Shifting Sands

This year marks my tenth anniversary as a full time potter. It also marks a shift in the direction my business is headed.

When I first dipped my toes in the full-time-potter world, I tried to get my work out locally. While everyone loved it, very few bought and it became apparent that if I was to make a living, I had to either make new work for the local crowd, or send my work out into the world through markets that were a better fit. So off to the city I went, where my post sold well enough to keep me going and pay my bills.

I am now at a point where I have come full circle and would rather engage my local crowd than haul a truckload of tables, pots and tents all over hell's half acre. And I seem to be figuring it out, slowly but surely.

And not without a lot of help either. 
I now have a fabulous shop that I share with my mom, who makes incredible hand-crafted body and home care products out of lavender that we grow and harvest right on our own farm. I have a potters wheel out near the shop so I can interact with customers while throwing, and give people a chance to see what this pottery thing is all about.

 There was a time when I never imagined I would be cranking out orders of 400 mugs at a time. And there was also a time I never imagined that I would enjoy throwing for small audiences, talking about what I'm doing as I'm doing it and yet that is exactly where I find myself.

 

Over this past year I have made some incredible partnerships with several local businesses, Like this amazing place, or this amazing place. I have figured out how to make my business fit in the local scene and I am excited to see where things take me.



There's only one thing in this world that can be truly counted on, and that's change. I am enjoying my current transitions, and looking forward to what lies ahead.

Meditating on Mugs

For the last few weeks I have been plugging away at the largest wholesale order I have had to date.

400 mugs.

While I was excited to GET this order, I was kind of dreading MAKING this order. That's a LOT of freaking mugs. Some potters don't even MAKE mugs. Truth be told, they're a bit of a pain in the ass. They are fussy. And time consuming. And it's hard to get what they are worth when selling them.

When asked up front if I could make that many if I were to get an order for them, I made sure to think long and hard about what I was potentially getting into. Prior to this, my largest wholesale order had been for 100 teapots. That was a complete nightmare. Everything about that order was difficult and I was not eager to go there again. EVER. But having had that experience under my belt, I was better able to work out what would be involved in making so many mugs. I have plenty of time to work on the order, and I'm getting a very fair price for them. Really my only concern boiled down to all that repetitive throwing.

When I first started potting full time, the most I could make of one thing at a time was 8 pieces. Anything after that and my attention span was shot. Without being able to focus on what I was doing, the quality of the pieces would very quickly deteriorate, and along with it, my mood. Fast forward 7 years to the beginning of this year, and I was able to do anywhere from 12 to 18 pieces of the same thing before the inevitable boredom came crashing in.

Really, the best thing about production work is  being able to chart your progress. So far, I have 360 mugs thrown. And I have really seen a change in my ability not only to make them, but to focus as I go. I can now throw 48 mugs in a row, and the 48th mug looks pretty much like the first mug. I have found that within the first dozen, I slip into a bit of a meditation. Time seems to become irrelevant and everything around me is gone. It's just me and my wheel, and a small spinning lump of clay. My hands seem to have figured out what they're doing and I can almost remove myself from the process and let them do what they need to do. It's much the same sensation one gets when running. You reach a certain point where everything flashing around your brain is just gone. A point where you're not thinking, you're not worrying about the banalities of daily life, you're not stewing over what happened yesterday, you're not thinking ahead to tomorrow, you're just here. Now. In the moment, in every moment. It's incredibly liberating. It's incredibly refreshing.

In all honesty, I am really enjoying this order. I thought for sure I'd be having nightmares about mug after mug after mug, but they haven't (yet) made their way into my sleep. We'll see what happens after I start all that packing!

How about you? How's your endurance for production? Is there something that becomes a meditation within your own studio? Tips or tricks you'd like to share, feel free!