis added to the project going forward, particularly on the subject of online sales, which I plan to venture into later this year.

I have already received so much wonderful feedback about the project. I'm thrilled that working potters find it useful.

If you don't subscribe to Ceramics Monthly, you can read the article online, or find it in your local bookstore.

Big day!

15 Comments

jackie link

5/18/2011 11:52:35 pm

Mea,
This is excellent. Thanks for doing it, for one thing and CONGRATULATIONS!! You are an inspiration.

Vicki Wenderlich link

5/19/2011 02:00:30 am

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.

Callie

5/19/2011 11:35:04 am

Congrats!! Thats wonderful, you are a rockstar potter! Be proud! I enjoyed reading your blog and found it helpful, I am sure all the Cermics Monthly readers will as well.

karen

5/23/2011 12:05:14 pm

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.

Mea Rhee link

5/24/2011 12:58:48 am

These days I work full-time as a potter, which includes teaching a few pottery classes per week. I am working on some small design projects, but only spend a few hours a week on them. Once a year I do a very large design project which takes over a month of almost full-time attention.

For several years before now, I divided my time about half/half between design and pottery. It often felt like having two full-time jobs. Lots of sacrifice, but I always had my goal in mind.

Design work is for pleasing others, pottery is for pleasing myself. I'm always grateful when other people like my pots, but I don't wait for approval before I allow myself to feel good about it. There are so many pleasures, big and small, from being in a pottery studio everyday.

Yvonne Cavanagh link

5/24/2011 08:20:34 am

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)

Yvonne Cavanagh

5/24/2011 08:22:38 am

I meant to say "Hello"... not Hell... Please forgive me! I have a tendency to leave out letters...and sometimes a not so pleasant word occurs.

5/24/2011 08:48:29 am

Oh hell, Yvonne, that's ok! Have a great open house!

5/25/2011 12:10:08 am

Too funny! Thanks!

Karl Haaser

5/25/2011 04:08:25 am

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

5/25/2011 05:22:10 am

Karl, when I was calculating for wholesale work, my costs to travel to the Buyers Market trade show (including gas, hotel, parking) were included in the Buyers Market expenses that were deducted from each calculation. When I was calculating for retail art festivals, all of the festivals were within commuting distance from my house. So there were no hotel costs, and travel time and gas costs were minimal. I agree with you that travel expenses really eat away at profit, so I try to avoid them too! I'm lucky to live in an area where there are lots of good events to apply to.

littlewrenpottery link

5/31/2011 08:01:11 pm

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

Anne link

6/1/2011 05:27:12 am

Hi Mea,
I read the Ceramic Arts Daily posting today and wanted to thank you for your helpful and very insightful breakdown regarding your studio income. As a "graphic designer/ceramic artist" myself, I have pretty much concluded that I don't want to give up the much higher and more predictable income as a designer. I appreciated hearing the "functional potter" point of view, as I have chosen to concentrate my clay studio time on fine art sculpture rather than pottery because it's what gives me the highest "joy" factor, even though sales are only occasional.
One observation (perhaps as Californian) is that it seems that no matter where pottery is being sold, the perceived "market value" is similar, even though the cost of living or doing business is not because of what people are willing to pay for items online or at a retail outlet like, well, HomeGoods.
I am not surprised that you do your best business through the studio sales. My observation has been that many people want to connect with the artist personally, and offering that allows you to charge more and sell more.

Mckenna Hallett link

8/29/2011 04:53:42 am

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

8/29/2011 05:15:12 am

Mckenna, you missed an important point about the article, that every pottery business is going to yield different results, if you apply the same analysis. Your findings are valuable for making decisions about your own business.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

My ego will return to normal any day now.

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