C68m 52-29257
Making pottery for profit
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3 1148 00241 6212
1983
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FB 2
MAKING POTTERY FOR PROFIT
making pottery
for
profit
RICHARD D. OLE
Instructor of Ceramics, School of Adult Education, Whtte Plains, N. Y.
PEG B. STARR
of Peg Bee Studio, White Plains, N. Y.
PUBLISHING CO., , MC .
New York
Jacket and illustrations are by Richard Correll
Copyright, 1951
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
AH rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions
Manufactured in the United States of America
by EL 5Wff, New Yorlc
C
contents
1 POTTER S PROGRESS 7
case of the garden club lady 9
case of the hidden talent 11
pottery as therapy 12
a career -for you 13
2 SETTING UP YOUR POTTERY STUDIO 14
a studio in your home 14
restrictions 16
where to locate 16
ideal layout 18
raw materials 19
slip processing 19
casting bench 22
mold storage 23
facilities for plastic clay 23
equipment in raw clay area 24
the finishing area 26
decorating center 27
glazing section 28
compounding your glazes 29
the kUn quarter 30
handling finished ware 31
plaster work 32 MffW CITY
carpentry section 32
metal work 33
3 MARKETING YOUR WARE 34
getting a start 34
setting prices at the start 35
direct mail advertising 37
designing a circular 39
advertising in publications 42
packaging 43
a shop of your own 44
wholesale vs. retail 45
consignment selling 47
agents and jobbers 48
cost analysis 48
overhead 50
bookkeeping 52
getting the right price 52
4 DINNERWARE 55
through the ages 55
development of potteries 56
the studio potter s place in the picture 57
what to make 57
hand methods 59
the potter s wheel 60
jiggering 61
decorating 62
china decorating 64
designing for production 66
touring a dinnertoare factory 68
5 CERAMIC SCULPTURE 72
a special form of sculpture 72
planning the piece 73
sculpture in the home 75
what to "sculp" 76
religious sculpture 78
relief sculpture 79
marketing and pricing 79
architectural sculpture 80
limited editions 81
mass production 81
6 CERAMIC JEWELRY 83
lilliput potters 83
equipment 84
what to make 85
ceramic jewelry combined with art metal work 87
ceramic buttons 88
religious medallions 89
pricing 89
miniatures 90
7 DECORATIVE TILES 92
it s always time for tiles 92
hand-crafted vs. commercial tile 93
decorating 94
mounting tiles 95
multiple tiles 95
architectural tiles 96
fireplace facings 96
more ideas to work on 97
LAMPS 99
lamps make fine show pieces 99
styles in lamps 100
dual-purpose lamps 100
designing a lamp 101
making the ceramic lamp base 103
lamp shades 103
wiring 105
pricing 106
marketing lamps 107
9 GARDEN AND FLORAL POTTERY 109
basic bowls 109
outdoor pottery 110
garden statuary 111
architectural pottery 111
10 101 MONEY-MAKING IDEAS FOR
NOVELTIES 113
11 TEACHING POTTERY FOR PROFIT 129
prerequisites 129
arranging your studio facilities 130
providing tools 132
size of classes 133
getting new students 133
tuition fees 134
firing and materials charges 135
syllabus for beginner s course 137
sign them up again! 139
advanced lessons 140
cleaning up 141
student exhibitions 142
teaching children 143
salaried positions teaching pottery 144
pottery as occupational therapy 146
summer camps 146
some tips for teacher 147
12 OPERATING A CERAMIC SUPPLY SHOP 149
your studio can do double duty 149
gathering a clientele ISO
commercial firing 152
breakage 152
selling unfinished ware 153
mold services 154
selling clay 154
a line of glazes 156
decorating supplies 158
selling kilns 159
potter s wheels 161
glaze-spraying equipment 162
sundries 162
13 HOW TO RUN A MOLD SHOP 164
a profitable sideline 164
renting out molds 165
making models 166
putting your molds to work 1 66
making the block 167
making the case 168
setting up shop 169
which kind of shop for you? 169
waste molds for sculptors 171
14 TIPS FOR THE STUDIO POTTER 172
join a group 172
beware of overconfidencel 173
what to do with "seconds" 174
limited editions 175
the potter: his mark 176
the potter s secret formula 176
copyright 177
patents 178
standards for your ware 179
dealing with the trade 180
credit 182
checking your studio s "i.q." 183
income tax deductions 184
PRICE-RANGE LIST 185
TURN. TURN MY WHEEL
THIS EARTHEN JAR.
A TOUCH MAY WIN.
A TOUCH MAY MAR.
potter s progress
What could be more pleasant and rewarding
than to engage in your hobby and at the same time earn
that "extra income" which is always so welcome? Im
agine the pleasure you can derive from producing
ceramic ware and selling it profitably! This book will
tell you how you can achieve that goal.
The varieties of ware which you can produce in your
own workshop, whether it is a corner of the kitchen or
a spacious studio, are endless. There is a type of pottery
to be made for every taste.
Do you enjoy producing huge objects? Tall lamps are
fashionable, and there is a good market for garden stat
uary, urns and Ali Baba jars.
Does the miniature intrigue you? Figurines offer great
variety of choice. Tiny bowls, vases, tea sets and even
miniature furniture are popular with what-not collec
tors. Ceramic jewelry, too, is reaching a wider and wider
market all the time.
7
making pottery for profit 8
Are you interested in throwing on the wheel? Your
scope is enormous: you can produce breakfast and
luncheon sets, bowls and pitchers, vases and planters,
cups and saucers, lamps and cookie jars.
Do you have a side interest which you d like to tie in
with your pottery? It is possible that you can do it, for
ceramic ware is so basic a product in our civilization,
there is scarcely a field into which it does not enter.
If you are interested in architectural construction, you
can work with architects, designers and builders and
get them to include your ceramic tiles in their plans.
Fond of interior decorating? Try your hand at ceramic
fireplace facings, or work with decorators on custom-
made lamps and plaques.
Do you like carpentry? Tables and trays with ceramic
inlays are popular.
"A garden is a lovesome thing," and if it is your love,
you can work with florists and landscape decorators in
creating a line of garden pottery. You might even design
special indoor tiled flower gardens.
Ever tried your hand at dressmaking or designing?
Dress manufacturers and custom tailors will buy your
original ceramic buttons.
Your choice, of course, will be influenced by your
particular talents.
If decorating is your forte, you may hand paint your
own ware, or purchase and then decorate commercial
biscuit or china.
If you are a typically inventive American, your own
ideas for novelties, practical gadgets and decorative
objects may be profitably translated into ceramic ware;
potters progress 9
Skill at the potter s wheel may turn you towards
tableware, while a chemical aptitude may send you off
into the field of glaze-making.
We could go on and on in fact, we do! In each chap
ter of this book we have tried to present suggestions
and ideas that are not just theoretical, but real, down-
to-earth, practical suggestions of just what to make and
how and where to sell it. We have tried to explain in
accurate, workable detail how to establish a clientele,
how to advertise, how to sell at the right price, how to
sell to store buyers, how to be your own business man
ager, and how to operate a small or large studio.
If you like teaching, there s a section for you. If you
want to run a mold or supply shop, we tell you what s
needed. Whether you intend to become a full-time
ceramist or a part-time potter, we hope you wiH find in
these pages ideas and suggestions which are especially
meant for you.
CASE OF THE GARDEN CLUB LADY
Perhaps you are like Mrs. Palmer Westcott, a sub
urban matron interested in her Garden Club. Mrs. West
cott turned to pottery after her children were married,
and fulfilled at last a long-suppressed desire. She en
rolled in a university extension course where she learned
many different phases of pottery, but she was particu
larly interested in constructing flower containers and
planters, as she had always found it difficult to buy just
what she wanted and needed for her flower arrange
ments.
making pottery for profit 1
Her results were extremely gratifying, not only to her
self, but also to fellow members of the Garden Club,
who promptly started asking her to make pieces for
them. She decided to set up a studio in her basement,
and asked her husband to buy her a kiln. Mr. Westcott
was an indulgent man, and he humored his wife, al
though secretly he wondered why a grown woman
wanted to play with mud.
For a while Mrs. Westcott bought materials from an
art store, but she soon found it expedient to order in
larger quantities from a distributor, at a consequent
saving. Mr. Westcott s aid was enlisted in constructing
shelves and cabinets. Then he helped his wife to make
molds of her most popular items. When the orders came
so fast that a battery of molds had to be used simul
taneously, he studied with a mold-maker and learned to
make case molds to step up production. Before long the
entire basement was engulfed, the garage invaded, and
the spare room behind the kitchen became a packing
and shipping room. Mr. Westcott, hopelessly ensnared
in pottery, found to his amazement that it was greatly
to his liking. He who had scoffed now envisioned greater
possibilities in his wife s business than even she had
anticipated, and eventually he sold his store in town to
become her partner.
It was not just luck which enabled Mrs. Westcott to
turn her hobby to such good account. She had a gen
uine flair for pottery, a nice feeling for clay and a good
eye for color. Furthermore, she studied the technical
phases of pottery thoroughly. She concentrated in a
field with which she was familiar, and unerringly chose
potters progress 1 1
items which fulfilled a demand. Her friends and ac
quaintances in the Garden Club formed the nucleus of
her clientele, and local gift shops and florists, who at
first accepted her work on a consignment basis, started
her in a wholesale business. Mr. Westcott s amateur
skill with hammer and saw saved huge carpenter bills,
and as the business expanded, his know-how in adver
tising and marketing became invaluable.
CASE OF THE HIDDEN TALENT
Many people have a flair for sculpture without know
ing it. Perhaps you are like James, who was a high
school student when, quite by accident, he discovered
his aptitude. One day he brought home a lump of clay
from his art class. As he was sitting on the porch, he no
ticed a neighbor s plump little toddler on his lawn. Sud
denly James found his fingers working on the clay, and
within a very short time he had roughed out a figurine
of the child. There were few details, but the likeness
was charming. When he had fired and glazed it, he
showed it to the child s mother, who asked if she could
buy it. He sold it to her for one dollar.
A second neighbor asked if he would sketch her tod
dler in clay; then came others, so he bought ten pounds
of clay. He was in business! James didn t even buy a
loin, at least not then. His figurines were small, and he
had them fired for twenty cents each by a potter he had
met through his art teacher. Later on he modeled fig
urines appropriate to the various holidays a jolly Santa,
a flirtatious Easter bunny, etc., and his friend the potter
making pottery for profit 1 2
showed him how to make simple molds of them. He
decorated the pieces with underglaze colors, and sold
them profitably through gift shops.
POTTERY AS THERAPY
Then there was Selma, whose career as a dancer was
interrupted and curtailed by an attack of polio. Her
arms were affected, and part of the prescribed therapy
was throwing pottery on a motorized wheel. She was
not particularly artistic, but after many months of prac
tice working on the wheel in the occupational therapy
department of an orthopedic hospital, she learned the
rudiments of the potter s art. As she developed greater
muscular control of her arms, she found that she could
copy a pot or bowl, or even an illustration quite accu
rately. She was also able to achieve a great delicacy, and
her pieces were light, well-balanced and pleasant to
handle.
Selma was under no illusion as to her artistic ability
her original shapes never satisfied her so she started
to study informally the great ceramics of the ages
through books and visits to ceramic collections in mu
seums. Some Chinese bowls and plates caught her fancy,
and she sketched on paper several shapes which were
simple but appealing. From them she designed a lunch
eon set of great beauty and proceeded to throw the
pieces individually on the wheel.
"If I can sell my pottery," Selma said to her father,
"perhaps I can make a new career for myself." Her
father agreed, and helped her set a price on the set: It
potter s progress 1 3
had to be high, of course, because besides the cost of
clay, glaze and firing charges, each of the twenty pieces
had been individually fashioned by hand. Despite the
high price, the owner of an exclusive gift shop was in
terested, and decided to take the set on consignment.
The shop s clients, he said, appreciated the value of
handmade ware, and they would judge its worth to some
extent by the price set on it. He stipulated that Selma
sell to no one else in town (which was perfectly agree
able) and asked her to produce several more sets as
quickly as possible.
Selma had indeed found a new career. She copy
righted her luncheon set design on the advice of a law
yer friend, and soon found a few retail outlets in other
towns. Her progress at first was not rapid, but patience
is one of the incidental by-products of pottery^ so
Selma persevered and prospered.
A CAREER FOR YOU
You, too, can find a career in pottery! Perhaps the
ware you are now producing for a hobby will earn
money for you, when you learn how to market it, or per
haps some of the suggestions and ideas in this book will
start you off on another tack. Whatever your niche may
be in ceramics, here s success in your new enterprise!
setting up your
pottery studio
A STUDIO IN YOUR HOME
While the arrangement of your pottery studio
is to some degree a matter of personal taste, and de
pends too on the work you intend to do, it must be based
primarily on trie amount of space you have available.
Your "Studio" may be as small as a collapsible card
table set up in the corner of your apartment. If you plan
to do ceramic jewelry or small handmade sculptures or
miniatures, for example, the card table together with a
cigar box for tools, and a small crock for clay will be
sufficient to get you started.
However, if you want to be an all-around potter, the
problem of space becomes more acute. The space you
actually need will be determined by the type and vol
ume of work you do, and conversely your choice of work
14
setting up your pottery studio 1 5
will be limited to some extent by the size of your studio.
To begin with, what do you have available? Your base
ment, for instance, may be ideal, but your attic would
be a poor choice, as gravity would send your clay dust
sifting down throughout the house. Your back porch
may be good, especially if it is enclosed. A carriage
house, barn or garage may be ideal. The more spacious
your quarters, the better off you will be in the long run.
When your studio is within your house, provision
should be made to keep the inevitable dirt and dust of
clay and plaster from tracking and floating into other
parts of your home. Be sure to keep your studio door
closed, and supply a doormat for use on leaving. You
might tack up a sign inside the door reminding yourself
and others of the condition of their soles. Above all, fre
quent application of broom, mop and pail wiH pay divi
dends in keeping peace in the family.
In considering your basement or outbuildings, there
are several factors to keep in mind. Your cellar should
be well ventilated and well lighted, should have suffi
cient headroom, and especially should be dry in sum
mer and winter. It is uncomfortable as well as unhealth-
ful to work for prolonged periods in a damp and clammy
atmosphere. If you have a choice, a usable garage or
carriage house would probably be preferable. The pri
mary requisites here are a water supply, light, an ade
quate floor, and heat (in climates where heat is neces
sary for winter use).
We know of one ideally set-up pottery a small com
mercial studio in California. The building is light and
airy, and the south side has folding glass doors which
making pottery for profit 1 6
open on a large tree-shaded patio. The casting benches
and work tables are all mounted on casters, and in good
weather the entire pottery is rolled out onto the patio 1
The employees work in shorts or sun-suits, serenaded by
birds all day. If you can adapt your studio to outdoor
work this way, so much the betterl
RESTRICTIONS
If your business is to be run on a strictly "Studio"
basis, you should not have any conflicts with your neigh
bors or the city fathers. No restrictions anywhere in this
country can prevent an individual (without employees)
from producing anything he may choose to produce in
his own home just so long as he is not committing a
public nuisance or endangering himself or his neigh
bors. There are practically no noises or odors connected
with the making of pottery. If you operate an electric
loin, or one which does not require a stack, and are care
ful to eliininate any fire hazard, you should not have any
trouble with your neighbors or fire department. How
ever, if your organization is large enough to be consid
ered a factory, you may run into zoning restrictions as
well as restrictions against loins, especially those fired
by oil or gas and requiring large stacks. Better check
with the proper city bureau, or get some legal advice
before converting your garage into a factory!
WHERE TO LOCATE
If you are in a position to rent or purchase a studio or
workshop, its location will depend upon the phase of
setting up your pottery studio 1 7
the business which you plan to enter. If you have al
ready established contacts, and plan to do a strictly
wholesale or mail order business, the location need not
be accessible to the public. Your main considerations
will be the amount of available floor space, light, heat,
power facilities, sanitation, and facilities for delivery
and shipment of raw materials and merchandise. If pos
sible, choose a ground floor, perhaps with additional
floor space available for future expansion. A loft will be
adequate if your raw materials can be easily transported
to it by elevator or ramp.
Any opportunity to sell directly to the public at retail
prices should not be overlooked. If you can locate your
workshop in a section where the public can be easily at
tracted to it, you will be just so much better off. A dis
play window or snow room can be most attractive, and
if you open your studio to public inspection during
working hours, the resulting business will be greatly to
your advantage. The rental or purchase price in a good
business area will of course be much greater, so you
will have to exercise caution in choosing such a location.
Wherever you locate, keep your expenses to an abso
lute rninimvrm. A good rule-of -thumb is for your month s
rent, heat and light to be covered by one week s profits.
If you are locating in a resort area, a good location on
the main street, or near a hotel or tourist attraction
should pay excellent dividends. But if you are in an
average home town, an expensive location would prob
ably not draw sufficient sustaining retail business to
warrant the rental or purchase price.
making pottery for profit 1 8
Potteries established in rural areas can prove profita
ble if they are located on well-traveled highways with
easy access and ample parking facilities. The building
should be visible to the motorist from a distance, and
advertising signs should be placed along the highway
in both directions. Be it ever so humble, your building
should always be nicely painted and in good repair, as
the public is not easily attracted to ill-kempt shacks and
shanties. Neat lawns, attractive gardens and trim drive
ways will help to lure passing motorists into your shop.
"Free Ice Water" is a good drawing card. Working out
in the open, especially at the potter s wheel, will always
attract interest.
IDEAL LAYOUT
In the ideal layout for a small commercial studio pot
tery which follows, you will find conveniences and re
finements covering almost all the methods used by the
studio potter. If your rich Uncle Wilbur has just died,
leaving you his entire fortune, you might just use this as
a blueprint and start building! Otherwise, you will have
to decide which features suit your needs now, and post
pone the rest for future installation.
Plan the physical set-up of your studio to use your
available space to its greatest advantage. Place every
thing in its proper category. Let your motto be, "Use
your head and save your heels." Your studio will logi
cally be divided into four main categories or sections.
These will be:
setting up your pottery studio
1. Raw clay area
2. Finishing place
3. Glazing section
4. Firing quarter
RAW MATERIALS
The first thing you need in the raw clay area will be
storage facilities for raw materials. If you compound
your own bodies you will need bins for ball clay, kaolin,
flint, feldspar, talc, etc. Bins which slant out from the
wall with drop-down covers, similar to the old-fashioned
sugar and coffee bins of yesteryear, are most convenient.
Don t forget to label them, and place a material scoop
in each. If you buy prepared clay flour, one really large
bin will replace some of the other bins.
SLIP PROCESSING
Next you have to get your powdered clay into slip
form, and this calls for a blunger. The simplest Hunger
is a stoneware crock with a paddle for mixing and el
bow grease for power. A more adequate one consists of
an old enamel-lined washing machine with a churning
blade which swivels on its axis. A belt-driven machine
with a one-quarter horsepower motor is preferable to a
gear-driven machine, which usually has fibre gears that
may not withstand the resistance of heavy slip. Another
type of blunger is a large wooden barrel with a detach
able motorized slow-speed mixer. Such mixers are avail
able from pottery supply houses, or can be built from
DECORATING
STORAGE.
DECORATING-
BENCH
G-LAZ
STORA
WORK
BENCH
FINISHING-
TABLE.
DEC
TOOL
STORAGE THE POTTED
CHEST
(BLUNGER
CASTING- BENCH
DRAIN TROUGH UNDER
POTTER S
WEDDING-
BENCH
WHEEli
SINK
CTIGGER
.PROVIDE SETTLEMENT
TRAP BENEATH 61 KK
UTEN
SILS
DAMP BOX
FOR CLAY AND
WARB.
RAW MATERIAL BINS
KAOUN-FilNT-SPAR-
:
L tf CHEMISTRY
N :H+ CHEMICALS
BALL
MILLS
BOOTH
I 4G-
E
PLASTER
TABLE.
WORKSHOP
n
? SPLAY
: AINET
U
MARE
RACK
ON
CASTERS
WARE.
SHELVES
KILN
SUPPLIES
KILN
KILN
KILN
making pottery for profit 22
motor boat propeller shafts. A commercial bakery dough
mixer might also be used.
Your blunger may have a drain cock from which the
slip can flow into pitchers, or you can just dip it out. If
you can contrive to place the blunger in a loft or on an
elevated platform, you can connect a hose to the drain
cock and thus achieve a gravity-fed casting line direct
to your work benches. This will save much hard labor in
transporting slip, but it may involve additional work in
transporting the raw materials, unless provisions are
made for their storage in the loft or on the platform
where the blunger is located. A refinement eliminating
this consideration is to pump the slip up to a tank sus
pended above the casting benches, whence the slip will
flow down by gravity.
CASTING BENCH
The casting bench is in the raw clay area. It may con
sist merely of a table or bench, in which case you will
have to hold the molds over a pan or bucket while they
drain. However, if you have a fast slip you will have
difficulty in getting pieces of a uniform thickness when
you are casting many molds at a time, and in any case
you will find this a slow and tiring process. An efficient
casting bench which you can build yourself has wooden
slats for a top with a copper or galvanized trough below
to catch the slip. Your molds may be placed on the
bench, cast, and then simply inverted one after the other
to drain automatically. The sup will flow into the trough,
which is pitched downward toward one end, where a
setting -up your pottery studio 23
tub or bucket collects the slip for reprocessing. Keep a
small barrel handy, too, for mold trimmings and spoiled
pieces, so that they may be dried out, broken up and re
processed into sup.
MOLD STORAGE
Storage space for your molds should not be haphazard.
Open shelves will suffice, but the molds will be slow to
dry out, especially in humid weather. Never store molds
in a closed cupboard unless it has a forced drying sys
tem and ventilation. The ideal storage spot for molds is
a dry place with a constant temperature of about 110 F.
This is not as complicated as it sounds, and you can
build yourself a fine cupboard by replacing the shelves
of an ordinary cupboard with slats and providing one or
more infra-red light bulbs or heat units at the bottom or
top of the cabinet. Provide a few air holes for ventila
tion and you re all set.
FACILITIES FOR PLASTIC CLAY
If you are going to do work with plastic clay, you wifl
first need a storage place for the damp clay. As a start,
a crock with a lid will serve nicely, but if you want to
keep large quantities on hand, a special bin for that
purpose is necessary. The best storage vat possible is a
wooden box or bin lined with sheets of zinc which are
soldered to render it watertight. It should have a tight-
fitting hinged lid which cannot easily be left open.
Next comes a good solid wedging bench. You can
making pottery for profit 24
make one by using short lengths of 2x4*5 for legs and a
tightly-made open box for a top, about three or four
inches deep. Pour plaster or better still hard-setting
"Hydrocal" into the top to form a block. Attach a wire,
with a tumbuckle at one end to keep it taut, from the
front of the bench at a 60 angle to the backboard or an
upright post. Copper wire, size #10 or #12, is best;
strong piano wire can also be used.
A damp cupboard is essential if the nature of your
work requires keeping incomplete pieces moist over pro
longed periods. An old icebox or refrigerator will serve
very well if it has a tight door. Or you can convert a
tight-fitting cupboard yourself by lining it with zinc.
Place large plaster bats on the shelves and keep them as
wet as need be to maintain your ware in the desired
condition.
EQUIPMENT IN RAW CLAY AREA
Your potter s wheel belongs in the raw clay area near
the clay bin and wedging bench, unless you have
planned to use it where it will attract customers to your
shop. Pay special attention to the lighting of your wheel,
for if your head and hands cast bad shadows on your
work, you will be laboring under difficulties.
Arrange to include your studio sink in this basic area
as well, for here you will be using the most water, and
soiling the most utensils! It should be large and not too
deep, with good drain boards. A mixing spout for hot
and cold water is desirable, and hose bib connections
are very convenient too.
setting up your pottery studio 25
Tools and utensils needed in this area should be kept
near the sink, either in cabinets and drawers or hanging
from handy hooks in the wall. They will include:
1. Several large pitchers, preferably enamel or alu
minum.
2. Various sizes of bowls, crocks and pails.
3. A 50 to So mesh sieve for screening slip.
4. A supply of heavy rubber bands for molds, which
can be cut from old inner tubes.
5. Mold trimmers and a banding wheel for trimming
large molds.
6. A rubber mallet for nursing castings out of molds.
7. Large wooden spoons or paddles for mixing.
8. Scoops for raw materials.
9. An assortment of brushes, from soft artist s brushes
for patching and attaching handles, to scrubbing
brushes for sink, floor and hands.
Before we go on to the next area, here are a few words
of caution. Never use any containers or utensils con
taining iron, which will rust and stain your clay. Wood,
stainless steel and brass are best, and enameled ware
will serve, providing there are no chipped places where
rust can form. Aluminum utensils will not harm your
clay, but will become corroded by it in time. Paint, too,
should be avoided on any surface which will come into
contact with clay in any part of your studio. To begin
with, it surely won t last long, and when it chips and
peels it may cause ugly stains in your clays and glazes.
You will, of course, want your studio to look as attrac-
making pottery for profit 26
tive as possible, and if your enthusiasm includes a paint
job, you will have to use aluminum paint!
THE FINISHING AREA
The finishing area may consist of an old kitchen table
with an enameled top, or it may be a row of benches at
which the finishing operators can work, but first the
ware must be transported from the previous area. You
can use handy lengths of 6" shelving for ware boards
to carry several pieces at a time. An even more efficient
device is a movable rack of shelves which can be used,
not only for transportation, but also for temporary stor
age. After the ware has been fettled, sanded or sponged,
it can be replaced on the ware hoards or rack and set
aside to dry.
Equipment in this area will consist of flexible fettlers,
sponges, knives and small bowls for water. If you use
sandpaper, the best type is #4-0 or #6-0 garnet paper,
which can be used wet or dry. We do not hold with
those who scorn its use, for there are times when it is
the most efficient tool for your purpose. For instance, in
fettling seam ridges of cast ware with carved design or
detail, you can sand off the ridge without obliterating
any of the detail, although sponging would certainly
blur it.
There is a new product on the market called "Rubber
Scrubber" consisting of foam rubber with an abrasive
surface on one side. It is very flexible and efficient, and
can be washed and used indefinitely.
setting up your pottery studio 27
DECORATING CENTER
Your finishing table or bench will also double as a
decorating center. However, try not to finish and deco
rate at the same time, for clay dust and scraps may be
come intermixed with your decorating mediums and
spoil your products.
If you are doing underglaze painting, engobe work,
etc., you will need a banding wheel or two, a set of deco
rating brushes, sgraffito and other decorating tools. A
utility cabinet with a number of small drawers is excel
lent for storage of decorating supplies. The drawers
should be labeled as to contents and kept strictly classi
fied. All bottles and jars should be clearly labeled as
well, for nothing is more disconcerting than to come
across a jar of something and wonder what it is it s as
good as useless unless you make a test to find out its
nature, and that is time wasted.
It will naturally take some time until your finished
and decorated greenware is dry enough for the kiln. It
may dry on the movable racks, as mentioned above, or
on special drying shelves located near but not on the
kiln so as to take advantage of the heat thrown off from
it. You may also expedite matters considerably by means
of a special drying cupboard such as was described for
mold drying and storage. Always be certain your ware
is "bone" dry before firing. Dampness will cause ex
plosions, cracks and warpage.
making pottery for profit 28
GLAZING SECTION
The third work area is the glazing section, which
should be as convenient to the kiln as possible. Locate
your biscuit storage cupboards in this area, as well as
bins and open or closed shelves for your glazes and raw
materials. Kaolin, flint, feldspar, white lead, litharge,
etc., which are used in large quantities, will require bins
or large canisters, while coloring oxides and some of
the fluxing materials can be stored in glass jars of uni
form size, duly labeled.
After your compounded glazes are in liquid form, you
will store them in mason jars or stoneware crocks with
tight lids. If you plan to hand-dip your ware, the larger
the crocks the better. However, dipping requires that
you keep a very large quantity of each particular glaze
on hand. If you stock only small quantities of certain
glazes, you can either hand-brush it on your ware, or
spray it on.
A spray booth is a fine addition to your glazing area.
Motorized spray guns and compressors can be bought
ranging down from fine, expensive machines to modest
but adequate ones. Even the lowly flit-gun may be
adapted to your purpose. The booth should be enclosed
on all sides and partially in the front, and properly
vented with an exhaust fan and duct to carry the vapor
out of doors. It should have a turntable which can be
rotated by foot or hand, or motorized to revolve very
slowly. An old phonograph might serve quite well if it
can be adjusted to go slowly enough. Provision should
be made for the easy reclaiming of glaze from the booth
setting up your pottery studio 29
because the spraying method is very wasteful. If you
are using only three or four standardized glazes, sepa
rate chambers for each will facilitate the cleaning and
reclaiming problem. Most important of all is the use of a
proper respirator when you spray. It may be a bit un
comfortable, but lead poisoning and silicosis are more
so!
COMPOUNDING YOUR GLAZES
You may start off by using commercial glazes, but un
less you need only small quantities, you will find it very
uneconomical. In preparing your own glazes, a ball mill
is an important adjunct to your studio, if you are to
achieve uniform glazes. You can use a mortar and pestle
to hand grind your glazes, but this is time-consuming
and laborious. It is good to keep one on hand, however,
for small test batches. If all your raw materials are
ground fine enough to pass through a 200 mesh sieve you
might forego the ball mill, but even in this unlikely
event you may still obtain streaky and splotchy glazes.
The ball mill will remedy this situation. You can buy or
build your own motorized roller cradle on which two or
three jars can be mounted. For your production glazes a
gallon jar is the best size, as larger ones are almost too>
heavy to handle. A pint jar is a good size for test glazes.
Best of all are ball mill jars, which are expensive but
well worth the investment. You will also need flint or
porcelain pebbles to do the grinding.
After your glaze leaves the mill you will have to strain
it through phosphor-bronze sieves. You can purchase
making pottery for profit 30
them ready-made, or you can buy the bronze lawn by
the foot and fasten it on your own frames. You should
have on hand 100, 150 and 200 meshes. Other items you
will need are cleaning tools, sponges, an assortment of
bottles for dribs and drabs of leftover glaze, and a plen
tiful supply of labels.
THE KILN QUARTER
The kiln quarter is the most important part of your
studio. No matter how large your kiln is, if you are a
constant producer, you will never think it is large
enough. A periodic kiln is by far the best for studio pot
ters. The ideal size for most studios is about five or six
cubic feet, although producers of jewelry and miniatures
can get along with much smaller ones. It is really prefer
able to have a bank of medium-sized kilns rather than
one very large one or even a tunnel loin. The firing
cycles of two or three kilns can be rotated for constant
production and do not need round-the-clock attention
as a tunnel kiln does.
The type of kiln you need will depend upon your
work. For exceedingly high fire work, you may heed
oil-, gas- or kerosene-fired kilns. For medium or low
fired work, electrically-fired kilns are adequate and most
satisfactory to work with. Electric kilns can be made to
operate as high as 2300 to 2400 F. by means of carbo
rundum bar elements known as "Globar" or wire ribbon
elements called "Kanthal." For work below 2000 F.
nichrome wire elements are inexpensive and perfectly
satisfactory. There are many other factors involved in
setting up your pottery studio 31
styles and types of kilns, all of which could be discussed
ad infim tum. In deciding which type is best for your
needs, you might also consider the advantages of build
ing your own kiln.
Placement of the kiln or kilns in your studio is of
course very important: they should be accessible and fit
in with the production flow. Power or fuel outlets are a
prime consideration, and should be installed by an ex
pert. Some potteries have the kilns in an annex to the
studio proper, which is advantageous in warm weather,
but poses transportation problems.
Storage space for shelves, posts, stilts, and other stack
ing sundries should be handy to the kilns, and arrange
ments for unloading should be made so that a mini mirm
of steps need be taken. A grinding wheel should be con
veniently located for removing stilt-points and grinding
off any glaze drips on the feet of your ware.
HANDLING FINISHED WARE
Let s say your completed ware is now ready for ship
ment or storage. If you plan to ship in large quantities,
a packing area is convenient to have, with a space for
storage of packing materials, shelves for the various
types of ware and work space for packaging.
If your ware is to be stored as stock, what better place
could you choose than a show room or display corner?
Here it may catch the visitor s eye and turn into silver
before it really cools! The fruit of your kiln may also in
clude a number of "seconds" if it doesn t, you re a
genius, not a potter! Set aside a special room or table
making pottery for profit 32
for your seconds and display them at bargain prices.
You will find them extremely popular among your bar
gain-shopping visitors! Office space for the paper work
involved in running your business should also be taken
into consideration.
PLASTER WORK
If you plan to make your own models and molds, you
will need a section and some equipment for this work. A
small wood-turning lathe will serve nicely for making
plaster models of vases, bowls and plates. Jigs for draw-
templates for making rectangular and irregular shapes
will be very useful. You may need a modeling stand and
equipment for making armatures for sculpture work.
The plaster-work bench should have a marble or enam
eled top, and either be equipped with a vibrator or be
constructed so that it can be easily rocked for proper
vibration of the liquid plaster.
CARPENTRY SECTION
A carpentry section with a good supply of tools is al
most a "must" in a pottery studio. Every day you will
need saws, hammers, chisels, screwdrivers, drills, pliers,
tin snips, planes, levels, etc. A vise is helpful, too. Very
nice, but rather expensive refinements for this section
would be a power band or circular saw, and a drill press.
There are several power tool combination units on the
market which give you a lathe, drill press, miller, cir
cular saw, etc., all combined into one machine. Take
good care to keep your tools and machines liberally oiled
setting up your pottery studio 33
and away from your clay. There will always be a certain
amount of moisture in your shop, and you will want to
preserve your equipment from the ravages of rust.
Next time you are near a lumber yard, stop in and pick
up some mill ends for use in building plaster boxes, jigs,
etc. Also visit a linoleum shop and get a few scrap strips
for circular mold work.
METAL WORK
Some equipment for metal working will also come in
handy. Hack saws, cold chisels, tin shears, files, solder
ing iron, peening hammers, etc., are useful in making
templates, armatures, jigs, etc. A supply of nails, screws
(both wood and machine) and assorted items will pre
vent much loss of time in little trips to the hardware
store. A drafting table and various drawing instruments
would be another welcome addition to your studio, to
aid you in your design work.
We are not suggesting that you need all of the above-
mentioned equipment for your studio. The authors own
studios lack many of the items described above, and yet
they manage to turn out pottery in quantity. Like them,
you will probably find that you can double up on some
of the work areas, work on one process, clean up after it,
and then work on the next process in the same section.
If you can play the role of carpenter, tinsmith, ma
chinist, plumber, mason, electrician, floor scrubber, etc.
you will make a good Studio Potter. Just make sure that
while you are a jack of all trades, you are a master of one
-ceramics!
marketing
your ware
GETTING A START
The first step is to^annojflnce decisively that
you are going into the pottery business. Family and
friends will constitute a small but interested group of
potential customers, and you should gain a very nice
start through them. You will have to be business-like
about the whole proposition, or you may have difficulty
in actually seUing to people who have been used to
receiving your pottery as a gift.
One good way to launch yourself in business is to
send announcements of your opening to everyone you
can think of. This can be combined with a direct mail
advertising campaign (to be explained in detail further
on). Another, and more exciting way is to invite as
many people as you can accommodate to a combination
34
marketing your ware 35
tea party and exhibition. To do this you will obviously
have to accumulate a large number of your pottery
pieces. If your studio or workshop is large and can be
made suitable, you can hold your party there. Other
wise, choose your living or dining room or a large porch.
You might even desire to rent a hotel or exhibit room
for the purpose. In any case, arrange your ware as at
tractively as possible on draped tables or on shelves,
and be sure to have your pieces priced and catalogued.
Besides selling the ware which is on exhibition, you can
also take commissions and special orders.
If you decide on an informal start, with your circle of
family and friends as the nucleus, you can frankly ask
them to spread word about the new venture for you.
Don t forget to put in a plug for yourself whenever pos
sible, announcing brightly to all and sundry, "Oh, did
you know I ve gone into the pottery business?" Each
time you sell a piece, you can tell your customer how
much you would appreciate his recommendation, and
mention that you will always be happy to do special
commission work, if you are set up to do that.
Keep as much of your pottery as possible attractively
displayed in your home. Put price tags on everything,
and be ready to transfer the flowers and sell your favor
ite vase the minute you have a purchaser!
SETTING PRICES AT THE START
We ve mentioned price tags twice, now, and they
really are a boon, because they prevent embarrassment
over money when dealing with friends. As to arriving
making pottery /or profit 36
at what price to charge when you are a beginner, that
is literally the $64 question! Your prices will have to be
moderate, but as you probably discovered when you
paid the firing charge on your first piece, handmade
pottery costs considerably more than similar factory-
made items at the dime store or elsewhere. Whenever
you encounter price opposition, you will have to explain
that hand-crafted ware makes no attempt to compete
with mass-produced, machine-made ware. Suggest that
your customer compare your pottery with similar hand-
produced ware in the better stores.
This is a tip for you, too. After you have arrived at
your prices, make comparison with store prices yourself,
and be sure that your ware is priced a little lower than
similar items in the store. After all, you do not have the
overhead the store has, at least not at the start. How
ever, you do have overhead (rent, utilities, etc. ) besides
your labor, and it will have to figure into your selling
price. This will be covered at first by the amount you
allow for your labor. For a start, the price of a piece
should be computed by adding up the approximate cost
of materials, plus the firing charge figured at the com
mercial rate of i^ per cubic inch, plus a reasonable
amount per hour for your time. (You should figure your
labor as worth the current wage rate of a skilled artisan
in your community. ) You will have to keep a record of
the time spent on each piece, not forgetting to add in
all the separate little attentions which you must perform
before a piece is completed. If you find your customers
often want gift wrappings, you should add a sum suffi
cient to absorb this cost. Check your final price by
marketing your ware 37
comparison with the stores. You will soon get to the
point where you can estimate a price on any piece with
out going through computations.
You will be able to command more than the straight
computed price for your ware if you have exceptional
talent either as a potter or a ceramic decorator. Any
artist when he has gained a reputation can "charge what
the traffic will bear." In any case, you will be able to
charge more for personalized pieces in fact, you will
find that personalization will be one of the most impor
tant weapons in competing with commercial ware.
DIRECT MAIL ADVERTISING
When your friends and their friends begin to keep
you busy, you may find that you can organize your
production methods to the point where you are produc
ing more than your market is absorbing. The next step
then is to expand your market, and direct mail advertis
ing is a way to do it. The campaign starts with a letter
or circular, similar to that suggested for your opening
announcement, containing some illustrations of your
products, descriptions of other items not illustrated, to
gether with prices and shipping costs.
Your letter or circular must be carefully planned ac
cording to the principles of advertising. That is, it should
be eye-catching and arresting, clear and simple, and it
should tell the story. For example, it would be well to
state that since your ware is not machine-made, it owes
part of its charm to its lack of uniformity.
Before you design your advertising matter, you have
making pottery for profit 38
to estimate the size of your mailing list in order to deter
mine the size of your printing. You can make up a list
from your local phone directory, but don t just sit down
and copy it all, from Aa to Zz. Turn first to the classified
section and begin with professional people: doctors,
lawyers, nurses, dentists, architects, etc. After that list
has been used, your best bet is to go to the phone com
pany s offices and rent a street-address directory. Turn
to the high-class residential sections and copy a list of
names and addresses. Lists can also be rented from mail
order firms who, for a fee, will run your envelopes
through their addressing machines, stuff your advertis
ing matter in and mail them. The reason they perform
so many services for which, of course, you pay is that
they won t let you see their list of names. You can also
purchase a list outright from mailing list experts, but this
is expensive. To these lists you should add all the names
you can think of on your own hook or have obtained
from friends. Don t forget to keep a list of your own
customers. This list will be one of your real capital
possessions, so guard it zealously. Some day you may
rent it to someone doing direct mail advertising in an
other field!
If the mailing list at hand is short and you have avail
able plenty of ready labor, such as sons, daughters,
sisters, parents, etc., with legible handwriting, you can
put them to work addressing envelopes.
Address your envelopes first, or at least count your
names. Then, once you know the size of your list you
can decide on the most satisfactory method of printing
your circulars. You can design anything from an ama-
marketing your ware 39
teurish mimeograph sheet to a handsome letterpress
booklet on fancy embossed paper. Obviously, there is a
wide difference in the cost, but money is not the only
consideration. Sometimes a bigger investment will bring
a bigger return or one new important customer. Also,
there should be a correlation between the quality of
your product and the type of advertising you choose. If
you send out a flimsy circular to sell expensive pottery,
you certainly will not get the best results. On the other
hand, if you mail out too expensive a brochure, people
may expect too much of your product Or they may
think you are a much larger outfit than you actually are,
and place so large an order you will be unable to fill it
except perhaps by hiring additional labor at great
expense.
DESIGNING A CIRCULAR
As a rule, an attractive and pleasing circular will sell
more than a poor looking one. If your ware is reasonably
priced, and your list is short (say about 1,000) a pro
fessional mimeograph job is a good choice. If the stencil
is cut on an electric typewriter, the result will be clean-
cut and uniform. Illustrations can be drawn directly
onto the stencil; this is the cheapest method of repro
ducing them. Several thousand copies can be run off
before a well-cut stencil becomes blurred.
For ware in the moderate-to-expensive price range, a
more impressive and business-like way of circularizing
is using photo-offset printing, which reproduces type
written or type-set copy, photographs and art work
making pottery for profit 40
economically. Multilith is a form of offset, too, with a
small plate. Unless you intend to canvass a large part
of the country by mail, offset is much cheaper than
letterpress printing. You can have your circulars printed
in any color you desire, or in a combination of colors.
Line drawings and photographs (if they are clear) will
reproduce nicely.
For the finest-looking circulars, you will need type set
by a printer, copper halftone engravings made from
your photos, and printing done on coated paper. This
can run to great expense for a small mailing, but is
relatively economical when you mail out 5,000 or more
pieces.
Design your circulars so they fit your envelopes prop
erly. Decide in advance the size envelopes you will use,
and fold up a dummy circular to work from. Lay out the
pictures so no folds go through them. If possible, make
up the circular to fold like a booklet of four, six or eight
pages. Many successful circulars have a letter printed
on one side to achieve the personal touch and pictures
and descriptions on the other. Experiments have proved
that you get bigger returns if you use a circular (with
order form) and a separate mimeographed or multi-
graphed letter.
The more convenient you make it for people to buy,
the more likely they are to send along an order and
check to cover. An order form, either separate or a tear-
off from the circular, should always be included. Prefer
ably a return envelope of the wallet type should be
enclosed for the purchaser s convenience, so you can be
sure of getting payment in advance. You can show your
marketing your ware 41
confidence in your product and get more satisfied cus
tomers if you state on the order form that you will make
a refund to anyone who is not completely pleased with
his purchase the offer to be limited to five or ten days
after delivery.
If you want to take greater risks, in the hope of selling
still more pottery, you can offer to sell C.O.D., which
means that the customer will pay the postman when he
receives the package. Your refund guarantee should be
part of your C.O.D. offer too, because the purchaser will
not have a chance to open the package and examine the
piece before paying the postman. Figure that some
ornery customers will change their minds after ordering
and refuse to accept delivery from the postman. In such
cases, the shipment will come back to you, and you will
lose postage charges (two ways) and the C.O.D. fees
(which the customer ordinarily pays if you add it to
the charge) . On the other hand, many people don t have
checking accounts and can t pay in advance without
bothering to get a money order at the post office, so they
will prefer C.O.D. and will accept delivery. Note that on
personalized or made-to-order ware, it is expected that
a specified deposit will accompany the order, so ask for
it.
Return envelopes should be of the business-reply type
where no stamp is required. The post office in your town
will sell you (for a small fee) a permit to print a busi
ness reply form on the envelope, and you will pay 4^
for each order Doming in a worthwhile expensel If you
intend to sell your merchandise C.O.D., the order blank
can be printed on a penny postcard or business reply
flsdttng pottery for profit
card with your return address printed on the face.
Year own outgoing postage is also an item to consider.
First-class mail carrying a three-cent stamp always de
mands more attention from potential customers than
mail that looks like advertising matter. If you are new
at mail order and are sending out 2,000 or more circu
lars or letters in envelopes, it s a good idea to hire a
company specializing in mailing. They will use a postage
meter machine on your open-end (penny-saver) en
velopes, and will assort and zone your mail in order to
get a one-cent-per-ounce postage rate. Their charges
will be only about one cent per piece, so you save a cent
compared to first-class mail The most economical mail-
Ing piece is a "self-mailer" circular, which does not re
quire an envelope but is printed with space for address
right on the folder-its disadvantage is that you cannot
enclose a return envelope, though you can use a return
card tabbed in or printed in.
ADVERTISING IN PUBLICATIONS
StiH another effective form of advertising direct to
consamers is through newspaper and magazine ads. The
popular home magazines with large national circulation
command high rates, and even the smaller magazines
get such steep rates that you probably cannot afford to
advertise products that sell for less than $3 (at 1951
prices) unless they bring you an exceedingly wide mar
gin of profit, say five times your production cost includ
ing labor. Bear in mind, when investing in advertising,
that it not only must be profitable, but it must be on a
marketing your ware 43
scale commensurate with your ability to produce. The
return orders from a successful ad will be large, and you
must be prepared with sufficient stock on hand. If you
are advertising personalized items, be sure you can
execute your orders quickly.
PACKAGING
Packaging and shipping of merchandise must be con
sidered carefully before you can price your ware prop
erly for mail order. When you made a ceramic mug for
the little boy next door, took it out of your kiln, handed
it to his mother, and received payment in return, there
was no problem of packaging, shipping or collection.
Unless you have been in manufacturing or selling be
fore, it s very likely that you have no realization of the
expense these items can be. A mug selling at $2, deliv
ered over your back fence, may bring you a gross profit
(before overhead) of 8o^l. But, to get the same gross
profit from the same mug sold by mail order, shipped
C.O.D., and packed so it won t break, you may have to
get $3.50.
The high price of tissue and shredded newspaper for
packing will probably amaze you, as will the price of
corrugated paper cartons and wooden cases. Shredding
your own paper will do while your business is small, but
when orders start pouring in from your direct mall
campaign, you will have to be prepared for speedy
packing. Excelsior is not cheap either, and is very messy
unless you can work outdoors or in a bam. A good, novel
idea to insure pottery against breakage in shipping is to
mating pottery for profit **
pack it tightly in pop corn, of all things! This is said to
be cheaper tiian many of the more prosaic fillers, and
also lighter in weight (an important factor). Maybe a
corn-popping attachment will soon become standard
equipment on kilns!
A SHOP OF YOUR OWN
A pottery shop by the side of the road is the dream of
many a potter, and the idea can become a reality! If you
live in a small community, or a section of a larger city
zoned for business, your studio can be fitted to double as
a store. You can either rent, buy, or if possible rent-with-
the-Ofptkm-to-buy, a store or building, and set up shop.
When your customers watch you at work their desire to
own your ware wifl be whetted. One very successful
young potter in San Francisco, Miss Jade Snow Wong,
rented a store window just wide enough to accommo
date her and her potter s wheel She stood there several
hours each day throwing pieces before a continually
changing audience of fascinated people. Scarcely a piece
left the wheel before someone had stuck his head in the
door and arranged for its purchase!
Often it is feasible to share a store; you can carry
stock or take orders from samples. A store selling non-
competitive items should be chosen, and one with a
large clientele. For instance, a beauty parlor would
make a fine choice for marketing ceramic jewelry. If
someone wiH handle the orders for you on the basis of a
commission instead of rent, you should do very well
indeed.
marketing your ware 45
If you are planning to start from scratch, and are not
bound by any particular locality, a resort area is prob
ably your best choice. Choose a location where there is
plenty of vacation or tourist traffic. Suggestions are to
locate in or near a large, popular hotel; near a summer
theatre, historical sites or geographical attractions which
draw tourists; or near any place where people are on
vacation, with time on their hands and money in their
pockets.
Take a tip from the girl in San Francisco and plan to
work where you can be seen by the public, as you will
be your own best window display. Passersby are always
attracted by the sight of someone working, and they will
feel a strong personal interest, and a vicarious f eeling of
achievement in a piece made before their eyes.
WHOLESALE VS. RETAIL
So far we have been discussing selling your ware
directly to the consumer, without the intervention of a
middleman or wholesaler. In selhng at retail, you get
the full retail price for each article. At the beginning
this perhaps seemed preferable to selling your ware
wholesale at 50 per cent of the retail price. To change
over from retail to wholesale selling involves many fac
tors which will influence your decision.
Wholesale selling means quantity production. Your
ability to produce depends on the time element. Is pot
tery your sideline or a full-time occupation? The ware
itself makes a difference, too, for you can produce some
articles, such as simple molded or cast jewelry, in suffi-
making pottery for profit 46
cient quantity to warrant wholesale merchandising even
though you devote only a few hours a day to it. Your
personal attitude toward pottery-making will also influ
ence your decision. If you wish to maintain your studio
OB the hohby level, you will surely want to stick with
retailing. Likewise, if you are interested primarily in
the making of the ware yourself, you probably won t
care to go in for wholesale manufacture, which may in
volve employees or -machine production. But if you
have adapted your facilities and methods to quantity
production, and are anxious to expand a small business
into a lucrative large one, then wholesale may be the
answer.
There are many advantages of selling at wholesale,
whkh offset the initiRl fact that you will get no more
than 50 per cent of the retail selling price of your prod
uct, Your advertising may be reduced or become nil,
yoor shipping costs will be cut, your marketing prob
lems reduced, and you may be better able to predict
how much to produce. Remember that quantity produc
tion also brings production costs down.
You need not wait until your business is of any special
size in order to start selling at wholesale. You may take
samples of your ware to local gift shops and department
stores and take orders, whenever you feel you are ready
to produce. Besides gift shops, there are many other
potential customers right in your own neighborhood.
Florists will be fine outlets for vases and containers for
flowers and plants, Hardware and houseware stores sell
many ceramic articles, and decorator shops may be out
lets for your products. It is always a good idea to discuss
marketing your ware 47
with the manager or buyer just what type of merchan
dise he is interested in buying, as you will receive many
valuable tips on the market in that fashion.
At the beginning your orders will be small, perhaps
only single items, perhaps more. It will be easy to make
deliveries, too, at the start, as you can just put them in
cartons with a little newspaper to prevent rattling, and
drive or carry them to the stores. Later on, it may be
necessary to pack and ship large wholesale orders in
wooden cases or barrels. Be sure you sell f. o. b. your
factory so the customer is billed for the transportation
costs.
CONSIGNMENT SELLING
If the stores will not buy outright, you can try selling
on consignment. You will not get paid until the mer
chandise has sold over the counter, but some stores will
handle your ware only if you place it on consignment
There is always the likelihood that they will buy out
right in the future if the first trial lot sells welL
There are other outlets for consignment selling, which
are particularly suited to the beginners purposes: co
operative groups such as craft leagues and women s
exchanges, for example. You can obtain information on
regional craft leagues by writing to the American Crafts
man s Cooperative Council at 32 East 52 Street, New
York City. Your State University may also have informa
tion on cooperative outlets and marketing facilities in
your state, as well as helpful literature on small busi
nesses.
-making pottery for profit 48
If you have a sufficiently large stock of merchandise,
you can often make a very satisfactory arrangement
with churches or other organizations in conjunction with
bazaars and similar fund-raising affairs. Although they
usually solicit outright donations of merchandise, they
will often cooperate to the extent of letting you place
your merchandise on sale in return for a specified per
centage.
AGENTS AND JOBBERS
You can expand market coverage by hiring an agent
or travelling salesman to take your line "on the road"
and sefl on commission. The usual rate is 20 per cent for
the agent, which means 20 per cent of the wholesale
price. You do the packing and shipping. Don t forget to
figure the sales commissions into your costs.
A stifl different form of wholesaling is selling outright
to jobbers, who in turn will resell at wholesale to the
stores. Obviously they will have to buy at less than
wholesale prices. This is big business, entailing mass
prodTJCtiQn, and involves orders of anything from dozens
and grosses to thousands. If possible you should retain
for yourself the large accounts, Le. chain stores, large
department stores, premium users, etc., and let the job
bers service the smaller accounts.
COST ANALYSIS
When you get to the wholesaling stage, you will need
to know a good deal more about your costs. Cost analysis
marketing your ware 49
is a process of figuring out the exact cost of a single
unit of merchandise, including not only materials and
labor, but also the proportionate cost per item of your
entire operating expense, called "overhead." This is an
essential process for any large organization, and valua
ble information for even a one-man business.
If your enterprise is conducted on a part-time basis
or as a sideline in your home or existing place of busi
ness, cost analysis will be harder to arrive at because
of the difficulty of breaking down some of the over
head items. However, it is a good idea to approxi
mate the overhead as closely as you can anyway,
and it is interesting to know whether you are actually
making a profit!
The best way to figure the amount of materials and
labor in one unit is by "averaging out" a number of
pieces. In the case of materials, this will save you from
having to determine the exact amount of slip in a single
casting, or the value of one teaspoonful of glaze. In esti
mating the labor, you can work exclusively on a quantity
of identical pieces, total your time from start to finish,
and obtain an average time per piece. Another way is
to make a careful survey of the average number of
identical pieces you can make or cast in an hour. Repeat
this for each process finishing, glaring, decorating,
stacking and unstacking the kiln, removing spurs, pack
aging and shipping and total the average time per piece
for each process.
In estimating the cost of cast ware you will have to
take into consideration the cost of making or buying
your molds. Let us say a mold cost you $10 and you
making pottery for profit 50
estimate its life to be about 200 perfect castings. You
add i/aooth of the total cost, or 5$, to the cost of each
piece produced, and thus you are amortizing the cost
and depreciation simultaneously.
Another invisible item to be added to your cost is
breakage. Did you know that some large pottery plants
figure that 20 per cent of all the pieces started will be
lost through breakage? Breakage may be caused by
warpage, kiln damage, glaze failures, accidental break
age or any imperfection discovered at the final inspec
tion. If you do a steady and predictable volume of
business, breakage (as well as packing and shipping
costs) may be averaged in your overhead, rather than
added to cost of materials.
OVERHEAD
Overhead expenses are fixed general expenses which
continue regardless of the volume of business you do,
and cannot be charged to any one item of merchandise
you produce. Here is a check list in figuring overhead,
indudmg expenses of a commercial pottery with
employees:
1. Rent or if you own the premises: land taxes,
interest on mortgage, repairs.
2. Utilities: heat, electricity, gas, water, telephone.
3. Fuel for the kiln (if not powered by gas or
electricity).
4. Interest on capital investment: figure 6 per cent
per annum on value of aH equipment.
marketing your ware 51
5. Depreciation on equipment: estimate life of your
equipment or machine parts and allow an amount
sufficient to cover replacement and maintenance.
6. Insurance: fire, burglary, disability, workmen s
compensation.
7. Taxes: income, social security and local business
taxes.
8. Advertising.
9. Selling expenses (for yourself or salaried sales
men): sales time or salary, traveling, car, enter
taining buyers.
10. Salaries for clerical workers, bookkeepers, errand
boys, etc., even if you do this work yourself.
11. Shipping: salaries of shipping clerks, costs of car
tons and other materials.
12. General office expenses: stationery, typewriters,
stamps, etc.
13. Miscellaneous: legal fees, collection agency fees,
bad debts, etc.
BOOKKEEPING
The keeping of books for a pottery business is no dif
ferent from bookkeeping in other businesses. However,
if you are unacquainted with standard practices in book
keeping, you may find it a highly complicated proce
dure. If you do a large volume of business it will pay
you to hire someone to take care of this for you. You
can employ a part- or full-time bookkeeper, or an ac
countant on a fee basis, or use a bookkeeping-by-mail
service. In the meantime, you must (says Uncle Sam)
making pottery for profit 52
keep books to the best of your ability. The simplest form
of bookkeeping is to record sales, purchases, cash re
ceived and cash disbursed in separate books. List them
in chronological order.
GETTING THE RIGH T PRICE
After you have been in business a year (or perhaps a
balanced half-year) your estimates of overhead expense
will be fairly accurate. You will also have a year s sales
volume to figure from. You are now interested in know
ing what proportion of your gross income is eaten up by
overhead and general expenses, what proportion goes
into production costs (labor and materials) and what
percentage of profit you are achieving. If there is a loss,
something is out of balance, and you will have to find
out what it is so you can adjust it.
Here is how to figure your selling prices. Let us say
that you are selling at wholesale and your gross sales
volume for the year is $10,000. The total of your over
head expenses is $3,000, or 30 per cent of your gross
income. In a small business, overhead can run anywhere
from 15 to 30 per cent of your gross sales (40 to 60 per
cent if you are selling at retail). Your efforts should be
constantly directed toward keeping your overhead down
and increasing your gross sales, through greater volume.
Your production costs should not run over 50 per cent
of your gross wholesale sales if you are to show a profit.
If they do, then your prices are not high enough, or your
production costs too high due to such factors as waste,
inefficiency, paying too much for materials or labor, etc.
marketing your ware 53
By adding your production costs, e.g $5,ooo
to your overhead expenses 3,000
$8,000
and deducting this total from
your gross sales $10,000
less 8,000
you will arrive at your gross profit $2,000
against which you still have to deduct executive salary
that is, the amount you are going to pay yourself for
management of the business. The balance left is net
profit.
Breaking this down still further, you now know that
if your production costs are $5,000 and your overhead
$3,000, then your overhead (or general expense) is
equal to three-fifths or 60 per cent of your production
costs. Similarly, if you are aiming at a gross profit of
$2,000 on your $10,000 of sales, your profit should be
equal to two-fifths or 40 per cent of your production
costs. This gives you a formula for pricing:
Production costs (base figure)
Plus overhead (e.g., 60 per cent of base)
Plus profit margin (40 per cent of base)
Equals selling price.
In this simple example, it turns out that adding 100
per cent to your production costs, or, in other words,
doubling them, will give you the correct selling price.
This example, with its percentages, would apply more
to wholesale selling. In retail selling, production costs
should be quadrupled, approximately, to reach the right
making pottery for profit 54
selling price. The formula worked out here will apply to
retailing, but the percentage for overhead will be con
siderably greater. This double-checks, because, as we
know, wholesale prices are just half of retail.
The entire matter of pricing is of the utmost impor
tance in a mass production studio pottery, not only
because of die profit angle, but because it will often be
decisive in determining whether to put in machinery
and whether to reduce prices to meet competition. The
profit-making potter knows his pricing.
dinnerware
THROUGH THE AGES
When primitive man first learned to cook, he
found his food too hot to handle, and so he invented
dinnerware. He found that one large shell, or better still
a wood or clay bowl, provided "service for eight." What
ever the number of the family, they all dipped into the
one bowl. The custom still prevails in some primitive
regions.
The development of individual place settings came
with civilisation s growth. Gold and silver plates and
goblets were used by the wealthy of Egypt, Greece and
Rome, while the masses used simple earthenware bowls
and plates for their meager fare. And thus things stood
until the Renaissance.
Upon Marco Polo s return from the Far East he
brought with him exquisite porcelains from China. Roy
alty and people of wealth promptly stored their golden
plates and goblets in secret dungeon vaults, and took
55
making pottery for profit 56
to the new and even more expensive porcelain from
tne Orient After the trade routes to the Far East had
been opened, the Chinese were not slow to learn what
the westerners required in the way of dinner service,
and the ware became known as "chinaware."
DEVELOPMENT OF POTTERIES
Nearly three centuries were to elapse before the west
ern world was able to imitate the Chinese porcelains.
In the late i8th century Europeans finally found the
right combinations of native materials to produce white
vitreous and translucent ware, and began to make then-
own chinaware. Bone china is an outstanding example
of this development, and legend has it that ground
bones were first tried because of a misinterpretation of
the Chinese word "kaolin."
Production methods were slow and laborious, and
well into the i8th century chinaware was still for the
wealthy only. After the Industrial Revolution the pot
teries gradually expanded and became more mecha
nized. Dirmerware at last came within the reach of the
public at large. Today technical development of modern
machinery and assembly production methods has been
such that even in the lowest price ranges, attractive and
serviceable ware is available. Here, it is interesting to
note that with all today s mechanization, a considerable
amount of human handling is necessary aside from the
operators of the machines themselves: there are so many
steps "twixt the clay and the cup," as every potter
dinnerware 57
knows, that even a cafeteria coffee cup is handled by
many persons during its manufacture.
THE STUDIO POTTER S PLACE IN THE PICTURE
The dinnerware industry is strongly intrenched. It is
big, it is mechanized, it has strong traditions, and it has
the facilities for producing quality products at econom
ical prices. The average studio potter, amateur or pro
fessional, is no better equipped to run a chinaware
factory offhand than a furniture factory. Large-scale
production is an art in itself, regardless of the merchan
dise produced, and the studio potter should not try to
play the part of little David out to slay the giant Goliath!
He can, however, contribute his talents to the field of
dinnerware, and be successful in doing so. In fact, he
may be successful enough to become a leading dinner-
ware manufacturer himself, some day!
There are several avenues open to the studio potter
which lead into the dinnerware field. We shall list them
briefly, and then expand each one so that die picture
may become clear.
i. Producing earthenware breakfast and luncheon
sets, etc., by hand methods and jiggering.
a. China painting and personalizing.
3. Creating original designs for production purposes.
WHAT TO MAKE
It is both possible and practical to make dinnerware
by hand in your own little studio pottery. Don t attempt
making pottery for profit 58
to produce a 56-piece dinner set, but start out with just
cups and saucers, and one or two sizes of plates. This
nucleus can always be expanded later on. Here is a list
of suggestions for handbuilt and cast ware which would
serve admirably for your rm ffal ventures:
1. Set of dessert plates
2. Demi-tasse set
3. Cocoa set
4 Chop plates and cake plates
5. Combination desserf-plate-with-coffee-cup server
6. Child s bowl, plate and mug set
7. Individual breakfast-in-bed set
& Odd pieces such as jam pots, mayonnaise bowl
plus ceramic ladle, assorted relish dishes, celery
boats, etc.
9. Sets of noyel fruit dishes or ice cream dishes
10. Hors d oeuvre trays
Whatever you choose, be sure to go in for "different"
types and styles. If your ware is sufficiently different
from the run-of-the-miTI dinnerware on the market, you
wifl not have to compete directly with it. One way is to
produce informal ware since most of the commercial
dinnerware is rather formal in design and decoration.
When a hostess entertains informally she likes to have
something different in the way of tableware and
"conversation pieces." Let s give it to her! Does a plate
have to be round? Why not make yours elliptical,
square, fruit-shaped or free form? Or, if you decide on
conventional plates, develop unique designs done in
sgraffito, majolica-type or other handcraft decorations.
dxnnerware 59
If you use one of the standard decorating mediums, give
it a new and different twist
When you get around to expanding your ware into
standard luncheon and dinner sets, the best way to
decide what each set shall consist of is to find out what
sizes and types are most popular in your local stores.
The size of a plate is measured by its diameter, but so-
called "trade sizes" are usually from % inch to i inches
larger than actual measurements!
HAND METHODS
There are four possible ways of hand-building dinner-
ware in your studio which we shall list and then discuss
in turn:
1. Pat or drape molds
2. Casting
3. Throwing on the wheel
4- Jiggering
The most primitive way of making plates, with almost
equally primitive results, is to use a pat or drape mold,
over which a slab of clay is formed and shaped. The foot
is supplied by wedging or slipping on a coil or strip of
clay. If you lack facilities for any of the other methods,
this one requires next to nothing m the way of space and
facilities! With care and patience you might develop a
small line but the commercial possibilities are very poor.
The principal difficulty is to prevent warpage. You must
exercise caution in removing ware from molds, and in
handling it while it is still plastic. Slow drying of the
making pottery for profit 60
greenware helps, and so does the frequent reversal and
turning of the plates during the drying.
Not much can be said for the Indian coil method of
hand building. It may provide fun for the amateur, but
has no commercial possibilities because of the time
involved in creating each article. However, if this is
your love, and pin money or just expenses your financial
goal, go to it, and have fun!
Casting can be used to a limited extent in the produc
tion of dinnerware. Cups, mugs, nappies, bowls, vege
table servers, and any odd pieces that are deep and
bowl-shaped can be successfully cast. However, at
tempting to cast fiat pieces in drain molds is difficult for
technical reasons. Warpage and cracks may account for
many of your castings. Two-piece solid cast molds are
sometimes successful, but there is often difficulty in
releasing the castings from the molds.
THE POTTER S WHEEL
If you own a potter s wheel, you are in a position to
produce either hand thrown or jiggered ware. If you are
expert at the wheel, you can actually throw and turn sets
of earthenware or china. By the very nature of its indi
vidual production, as well as its primitive qualities, hand
thrown ware is unsuitable for dinner sets. The price
would be prohibitive, and the ware itself too informal
for an expensive dinner set Wheel-thrown ware will
serve admirably, however, not only for the suggested
items listed above, but also for breakfast and luncheon
sets. In order to produce uniform ware, you need a great
dinnerware 61
deal of experience and skUL If you have mastered this
art, you can produce beautiful informal ware, in a
different class from machine-made articles, which will
command good prices. Luxury gift shops and depart
ment stores will provide outlets, and you can also try
direct selling to friends and through recommendation.
JIGGERING
Jiggering on the wheel is the method by which com
mercial chinaware is made, and it is the best method for
the studio potter who wishes to produce tableware in
quantity. You can make or buy a jiggering attachment
for your potter s wheel, whose table then becomes
known as a jolly. Jiggering is accomplished in one of two
ways. For flat dishes, a plaster bat is made representing
the negative of the inner side of the plate. This is affixed
to the jolly by a chuck, or in the case of the drop-head
type of wheel, it fits into the depression. A template of
the outer or under surface of the plate is firmly affixed
to the jigger arm. A pat of plastic clay is placed over the
bat, and as the wheel revolves, the jigger arm is lowered,
and the template shapes the bottom of the plate. The
thickness of the plate is determined by the adjustment
of the template on the jigger arm, and the spare rim of
the bat.
For deep dishes such as cups and bowls, the jigger
mold is a hollow one, resembling a one-piece drain mold
minus the waste rim. The template shapes the inner side
of the cup or dish. The potter places a ball of clay inside
the bat, and as the wheel revolves he starts the shaping
making pottery for profit 62
by hand and completes it by jiggering. After a piece is
completed it is removed from the wheel with the piece
in place, and set aside to dry. The more duplicate bats
you have, the more pieces you can turn out in quick
succession.
DECORATING
Decorating is an important step in the production of
dinnerware. Hand made ware has far less need of deco
ration than jiggered ware. Its appeal is dependent
largely upon its obvious handmade quality. Any but the
most simple and primitive type of decoration, such as
slip trailing or sgraffito, would cause it to lose much of
its charm. Un-uniform ware has a primitive-modern
effect which makes a virtue of imperfection, and appeals
strongly to the sense of touch. Confirm your decorations
to simple methods in harmony with the ware itself.
Some popular commercial ware, modern in style, de
pends on its shape and glaze alone for the entire decora
tive effect, but there are many ways of decorating both
modern and period-styled ware. These include:
1. Underglaze decorating, which can be done by
hand painting, silk screening, stamping, stencilling, etc.,
with the use of ceramic underglaze pigments.
2. Decorating with overglazes. The methods are the
same as for underglaze. The ware is then low-fired to a
temperature just sufficient to mature the overglaze
paints.
3. Sgraffito work, which is incising designs through
a thin layer of colored slip applied to raw greenware.
dinnenoare 63
This is a hand process which, can also he adapted me
chanically to produce hands or borders of color. For
example, a colored slip could he sprayed over the entire
surface of a white clay plate. The plate is then subjected
to a jiggering process with a template especially de
signed to remove the central portion of the slip, leaving
a solid colored border and a white center,
4. Low relief decorating, which can be obtained by
incising the design directly into the jigger bat.
5. Sprigging, in which the relief design is made sepa
rately in carved plaster molds known as sprig molds. It
is then applied to the greenware with sup. If a differ
ently colored clay or slip is used, very effective results
are obtained, as typified by the famous Wedgwood
ware.
6. Decorating with gold, which can be either bright-
firing or burnished gold, depending on the result you
desire. This requires a third fire, as the gold is applied
overglaze. If you use the gold in conjunction with over-
glaze decoration, and it matures at the same tempera
ture, one fire will usually suffice for both.
7. Decorating through glaze effects, such as textured
glaze, pebbled effects, crackling, etc. Here is a fertile
field for experimentation.
8. Transfer of decalcomania designs especially
printed in ceramic colors, applied overglaze and low-
fired for permanence. Open-stock decals can be pur
chased from some ceramic supply firms. Ihis is the most
frequently used method of decorating commercial din-
nerware, and we do not recommend it for hand-built or
hand-jiggered pieces, as it would tend to cheapen and
making pottery for profit 64
commercialize the hand-crafted effect of your ware.
9. Slip-trailing, a fine primitive-looking method of
informal decoration, in which colored slips are trailed
from a stick or hollow tube to form a picture or design
on the greenware.
10. Majolica or stanm ferrous painting, an intricate
but effective method of decorating with stains over a
coating of unfired glaze.
As to the subjects of the decorations, that is a matter
of art, and the mechanics of design. It involves also the
taste of the decorator, as well as what is popular and
suitable for the market at which you are aiming.
The studio potter who does not use assembly line
methods will find that personalizing his ware will always
be a sure-fire selling point. You can take orders for items
decorated with names and dates, as in the case of chil
dren s or infants* sets. Breafcfast-in-bed sets can be en
hanced with names, personalized mottoes, or anything
which you can devise or the customer may desire. Sets
of dessert pktes decorated with a simple sketch of the
owner s home, his pet or even his hobby should prove
extremely saleable. Demi-tasse sets can be executed to
order in the color schemes desired by the customer.
Here again, offer your customers items which they can
buy from you and you alone!
CHINA DECORATING
Decorating china blanks or commercial whiteware is
an enterprise which the studio potter can engage in even
with the most limited facilities. In the "Gay Nineties"
dinnericare 65
and shortly thereafter the proper and popular leisure
occupation for ladies of culture was china painting. To
day china painting is back in vogue. Violets and rose
buds have been replaced with strong, flowing modern
designs, and illustrations, but hearts and flowers are still
popular with many people.
On a commercial basis, china decorating can be big
business. Many dinnerware manufacturers grant to spe
cific china decorating firms the exclusive right to dec
orate their china, and dictate the designs to be used.
Other manufacturers have their own decorating estab
lishments, and will not allow their blanks to be sold on
the open market. However, there are a few factories
which sell china blanks outright, and many potters have
developed successful commercial studios and factories
by decorating and marketing commercial ware. Much
of the whiteware obtainable comes from Europe.
The mediums used for mass production are fairly
mechanized, but much hand work is involved, too.
Decalcomania is the backbone of china decoration, as
well as gold banding, now largely done by machine.
Hand-decorated ware is extremely popular. The deco
rating is performed by skilled operators working on
assembly-line principles. As the items pass down the
line, each operator adds a section or a color to the over
all design. Another technique for strictly hand-painted
commercial ware is to have a battery of artists copy
master designs, which are sometimes projected on a
large screen before the group. This method can very
well be adapted to the small commercial studio pottery.
Other methods for decorating are silk screening, sten-
making pottery for profit 66
ciling, printing and stamping. These are all commercial
methods, which lend themselves best to group opera
tions. The studio potter who wishes to become a china
decorator can compete with the commercial decorator
by bringing individuality and personalization into the
foreground. An important prerequisite is to secure qual
ity blanks, and an assurance from the dealer of a con
tinuing supply. However, it is the quality of your deco
rations, and their originality and distinctiveness which
will attract buyers.
Commission work for the personalization of breakfast,
luncheon and dinnerware sets can be obtained by ex
hibiting your work in gift shops and department stores.
Informal ware decorated with the customer s mono
gram, or the profile of his child, or a sketch of his home
wiH have strong consumer appeal. Decorated dinner-
ware, especially personalized, makes a fine mail-order
item.
Yon can also obtain factory-made dinnerware in bis
cuit form. Your decoration can be applied in underglaze
colors and the ware glazed and fired, but otherwise you
may conduct your business in the same way the china
painter operates. You also have the possibility of using
glaze alone as the decorating medium. Be sure to make
tests to insure the proper fit of your glaze to the com
mercial biscuit
DESIGNING FOR PRODUCTION
The creation of designs for ceramic dinnerware has in
recent years attracted many industrial designers and
dmnerware 67
interior decorators, as well as artists in other fields. They
design on paper and sometimes construct original mod
els from plaster or other materials. There is no reason
why the Studio Potter cannot do the same thing at least
as well, if he has sufficient realization of the technical
problems involved.
If you feel that you have designed something really
special in the way of dinnerware, both practical to man
ufacture and outstanding in design, you may be able
to sell your designs. Make sure that you have solved in
advance the technical problems inherent in the shapes
of the different pieces constituting the dinner set. If a
manufacturer is interested in your designs, he may
either buy them outright or pay you on a royalty basis.
When the choice is left up to you, you will have to de
cide whether you would prefer an immediate lump
sum, or a long-term income of unpredictable size,
If you have already established marketing outlets for
yourself, but lack the facilities for producing dinner-
ware in your studio, there is another method of putting
your designs to work for you. You can arrange with an
established factory to produce the ware to your own
specifications and market it yourself. You will need to
have great faith in the marketability of your product, as
well as considerable capital, but if your faith is well
founded, you will be on your way!
Perhaps some day your pottery will be large enough
to own a fleet of trucks. When that day comes you can
take a tip from the Onondaga Pottery Co. of Syracuse,
N. Y. They use posters of their new patterns of dinner-
ware on their trucks, changing the signs each month.
moJttng pottery for profit 68
Their local retailers of Onondaga ware find the advertis
ing steps up consumer sales.
TOURING A DINNERWARE FACTORY
If aside from heing a good craftsman, you are also a
good business man, eventually your path may lead to
owning a factory. Let s take a tour through a typical
dinnerware factory, to see how it differs from your own
studio, and what the similarities are. Perhaps this will
be a preview of your own factory of the future!
Let us start our tour in the slip house where the clay
flours are stored in^huge bins. These are the raw ma
terials, although they have already been cleaned and
ground by the processors who supply them. To begin
with, the various ingredients are weighed out according
to formula and then carried to the Hunger, where they
are thoroughly mixed and blended with water. When
the resultant slip is ready, after about four or five hours,
it is carefully screened, and iron impurities are removed
as the slip passes through a magnetic separator. The slip
is kept moving either by gravity or pump action. It now
goes to the storage tanks, in which huge agitators keep
it gentry in motion to prevent settling out and preserve
homogeneity until it isjieeded. The slip to be used in the
casting of irregularly shaped ware, such as- squared or
oval shapes, and also for complicated shapes such as
pitchers, creamers, gravy boats, etc., is piped to the cast
ing benches. Later the excess is piped back again to be
reblunged and reused, v
In order to convert the slip into clay for jiggering, it
dinnenoare 69
is sent through a filter press, where the suspended par
ticles of clay are filtered off and pressed into round or
square cakes. These cakes are pressed so dry that the
clay isn t plastic, and water must be added and the clay
worked again into a uniform mass. The solution to this
problem is not a giant wedging board, but a pug mill, in
which the cakes are cut up with knives and mixed with
sufficient water to reach the proper state of plasticity.
Next the clay goes through a vacuum machine to re
move air bubbles, and it is then extruded in solid col
umns, ready for use.
If the jiggering is to be done manually, the clay is cut
up into lengths of a convenient size to handle and
carted or conveyed on belts to the jiggering wheels.
Here the jigger s assistant, known as the "batter-out,"
cuts off discs from the columns of clay and flattens them
in a press ready to be placed on the bat. The batter-out
knows by experience just how much clay will be needed
for each plate. In jiggering hollow ware, the jigger does
not need an assistant if he merely places a lump of clay
inside his hollow mold. However, he or an assistant may
partly preform the clay by first throwing a small hollow
shape which is then used to line the mold before jigger
ing commences.
Near the jiggermen we find_some huge, busy ma
chines with revolving discs moving up and down. They
are the most modern jiggering machines, which auto
matically do the work of countless jiggermen and bat
ters-out!
Conveyor belts, like arteries, trans}- > ; v ire from one
operation to another throughout, the ^ They carry
making pottery for profit 70
the jiggered greenware away from the machines,
through a drier and on to the finishing section. Here
workers stack plates in bungs, and more machines trim
the edges as the hungs revolve. Jiggered hollow ware re
quiring handles or special feet are shunted on conveyor
belts to a section where workmen attach them to the
body with slip. There are machines which attach ap
pendages too!
Our loin is an extremely modern tunnel variety, re
sembling somewhat a subway tunnel, and only slightly
smaller. The saggers are loaded onto small cars which
move on tracks through the long tunnel, but their
progress is so slow that you can hardly see them move.
It will take about 24 hours for them to go through the
kiln, where they will be subjected to a gradually in
creased heat till the maturing temperature is reached.
Enough time is allowed for the ware to mature com
pletely as it travels slowly along, and then as the cars
continue along their track, the temperature is as slowly
reduced till the ware emerges, slightly warm, at the
other end. The circular kiln is another modern type in
which the cars are chained together to form a continu
ous circle, constantly moving through the kiln whether
they are loaded or not At one point, of course, there is
a break in the wall of the kiln where the slow-moving
cars are accessible to workers. Here they unload the fin
ished ware and replace it with greenware, or glazed
ware, depending on the type of fire.
Some factories still hand-dip their biscuit ware in
glaze, and that method is sometimes used in up-to-date
plants for hollow ware such as cream pitchers, coffee
dxnnerware 71
pots, etc. Spraying of glaze is faster than dipping, and
in many factories it is performed by operators working
in spray booths. This factory, however, boasts brand
new spraying machines which fantastically perform the
operation with the help of only one workman. He stands
beside a huge revolving machine rimmed with rotating
heads, each supporting a plate on three pins. With one
hand he removes a piece coated with glaze, and with
the other replaces it with an unglazed piece of biscuit.
The machine does all the rest. As it revolves slowly,
each piece passes through a series of glaze-spraying jets
which thoroughly and evenly coat the independently-
rotating piece, top and bottom at the same time. A little
further around the circle the ware travels between small
banks of gas jets which dry the glaze before the piece
returns to its point of origin, ready for the glost fire.
Does it sound like a far cry from your present studio
pottery? Even so, you may be able to adapt some of the
ideas for practical improvements on a smaller scale!
ceramic sculpture
A SPECIAL FORM OF SCULPTURE
Although sculpture is one of the most expres
sive mediums through which man can beautify his sur
roundings and enrich his esthetic life, somehow or other
it has always been a step-child of the arts. Sculpture is
usually massive, and because of its size has been re
stricted to public buildings and parks, and estates of the
wealthy. If you loot about the homes of your friends,
how much sculpture do you see? And where indeed
would even a half-life-size piece of sculpture fit into
those homes? Its price is another drawback, for how
many people can afford an original sculpture of marble,
granite or bronze? The artist, who has spent years in
training and studying, and weeks or months in creating
and producing an original work cannot direct his efforts
to the public at large.
A definite line of demarcation exists between ceramic
sculpture and sculpture in the purest sense. The true
72
ceramic sculpture 73
meaning of sculpture is hewing and carving a form from
a medium such as wood or stone. In its rendition the
native form of the material is taken into consideration,
and the finished piece is patterned to conform with the
original structure. Ceramic sculpture, on the other hand,
is formed by the process of modeling with clay. No re
strictive original form is present, and the plastic medium
can be made to assume any shape desired.
There are many other advantages to ceramic sculp
ture. We have an easy way of reproducing original
works through the use of molds, and through mass pro
duction we can place ceramic sculpture within the
means of everyone. Thus we can direct our efforts to fit
into the tempo of today s homes and appeal to the popu
lar taste. The technical problems inherent in designing
a model for casting purposes are more than offset by
the advantages of color and texture which we can in
troduce by means of glazes and the various techniques
of ceramic decorating. And lastly, if we wish to preserve
the original model without reproducing it, we can do so
directly by firing it.
PLANNING THE PIECE
Right from the start you will have to keep in mind all
of the processes which the piece will go through from
original idea to finished piece of ceramic sculpture. You
may start with penciled sketches of the piece which you
have conceived in your mind. These sketches do not
have to be finished drawings, but merely personal nota
tions in your own brand of hieroglyphics. They wiH aid
making pottery for profit 74
you in solidifying your thoughts, and point out factors of
design, proportion, stance and balance, which will have
to be considered when making your clay model.
You can make the original model in clay, plastelina or
other medium. If you use an armature, its proportions
must be accurate for they will determine the final re
sults. The exact relationship of the parts, say head to
torso and torso to arms and legs, is of the utmost im
portance.
The stance of your piece should adhere to the rules of
proportion and balance. Especially for ceramic pieces
there should be at least three solid points, well spaced,
for the figure to stand on. The stance should be one of
motion, but at the same time it should be a position
which can be easily and naturally assumed by the per
son or animal, and held for a prolonged time without
strain. A piece which "freezes" violent motion or a mo
mentary position, such as a ballerina pirouetting on one
toe, soon becomes tiring to the eye.
The artist must impose his own limitations on his me
dium, and not misuse the freedom offered by clay. The
rules for balance are of great importance. The ballerina
pirouetting on one toe is definitely not adapted to the
medium of clay. However, a slim legged animal is suit
able because at least it has four legs upon which to
stand, although the technical problems of mold making,
casting, firing, etc., make it a difficult item to produce.
Appendages are always dangerously breakable. Michel
angelo once said that the test of a good piece of sculp
ture is to roll it down a moontainside; if it survives in
tact, it is well designed!
ceramic sculpture 75
If you intend to reproduce your piece of sculpture,
the making of the mold should be kept in mind from
the outset. In any mold, the fewer the pieces, the better
it will be. The parting lines of the mold should be de
cided upon at an early point, and the direction in which
the mold pieces will pull, as well. These considerations
will have a direct bearing on the modeling details of the
piece. The necessity of avoiding undercuts is paramount
when a block and case is to be made for multiple pro
duction. The slightest undercutting of the piece will
spoil the whole project.
Another point to consider is how the piece will cast
after the mold has been made. Are there any narrow
necks which will crack apart when the shrinkage of the
casting takes place? Are there any pockets which will
entrap air and thus ruin the casting by leaving holes?
Will the soft castings be able to support their own
weight after being released from the mold?
SCULPTURE IN THE HOME
Before we discuss the use of sculpture in the Amer
ican home of today, let us pauvje to give thanks for cer
tain things which are happily past. Cheap reproductions
of the Winged Victory no longer preside on pedestals
in back of umbrella stands. Nor does Venus de Milo
perch atop the mantle sporting a clock in her abdomen!
May they rest in pieces!
The fireplace mantle is still the first and most obvious
place for a piece of sculpture, or a pair of figurines.
Sculpture for the mantle must be m good proportion,
making pottery for profit 76
neither too overpowering for its surroundings., nor so
small that it becomes insignificant. The living room
offers many other appropriate settings for ceramic
sculpture. Small pieces make fine occasional decorative
figures for coffee table, what-not and bookshelf. Lamp
bases are a natural for ceramic sculpture, but give a
thought to Venus de Milo s rummy, and design your
lamps so that the electrical fittings do not sprout from
the heads of figures, nor grow out of the middle of some
poor creature s back.
Ceramic sculpture is not confined to the living room,
for it fits naturally into every room of the house. Grace
ful or humorous figurines are fine for dressing table and
bureau; wild animals inhabit the master s den, while do
mestic animals guard the nursery; model fruits and
vegetables brighten the kitchen shelves and walls;
pheasants, roosters and cockatoos preside over the din
ing room buffet or table; and sculptured fish have even
been seen swimming on the bathroom wall. Ceramic
sculpture s function out-of-doors wifl be discussed in the
chapter on garden and floral pottery.
WHAT TO "SCULP"
As for subject matter, we can go from the classic to
the ultra modern, and from the ridiculous to the sub
lime. Almost anything three-dimensional might be con
sidered a sculptured form, and there are connoisseurs
and collectors of aH. (Connoisseurs plus collectors equal
customers! ) Animals make excellent subjects, from the
prehistoric pterodactyl to Rover, the family pup. They
ceramic sculpture 77
can be conventionalized, hurnorized or even humanized.
Models of household pets probably have the greatest
appeal to the general public, and lend themselves nicely
to pottery. The various breeds of dogs and cats can be
faithfully represented, and the ceramic artist who sells
directly to his customers has a fine opportunity to do
animal portraiture by decorating stock figures with the
exact markings of the customer s pet
Wild animals are next in popularity, and much has
been done recently in conventionalizing them. Some
are even gaily decorated with flowers, a vogue which
was originated some 4000 years ago by the Egyptians.
A classic example is the turquoise hippopotamus deco
rated with lotus blossoms, a beautiful little piece of
ceramic sculpture now residing in the Metropolitan Mu
seum of Art
The human figure presented in miniature or statuette
size has great appeal and the range of possibilities in
this field is vast The Dresden porcelain and French
bisque figurines of the i8th century have been copied,
or aimed at throughout the years. Costumed figures are
still in demand, although pottery calls for a streamlin
ing and amplification of details. Children in various
active poses delight the collector, and indeed almost
everyone. The nude can be a thing of beauty, and the
human figure streamlined into abstraction finds a defi
nite place in modern decor.
Sculptured portraitures in terra cotta and porcelain-
ous bisque make a fine medium for those talented in
this direction. Ckmnnissions for this type of work can be
78
making pottery for profit
obtained through galleries and exhibits, as well as
through personal recommendation.
Figures of fantasy and fun are always popular. You
<#n draw on your own imagination in designing pixies,
elves, nymphs, hrownies, gnomes, fairies, leprechauns,
gremlins, mermaids, dragons, witches, demons and even
genii-with or without accompanying lamp.
The abstract form will appeal to the modernist, cus
tomer as well as porter! In this field much study and ex
perimentation can be done with the problems of line,
contour and the meaning of form. Free form ceramic
sculpture can readily be converted into conventional
and utilitarian objects, in the form of vases, bowls, lamp
bases, ash trays, etc.
RELIGIOUS SCULPTURE
The medium of sculpture in religious observances
dates back to prehistoric times. In the Golden Age of
reece, when sculpture was developed to glorious per
fection, men honored statues of the gods and goddesses.
"Religious sects throughout the ages have been among
the main patrons of the sculptor. Even today this holds
true, for churches still incorporate many sculptured fig
ures and motifs into their edifices. Ceramic figures for
home and garden shrines are both effective and weather
proof. Religious statuary can be made on commission or
reproduced in quantity and marketed through religious
shops and church organizations. Be sure that your exe
cutions are faithful as to details and symbolism!
ceramic sculpture 79
RELIEF SCULPTURE
Relief sculpture can be very effectively employed as
a decorative motif for ceramic pieces. Embossing and
bas relief may be carved into the plaster molds. They
may also be applied by the use of sprig molds, another
sculptural technique through which the artist can dis
play his skill. Minutely sculptured designs either in re
lief (such as cameos) or incised (such as intaglio) make
fine ring settings or brooches. They combine beautifully
with hand crafted metal work in the execution of many
objets d art such as snuff boxes, etc.
MARKETING AND PRICING
We have already indicated several ways of marketing
particular types of ceramic sculpture. In general, there
are three categories under which your creations may
falL First, the marketing of originals, or uniques. Sec
ond, the selling of limited editions, and third, the dis
tribution of mass-produced items.
If you are interested mainly in ceramic uniques, the
market for your sculpture will of course be limited by
the same factors which affect sculpture in other me
diums. The avenues of sales open to you will be largely
from commission work, gallery and exhibition sales,
orders received from samples placed in gift shops and
decorator salons, and pieces placed on consignment. If
you do portraiture of either animals or humans, place
ment of your work in competitive art shows will bring
you i-eccjgnitioiL Arrange with an art gallery in your vi
cinity to snow your work on commission. You might
making pottery /or pr oftt 80
also make a profitable tie-in with a luxury-type pho
tography salon. The hest way to secure these connec
tions is simply to take samples of your work to the firms
in question and talk over your sales problems with them.
ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE
Contacts with architects for sculptural motifs to be
used in their plans may also bring you substantial busi
ness. Interview the architects in your area and get some
ideas from them. Execute some sample pieces that you
think your clients will like, and work out some of the
architect s ideas. Rough sketches will suffice if you ac
company them with samples of your finished work to
show the prospective client. f
The prices which you can command for original
ceramic sculptures may vary widely. The work of a na
tionally or internationally famous sculptor, especially a
deceased sculptor, may bring fantastic prices. Let us as
sume that you do not fit into any of these categories! At
the start of your career as a ceramic sculptor, you will of
course have to place modest prices on your creations,
or you may be left with them. This would hardly be a
desirable state of affairs, for the works you sell repre
sent not only money in your pocket, but valuable ad
vertising in themselves. You can determine a price
which will attract customers and be fair to yourself by
computing the cost of your materials and firing and add
ing a modest but adequate hourly wage, plus propor
tionate overhead expenses. (For additional information
see chapter on marketing. )
ceramic sculpture SI
LIMITED EDITIONS
Until you attain the fame which will create a demand
for your original sculptures, you will find a great deal of
sales appeal in limited editions." People are interested
and intrigued by the knowledge that their objet d art is
one of only a dozen, or even one hundred pieces, extant.
Make your limited editions faithful reproductions of the
original, number and sign each one, and you will have
a fine selling point. The firm through which you sell
them will probably demand exclusive right to market
the lot, and you should be able to dispose of them as
fast as you can produce.
In pricing limited editions you will have to take into
consideration the number to be reproduced. The price
will be less than that of an original work, but consider
ably more than a mass-produced item. Definite and spe
cific pricing rules cannot be easily formulated, especially
if you are a beginner in this field. If you have already
sold original sculpture, you do have a basis for your
calculations, since the creative effort can be roughly as
sessed in terms of dollars, and divided by the number of
pieces in the edition. When you work out your price,
be sure you consider that your mold cost must also be
divided by the limited number of pieces in the edition.
(See chapter on marketing.)
MASS PRODUCTION
Ceramic sculpture which is produced in unlimited
quantities in molds involves considerable handwork in
handling, finishing, decorating, etc. This is true even in
making pottery for profit 82
the most modern factory with assembly line production
methods. In order to judge prices for your molded
sculptures you will have to undertake a bit of compari
son shopping in gift shops and department stores. Re
member that the retail price is usually double the whole
sale, and if you sell directly to the stores you will have
to price your merchandise accordingly.
Analysis of your production costs is essential, for you
certainly don t want to discover, when you start filling
orders, that you are losing money on the project! You
must take into consideration all the items discussed in
Chapter 3 on marketing. If the wholesale price which
you thus establish compares favorably with competitive
items, you will know your merchandise is priced right,
and can look for good success with it in the open
market.
ceramic jewelry
LtLLIPUT POTTERS
Since costume jewelry is always in demand,
the craftsman who creates unique ceramic ornaments
and decorations for the feminine wardrobe can work up
a versatile and profitable business. The making of ce
ramic jewelry is a very special art within the larger field
of ceramics itself, with special appeal to the potter who
enjoys working in miniature. It is not limited by its
small size to the fragile and dainty alone, for it lends it
self as well to strong design and chunky form.
There are other advantages for the potter who pro
duces ceramic jewelry. Costume jewelry is big business,
and although popular taste fluctuates with the ebb and
flow of style and fads, in times of metal shortages ce
ramics assume an important place! Another great advan
tage to the potter is that only a small space is necessary
for the production of ceramic jewelry. Only small
amounts of materials are needed, too; a tiny kiln can
83
making pottery for profit 84
accommodate many pieces per fire, and a small cup
board can hold a fairly large stock of ware. Even if you
live in an apartment you can produce small things in
large quantity, and your kitchen-table-studio may pros
per and grow into a sizable studio or plant.
Mrs. Joseph Henry, of Tulsa, Okla., conducts a very
profitable business making fine ceramic jewelry and
other small objects to order. Originally ceramics was
just a hobby and diversion for Mrs. Henry, but soon
she became interested enough to take a course at the
University of Southern Calif ornia. As her skill increased,
her ware found such great favor with family and friends
that a heavy demand arose for her products. While
jewelry is her mainstay, her line includes other small
ware, such as small vases and cigarette boxes.
EQUIPMENT
Adequate studio work space is always desirable,
as it makes for efficiency and ease of production.
Let s suppose, to begin with, that you re setting up
shop on a kitchen table or counter, and let s hope
you won t have to clear away your work whenever
mealtime comes around. What will you need to make
ceramic jewelry?
1. A rump of clay, soft and plastic 5 Ibs. will do.
2. A tight, rust-proof container to keep it in. (Wrap
it in pliofilm or aluminum foil for best results.)
3. A square of oil cloth or heavy duck to work on.
( Use the wrong side of the oil cloth. )
ceramic jewelry 85
4. Tools: a kitchen knife, a pair of scissors, a rolling
pin, a natural (cosmetic) sponge, wooden and
wire-end and metal modeling tools. (See your
dentist twice a year and talk him into saving his
worn tools for you! )
5. A cigar box or tray for your tools.
6. Small jars with tight-fitting lids for your glazes
and decorating media.
7. A cabinet or closet shelf to keep your supplies in.
8. Ear wires and pin clips to back your jewelry
either sterling silver, brass or plastic.
9. A strong, dependable glue or cement for attach
ing backings. (Permanent adherence of metal to
ceramic is difficult a roughened surface helps
and so does wrapping the bar of the pin with
thread before applying glue. )
10. Firing service or a small kiln of your own.
11. Nimble fingers and a delicate touch.
12. A grain or two of genius in the way of inspiration
and an eye for style.
WHAT TO MAKE
Many things come under the heading of ceramic
jewelry, but earring and brooch sets are the mainstay of
a jewelry potter. Flower pins and earrings are always
popular, and you don t have to stick to the known spe
cies on record at the Botanical Garden you can draw
on your own imagination. The leaders in the field of
flTrimflTg are (first) dogs, (second) horses, (third) ze
bras; but elephants, giraffes, monkeys, etc., are also
making pottery for profit 86
good Birds and fish follow in the popularity parade,
and cats trail after them.
Elves, pixies, and other sprites are good items. You
can make them cute or fantastic, or even a bit grue
some! Try witches and ghosts. Geometric forms or pat
terns can make excellent designs, and modern abstract
forms are very popular. The humorous touch offers a
fine challenge to your ingenuity. Also, pieces which tie
in with hobbies, such as chessmen, signs of the zodiac,
etc., can be very effective. Made-to-order cut-out mono
grams and first names are good sellers.
Bead necklaces go in and out of style when they are
in fashion, you can produce them. Although they come
under the heading of novelty jewelry, there is nothing
new about beads. The American Indians excelled ir
making pottery beads and so did the Egyptians. The\
used native clays which fired to various colors; the
beads were largely unglazed. What the Indians did yoi
can do too. You can use seH-vitrifying clays, stained ir
a wide variety of colors for pleasing effects. If your ck)
is porous you can seal the surface by boiling the bead
in paraffin or spraying them with a plastic coating. It i
possible to put glaze on beads and string them on ni
chrome pins or wire for firing. Be careful not to ge
your glaze in or near the thread holes, or it will adhere
to the wire; or the wire might tend to mar the glaze
You can mold smooth beads by hand into attractiv<
shapes or make them in press molds. Leave them plaii
or decorate them with incising or sgraffito work Yoi
can also carve or model them. Press molding will wor]
for all but the most deeply carved beads.
ceramic jewelry 87
CERAMIC JEWELRY COMBINED WITH
ART METAL WORK
This makes a beautiful combination, and if you are a
craftsman in the latter field as well, you really are for
tunate. Otherwise, you can do business with an art
metal jewelry craftsman. You can either sell hl-m the ce
ramic parts, or arrange to have him do the metal work
for you, and market the finished products yourself. Here
is a list of suggestions:
1. Ceramic "gems" for ring settings of cameo or in
taglio design, or simple cabochon shapes, brightly
glazed to resemble jewels, mounted in metalcraft
rings.
2. Rings designed especially for men are a natural.
They like seal and signet rings in addition to the
above.
3. Ceramic "gems," mounted in metal and linked to
gether to form bracelets and necklaces.
4. Brooch settings.
5. Medallions to be mounted on the lids of wood or
metal boxes such as cigarette boxes, stamp boxes,
etc., or set into ashtrays, bonbon dishes, etc.
6. Medallions set into fancy metal buckles for ladies
belts. (You can also make ceramic belts by linking
together small ceramic tiles or decorative pieces by
means of silk or cotton cord or metal links.
7. Cuff links and tie cHps for men, ceramic set in
metaL
8. Fraternal emblems in medallion form, to be
mounted in rings, brooches, smokers articles, etc.
making pottery for profit 88
(Contact fraternal orders to "sell them" on the
idea and secure contracts. )
CERAMIC BUTTONS
Some people work for buttons, but you can let but
tons work for you! Any dressmaker or homemaker will
tell you that buttons are far from cheap today, except
for the commonest small white underwear-type. Larger
buttons, even plain ones made of plastic, are dear, and
as for novelty buttons, they sell for as much as several
dollars apiece! Ceramic buttons make wonderful novel
ties, and present the potter with an interesting specialty
field with plenty of challenge and excellent prospects,
You can produce interesting buttons easily and
quickly in press molds. They will require trimming oi
edges and the insertion of thread holes or loops on the
back, but these operations can be done rapidly with ac
curacy. You can also obtain plastic backing loops anc
cement them onto the finished buttons. Really fane)
buttons used for decoration rather than fastening pur
poses will require more handwork, but they will com
mand higher prices, too.
There are many opportunities for marketing cerami<
buttons. You can sell them wholesale to notion shops
knitting studios, dressmaker supply shops, gift and nov
elty shops, and the corresponding departments in larg<
stores. Also contact custom dressmakers and tailors ii
your vicinity and arrange to supply them with you
unique buttons. If you can produce buttons in volume
contact dress, coat and suit manufacturers. You may b
ceramic jewelry 89
able to sell from stock, but you will stand an even better
chance of obtaining an order if you explain that you can
produce buttons to any designer s specifications.
While you are visiting manufacturers, you might also
try to sell ceramic medallions, decorative clasp parts or
zipper pull pendants to the ladies* handbag trade.
RELIGIOUS MEDALLIONS
Religious medallions made in pottery have a distinct
appeal. They can serve as pocket pieces, be incorpo
rated into necklaces, or be mounted on other objects.
You can sculpture them in relief or paint them either
underglaze or overglaze for smoothness and tactile ap
peal. To market them, look in your classified phone di
rectory for stores dealing in religious articles. Most
department and jewelry stores handle religious goods,
too.
PRICING
In detennining the wholesale or retail prices of your
jewelry and novelties, you will find the cost of your ma
terials insignificant as compared with, the labor in
volved. This is especially true of the pieces which are
entirely handmade. Keep a careful record of the total
time spent in making and handling your various items
and multiply by an equitable hourly wage for your la
bor. Add the cost of materials, firing and the pro-rated
overhead cost. To this, you may add a percentage for
your net profit, say 10%, if you find that it will not make
making pottery /or profit 90
the selling price too high. Remember that this will be
the wholesale price, if you sell to stores, and the retail
price should be just double. Consequently, if you also
sell directly from your studio, you will have to charge
the full retail price to your studio customers in order to
protect your store accounts. If you do a mail order busi
ness be sure to include the packing and shipping ex
penses in your cost analysis. (See chapter on market
ing.)
The same formula applies to mass production as to
handmade pieces. Much of your ceramic jewelry can be
press molded or even cast, with gang molds enabling
you to reproduce in quantity. Some large factories even
produce intricate flowers and other pieces by the as
sembling of separate parts on a production line basis.
The work is done largely by hand, but it is so sys
tematized that volume results, and the prices can be
surprisingly low. Your studio work can be organized in
the same way if you have facilities for keeping the
petals and parts damp and plastic during the process.
MINIATURES
In this chapter, we sbould also include the making oi
miniatures. Because of their small size, they fit in well
with ceramic jewelry and can be produced in small
quarters along with your jewelry products. Americans
are by nature great collectors. A surprisingly large num
ber go in for miniatures, most likely because even a
small what-not shelf can hold so many! In the collector s
eye there is always room for one more. Gift shops and
ceramic jewelry 91
novelty counters in resort hotels are excellent outlets for
this type of ware, and a good mail order business can be
built on miniatures through advertising in national or
sectional home and women s magazines.
Here is a list of ideas for miniature ceramic objects:
Shoes Pitchers
Hands Cups and saucers
Doll s dinnerware Vases
Model furniture Figurines
One-tenth pint mugs Thumbnail sized bowls
Animals Tiny salts and peppers
Tiny decorated tiles Fish
Birds Platters containing food
Cider jugs Watering cans
Urns Etc., etc., etc.
Hats
For additional ideas on producing ware in miniature,
see chapter on ceramic sculpture, as well as ideas in the
novelties chapter.
decorative tiles
IT S ALWAYS TIME FOR TILES
Tiles have been used for centuries for both
practical and decorative purposes. Ancient Babylonians
used tiles for decorations on buildings, and the Egyp
tians, Greeks and Romans used them for walls, floors,
and other architectural functions.
Uses for tile today are widespread. In the modern
home you will find tile floors and walls in the bath
room and powder room; tile walls and counter tops in
the kitchen; tile facings around fireplaces; tile-topped
tables, tiled porch, terrace and vestibule floors; and tile
roofs. Houses of Spanish or Mediterranean-type archi
tecture use tiles throughout the house.
Hie Studio Potter can eventually expand into as
many of the "tile fields" as he finds a market for, but il
would be a good idea to start with individual tiles
"Tea tiles" for hot plates are very popular, and so are
purely decorative tiles. Some people collect tiles, too
decorative tUes 93
Individual tiles can also serve as the nucleus for many
interesting and saleable items which we shall describe
in detail.
You can do a retail business in tiles alone, starting
with word-of-mouth recommendation. Tiles are also
particularly suitable to a mail order business because of
the ease of packaging. You can also seR them at whole
sale to gift shops, souvenir, houseware and hardware
shops, and department and chain stores.
HAND-CRAFTED VS. COMMERCIAL TILE
If your studio is small, tiles will not crowd your facili
ties, and they can be stacked closely together in your
kiln to make an advantageous pay load. The making of
tiles is not difficult, and it is cheaper than buying com
mercial tile. You will have to experiment to find the
right proportion of grog to make your clay porous and
warp-proof. Make simple wooden frames in any size and
shape you desire, and then press the clay into the forms,
drawing a scraper across the top to level off the clay.
Your product will be thicker than commercial tiles, but
it will have the added grace of that "handmade look."
You can buy commercial tiles which are more expen
sive but have certain advantages. They are made in tile-
stamping machines, which compress the clay under hy
draulic pressure and make a very uniform and perfectly
flat product, with a fine smooth surface. There are
square, rectangular, oval, round and hexagonal tiles,
etc., and you can even buy small heart-shaped tiles.
They are also available with raised borders, beaded
making pottery for profit 94
edges, etc. You can buy them through your regular ce
ramic supplier, or you may be able to get them directly
from a tile factory, if one is accessible to you.
DECORATING
You can buy commercial tiles either in the biscuit or
glazed, depending on whether you wish to decorate un-
derglaze or overglaze. If you make your own tiles, in
addition to these two methods you can use any type of
ceramic decoration whicb can be applied to clay. These
include sgraffito work, incising, carving, slip or engobe
decoration, stanniferous painting, silk screening and de-
calcomania. You can also cut a design completely
through the tile.
Decorations may be floral, landscapes, seascapes,
Pennsylvania Dutch, baroque, surrealistic, etc. Com
memorative tiles made to order are big sellers. They are
fine as gifts for newborn babies, complete with stork
and vital statistics; for bridal showers; and anniversaries
of aH occasions, such as weddings and graduations. Try
to develop a distinctive form of script or lettering, and
numerals with strength and character. You can person
alize tiles made to order with names, monograms,
sketches of children and dogs, or special mottoes.
Rectangular tiles would make fine name and address
plates for lawns or front doors. You might even start a
new fad by advertising something along this order:
"Don t write, don t wire, send your message on a tilell!"
decorative tiles ^5
MOUNTI NG TILES
Tiles intended for table use should have backings or
"feet" of felt or cork. If you add a gummed hanger on
the back you can make them double as wall plaques. If
you craft your own tiles, you can fashion hanging de
vices, such as holes through the tile, or loops of clay,
and perhaps sell them complete with satin or velvet rib
bon hangers. Informal wall plaques can be enhanced
with a shirred or pleated ruching of velvet or chintz
glued to the underside of the rim. You can also frame
your art tiles in wooden shadow boxes, or mount them
in metal or wood to serve as candy dishes or ash trays.
Use matching tiles to fashion lids for cigarette and
candy boxes, for attractive gift sets.
MULTIPLE Tl LES
If you take a few tiles and incorporate them into
larger designs, you will be able to diversify your hue of
merchandise. Mount two or three tiles in a frame with
wood backing and you have a charming serving tray.
Add a few more and enlarge the design and you have a
very practical table top. The table itself can be made of
wood blond, limed or traditional; or, for porch and out
door use, it can be of wrought iron, which combines
beautifully with tile. If you can draw well, you may be
able to obtain cxjmmissions to execute a series of tiles
or a mosaic forming a composite picture. Your client
should either supply you with a picture to be copied,
and perhaps a certain amount of legend, or you might
prefer to make the original sketches yourself. The
making pottery for profit 96
client s house and grounds might make a charming
sketch for a table. You can achieve a handsome game-
room or library table by using small tiles to form a
checkerboard center. Give it a useful new twist by set
ting ceramic coasters into the four corners!
ARCHITECTURAL TILES
As we have already shown, they cover a wide range.
There is no point in trying to compete with the inex
pensive, mass-produced tiles of ordinary usage, but
there are many projects which you can create for your
self with a little initiative and enterprise. Visit builders,
architects and contractors, outline your ideas to them,
and see if you can sell them on the idea of including
special decorative tiles in their plans.
FIREPLACE FACINGS
Here is an angle which should be especially suitable
for you to develop in your studio work. It is a use of ar
chitectural tile, moreover, which is not limited to new
buildings, for it can be used to alter existing fireplaces
as well Too often a fireplace is constructed to fit the
bricks, rather than the bricks being made to conform
to a harmoniously shaped fireplace and mantel This is
where you can sell yourself and your product. You can
sketch specific designs for either the builder of a new
house, or the owner of an old one. Add a few ideas for
a well-designed fireplace made of integrated tiles and
including perhaps a monogram or coat of arms or a
motif in harmony with the decor of the home.
decorative tiles 97
Put a great deal of effort into your first job. If a job
isn t directly forthcoming, you might do what an enter
prising young potter of our acquaintance did. He tore
out his own fireplace, and completely redesigned it! The
matt-glazed tiles were decorated with a handsome,
stylized scroll pattern sculptured in relief. Many tiles
were integrated to form the complete pattern. Hie new
mantel, which was also made of tile, was wide and low,
and made a wonderful setting for his original statuettes
and figurines. The job was strikingly successful, and he
hired a good commercial photographer to take pictures
of it for advertising purposes. Shown or mailed ( along
with advertising matter) to prospective clients, the pic
tures brought him three commissions, and from there on
he never lacked customers.
Among your prospects for fireplace facings you can
number not only architects, builders and contractors,
but home owners and interior decorators. If you can get
even one top-notch decorator to give you a commission
for tiles for a fireplace, new orders will surely follow,
for nowhere do Americans try so hard to keep up with
the Joneses as in the appointments of their homes!
MORE IDEAS TO WORK ON: r *
1. Gay kitchen counter tops, *^
2. Window sills of permanent tiles, which never need
painting!
3. Vestibule floors plan for a recess for the setting in
of a doormat as a luxury feature.
making pottery for profit 91
4. Ceramic plates to replace metal plates for electric
wall switches and baseboard outlets.
5. Decorated tiles to be interspersed among commer
cial tiles in floors and walls.
6. Mosaic pattern motifs for entrance hall floors, ter
races, porches, sunrooms.
7. Built-in planters in modern homes (usally under
hanks of windows or mirrored walls; or in entrance
halls).
8. Fancy tiles to be embedded in walls, fences, etc.,
of cement or stucco; or in brick or stone chimneys.
9. Tile facings ( and possibly linings ) of wading pools
and fishponds. You might also contact builders of
swimming pools and try to arrange for commis
sions for decorative tiles or made-to-order motifs
to use as trimming.
lamps
LAMPS MAKE FINE SHOW PIECES
Ceramic lamps are showy items which will
serve nicely to balance your line of pottery. They make
wonderful display pieces, and enhance the whole ap
pearance of your studio. Even if you do not intend to
specialize in lampmaldng, you will prohahly want to
make lamps occasionally. Sometimes a particular vase or
figurine youVe created presents itself as an attractive
lamp base. Perhaps a customer, knowing that you exe
cute commissions in ceramic ware will order a custom-
made lamp. Or maybe you will want to make lamps to
light up and decorate your studio or show room.
To get the best effect from your lamps, keep as many
of them lighted up as possible. Or at least keep them
plugged in and fitted with bulbs, ready to be lighted up
( preferably by means of a master switch ) when custom
ers come. If you have more lamps on hand than you can
light up simultaneously, fold the cords neatly and hold
them in place with,a rubber band.
99
making pottery for profit 1 00
STYLES IN LAMPS
Styles in lamps tend to change with the times, and this
is particularly noticeable in the modern. However, even
classic and period types are subject somewhat to the
dictates of fashion, such as the current trend toward
extremely tall table lamps.
The market is fairly good in the moderate and low
price range for "gadgety" lamps, but not many people
are willing to pay big prices for lamps of "high" style
and doubtful permanence in the decorative scheme.
However, if you can hit on a "hot" item, produce it in
quantity and market it at the psychological moment,
you will do very well financially. You will not mind
throwing the molds away once the fad has passed and
you have gotten your share.
DUAL-PURPOSE LAM PS
Some fads become permanent items, even though they
start out as novelties. Take for instance the combination
lamp and planter. The effect is artistic and the idea a
valid one since the lamplight fosters growth of plants
which might otherwise not thrive in a dark room.
Another dual-purpose lamp is one whose base consists
of a large modern free form bowL The brass tube sup
porting the light is gracefully bent, and the bowl itself
can be used for fruit, candy, as an ash tray, or for the
oddments which often clutter a desk top.
Here are a few more suggestions for dual-purpose
lamp bases:
lamps 101
1. Book ends
2. Tobacco humidor and/or pipe rack
3. Covered bon-bon dish
4. Receptacle for tissue hankies for a dressing table
or bedside lamp
5. Cigarette holders
6. Cut-flower holders
DESIGNING A LAMP
In designing a lamp you must bear in mind the pur
pose for which it will be used. Lamps are standard furni
ture in every home, and can be divided into separate
categories. There are table lamps, desk lamps, pin-up
wall lamps, nursery and juvenile lamps, night lights,
boudoir lamps, standing lamps with ceramic parts, and
the latest thing is a television lamp. The last-named is a
lamp which casts a diffused light, just enough to illumi
nate the room without interfering with the image on the
screen. A cut-out lamp base with a bulb placed inside
will make a fine television lamp with or without the
conventional bulb and shade above.
Before you design the ceramic lamp base you must
visualize or make a sketch of what the lamp will look
like when complete. The usual lamp consists of a finial
(optional), lamp shade, electric light assembly and its
support, the actual lamp base or body, and the platform
on "which it rests (also optional). To have a well-
designed lamp, you must see that the component parts,
and especially the base and shade, are wefl-propor-
tioneoL They must also conform to each other pleasantly
making pottery jor profit 1 02
in shape and style. If you are planning a lamp which is
to have a certain specific over-all height, it is obligatory
to design the entire lamp carefully in advance, to deter
mine the exact proportion and actual size of the base.
However, it is possible to start with a lamp base and
then design a shade to go with it. This is true in the case
of any lamp which is "converted" from a vase, statue or
figurine, pitcher, bowl, etc. We know an amusing case
of a young woman whose ""conversion" went a step fur
ther. She threw a very pretty bowl on the potter s wheel,
but the bottom was so thin that after she had turned the
foot it cracked in drying. She was too enamored of her
handiwork to throw it way, so she set it aside and alter
nately admired it and tried to think up a use for it.
Months later, in lifting another bowl into the kiln, she
accidentally poked her finger through its bottom.
Instantly she thought of the first bowl, and found it
gathering dust in back of a shelf. She contemplated both
bowls for a minute, then suddenly inverted one bowl
and stood it on the other and lo! she had the shape of a
lamp base! The hole in the upper bowl was rounded and
smoothed for the hollow tubing to fit through. The bot
tom of the lower bowl was cut out till only the foot
remained, and a round hole bored through one side, just
above the bottom, for the electric cord. She fired the
bowls separately, but in the glost fire she placed them in
position, one atop the other, and the glaze fused them
together.
The apertures for electrical fittings are necessary in
every lamp base. The fittings should be as inconspicuous
as possible, with the bulbs concealed behind the shade.
lamps 103
In the case of vase bases, there is no problem about tie
hollow metal tube which supports the light assembly,
but where figurines, sculpture, free forms, etc., are con
cerned, the tubing will often be visible. This can be
worked out harmoniously so that there will be no neces
sity for the tubing to rise from an inappropriate spot,
such as the bald pate of a ceramic Buddha.
MAKING THE CERAMIC LAMP BASE
You can make ceramic lamps in any and every method
by which clay can be worked. Slab-built ware is one
possibility, and hand-thrown pots are ideal for lamps.
Casting is the usual commercial process, and one you
can use most profitably in your own studio. You may
produce lamps from your own original models and
molds. You can also buy commercial molds in standard
shapes such as cylindrical, classic vases, modern "pil
low" shapes, and even figurines and decorate them in
your own fashion. You can use any of the ceramic paint
ing or carving processes, attach flowers to the green
castings with slip, applique forms or designs cut out of
rolled clay, or made in sprig molds, add appendages, or
cut out designs.
LAMP SHADES
The majority of lamps today are sold complete, which
means with shade. This is a good thing, because the
right shade can do much for your lamp. Even the sim
plest cylindrical base, whose design or motif is repeated
making pottery for profit 1 04
on the shade, takes on character and importance. A
shade should be part of the integrated design of the
lamp, and not a standard, uninspired affair. If you
supply your own shades, you can control this important
matter.
You will want to handle shades in the way that is
most convenient and profitable for you. You can buy
your shades ready-made, and if you use a large enough
volume you can purchase them at wholesale direct from
the manufacturer. This will be satisfactory in the case of
shades of simple, standard shapes, especially those made
of parchment or some composition which you can hand-
paint or stencil or otherwise decorate to match the lamp
base. In most cases, where your plans call for an unusual
shade especially designed to go with the base, it will not
be possible to get what you desire ready-made.
If you can make shades yourself you will be certain
to get just what you want, and your finished product will
be less commercial and therefore command a higher
price. There are many ways of making lamp shades, and
you can obtain books on the subject at your library.
While you re there, go to "The Reader s Guide to Period
ical Literature" and look up "Lamp Shades," for there
have been many instructive articles in the magazines,
over the years, on home methods of production.
You will have to make sure that you realize sufficient
profit on the shades to make it worth your while to pro
duce them yourself. Figure your labor and overhead at
the same rate as for your pottery, and if the total
(including materials) comes to more thpn the price of
having the shades made up to your order, it would be
lamps 105
foolish to spend your time profitlessly. In that case, the
best thing to do is to make arrangements with someone
who can execute orders to your satisfaction.
Perhaps you will be able to interest a member of your
farnily in taking up that end of the business. In fact, the
making of lamps lends itself nicely to a family or group
project, with a third person taking over the electrical
end of it, and a fourth to make platform bases of wood
or metal for those lamps which require them.
WIRING
Unless you are producing lamp bases in quantity to
sell to a lamp manufacturer, you will have to electrify
the bases yourself. It is really quite a simple matter, once
you know how. The materials are inexpensive and the
equipment negligible the contents of an ordinary tool
box will do. If you do a volume business, it will be ad
vantageous to stock the electrical parts, which you can
then buy at wholesale. Otherwise, you ll buy them as
you need them.
( Look at a lamp as you read the following: ) You need
hollow brass tubing with threaded ends to carry the
electric cord through the lamp and support the assem
bly. At the lower end, the tube is attached inside the
lamp base, or possibly under it, by means of a metal
plate and bolt. At the top end you attach a brass bush,
ing, and the assembly screws onto it This may consist
of a light socket, with the shade attached by clamps to
the electric bulb, a method suitable only for an inexpen
sive lamp. A better way is to use a brass "harp," to
making pottery for profit 1 06
which the shade is fastened by means of a finial made
of metal, wood or pottery. Or you can buy an indirect
lighting fixture, upon which the specially-made shade
will rest For a large lamp you will probably want an
assembly consisting of two or more light sockets sup
ported on hollow tubing, the lower end of which is
attached to the bushing.
Be sure to use underwriter-approved electric cord,
which can now be bought encased in colored plastic or
rubber.
PRICING
To price your lamps you will have to total the cost of
all materials, including ceramic materials and firing,
electrical supplies, the cost of the lamp shade or mate
rials used in making it, and the cost of the base and
pedestal You will also have to keep track of the exact
time you spend in each of the separate operations and
assembling them into the finished lamp, in order to find
the labor cost. If you have to pack and ship, add the cost
of cartons and tissue or wrapping materials, plus the
labor cost. Add overhead percentage to the total.
The price wifl be fairly high, especially in comparison
with mass-made products. Ceramic lamps available in
the stores are reasonable and often very good looking,
but they can t really be compared to a hand-crafted
product Neither can the prices. Point this out when
you sell.
Did you know that a ceramic artist who has earned a
good reputation often gets about $100 for a lamp and
lamps 1 07
shade? Rita Sargen of Chicago gets from $75 to $125 for
hers. Her interest in ceramics started in New York City
when as a child she attended a park course one summer.
Years later she attended the New York State College of
o
Ceramics at Alfred, N. Y., and then obtained prac
tical experience working in pottery studios. Then she
set up her own studio in Chicago. Her lamps are
large and come in about a dozen basic shapes which
she varies with decorations and different glaze effects.
She makes her lamps by pressing a fairly thick wall of
grogged clay into her molds. The shades are made
by a lamp studio.
Rita sells largely through decorators, and also to a
few specialty shops. Her method of selling is ingenious
in that she sells by means of a kit containing miniature
cky replicas of her lamp bases, swatches of material
supplied by the shade studio, and photographs of com
pleted models.
MARKETING LAMPS
You can sell lamps directly to your retail customers,
either from stock on hand or made to order. Personaliza
tion will be an especially good selling point for nursery
and juvenile lamps, and commissioned lamps can be
made to suit your customers* personal tastes and ideas.
If you are good at interior decorating, you can make
suggestions and perhaps sketch your ideas for your
client s consideration.
To sell your lamps at wholesale, visit gift, home fur
nishing and department stores. The smaller shops may
making pottery for profit 1 08
be willing to try your lamps only on a consignment basis
be glad of the opportunity.
The best possible outlet for fine high-priced lamps is
through a custom decorator. When you sincerely believe
that your merchandise has the quality and artistry to
satisfy the "carriage trade" try to arrange to sell
your lamps ready-made or made-to-order exclusively
through one good decorator. If you can make the right
connection, your success should be assured. You may
even be able to work with several decorators in different
localities, providing their spheres of operation do not
overlap.
For additional suggestions, see the chapter on mar
keting.
garden and
floral pottery
BAS 1C BOWLS
The strictly elemental potter who confines him
self to utilitarian vessels, preferably thrown and turned
on the wheel, will always find a steady market for his
ware. Wheel-thrown or mold-cast, basic pottery serves
many purposes, from the lowly kitchen mixing bowl to
the fine porcelain bowl which serves as the centerpiece
at a formal banquet
An important basic pottery classification lying be
tween these two extremes includes planters and flower
containers. These may be shallow dishes, deep bowls,
or tall vases. However, "pots" are not the only pieces of
pottery in this large and commercially lucrative field
Anything which can hold water or earth will serve the
purpose, with traditional shapes and novelty items run
ning nedk-and-nedk in the public s favor.
making pottery for profit 170
GARDEN CLUBS
There is some fluctuation in the popularity of certain
styles, which are usually set by Garden Clubs through
out the country. Even if you are not a member of a
garden club, you can gain a lot through working with
the club or clubs in your vicinity. They will be glad to
keep you abreast of their fads and whims, and many of
them buy pottery to sell at their flower shows! If you
make what they want, they will probably be delighted
to boost local talent and industry and buy your wares!
Florists offer another good market. Most of them to
day carry vases, flower containers and planters in stock,
to sell empty or filled with flower arrangements or
plants. Choose the most prominent florist in your locality
and consult him about his needs. You can show him
samples of your ware and solicit his business on your
merchandise, or on ware to be suggested by him.
One of the keynotes in selling pottery is that of utility.
The more possible uses a piece suggests, the wider will
be its sales appeal A piece with multiple utility appeals
especially to women, who buy 90% or more of all the
pottery sold. In planning and designing flower and plant
containers, think of them also as fruit or salad bowls,
nut and candy dishes, pretzel bowls, etc. Your results
should be pieces with great flexibility of purpose.
OUTDOOR POTTERY
Garden pottery is a field which is coming more and
more into its own. The trend to outdoor living is being
realistically interpreted in the new homes of today and
garden and floral pottery 111
plans for those of tomorrow. The modern house brings
the out-of-doors indoors with its great windows and
walls of glass. Those homes which are truly well planned
include landscaping right in the architect s blueprints.
The house is orientated in relation to the plot, and the
vista from the "picture window" is planned in advance.
The use of pottery bird baths, sun dials, urns, large
vases, Ah Baba jars, etc., help a small garden to achieve
a spacious appearance, and add color to its winter as
pect. Contact the foremost architect specializing in
modern and solar houses to obtain this type of business.
Landscape gardeners, too, may buy your ware or give
you commissions.
GARDEN STATUARY
Garden statuary offers a challenge in the field of mul
tiple utility. If, besides being decorative and charming,
your ceramic sculptures can double as fountains, plant
ers, or bird-feeding stations, they will sell more readily.
Elves and pixies are favorite subjects for garden statues,
and so are water babies, mermaids and small animals.
You can make them in sets, such as a mother duck fol
lowed by two or three ducklings, or a trio of frisking
squirrels. Animal statues combine well with birdbaths
a fat frog or a rosy robin would look fine sitting on the
rim.
ARCHITECTURAL POTTERY
This field is new and growing, although it is already
well established in Florida and California, where the
making pottery for profit 112
unrestrained use of color and the imaginative use of pot
tery, indoors and out, combine to relieve houses and
gardens of jaded appearance and drabness. The more
ideas you can think up, the more selling points you will
have for your vases, pots, planters and garden statuary.
For instance, outdoor window boxes can be replaced by
a series of pots in identical or contrasting colors. Tall
urns, with earth and plants to make them extra heavy,
would make an interesting porch or terrace railing. Or
imagine a ceramic statue of a little boy, Pan, or a satyr,
whose extended hand charmingly assists one over a step
in a garden walk!
Open-work architectural grilles for use between
rooms and for outside windows are a fine, possibility to
explore. Two ceramists at Scripps College in Claremont,
Calif, have designed many such grilles for outdoor use.
Executed in unglazed terra cotta or other warm-toned
clays, grilles can be very handsome additions to a house.
Ceramic grilles for garden walls can be scaled to a
cottage or an estate, and they can be used successfully
in stair balustrades, both indoors and out.
10.
101 money-making
ideas for novelties
The potter s opportunity to remain in business
rests on his ability to create art products and novelties
cleverly and carefully. A couple of successful potters of
San Antonio, Texas, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hagy, turn out
around 1000 pieces weekly, in a huge variety of ware.
They believe that the potter must keep a couple of
jumps ahead of large-scale competition. They maintain
a constant supply of new ideas in their files, and use
them to replace any of their numbers which they find
are subject to too much commercial competition.
Some of the items in this chapter are already on the
market but can be readapted; some are suggestions for
brand-new items; still others are so old they are new
again. As you read through the list, other ideas and
variations will occur to you, too.
113
making pottery for pr oftt
i. Tried and true but ever popular are plates and
plaques which commemorate weddings, birthdates, an
niversaries, etc. Give them a personal touch and you
have sure sellers.
z. Salt and pepper sets are big business! More than
one large factory produces nothing else. They come in
all shapes from aardvarks to zwiebach. Thousands of
people avidly collect them, and are always looking for
something new. Why not try personalizing them?
3. A convenient gadget is the ceramic serving spoon
rest for table use or for use on the kitchen stove or
counter. Design it in an attractive flower shape flat and
about three inches in diameter, large enough to hold
one or two spoons.
4. A companion piece is the carving knife rest, to be
placed beside the platter on the dining table.
5. Talking of platters, can you make one that will
hold the roast or bird in place while it is being carved?
We suggest a contour form with a corrugated bottom
and a gravy well
6. Design trays to hold crackers on edge. Make them
in several sizes to fit the popular shapes of crackers.
7. Celery boats float profitably from your studio to
the consumer. Don t forget olives and pickles, too. You
might match them up.
8. New and popular are pottery warming stoves for
keeping your coffee hot at the table. The fuel is a candle
burning within a ceramic box-Eke housing. Your inge
nuity will suggest a host of shapes.
9. A ceramic bottle or carafe is a fine and novel idea
ioi money-making ideas for novelties 115
for either hot or cold drinks. Make a ceramic stopper
that fits tight.
10. Pitchers which keep drinks cool without diluting
them are a natural for ceramics. There is one on the
market in the shape of a kangaroo with a pocket in it
for ice cubes. Many shapes can be adapted to serve the
same purpose.
11. People never have enough different sizes and
shapes of pitchers. Some folks collect them and others
just use them. If you want to get rich quick, make one
guaranteed not to drip or dribble!
12. More ashtrays are broken per year than a dozen
factories could possibly turn out. What could be sweeter
for the potter? How about guaranteeing that yours will
let the cigarette burn properly without it s being able to
fall out and mar the furniture?
13. Ash trays in the form of state maps are popular.
The same thing could be done with caricatures and pro
files of people preferably bosses!
14. Great, huge, out-size, bulky ash trays. Geometric
shapes or free form they re all good.
15. Jam pots and mustard pots should be bright and
cheerful Make a small ceramic spoon to go with each
pot, and a recess in the lid to accommodate the spoon.
16. Flower frogs are used in almost every home.
Shape and utility are important Very few on the market
are decorative within themselves.
17. How about designing ceramic rings to hide the
metal pin-holders used for flower-arranging? They
should appeal to the garden club crowd.
18. Candle holders didn t go out when electricity
making pottery -for profit 1 1 6
came in, yet good ones are scarce today. Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick, Jack design that candlestick!
19. Pottery is a natural for bookends when castings
are "weighted. Monograms make a decorative motif with
high-power sales appeal.
20. Ceramic egg-cups can be streamlined or whimsi
cal in shape, or personalized to order with the name of
your client s chick or child!
21. Dessert molds in fantastic shapes are always good
sellers. Beside fish and fruit, hearts and flowers, you
might also try the birds and bees.
22. Take a hint from the bankers and get rich by tak
ing care of other people s money for them. The well
worn (but still popular!) piggy bank can be changed
into many other forms. How about vacation banks?
Golf bags for golfers, creels for fishermen, boats for
yachtsmen and pheasants for hunters?
23. Grandmother had a china clock with gingerbread
decorations. Young moderns would love china clocks
styled to fit today s decor.
24. Ceramic mail boxes can be made with your
client s name and street address worked into the deco
ration. They can also be made for indoor use, to place
on the hall table or hang from the wall. The names of
members of a small family could be placed above sepa
rate compartments.
25. Your best bet in birdhouses is a ceramic one with
wooden bottom. Architecture can range from the Hansel
and Gretel type right down to the ultra-modern.
26. Believe it or not, the land of pot recommended
by some experts for a house plant is a glazed one with
joi money-making ideas for novelties
117
no hole in the bottom. Those red bisque ones are for
greenhouse troughs. Florists are always looking for new
ideas to display their flowers. Consult them.
2.7. Mothers and small fry alike will love imagina
tively designed toothbrush holders. Junior s personal
tumbler and soap dish can make a set.
A
I
u
u
1 J
(I<EFT) Andirons with ceramic facings on wrought iron. (CEN
TER) A wine or punch set with marine motif. (BIGHT) Earthen
ware cofee pot and lid with removable aluminum drip basket.
Lid fits the pot, too.
28. Also for the bathroom are sets of jars and bottles
for shampoo, alcohol, ointments, powder, etc.
29. Ceramic door knobs are popular again. How
about labeling them to order; or use general titles such
as "The Den," "Milady s Chamber," etc. Don t forget
the possibility of ceramic keyhole outlines, too.
30. Old tune bureaus used to have pottery drawer
pulls, most of them plain white. They re back again.
Try making some in colors or in fancy designs and con
tact furniture manufacturers.
31. Coaster sets are especially good gift items. Per
sonalize them or give them humorous cartoons, witty
making pottery for profit 118
sayings or just make them decorative. A combination
coaster and ash tray is good as a card game accessory.
32. Going in circles? Give this a twirl: Small serving
dishes which nest together in geometric patterns and
rest on a Lazy Susan.
33. A more ambitious Lazy Susan consists of a cock
tail table with rotating top complete with covered
ceramic casserole dishes in the center and open dishes
fitting around them. This sells for well over $100 in the
stores.
34. Pottery andirons can be attractive when backed
by brass or iron. Locate a wrought iron specialist and
work it out with him. A real decorator s item.
35. Ceramic signs of all kinds can be marketed profit
ably. Merchants like interchangeable letters in bright
colors which can be attached to a backing board.
36. Lawn signs made to order with name and street
number and perhaps an appropriate decoration will be
sure to attract home owners.
37. Personalized cereal bowls and milk mugs for chil
dren are always popular. So are partitioned hot plates
for infants, with a hot-water compartment.
38. Have you ever been caught with a sandwich in
one hand, a plate in the other and a cup of coffee bal
anced on your knee? Clever hostesses will be glad to
solve this problem by buying your individual snack
plates. Design a dessert-size plate in a pleasing shape
and add a cup which fits into a groove near one edge.
39. Pottery fruit is pretty, popular, doesn t spoil or
mildew, and brings good prices!
40. Something really special is a ceramic chess set. Do
ioi money-making ideas for novelties 119
a bang-up job on designing the chessmen, and you ll
have an item which will bring an extremely fancy price.
41. Pottery picture frames are an attractive novelty.
They can be made to order, personalized, or made in
standard photo sizes.
42. Countless smoking accessories can be executed
in ceramics:
Ash trays (including specials for pipes or cigars)
Pipe racks
Lighters (housing only, of course)
Humidors for tobacco
Cigar boxes
43. Beer mugs really keep the beer cold when made
of pottery. Match them up, or mix the colors for easy
identification purposes. Joyce Blauer and Philip Graves
found themselves in full-scale production when their
personalized beer steins made a hit with fellow-students
at Denver University. The mugs are decorated with
statistics such as the owner s name; fraternity or sorority
letters and crest; and dates of pledging and initiation.
44. Jumbo-size coffee cups and saucers are especially
good as Mother s and Father s Day items. They can
easily be personalized.
45. It s been a long time since we ve seen a really fine
pottery punch bowl together with ladle and matching
cups. Dessert plates can be added.
46. Pottery salad bowls add grace to informal dining.
Make a spoon and fork set to match they can also be
sold separately.
making pottery for profit 1 20
47. Ceramic napkin rings can be decorated or person
alized. Just be sure not to make them round, or they ll
roll and break too quickly.
48. Ceramic coffee-makers will make just as good
coffee as glass, and a lot more attractively, too.
49. Try your hand at designing ceramic lanterns for
outdoor use. They can be attached to the side of the
house, hang from a tree or a post, and can be made
either for electricity or other means of iUiirnination.
50. How about a ceramic letter for the milkman?
Make a plaque with an unglazed portion on which di
rections can be written in pencil the writing can easily
be erased! Leave a hole at the top for hanging on a nail.
(LEFT) Flower-shaped mixing-spoon rest. (CENTER) Free-form
fsh platter of many uses. (RIGHT) Combination cigarette box.
Lid doubles as an ash tray.
51. A ceramic container for saving rendered fat will
be far more decorative in the kitchen than a tin can, and
it won t get hot and burn your fingers. Add a cover, and
if possible a built-in, removable strainer.
52. A set of colorful ceramic spice jars with a rack is
another fine kitchen item.
ioi money-making ideas for novelties 1 21
53. Nests of miring bowls which are decorative
enough to use at the table are rare and special. Give
yours a new twist, say another shape than round, and
you ll really have a saleable item.
54. Refrigerator dishes with covers can be made in
many shapes. Here, too, is an opportunity to design
something attractive enough to bring right to the table
or picnic.
55. Here s another brand-new idea. Ceramic handles
on barbecue skewers!
56. Ceramic containers and gadgets designed for
milady s dressing table offer many possibilities. Make
them as separate items or in sets:
Trays for bobby pins
Powder boxes
Perfume bottles
Lipstick banks
Earring racks
Containers for nail polish
Rouge boxes
Brush and comb caddies
Ring boxes
Cream jars, etc.
57. How corny can you get? Make special dishes to
hold corn-on-the-cob together with pottery handles to
stick into the cobs.
58. Platters made in fish shapes are in the swim again,
59. There are collectors for nearly everything that can
be made in miniature size, such as pin cushions (glue
making pottery for profit 1 22
cushion into a hollow casting), pottery shoes, tiny cups
and saucers, etc.
60. You can get graining stains which make pottery
resemble wood. Try it for logs for artificial fireplaces or
humidors.
(LEFT) Pineapple jam pot. Stem on lid forms recess for spoon
handle. (CENTER) Individual snack-and-cofee server. (RIGHT)
Christmas angel candlestick.
61. You can make medallions and contact manufac
turers of compacts who will order them in thousand
lots. Or buy the cases, mount the medallions and market
the compacts yourself!
62. Personalized feeding dishes for pets appeal
mightily to their masters.
63. Pet owners will also love portraits of their pets on
tiles, or sculpture portraits. Contact dog shows, pet
clubs, etc. to obtain commissions.
64. More novel kitchen items which call for bright
colors and decorations:
A shaker for cleansing powder
A rack or dish that drains well for hand soap
ioi money-making ideas for novelties 123
A canister for soap chips
A dish for scouring pads
65. Grandpa and Grandma wiH welcome personal
tooth garages. Silly shapes and witty sayings go well on
these. A popular mail order item.
66. The family first-aid kit is often a sad-looking
affair. Why not design an adequate box which is hand
some enough to be left out in a handy spot?
67. Comic characters catch customers. You can in
vent your own and put them on almost anything, or
sculpture them. If you want to reproduce the popular
ones of the day and avoid lawsuits, contact the syndi
cate or artist and make a royalty arrangement.
68. Build a line of Canasta accessories. Provide trays
for cards, ash trays, coasters, cookie plates, etc., afl tuned
to the game.
69. Make oven-proof ramekins in the shapes of the
various foods they are used for oysters, scallops,
shrimps, etc.
70. Doll heads, arms and legs are a business in them
selves. Character dolls are good, but don t forget that
little girls like pretty ones too. Contact doll firms and
doll hospitals.
71. Console sets for buffets consisting of candle sticks
and fruit bowls are always good. Give them new lines
or designs and you will sell them.
-pL. Make large ceramic hooks (with screw holes for
attaining) to hang pot holders, aprons or clothes.
73. Sirmmertime drinks keep cooler longer in pottery
tumblers. Make them np in sets of six or eight, and you
making pottery for profit
124
might add a matching tile tray with handy handles.
74. You can make a ceramic silent butler. Attach the
lid with metal rings, and be sure to place a thumb lever
on it near the handle.
75. Advertising novelties are big business. If you can
make things by the tens of thousands look for orders
from large premium users. They will buy ash trays with
ads, and swizzle sticks with blurbs. Put them on with
ceramic decals.
(LEFT) Ceramic bird house with metal hanger. (CENTER) Cov
ered two-piece casserole with dual-purpose lid. (BIGHT) Figurine
chessmenthis is ike knight*
76. Clever depositories for old razor blades, and con
tainers for shaving brushes and razors make wonderful
gift items for the hard-to-please male.
77. Fashion a ceramic watch-dog to guard wrist
watches overnight. These can be placed on the night
table holding the watch in such a way that the face can
be easily seen.
7& Trivets are usually made of brass or iron. Try
ceramic ones for hot plates, or combine tile and metal
ioj money-making ideas for novelties 125
79. Tea pots, conventional or cute. There is a big one
on the market which is mounted on an axis and swings
free for easy pouring. Another one has two spouts, one
for tea, the other for hot water.
So. Desk sets are good items that may not sell in
quantity, but sell exceeding dear. Include the following
in each set, or make several of them up as separate
items:
Penholders
Ink wells
Stamp dispensers
Paper weights
Blotter rockers
Calendar or picture frames
Paper clip boxes
Pencil trays
Blotter corners
81. Authentic miniature reproductions of antique pot
tery are of interest to the collector and make fine gifts.
Browsing around the antique shops will give you many
ideas.
82. Miniature ceramic doll furniture interests collec
tors and children alike. They can be done very effec
tively in ceramics, and potters find them just fine for
the kiddies to play with they can be dropped just once!
83. Christmas decorations are a ceramic natural.
YouH think up loads of ideas, but here are a few to start:
. **agels with candles
Choir boys with candles or books
Nativity scenes
making pottery for profit 1 26
Santa Glaus
Holly-shaped candle holders (or star-shaped)
Christmas-tree candle sticks or place card holders
Plates with Christmas scenes
84. Almost any pottery items decorated in "Ameri
cana" will have wide appeal The American Eagle, Miss
Liberty, Washington and Lincoln are old reliables. Try
also legendary figures like Paul Bunyan, Johnny Apple-
seed, Yankee Doodle, etc.
85. Any artist will tell you that there is nothing better
than a china palette for colors oil, water or tempera.
86. People collect sugar-and-creamers, and use them
thrice daily.
87. How about a ceramic housing for an electric corn-
popper, with matching bowls for the popcorn?
88. Toby mugs are old English favorites which have
caught on here too. We ve seen some of presidents and
generals. Perhaps you can make a tie-in with a local or
national political campaign, or even a movie fan-club.
89. Cigarette boxes could comprise a chapter by
themselves. They can be small or large; for regular or
king size cigarettes; partitioned for several brands;
tailored or dressy; personalized, decorated or plain;
flower-trimmed; conventional in shape or free form. The
smaller boxes are almost always sold in sets with small
matching ash trays. A novel design for a more "impor
tant" cigarette box has a reversible lid, decorated on the
underside as well as the top. When turned bottoms-up
it doubles as an ash tray. It may even have indents to
Iceep cigarettes from rolling off.
joi money-making ideas for novelties 1 27
90. Objects in free form are extremely popular. Any
thing conventional can also be made in free form. If you
have a feeling for line, you can create something new
under the sun.
91. Nursery rhyme characters and Alice in Wonder
land are always good for decorations and sculpture.
They appeal to children and adults as well
(LEFT) Ceramic wrist-watch-^dog keeps time safe overnight.
(CENTER) To keep things hot on table or buffet, a ceramic can
dle-heater. (BIGHT) Toby mug for m$k or mulled tome.
92. Design ceramic wall sconces and sell them in
pairs. They make a fine "tie-in" sale for miniatures or
figurines.
93. A ceramic weathervane will never rust! Contact
architects and builders for orders.
94. For large-scale production, fancy jugs for maple
syrup, jars for marmalade, etc., are items commercial
food packers will be interested in.
95. Some people collect modeled anatomical parts.
Hands and handprints in dish and vase shapes and even
feet appeal to some people. Torsos of the female form
making pottery for profit 1 28
and heads, both exotic and realistic, are highly decora
tive. They lend themselves admirably to bookends, too.
96. Novelty jobbers will welcome improved souvenirs
for the tourist trade. Tiles and ash trays with local
scenes are especially good.
97. Ceramic handles for table flatware are a novelty
item.
98. Don t throw away your glazed pot shards. Break
them up and make mosaic plaques of them. Highly dec
orative and saleable. A large pottery can sell its shards
to firms making roofing material!
99. Clay pipes are dear to the Irish smoke far better
than a corncob pipe! Here is a chance to produce novel
pipes, decorated or personalized.
100. Ceramic ice cube buckets are self-insulating.
Make them with handles of reed, rope or raffia.
101. Finally we recommend good, down to earth,
utilitarian pots. They have been made since the dawn
of civilization, and will never be supplanted by all the
gadgets in the world.
11.
teaching pottery
for profit
PREREQUISITES
Opportunities abound for you, the Studio Pot
ter, to teach pottery, both on your own and in salaried
positions. The logical begmning for one who does not
hold a state teaching license is giving lessons to small
classes in your own home or studio. If you are interested
in the teaching of pottery as a profession, the experience
you gain in private teaching will often serve in lieu of
a university degree in ceramics. The salaried positions
available will be discussed later in the chapter.
Let s say that several friends have become interested
in learning pottery. Hie thought has germinated, "Why
not told pottery classes?" You survey yourself and your
facilities. If you like people, have infinite patience and
a lot of tact, and the ability to demonstrate while ex-
129
making pottery for profit 130
plaining lucidly what you are doing, then you can teach
pottery.
In addition, of course, you must know enough pottery
to stay several jumps ahead of your most advanced stu
dent It won t be necessary to give the impression that
you know it all, since no one knows everything there is
to know about ceramics. If you are ever at a loss to
answer a question, you can admit frankly that you don t
know. Then dig up the answer if possible, and tell your
student the next time you see him.
ARRANGING YOUR STUDIO FACILITIES
As to your studio or workshop, some rearrangement of
your present set-up will naturally be necessary, and you
may need to purchase additional equipment. The first
thing you will need is space, for your equipment, mate
rials and ware, as well as your students. Adequate work
ing surface is essential, allowing at least six to eight
square feet for each student. You can use large sturdy
tables or benches for groups, or small individual tables;
and a chair or stool for each student.
In addition you must have an accessible sink; a wedg
ing board; plenty of shelves and cabinets for glazes and
other materials, and for ware in various stages; a good
damp cupboard for unfinished ware; a bin (preferably
2dnc-lined) for damp clay; a tank or large crocks for
casting slip; several simple molds of popular items such
as bowls, sugar-and-creamers, figurines, etc. (at least
two per pupil); and shelves for their storage. If space
permits, a casting bench for mold work is very useful.
teaching pottery for profit 1 31
Last but most important is the kiln, which must be ade
quate to handle your students* productions. Prompt
firing service is a prime essential, because people always
want to see immediate results.
Try to plan your classroom so that the work-phases
are grouped together. The clay bin and the wedging
table should be near each other. If you have a potter s
wheel it should also be near the "raw clay area," and
your damp cupboard would logically be in this section,
too. Glazes should be readily accessible to the students
either in crocks or bottles, clearly marked by name and
number. Near them display your fired samples of the
glazes, correlated by name and number. You can use
either test chips hung on a board, or small identical
pieces of ware in a simple vase or bowl shape. Identify
them by marking the reverse side in underglaze pencil
Shelves for glazed ware should be placed near the loin
for easy stacking and a minimum of handling.
Your sink should be centrally located, and not so
hemmed in that only one person can use it at a time.
The slip tank should be near the casting bench, if you
have one, and the shelves to hold the molds should be
there, too. However, if space is limited, your students
can carry molds and pitchers of slip to their work spot
and cast there. If you plan to teach the making of orig
inal molds as well, a bench for that purpose will facili
tate matters. Preferably it should have a porcelain
(enamel-on-metal) or marble top for easy cleaning.
making pottery for profit 1 32
PROVIDING TOOLS
There are two ways in which you can arrange for the
small tools which your students will need. If you are
planning very small classes, it is easiest to supply all
of the tools yourself. For larger groups, it will be more
satisfactory to have the students purchase tools. Your
pupils will probably be very grateful if you will as
semble and resell to them kits of the requisite tools. In
clude modeling tools, scraper, knife, brushes, sponge,
sandpaper, scissors, pencil and ruler. The entire kit can
be made up to sell for two or three dollars, and you
should be able to make a small profit by purchasing at
wholesale.
You should provide for the class two or three sets
of heavy duty tools, such as rolling pins and canvas-
covered rolling boards; rubber mallets, decorating
wheels, plaster bats, carpentry tools, etc. Be sure to
have enough tools on hand, because nothing makes a
student more impatient than to have to wait until
someone else has finished using a rolling pin or banding
wheel.
It is important to have a proper place for everything,
and a good idea is to tack signs all over indicating what
belongs where. Racks or classified boxes should be pro
vided for smaller tools. Cigar boxes with labeled ends
serve nicely. Once you have set the stage for neatness
and order, you can insist that all community tools and
equipment be cleaned and returned promptly to place.
With a little encouragement from you, your students
will learn that they, too, will benefit by cooperating.
teaching pottery for profit 133
SIZE OF CLASSES
If you start witibt a small group of four or five people
holding classes once a week, you will soon be able
to decide the physical needs for teaching in your studio.
Once you are properly organized for teaching you can
expand your classes and organize as many sessions a
week as you desire.
One instructor can handle eight people per class ses
sion very nicely. If you have more than ten or twelve,
your class may become unwieldy, and your students dis
satisfied because they don t get enough personal atten
tion and instruction. Sessions should be at least two
hours, and preferably three hours, long. If you have
ten students in a three-hour class, it means that you
can give only 18 minutes of personal instruction to each.
Out of this time you must also attend to many other
details, such as providing tools, checking materials,
righting minor mishaps, collecting firing fees, and
giving short group demonstrations. Therefore, in order
to maintain the personal instruction needed in the
teaching of ceramics, keep your classes smalL Later on,
perhaps, if your groups stay with you until they be
come quite proficient and are fairly independent, you
may be able to handle more students per session if you
have space for them.
GETTING NEW STUDENTS
You wiH probably start with a very small group of
your friends and let your classes grow from there. Inter
est in ceramics as a hobby is growing so rapidly that
making pottery for profit 1 34
it should not be difficult for you to acquire more stu
dents. Word-of-mouth recommendation will spread the
news that you are accepting students, and "See what
I made at Pottery Class" will become a spontaneous
form of advertising as your first students start pro
ducing their ware and showing it off to friends.
You can also draw students from church and fraternal
groups, women s clubs and especially garden clubs.
A good source of advertising here is to offer to give
talks before groups on pottery in general, and create
interest among the members in taking up pottery as
a hobby. Always be sure to provide a resume of your
talk for publication in the newspapers. The groups ap
preciate having their meetings publicized, and the ad
vertising will be invaluable to you as well. A paid
advertisement, classified or otherwise, in your local
paper may also prove worthwhile, especially in the
same issue that carries a news account.
TUITION FEES
Before you launch your course, your schedule of
tuition and fees should be clearly decided upon. Make
sure that it is crystal-clear in each student s mind ex
actly when payments will be due, and what will be
expected of him in the way of paying for the course,
for materials, firing charges, purchases, etc. Keep the
entire schedule of fees and prices posted conspicuously
in the classroom or studio.
One successful pottery school started off in a kitchen
and later expanded into a teaching organization with
teaching pottery for profit 135
many branches throughout the East! Their courses con
sist of six two-hour lessons for $10.00, an hourly rate
of 83$! per student. In addition, charges are made for
all the materials plus the firing charges. They also en
courage students to work at home, and are therefore
able to sell them additional quantities of clay, glazes,
tools, and even kilns.
You will probably set up modest fees for your first
students. By the time your classes and curriculum
are well organized you will be able to command a fee
which is more equitable to you. A fair way to determine
your tuition fee would be on the basis of $1.50 per
student for each three-hour session. If there are ten
students in your class, you will be receiving $5.00 per
hour for your services and facilities!
Classes are usually held once a week, with a term
running from six to ten weeks. There are very definite
advantages in arranging your classes into terms. By
doing so, you can collect your tuition fees in advance,
eliminate or restrict make-up lessons for absentees, and
in general control and simplify your schedule.
Some ceramic studios make their workshop facilities
available to students who wish to work at times when
no formal class is being held. The charge far free
periods, without instruction, is usually 35^ or 40^ per
hour. The hours, of course, are limited to certain speci
fied times.
FIRING AND MATERIALS CHARGES
Charging your students for firing and materials can
be a bit complex. Your firing charges should be the
making pottery for profit 136
standard 1$ per cubic inch for two firings the biscuit
and glost fires. Another way is to provide all of the
clay, glazes and other materials and incorporate their
cost into your firing charges. If you are doing two-fire
work, you can probably make out nicely by charging
2$ or z&$ per cubic inch, with a set minimum charge.
Still another way is to sell the materials to the students.
This involves considerable work on your part, as you
will have to weigh and package your clay and glazes
in convenient lots, but it cuts down on student waste,
and will probably be more profitable.
You can, if you want, charge a flat laboratory fee for
the course, to cover all materials except the firing
charge, but you will be able to use this method only
after you have acquired a good deal of experience.
It involves keeping careful records, as well as the ability
to interpret your figures and averages so as to arrive at
a fair charge for both you and your students.
To estimate the cubage of a piece in order to deter
mine its firing cost, imagine what size rectangular box
it will fit into. Then measure the length, width and
height, and multiply them. For simplification in deter
mining cubage, consider anything under the half -inch
mark as the lesser inch, and anything over the half -inch
mark as the next greater inch. For example, a pitcher
is 5 inches high, 4% inches from the handle to the tip of
the spout, and 2% inches across. This becomes 5"x4"x3",
or a total of 60 cubic inches. The Tnim rmrm firing charge
for very small pieces, such as jewelry or buttons, should
be at least 20^ or 25^. Don t forget, whichever system
teaching pottery for profit 137
of charges you decide upon, to post all price details
prominently on the bulletin board.
SYLLABUS FOR BEGINNER S COURSE
Organization of a syllabus for your course is of great
importance, but it must allow for flexibility. You can
set up certain definite steps and projects for your stu
dents to follow, but when dealing with adult groups,
you cannot afford to be too arbitrary. Then too, some
people will advance more rapidly than others, so that
you cannot set time limits on projects. That is why indi
vidual instruction is so necessary in order to teach
ceramics adequately.
Here is a typical syllabus for a ten-lesson course of
three-hour sessions:
FIRST LESSON: An excellent plan is to devote the
first session to casting in molds. This is something that
anybody can do, and its advantages are many. Your
pupils will be heartened by seeing immediate results,
and at the same time they can become familiar with the
studio, terminology and you. (It is likely that a few
of your students will find casting to their greatest liking,
and will soon retreat to it and be perfectly happy. They
will also build up impressive firing charges.) During
this lesson, explain as much as you can about the qual
ities of clay, and its uses and limitations.
SECOND LESSON: Construction of a box, ash tray or
shallow planter by the skb-buildmg method. This will
include the wedging of clay, rolling it out, making pat
terns, cutting sections, sticking up with slip, and fin-
making pottery for profit 1 38
ishing off. During this session your students can also
finish off their cast pieces so that you can fire them.
THIRD LESSON: The biscuit ware will now be ready
and instructions for glazing are in order. From this
point on you can start gradually to incorporate decora
tion techniques, such as incising, sgraffito work, relief
carving, sprigging, underglaze decoration, engobe paint
ing, stanniferrous work, overglaze painting, etc.
FOURTH LESSON: Hand-building a bowl or vase by
the coil method. Here you can teach the making of
negative templates; the wedging of coils; the use of a
turntable for truing up the work; the importance of
accuracy and craftsman-like finish to work; and an ex
planation of the therapeutic values of this method. Don t
forget whenever possible to tell of the background of
the method and its historical significance: for example,
coil-building brings to mind Indian pottery.
FIFTH LESSON: Start the lesson by demonstrating how
to build with strips instead of coils. Here you can also
teach how to apply appendages. Pitchers and sugar
bowls with handles are good objects for this lesson.
Strip building will be of more interest to the average
student than coils because it proceeds faster.
SIXTH LESSON: The making of tiles and the decora
tion of commercial biscuit tiles. Let your students
choose and execute one or more of the decorating tech
niques. Do not try to teach all of the decoration methods
in any one lesson, but describe each as the particular
project calls for it
SEVENTH LESSON: The making of free forms. Here,
wide variety and interesting results can be obtained.
teaching pottery for profit 139
By this stage of the course your students will have
acquired enough confidence in themselves, and feeling
for clay, to proceed with dexterity.
EIGHTH LESSON: Flowers and jewelry-making. Those
who show a liking for dainty things will no doubt
excel in this phase. Have on hand pin and earring back
ings for your students to purchase. Flowers can be
incorporated with other projects as well, such as deco
rating boxes, ash trays, etc.
NINTH LESSON: The making of a model for a mold.
This should be a very simple shape for a one- or two-
piece mold, and the problems of undercuts, dividing
lines, waste rims, etc., should be thoroughly explained.
TENTH LESSON: Making the mold from the model.
Here the student can learn how to "miy plaster and cast
it successfully, and he will enjoy the prospect of repro
ducing things from his own mold.
SIGN THEM UP AGAINI
Your first course is over, and at this point some of
your students may still be back on lessons one and two.
The surface hasn t even been scratched yet! It s time to
sign them up for another hitch of ten! You will find,
however, that nearly every one of your students will
have found a method which suits htm best, and will
want to work with this until he achieves a good measure
of perfectioiL You should make it a point to require
everyone s attention to your class demonstratkH3s of
each method that you have to present, but you need
not insist that everyone complete each project. Some
making pottery for profit HO
might not be interested in flower making, but do well
in free form. However, they should at least attend the
flower making demonstration.
It is a good idea to announce at the close of each
lesson what the following lesson will comprise. In this
way your students can decide during the week what
they would like to make, and can even prepare patterns
or templates at home.
Your pupils can sign up for as many "intermediate"
courses as they desire, during which they will continue
to grow more proficient, and will produce many things
which they want for themselves and as gifts.
When they are ready to learn additional ceramic
sHlls, you might form an advanced course. Your stu
dents will enjoy being considered advanced, and your
task will be lighter as well, because they will proceed
with greater assurance and knowledge.
ADVANCED LESSONS
Here are some suggestions for the curriculum of
the advanced course:
1. The kiln: stacking and firing techniques.
2.. The potter s wheel: throwing on the wheel, the
acme of the porter s art. Some pupils will take to the
wheel and show a real flair for it. These students will
probably continue to be your students for a long time
to come or at least till they buy their own wheel.
(When they do, perhaps you can serve as agent for a
manufacturer, and earn a commission.)
3. Ceramic sculpture, a creative field for the ad-
teaching pottery for profit 1 41
vanced student. Here again the range of possibilities
for expression is wide, and is limited only by the
abilities of the students. Simple ceramic sculpture,
better called clay modeling, could be incorporated
in the basic course, if you limit it to small impression
istic figures.
4. Glaze-making will be of interest to students who
have a scientific turn of mind. You can start them off
putting together glazes from your formulas. From there
they can progress to a study of the chemistry of glazes
and the creation of new glazes to serve special purposes
for projects which they are working on.
5. Additional lessons on the more complex forms of
model making and mold making. Some students may
also desire to learn blocking and casing, so that they
can reproduce their original molds from master molds.
In short, the various projects that your students enter
into will suggest other phases of pottery from which
you can evolve demonstrations and lessons, ad infinitum.
CLEANING UP
One of your very real problems will be that of main
taining a semblance of order in your shop. Cleanliness
is next to Godliness, except in a pottery shop, where
it is next to impossible! We have already suggested that
the first step is yours, in providing specific and well-
marked places for everything, and yon should insist
that everything be returned to its proper place when
the student is finished using it At the beginning of each
course you can set the example, and by tactfully offering
amdting pottery for profit 1 42
to replace things yourself, stress the desirability of
order.
Cleaning up the shop after the lesson is over requires
the cooperation of everyone. Students are prone to work
till the last minute and then rush out and leave their
mess for someone else to clean up. If they are paying
a handsome price for their instruction, they don t want
to scrub up at all Your best bet, if you can manage it,
is to stop all work 15 minutes before the end of the
session and have everyone pitch in. In one school they
"handle this problem very nicely by serving tea which
the students prepare at the close of the session. It
serves as a pleasant incentive for clearing up.
STUDENT EXHIBITIONS
After your classes have become proficient at pro
ducing a wide variety of pottery, an exhibition of their
*work will provide excellent publicity for you and your
group. The Public Library, YMCA, Community House,
or local museum, will be more than glad to sponsor such
an exhibit, just so long as it is not presented in a com
mercial manner. Most likely your students are still very
much in love with their creations, but if they are inter
ested in selling them, you may be able to obtain per
mission to price-tag them, or to put a small notation
on a bulletin board or a sign stating that they are for
sale. Results from such an exhibition will bring new
students to you, enthusiasm and pride to your pupils,
.and recognition from jthe community. Don t forget to
inform the newspapers about the show!
teaching pottery for profit 1 43
TEACHING CHILDREN
The teaching of ceramics to children offers a very
interesting field. Children love to work with clay, and
their parents will appreciate having their offspring
happily and constructively employed. Gear your courses
to tiie children s leisure hours such as Saturdays or
summer vacation time and the parents will be glad to
sign up Susie and Johnny and pay your fee.
Groups of very young children delight in making
small figures of animals and people, recognizable or
otherwise. Some of the likenesses will be far-fetched,
but most of them will surprise you and fill you with
humility. Children grasp the technique of clay mod
eling very quickly, and because they have no inhibitions
about their ability to do things, they proceed with the
utmost confidence to produce figures which are often
far superior to many an adult s first attempts! Adults
are prone to defeat themselves before they start by
setting up mental reservations, but children blithely
pitch in and form the clay into the shape they desire.
Your main problem in handling the youngsters will
be that of exuberance. Throwing clay will be then-
greatest temptation. Curb it sternly! You can be a good
fellow and at the same time maintain strict discipline
without losing the friendship of the children. You will
also have to wedge the clay yourself for the younger
children, and will probably spend plenty of time at it,
for the youngsters will play with and overwork the
day. Don t try to prevent this, as the kids enjoy it and
are learning tactMy as they play. However, when they
making pottery for profit 1 44
are actively engaged in constructing or modeling a
piece, you can caution them not to spoil it by over
working it.
You can teach older children everything that you
teach in your adult courses. Emphasize the interrelation
of pottery to their school subjects whenever you can.
Perhaps for the first time they will be able to see the
practical applications of algebra and geometry, when
considering technical and design problems. History and
social studies will take on new meanings if pottery
throughout the world is studied. Most significant of all,
they will be learning to coordinate their minds and
hands in constructive, creative and artistic activity.
They may also be forming the basis for a life-long
hobby or even a vocation.
SALARIED POSITIONS TEACHING POTTERY
Unlike the teaching of a more academic subject, the
teaching of pottery may often involve the creation of
a job rather than merely finding a vacant position for
which you can apply. For example, some schools do
not yet teach pottery, although most advanced schools
recognize its educational value and include it in art
work, right from kindergarten through high school. If
the schools in your locality do not teach pottery at all,
perhaps you can be instrumental in having them incor
porate it into the school program, or as a special activity.
Very often parent-teacher groups are anxious to sponsor
club activities, and will appropriate funds for setting up
a pottery shop in the schooL Instructors for such courses
teaching pottery for profit 145
are sometimes volunteers, but are usually compensated
in some manner.
The adult education movement is growing by leaps
and bounds throughout the country, and one of the
major factors within this movement is the development
of the hand crafts. Most communities have adult edu
cation programs sponsored by the local boards of edu
cation. Funds are derived through local, state and
national appropriations. You can apply for the position
of pottery teacher, or here again, if one does not exist,
you may be able to create one. Usually any subject will
be taught for which there are sufficient requests, if space
and facilities are available, and an instructor is sought
for the group. If you can gather such a group and
interest the director of adult education, you wiH be in
a good position to apply also for the instructorship.
The qualifications for such a teacher are based on
competence and practical experience rather than formal
education. The remuneration is usually based on the
number of classes held, or the number of pupils in
attendance. Teaching in such an organization can sup
plement a ceramist s income very nicely, or grow into
a full-time profession.
There are craft leagues in various parts of the country
which sponsor, or may wish to sponsor, pottery courses-
Some of these leagues operate in conjunction with other
organizations which may also prove helpful to you, such
as settlement houses, Y.M. and Y.W.CA/s, recreation
commissions, artists guilds, community centers, uni
versity extensions, eta Investigation of these groups in
your vicinity will probably open avenues leading to the
making pottery for profit 1 46
formation of classes which you can readily teach. You
may also obtain information of other organizations
which might be interested in sponsoring pottery courses
by writing to your state board of education, or to the
state university.
POTTERY AS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Many state and local hospitals, as well as Veteran s
Hospitals and various sanitoriums, emphasize pottery-
making for rehabilitation work. Get information regard
ing the possibilities of obtaining such teaching posts
by addressing the Director of Occupational Therapy at
various institutions. The remuneration is usually good,
and the work is very rewarding. This is a field which
offers the ceramist an unusual opportunity to be of
great and enduring service to his fellow man.
The American Red Cross served as the agent for
bringing a new interest to a bed-ridden Navy veteran
named William Way. Their Rehabilitation Program in
the hospital at Great Lakes, BL, turned his artistic
background to good account in the field of ceramics.
When he had recovered and returned to his home in
Pennsylvania, Way started producing old Pennsylvania
Dutch style ware, based on museum pieces. He has
found a livelihood in selling his ware through adver
tisements in newspapers throughout the country.
SUMMER CAMPS
A fine way to enjoy a summer vacation with pay is
teaching pottery at a children s camp. Summer camps
teaching pottery for profit 147
are strong on craft activities, and you may be able to
obtain a position by advertising in tbe classified columns
or scanning the Help Wanted ads, or perhaps through
a central camp agency or advisory group. You might
even write to the directors of various camps in advance
of the season.
SOME TIPS FOR TEACHER
The ware your students produce will be dear to them,
especially their first few pieces. Praise them lustily. If
the piece does not come up to the student s expecta
tions, he will be especially anxious to find redeeming"
features, like a mother with her first baby. Hie bowl
that warped, the glaze that streaked, to the student is
"a poor thing but mine own." Go easy with criticism.
As your student progresses, he himself will become criti
cal. He will realize that the early pieces once seemed
so fine merely because he himself had created them.
At all times, however, your criticism when sought
should be constructive. With a little stretch of the imagi
nation you will be able to find at least one good thing
to say about the most awful clunk of a piece. You can
point out the errors gracefully by suggesting how the
next piece can be improved!
As you teach, you are going to learn a great deal about
people, and you will probably learn as much about pot
tery from working with your students as they learn
from you! Their diversified projects and the attendant
problems in ceramics will certainly enrich your store
of knowledge. Always keep an open mind and welcome
making pottery for profit 1 48
criticisms of your methods from your students. Come
right out and ask them occasionally for suggestions and
advice on the course and the shop. Keep your reference
books available for classroom use, and encourage your
people to use them in seeking advice and information.
This will also give you a graceful "out" whenever anyone
tends to engage you too lengthily in technical dis
cussions.
12.
operating a ceramic
supply shop
YOUR STUDIO CAN DO DOUBLE DUTY
The potter who has set up a weB-equipped
studio is very likely to find himself besieged with re
quests from amateurs. These will range from requests
for firing service to the purchase of clay, glaze, or other
materials on hand. Here is a chance to build up a
profitable side business, as well as a tidy opportunity
to turn your studio into a successful ceramic supply
shop. This will not turn you into a shop-keeper nor
make you any the less a potter, for on the contrary you
will usually find yourself "up to your neck" in the prac
tice of all phases of pottery.
If you are already operating your own production
studio, you will find that it doubles beautifully as a
ceramic supply shop. You may need to add more storage
149
making pottery for profit 1 50
space, but your studio will serve as a display room,
and your existing material bins will be fine for storing
and dispensing your clay, glazes, etc.
The location of your supply shop should be fairly
central in the territory in which you intend to operate,
but it need not be a fancy store in the high-rent district.
Your customers won t mind traveling a little off the
beaten path in order to find you, although at the start
you may have to seek them. If you are teaching pottery
in your studio, your pupils will form a nucleus with
which to begin. However, much of your business will
be obtained by going out and getting it!
GATHERING A CLIENTELE
Schools, both public and private, will be among your
best customers. Pay personal visits to the art and shop
supervisors of schools in your area and explain to them
what you offer in goods and services. Above all, stress
the fact that you can give prompt and efficient service,
and that you will personally stand in back of all your
products. Local hospitals and institutions with occu
pational therapy departments are good prospects, too,
and you should contact the departmental directors.
Ceramic hobbyists and studio potters will welcome
your services. Personal visits to the pottery shops and
studios are the best way to drum up trade, as you can
explain what you have to offer, and find out what they
need. You can send announcements to all those whom
you can t see in person. A good way of contacting these
prospects is by affiliating yourself with arts and crafts
operating a ceramic supply shop 1 51
groups in your vicinity. You will learn who s who in the
art world in general, and in the sphere of ceramics in
particular. See to it that the members are informed of
your supply shop and services, for good advertising
and good business. Make inquiries about all of the pot
tery groups in your territory, and contact their leaders.
For example, you can check the activities of women s
clubs, churches, YM and YWCA s, and fraternal organ
izations.
Try to effect a tie-in with hobby or art supply stores
which will bring you trade. Arrange with the owners
to display a poster announcing your services, and you
may also be able to sell them materials, either directly
or on consignment. Perhaps they can also be persuaded
to supply you with a list of people who are interested
in ceramics.
Advertising in your local district papers and phone
book is another way of informing the public what you
are offering. Either display or classified ads wifl be
helpful.
If you are interested in doing a mail order business
as well, you can circularize your prospects by mail
or place display ads in the ceramic magazines. You can
usually obtain directories from your local library which
list art and shop supervisors in schools in the United
States, as well as directors of occupational therapy in
hospitals and institutions. You may also be able to
obtain lists of members of art and ceramic societies, as
well as art shops and hobby shops in your region. Ad
vertising matter and catalogs sent to lists of this caliber
will surely bring results.
making pottery for profit 1 52
COMMERCIAL FIRING
One of the primary services you can offer is com
mercial firing. Many hobbists and indeed many schools
have no firing facilities. Your customers will generally
bring their work to you and call for it, although in the
case of schools or hospitals you may institute a delivery
service. Prompt service and careful, efficient handling
of your customers* ware are obviously important.
The usual way to charge for firing services is by the
cubic inch. Have a minimum charge to cover small
pieces, which require as much handling as large ones,
if not as much space. Studio rates for commercial firing
vary between %j and iff per cubic inch for each fire.
Some studios have bracketed firing rates, with set rates
for any piece falling within a certain range of cubic
content, say from 40 to 50 cubic inches.
To determine adequate firing charges will require
an analysis of several factors. These include the size of
your kilns, the volume of your business, the cost of
power or fuel for firing, the amount of time and labor
involved in handling, and a percentage for overhead.
BREAKAGE
One problem which will confront you will be that
of breakage of the customer s ware, and any dissatis
faction on his part with the results of the firing. Amateur
work going into the kiln, always reminds us of the old
German-band horn player, who complained that he
T>lows in zo zweet, and it comes out zo zour!" Before
you accept work from a new customer, have him clearly
operating a ceramic supply shop 1 53
understand that you cannot accept responsibility for
anything which may happen to his work during the
fire. Since the kiln and its operator usually get the
blame for an imperfect piece, part of your firing service
should consist of personal advice on construction meth
ods, glaze application and defects in general Assure
your customers that you will use due caution in han
dling their ware, but be sure to explain that what may
happen in the kiln rests sometimes in the lap of the
gods. It is better not to fire pieces for customers who
don t realize this.
SELLING UNFINISHED WARE
Selling unfinished ware is another profitable line
for your supply shop. Many commercial studios do a
brisk business in rough greenware castings, -which are
sold without fettling or other finishing treatment Hob
byists take delight in finishing and decorating them,
and will then bring them to you for firing. Finished
biscuit pieces can be sold in the same manner, and are
also good mail order items.
The factors in pricing rough greenware are the
amount of clay used, the cost of your labor in casting
it and a percentage for mold depreciation. By doubling
the total you will take care of your overhead factors
and include a fair profit. For biscuit ware, you wiH have
to include also the finishing time and firing cost.
making pottery for profit 1 54
MOLD SERVICES
Another source of income is a mold rental service,
in which you charge a weekly rate equal to 10% of the
retail price of the mold. If you buy your molds com
mercially at wholesale, in five weeks time a mold can
pay for itself. The mortality rate of rented molds is
understandably high, but no .penalties should be made
if a customer happens to break one. If a mold survives
five or six months of active rentals, consider that it has
lived a full life!
Selling molds outright is another important phase
of your supply business. Here again you purchase the
molds at wholesale from a commercial mold maker, and
arrange to sell them at a gross profit of 40% to 50$ of
the retail price. You do not necessarily need a large
stock on hand. Cast and fired samples, or pictures of
the ware, will serve very nicely, and you can place
orders with the manufacturer as they are received.
Some mold shops stipulate a certain rninimum order,
however, so you will have to stockpile either orders or
molds.
SELLING CLAY
The bulk of your ceramic supply business will of
course be the retailing of clay, slip and glazes. If you
can order in ton lots, you can purchase your clay, either
in flour form or moist, direct from the large clay pro
cessing firms. Smaller quantities can be obtained at
wholesale from a number of the large ceramic supply
houses. It is more profitable to purchase the prepared
operating a ceramic supply shop 155
body dry, and put it down into moist f onn or slip form
yourself. There is a good deal of work involved, but
why pay high freight rates for the processor s water?
Your clay will be popular with customers if it has
the proper moisture content and the right degree of
plasticity. They will want it well aged and in good con
dition to wedge and work immediately. You can pack
age it in five or ten pound lots wrapped in aluminum
foil or pliofilm, or in wax-lined fibre cartons of 25#,
50$: or 100:$:. The smaller the amount of clay you
sell, the more you will charge per pound because of
packaging and handling. Your mark-up on ioo# lots
will probably range from 30 to 50 per cent.
Prepared slip will always be in demand with your
customers. It is easier to prepare than moist clay,
but make sure that it is properly deflocculated for best
casting results. Your supply house will recommend the
proper electrolyte to use, but if their suggestions do
not seem to give the proper results, it may be your water
which is causing the difficulty. Your supplier will prob
ably be glad to analyze it for you at a modest fee.
Sell your slip in gallon lots, to be poured into the cus
tomer s own container or crock or one that you will
sell him. You can calculate the cost on the basis of the
dry weight of the clay, freight, labor, and packaging
(or bottling costs when necessary), phis an equitable
mark-up, say 30 to 50 per cent
Your customers wiH most generally want three types
of days, white-firing, buff-firing and terra coffca or red-
firing. Be sure before you decide to market any partlcsiir
lar clay bodies that they fit the glazes you intend to
making pottery for profit 1 56
sell. A properly balanced glaze will sometimes craze or
show other defects as a fault of the body and its relation
ship to the glaze. The bodies which you sell should
mature within a firing range of below 2000 F., for
most hobbyists have low fire electric kilns with nichrome
elements.
A LINE OF GLAZES
There are three different possibilities for arranging
your line of glazes. You can purchase wholesale quan
tities of ready-made glaze from the leading supply
houses. You can purchase basic frits and adjust and
color them to establish your own glazes. Or you can
purchase the basic raw materials and compound your
own exclusive line of glazes.
It cannot be too strongly emphasized that before
you sell an ounce of glaze or any other material, make
sure that you conduct sufficient and varied tests of the
material You will then be justified in advertising your
products as thoroughly tested, and you will be in a
position to give your customers explicit instructions
as to the proper use of each material under varying
conditions, along with any special hints which might
prove useful
Commercially prepared glazes can be bought from
ceramic supply houses in wide variety in wholesale
quantities at a 40% to 50% discount off the retail price.
You may even be able to obtain a franchise for exclusive
representation of some one firm for your territory. When
you repackage the commercial glazes heavy manila
operating a ceramic supply shop 157
envelopes will be fine for small amounts. Hobbyists,
for example, often buy as little as Ib. of a glaze at a
time, while schools generally buy from one to five
pounds of eacb glaze. Figure your standard price on
single pounds, and increase the per-pound price on
fractional purchases because of handling costs. You
might also want to give discounts on a sliding scale for
amounts of several pounds. (Just to remind you, make
sure the commercial glaze you choose fits the body you
use!)
You will probably find it more interesting as well as
more profitable to purchase the basic frits from the
manufacturer and add your own balancing-out ma
terials and glaze stains. Your manufacturer will give you
full instructions as to their use, and you will be able to
develop your own line of colors. Not only is the small
amount of extra labor profitable, but you wifl find it
practical to undersell some of the commercially pre
pared glazes! Another advantage of fritted glaze is that
you can rrriTI it properly yourself and sell it in liquid
form by the pint or quart Your customers wiH Hke the
idea of buying prepared, ready-to-use glaze. In figuring
the price of a liquid glaze, the water content per quart
is discounted and the price based on the dry weight
of the glaze.
The true ceramist with a flafr for scientific experiment
(and also the true economist with a flafr for profits) w3I
appreciate the benefits of compounding glazes from
basic raw materials. You can find many suitable formulas
throughout the available ceramic literature, or ytwi can
develop interesting and appealing types and colors
JL O i Jt O J JL
making pottery for profit 1 58
are exclusively yours. Here is a true chance to "build
a better mouse-trap" especially if you can develop
some sure-fire reds! Thorough testing of your own
glazes, whether or not the formula is original, is most
important and don t forget the body! (Make it fit!)
Be sure too, that the maturing points come within the
range of firing facilities of your customers. Once you are
past the experimental stage, you will find that your prof
its from glazes you compound yourself will be greater
than from commercial glazes or frits, even considering
the labor involved.
Next to glazes in customer popularity will be engobes
and colored slips, which can be had in a wide variety
of textures and colors. You can buy them already pre
pared from your supplier, or compound your own.
Your clients may also be interested in casting slip in
novel hues.
DECORATING SUPPLIES
Underglazes and overglazes are always in demand,
and they require no preparation on your part You can
carry them in powdered form and sell the mediums
separately for the artist who likes to prepare his own
manually. Or obtain them ground in mediums to your
own specification, such as fat oil, turpentine, glycerine,
etc. Another type which is highly popular with the
amatenr is cake form, mounted in pans like water color
sets.
Other suggested decorating mediums to round out
your line are:
operating a ceramic supply shop 1 59
1. Gold in both, paste and liquid form.
2. Silver and platinum lustres.
3. Colored lustres in rainbow variety for china dec
oration.
4. Novelty decorations such as ices, spangles and
crystal formers.
5. Decals, both overglaze for china painters, and
underglaze.
6. Silk screen equipment and stencils.
If you are planning to compound a great many of
your own materials, don t overlook the opportunity to
sell basic raw materials to your customers. Many potters
like to buy a little bit of this or that, oxides perhaps, or
stains, and as the number of studio potters increases in
your vicinity there wifl be many who will do their own
compounding. Do not be short-sighted enough to resent
your customers compounding their own materials. The
more potters there are and the bigger their potteries
the more your shop wiH prosper.
SELLING KILNS
The increasing popularity of ceramics as a hobby
provides an excellent market for the merchandising
of studio kilns. Sooner or kter each hobbyist wants bis
own kiln, and schools too are installing kilns to keep up
with their expanding craft programs. They wiH be
mainly interested in electric kilns, although the pro
fessional potter may have a preference for gas or oaL
Great strides have been made in recent years in the
development of electric kilns, and there are a number
making pottery for profit 1 60
of excellent ones on the market. When you have decided
upon the make of kiln you like best, contact the manu
facturer and arrange to be his representative in your
territory. You may want to invest in one or two demon
strator models, which you will use to advantage in
your studio, or you can take orders from pictures or
catalogs. Your percentage mark-up on kilns will prob
ably have to be less than on materials, but you will
still net a nice profit on each sale. You will have to
arrange for servicing the kilns, or better still, do it
yourself.
The most inexpensive electric kiln has nichrome wire
elements and fires satisfactorily to cone #04, or a little
less than 2000 F. Next in both price and temperature
range are Kanthal elements, firing up to 2400 F., and
finally the carborundum bar element called "Globar"
with a capacity of 2700 F. The advantages of electric
kilns are:
i- They practically eliminate any fire hazard.
2,. They have fast firing cycles.
3. They are simple in construction.
4* They give off no smoke or fumes.
5. Require no muffle or stack.
6. They have highly oxidized atmospheres.
Important accessories to sell along with kirns, which
will increase customer satisfaction, and your profits as
well, are the various control units and pyrometers. They
are extremely helpful to any potter, and may be required
by some school systems. Most control pyrometers are ex
pensive devices, but a new one has just been patented
operating a ceramic supply shop 1 61
which is inexpensive, and compares favorably with the
more complicated, units. Called the "Kiln-gard," it is a
small device, easy to install, which operates in conjunc
tion -with a pyrometric cone. The cone is inserted between
two prongs which close when the cone melts and actuate
a circuit breaker. Thus the kiln is automatically shut off
when the maturing temperature is reached.
You should also provide your customers with stacking
sundries for the kiln. Carry in stock a plentiful supply of
pyrometric cones, kiln shelves, posts, a wide range of
stilts, spurs, saddles, tile setters, plate setter, kiln wash,
etc. Be sure to stock extra sets of elements for the various
sizes and types of iHlns you carry.
POTTER S WHEELS
Most potters hope at some time to own a potter s
wheel but are deterred by the high cost. If you plan to
sell them (as well as kilns and other expensive equip
ment), it might be a good plan to arrange with a bank
for financed payments for your customers. There are
several fine wheels manufactured in this country, and
you can decide which type and what brand you. -want
the agency for. Some potters prefer the primitive kick
wheels, while others want a motorized wheel with vari
able speed. The constant speed wheels are valuable
principally for jiggering, and yon may be able to sell
them for that purpose.
making pottery for profit 1 62
GLAZE-SPRAYING EQUIPMENT
You may also find it valuable to hold the agency and
have catalogs on hand for a line of glaze-spraying
equipment. Look into the various types of compressors
and spray guns. Some concerns dealing in this type of
equipment supply spray booths as well, or you can con
tact a local tin smith or sheet metal concern and have
spray booths built to your design.
SUNDRIES
To round out your line of ceramic supplies there are a
number of other items which you can stock; or you can
sell them through catalogs after making the necessary
arrangements for agency and discounts with the manu
facturers. Here are several suggestions which will help
you keep abreast of your customers* needs:
1. Clay modeling tools, wooden and wire-ended
2. Steel plaster tools
3. Wheel turning and scraping tools
4. Flexible steel and rubber scrapers
5. Palette and spatula knives
6. Fettling knives
7. Mold trimmers
8. Glaze and decorating brushes and burnishers
9. Carving and incising tools
10. Nateal sponges
11. Slip Enacers
12. Banding wheels
13. Brass wire sieves; lawn by the foot
operating a ceramic supply shop 1 63
14. Grinding wheels and carborundum chipping
stones
15. Portable wedging boards
16. Rolling pins and rolling boards
17. Asbestos gloves, goggles, masks and respirators
18. Novelty items such as coil extruders, lace tools,
flower cutters, fancy cooky cutters
19. Jewelry findings bar pins and earring and button
backings
20. Lamp fittings such as finials, light sockets, cords,
plugs, etc.
ai. Plate hangers, cup and saucer stands, teakwood
vase stands, shadow box frames for tiles, etc.
22. Tiles, biscuit and glazed
23. Biscuit and china blanks for china painters
24. Mold-making equipment such as pottery plaster,
hydrocal, hydrostone, rubber latex, plaster sep
arators, mold soap, rubber and brass bowls
25. Specialty items such as glaze gums, separators,
deflocculents, underglaze pencils and crayons,
tile cement, cork sheets
26. Laboratory equipment such as scales, metric and
avoirdupois; hydrometers, mortars and pestles,
ball mills, ground glass mullers and slabs, etc,
27. Books on ceramics (and related subjects such as
art and design), including this one!
IS.
how to run a
mold shop
A PROFITABLE SIDELINE
Every craftsman has a specialty, and if mold
making is your forte, you can capitalize on it and de
velop a very satisfactory and lucrative sideline. With
the right know-how, a well-trained, experienced crafts
man or technician can always make a place for himself,
as the particular field of mold making is "wide open."
A good model maker comes under the same classifica
tion, and in fact the two are so closely allied that we
shall consider them together.
There are many ways for making a mold shop pay off
handsomely. Roughly these can be divided into two
main categbries, performing a service and producing
merchandise for sale or rent There is a great need and
a good market for specialty molds in the ceramic field.
how to run a mold shop \ 65
The dearth of good commercial molds on the market
offers high promise to you for the sale of original molds
to factories, studio potters, schools and hobbyists. Addi
tional outlets for the sale of molds are mail order busi
ness, selling in wholesale lots to ceramic supply houses
and studios and novelty campaigns like the "Mold-of-
the-Month Club."
In producing molds for sale, you wiH want to follow
the practice of established firms selling to the trade.
They sell their molds with the understanding that the
purchaser may produce for sale the castings from the
molds. However, they stipulate that their molds are not
to be used as blocks or cases for reproducing other molds
of the same or altered sizes!
RENTING OUT MOLDS
You can also do a lively business in renting molds to
schools, studio potters, hobbyists, etc. This is a good way
to utilize those of your molds which might be classed as
seconds, because of a small air bubble or a chipped edge.
You can rent them out advantageously, whereas you
would hesitate to sell them because of their minor im
perfections.
Mold rentals are usually based on a weeMy fee wnich
amounts to io5 of the retail price of the mold, lite
mortality of rented molds is high, but you should realize
a fair return on them before they turn to rubble. You
may be able to arrange with a local hobby shop or
ceramic supplier to handle your mold rental service for
you. (See chapter on Operating a Supply Shop.) These
making pottery for profit 1 66
same shops will also be good wholesale outlets for your
products, so cultivate them welll
MAKING MODELS
A top-notch model maker can name his own price. If
you are expert in this branch you should seek orders
from potteries in your vicinity. Take several of your
models, and perhaps a portfolio of design ideas to their
managers, and discuss their model problems with them.
It may be that they will buy the particular models you
have, but they will probably be more interested in spe
cial items to be created for them. If your techniques fit
into the type of ware they produce, you may be able to
obtain a commission to execute models along lines sug
gested by them.
PUTTING YOUR MOLDS TO WORK
Another way of putting your own designs and molds
to work is to have a manufacturer produce ware from
molds supplied by you. You can market the ware your
self, through retail or wholesale outlets, or by hiring an
agent to handle your line. Another possibility is to
arrange with the manufacturer to market your ware
along with his own and pay you a per-piece royalty for
the use of your exclusive molds.
As your business and reputation grows, you will find
that factories, studio potters and hobbyists will come to
you to have molds made to order. They may present you
with the model, or merely sketch or explain their idea
how to run a mold shop
and engage you to make the model as well as the mold.
Some of the models which the novice will present to
you will be strange and wondrous to behold, with under
cuts, overcuts and uppercuts! You will have to exercise
sharp discrimination in refusing those which are not
feasible. A little missionary work in the way of advice
and suggestions to your clients will earn their gratitude
and appreciation and turn them into loyal customers.
To estimate the charges on special order work, be sure
to keep track of the time you spend on each piece. Fig
ure in the price of your labor, cost of materials and the
proportionate cost of your overhead expenses.
MAKING THE BLOCK
The making of a single mold for casting purposes re
quires care and craftsmanship. When that mold is a
block mold, from which a master mold is to be made, it
must be absolutely perfect. This process is called casing,
and the master mold is known as a case mold or die
mold. From it, duplicate molds wiH be reproduced for
casting purposes.
In preparing an original or block mold you must first
study the model carefully to determine the minimum
number of pieces required for the mold. Your main
problem in the division into sections wul be to avoid
undercuts. If there is even the slightest undercutting,
the case will surely adhere to the block, and your work
will have been for naught
Clean, precise divisions, always maintained at right
angles to the model, wffl produce a craftsmanTfke job.
making pottery for profit 1 68
Roundness and fullness of notches and joggles also con
tribute to a well fitting mold and indicate good work
manship. The planning of drainage plugs and waste
rims must be carefully considered, and the block mold
must provide an ample spare for accommodating the
necessary retaining sections of the case mold.
MAKING THE CASE
The making of the case mold is largely a mechanical
procedure, and it is a relatively simple matter. It does,
of course, require considerable craftsmanship, but it can
be done fairly rapidly. Before starting, however, make
sure that the block is finely finished and properly sized.
The texture of your plaster on the inner surfaces should
be so smooth that when sized they can almost be used
as a mirror. The case should be made of extremely hard
setting, tough plaster, and when finished its contact sur
faces, too, should shine. This requires a lot of elbow
grease, care and patience, but that is the stuff that crafts
manship is made of!
A well made case should really have watertight re
taining walls, because the bane of the mold maker is a
Weaker." If the case leaks, you may find yourself spend
ing more time in cleaning dies than in the production of
molds! Plaster retainers can be made to fit exceedingly
tight, but when they start to "wear, some leakage will
result. Wooden retainers covered with rubber sheeting
wifl last longer, and they are practical if you can make
the joints plaster-tight
It is possible to make flexible case molds from some of
how to run a mold shop 1 69
the cold-setting rubber and rubber latex compounds
now on the market. These materials wiU solve some of
the mold maker s problems of insignificant undercutting,
leakage, repeated soaping, etc. The process of making
dies in these mediums is quite different from plaster
work, and if you intend to try them out, you should ob
tain full and complete instructions from the manufac
turer or distributor of such compounds.
SETTING UP SHOP
Your pottery studio wiU serve beautifully as a plaster
and mold shop, at least until such time as you outgrow
its work space and facilities. The location is unimportant
except in the matter of receiving raw materials and ship
ping your products customers who need your services
or wish to buy your products will find your shop. You
will soon find that you can conduct most of your retail
business from catalogues illustrating the casting rather
than the molds. Once your catalogues are in the hands
of prospective customers, a large part of your retail
business will be conducted by mail.
WHICH KIND OF SHOP FOR YOU?
In order to produce molds for the trade yon wffl have
to have adequate quarters in which to work. They do
not need to be large, but they should be arranged e&-
dently. Plaster is a messy business, and plaster sjbops
seem to Ml into two widely divergent types, with noth
ing in between. At one extreme is the spick-and-span
making pottery for profit 170
laboratory type of shop, where everything actually looks
sterile. The secret of maintaining such a shop is to clean
religiously as you work. Never allow one bit of plaster to
remain on the benches or floor after each casting. If
you do, your shop will transform itself rapidly, like
Cinderella at the stroke of midnight, into the second
category of mold shop. This shop is almost knee-deep in
grimy, gray, lolled plaster. Youll even find plaster on the
ceiling, and tools will probably be stuck with plaster
when you need them. Working in such a shop can make
life miserable, and in the long run production will be
slower than when you take the time to clean as you go.
Mold production relies largely on hand labor, and
little machinery other than mechanical plaster mixers
and table vibrators can be used. You will soon learn what
the optimum rate of molds per day is for you, and if you
attempt to exceed it, it will be at the expense of quality
in your finished product. Try to work at an even pace,
being sure that each casting is done properly and all
molds expertly trimmed and finished. It is far better to
produce fewer molds and get them exactly right than
to make a large number of poor ones which will spoil
your reputation.
Out of the ceramic field, too, but a commercial possi
bility is the related business of producing plaster objects
from flexible molds. Many things can be produced more
expediently and more cheaply in plaster than ceramics,
such as novelties, souvenirs and give-aways. This is big-
volume business.
row to run a mold shop 171
tfASTE MOLDS FOR SCULPTORS
There is a specialty field which ties in very well with
business of mold making. Making "waste molds" for art
ists and sculptors is a little different than the production
of ceramic molds, but it can be a lucrative field. Often
the sculptor, professional as well as amateur, is un
equipped to make his own waste molds or plaster cast
ings. The principle of the waste mold is to enable the
artist to make a plaster model from a clay original which
contains numerous undercuts. Careful division of the
original model is important, but you can overlook minor
undercuts in each section. When the waste mold has set,
the soft clay or plastelina is dug out and the waste mold
is then sized and plaster slushed in. When this has set,
you chip away the waste mold, to reveal the casting.
There are a number of texts on sculpture which wifl
explain this method in detaiL
To procure this type of business, affiliate yourself with
local art groups, arts and crafts leagues, etc., in order to
contact artists and sculptors. Contacts with art supply
dealers and hobby shops will be helpful, too, especially
if they will display a placard in then" shops announcing
yonr service. You may also get results through advertis
ing in your local papers.
14.
tips for
the studio potter
JOIN A GROUP
An exchange of experiences and ideas among
people of similar interests is always of great value to
anyone in any field. Potters, too amateur and profes
sionalcan gain a lot through association with each
other. Affiliate yourself with a group of ceramists or
craftsmen and you will be able to supplement your
knowledge of pottery, and perhaps learn through the
other fellow s experience. (This may not be as sure a
way as learning through your own mistakes, but it s
certainly a lot easier! )
A number of states have State Leagues of craftsmen*
You can obtain information on these arts and crafts
groups by writing the Department of Education at your
state capital; the Director of Art and Craft Education of
172
tips for the studio potter 1 73
your State University; or the American Craftsmen s
Education Council, Inc., 32 East 52 St., New York,
N. Y. If there is no group of artists or craftsmen in your
vicinity, the last-named organization will also aid you in
the formation of a potters guild or craft society. It will
be of benefit to you personally to promote the formation
of one.
One of the benefits in joining a craftsmen s guild or
group is that these organizations, in addition to their
meetings for the exchange of information, also sponsor
shows and exhibits which bring their members* work
into the public eye. Some of them also have marketing
facilities, and operate as independent producers co
operatives. Here is a ready-made outlet for your ware
which, is particularly helpful before you establish your
own clientele or business.
BEWARE OF OVERCO N FI D E NCE!
The enthusiastic ceramic Lobbyist soon envisions him
self installed in his own ideal studio, creating pottery
lovingly, and selling it profitably. This is a fine dream,
and a perfectly good possibility, but he must beware of
the pitfall of overconfidence. He attains a certain profi
ciency after a dozen or so lessons, and suddenly decides
that this is itl He can now go out and establish his studio
and sell his products with easel If he is too ambitious
too soon, he may be jolted back to reality the hard way.
If the shock is too much for "him, he may drop the wiiole
project as a bad venture. His technical proficiency
be msufficientry developed, and if so he cannot
making pottery for profit 1 74
in the trade with the professional. The moral is to "make
haste slowly," selling your creations whenever and
wherever you can, but not posing as a professional until
you are sure of your ground.
WHAT TO DO WITH "SECONDS"
You must always be sure to earmark first-line mer
chandise for your wholesale or mail order outlets. Not
all of your ware will be perfect, although you may do
the same thing in the same way each and every time.
Many things can happen, and many things can go
wrong. The imperfect piece of pottery presents a very
real problem to the potter. If glaze is the culprit, some
times refiring will turn the sow s ear into a silk purse,
but not always. In die commercial factories, badly crip
pled pieces are consigned to the shard pile. A pot that
has gone to "pot heaven" will never be a detriment to
you, because nobody can ever say, "He didn t make that
awful thing, did he?" We once saw a woman rummaging
through pots already on the shard pile which had es
caped the final sledge-hammer blow. She gathered them
up with glee and wanted to buy them. They were given
to her free, and we ve often wondered if the good will
of that gesture wasn t outweighed by the bad adver-
tisingl
You may be able to dispose of your slightly lame pots,
Irat do so directly to the consumer, and always be sure
that he knows he is purchasing seconds. Some of the
large commercial potteries stack up their seconds on
the roadside beside the factory and sell them out at
tips for the studio potter 1 75
bargain prices. Some studio potters reserve a section of
their showrooms for seconds, and visitors often take
more readily to them than to first-class merchandise be
cause of the reduced prices. Everybody loves a bargain,
and many of your customers will say, "I don t see any
thing wrong with thisr And if they don t, why bother to
point it out to them? Just say, "Well, Tm glad you
dont!"
Another way of disposing of your seconds is at church
bazaars and fund-raising affairs of philanthropic organ
izations. You can aid a worthy cause and at the same
time perhaps you will recoup your costs out of the
pieces. Here again, insist that the customer knows he is
buying seconds. There are jobbers who will buy seconds,
but for the little that they will pay you, it may not be
worth your while to deal with them.
LI M ITED EDITIONS
One very clever way of merchandising your finest
creations is to produce them in limited editions. You
cannot afford to sell unique handmade pieces at cast
ware prices. The limited edition wiH enable you to make
a specified number of items by the mold method and
command a greater price than you normally would.
This idea is used with great success by fine lithog
raphers, engravers and etchers. They wffl strike off 25,
50 or 100 imprints of their work and then destroy the
plate. You can do the same thing with your molds, pro
vided the piece is worthy of such treatment. Your cus
tomers will delight in knowing that they own one piece
making pottery for profit 1 76
of which there are only 25 in existence, and the price
you receive will amply repay your destroying the mold.
Your pieces in this way may one day become "collectors*
items I"
Every piece in a limited edition should be signed and
numbered. As to the seconds, they should definitely be
destroyed into tiny shards. Reproduce the "killed" piece,
so that there is absolutely no possibility of having two
13*5 in existence. Don t be too hasty about destroying
the mold in case of subsequent breakage of the ware
before you have sold and shipped the last piece in an
edition.
THE POTTER: HIS MARK
The signature of your pottery is a personal matter,
but all of the ware that you produce should be signed
in some manner. You can evolve a mark, or you can use
a trade name, or your own good name. One thing which
the studio potter can do, but which should be omitted
by the commercial potter, is to date your pottery. Lots
of people won t touch last year s stock. But if your ware
is fated to be collected by aist Century antique collec
tors and museums, dates will help posterity to classify
your ware! (It is said that the connoisseurs of ancient
wheel-thrown pottery can tell just which master potter
made the pot by the way he finished the foot on it,
even though it may be without a mark of any kind. )
THE POTTER S SECRET FORMULA
To the novice at pottery making the chemical formu
lary of days and gjazes is pretty much an unknown
tips for the studio potter 1 77
quantity. To the advanced potter the problems involved
may seem relatively simple because of knowledge and
familiarity. There is much secrecy in the ceramic profes
sion in regard to the composition of bodies and glazes.
In the past, possession of a good glaze formula was a
man s insurance policy toward holding a superintend
ent s job in a pottery. Today, however, as a result of the
training of ceramic engineers in our large universities,
this type of passport has been supplanted by sheepskins.
It is not necessary to be a ceramic engineer in order
to compound bodies and glazes. It is not even necessary
to have a wide knowledge of inorganic chemistry. You
cannot make a glaze the same way you do a cake, using
a cup of this and a pinch of that, but you can obtain
many batch weight receipts and weigh out your glazes
and bodies accurately to conform with the formula.
Thousands of such receipts are available in ceramic
books and magazines. Some of them will read beauti
fully and then not live up to expectations. You wiH have
to try the ones that appeal to you and reject the unsuit
able ones.
Once you have studied and mastered the rudiments of
the chemically balanced glaze and body formula, you
can then proceed to compound your own exclusive bod
ies and glazes. If you succeed in creating something of
exceptional merit, which appeals to the public, you wiH
find it an invaluable asset.
COPYRIGHT
Protection for your original designs and art work can
be procured fairly easily by obtaining a copyright
making pottery for profit 1 78
through the Register of Copyrights, Library of Con
gress, Washington, 25, D. C. To secure a copyright on
your work of art it is necessary to file with the Copy
right Office two photographs of your work, together
with some simple legal forms, and a fee of $4.00. Your
item may fall into a particular classification, therefore
you should first secure full data from the Copyright Of
fice before proceeding. The only protection that a design
copyright gives you is that of restraining another from
making exact reproductions of your pottery plates,
tiles, figures or anything else.
PATENTS
It is possible to obtain from the Commissioner of
Patents, United States Patent Office, Department of
Commerce, Washington 25, D. C., a "design patent 1 * on
certain original models. To be patentable, objects must
perform a useful function or serve a useful purpose.
Design patents protect the design of the particular ob
ject rather than the type of object itself. For example,
you may obtain a design patent on a rectangular con
tainer which will dispense cigarettes individually, but if
someone else makes a cylindrical container which dis
penses cigarettes in the same manner, it would not be an
invasion of your patent rights.
It is not wise to try to obtain a patent without the
services of an attorney, as it is a very complex procedure.
It may cost you $200 or more to obtain your patent, and
you should first make certain that your idea is patent-
able, by having your lawyer make a search. You must
tips for the studio potter 1 77
also be quite sure that you really have a market for tihe
item before investing in a patent
A special formula for a glaze, body or other material
is a patentable process. However, you can obtain a
measure of security merely by keeping your formulas
strictly to yourself.
You may obtain full information by writing the Com
missioner of Patents for a booklet entitled "General
Information Concerning Patents," which will be sent to
you free.
Information regarding the registering of Trade Marks
can also be obtained from the Patent Office.
STANDARDS FOR YOUR WARE
The materials in fine handmade ceramics which sell
for fabulous prices are worth no more per pound than
the dime-store variety. Your answer to the challenge of
mass production is quality rather than quantity produc
tion. The quality of some of the low-priced items on the
market will be hard to beat, too, and even if you work in
this range you cannot afford to relax your standards.
However, the vase or bowl that sells for $100 or $200
must (and does) have something more in it than the
same-sized item retailing for $2.^1 That "something
more" consists of artistry, craftsman ship and renown of
the ceramist.
Artistry includes talent, taste, originality, mastery of
line and form, excellence of color and texture, and soper-
lativeness of design. Craftsmanship adds the factors of
command over materials used, soreness of touch, and
making pottery for profit 1 80
perfection of technique in every step of creation and
production. The main difference between the work of
the novice and that of the craftsman lies in the skill and
care employed in construction and finish of an object.
Excellent craftsmanship comes through a thorough un
derstanding of the medium, study, experience, and the
integrity of the potter. The true craftsman is a perfec
tionist. He will accept short cuts and speedy methods of
production only when they do not compromise with
quality. He knows that in the long run, the right way is
always the easiest way.
Renown can be acquired only after the first two qual
ifications have been developed fully. As you progress,
your circle of recognition will widen. You can t, how
ever, just sit back and expect that because you make a
better pot the world is going to clamor for your work-
first the world will have to know about it! Advertise
yourself and promote your own creations in every way
you can. Use dignified methods, in keeping with your
work, if you are aiming for the top or novel methods
if they are suitable for the type of work you do. Lastly,
don t price your ware out of your class, aiming always
at improvement and perfection.
DEALING WITH THE TRADE
You will find that the smaller gift shops will not be
able to stock your ware in very large quantities. They
wifl want to buy one of this and two of that. If you wish
to sell to the small shops in your region, and want your
things displayed well for publicity purposes, you may
tips for the studio potter 181
find it wise, and necessary, to offer the small shop owner
a selection of your ware on a consignment basis. The
placing of samples of "personalized pottery** from which
orders are to be taken can also be placed on consign
ment. A placard accompanying such samples will draw
attention to them and teH your story to the public.
You will probably find that the shops interested in
your work will wish to have "exclusive" rights on your
wares for their immediate territory. In order to do busi
ness with them it is mandatory that you grant them an
"exclusive." Conversely, it is important to be careful in
your choice of outlets. Make a survey of all the shops
where your ware can be sold, and choose the best one
first. Your opening wedge in selling the owner might be
to say that you chose his shop because it is the finest in
town, and is just the place for your exclusive line of
pottery. You can obtain lists of gift shops, department
stores, etc., from the local chamber of (xanmerce.
The procedure in selling to a department store is a
little more complicated. First contact the buyer s office
of the department into which your items wifl fit Fmd
out what days and hours the head buyer views new
merchandise and take your samples to his office at the
appointed time. (Avoid assistant buyers. ) You wfll have
an opportunity to show your samples and tefl yoor story,
but you may not receive an order at that time. It s a
good idea to keep going back until you get an order, if
tiie buyer shows any interest at all, and is friendly. If
the buyer does decide to stock your item, lite may start
with a sTnflTf order of perhaps a dozen or two pieces to
act as tests on the display counters. As long as your
making pottery for profit 1 82
merchandise sells within a specified time, and you keep
reminding the buyer, you will receive orders at intervals.
Perhaps you will have a "fast mover** and reorders will
be mailed or phoned to you without solicitation. This
is good business, and you must be fully prepared to cope
with it. It is not recommended that you attempt to gain
big store or jobber business unless you have the proper
facilities for production.
It is important to stabilize prices on all of your ware.
Do not under any circumstances sell your pottery from
your own shop or studio at lower prices than they retail
for in the stores to which you sell (Seconds, properly
labeled as such, are of course the exception here. ) You
must protect your sales outlets in this way as a matter of
good business ethics.
CREDIT
Extending credit to your small shop clientele is a diffi
cult problem and can be risky. Sometimes you can check
credit rating through the facilities of Dun and Brad-
street, or through local banks and other references sup
plied by the customer. You will obviously be much
better off if you can sell for cash. If you are the typical
small studio potter, explain your position to the shop
owner and tell him that you are not sufficiently estab
lished to carry accounts. He may be willing to accept
your merchandise on a C.O.D. basis.
When selling for cash it is customary to give a "cash
discount," usually 2%. However this is not mandatory,
and you don t have to grant it unless the merchant spe-
tips for the studio potter 1 83
crfically requests one When selling on credit, a cash
discount is usually given if the goods are paid for within
ten days after delivery Bills should become payable and
due after thirty days, with no discount (net)
The business of being in business can be a precarious
one No matter how small your studio is, run all of your
dealings in a proper and businesslike manner It is al
most as important to study business techniques as it is
to study ceramic techniques, and a friend who is an
accountant can help you immeasurably The success of
your venture depends a great deal on your ability and
personality as a salesman, as well as on bookkeeping,
displaying of merchandise, cognizance of laws affecting
your operations, advertising, and general business
acumen
CHECKING YOUR STUDIO S "I Q "
The efficiency of your shop and methods will bear
directly on the quantity and quality of your production
If you are a "putter potter" you are going to remain in
the amateur class for some time to come If you try to
make every motion count, you are going to get better
ware and more of it
Check over your workshop Is everything arranged in
categories? Are you set up on a production-line basis?
Or does one operation interfere with the next? Do you
take ten steps when two will do? Are your work-table
heights correct for standing erect while working on your
feet? Do your stools or chairs assure proper posture for
work done sitting down? Have you ascertained the mrn-
making pottery for profit 1 84
fmnm hand and body motions required to do each spe
cific job? Do you have a good supply of tools at hand
for each job? Can you train yourself to work with both
hands instead of just one? Why become physically ex
hausted in four hours when you should be able to last
eight?
Check your shop for work hazards. Do your grinding
wheels have proper guards? Do you wear goggles? Does
your spray booth have a vent fan? Do you have a res
pirator, and wear it properly? Are there any boards,
hoses or other equipment that can be tripped over? Do
you keep down the clay dust? Is your kiln well insulated
and free from fire hazards? Do you have a well equipped
first-aid kit always at hand?
INCOME TAX DEDUCTIONS
If you conductyour pottery business on the premises of
your home and derive an income from it, you are entitled
to make certain deductions on your income tax. You
wifl be able to "write off" as business expenses the pro
portionate cost of rent, heat, light, etc., of your home.
For example, if you occupy a six-room house and use
one room as a studio and workshop, i/6th of the house
hold expenses can be considered business overhead, and
are deductible as such. This follows the same principles
as income deduction for any business. You must be rea
sonable in your estimate, and may not claim deductions
which are in excess of the income earned from the
business!
p rice-range list
Prices)
M T E R 1 A L S
CL BODIES
plastic form
iry fonn
CA [ING SLIPS
prepared
dry
J>E OBATING MATERIALS
onderglaze colors
overglaze colors
prepared glazes
frits
daze stains
o
body stains
slip stains
lustres
per pound
.10 to
^o
per ton
20*00 to
100,00
per pound
.03 to
15
per ton
10.00 to
65^00
per gallon
75 to
1.50
per pound
.03 to
15
per ton
10,00 to
65^)0
per pound
1.00 to
3^
per pound
ixx) to
lOjQO
per pound
75 to
2^K>
per pound
75 to
2OO
per pound
.25 to
75
per pound
1.00 to
5-0
per pound
ixx) to
&o
per pound
LOO to
5oo
per gim.
jost to
50
TOOLS
wooden modeling
wire-end
steel plaster
turning
BRUSHES
camel s hair glaze
decorating
burnishing
KNIVES
palette
spatulas
potter s
MORTARS AND PESTLES
small
medium
large
GROUND GLASS SLABS
small
medium
large
GROUND GLASS MXTLLERS
SCRAPERS
watch-maker flexible steel
rigid
SPONGES
.25 to
.50 to
i.oo to
.50 to
.50 to
.25 to
1.50 to
.50 to
.50 to
.50 to
i.oo to
2.OO tO
5.00 to
1,00 to
a.oo to
2.50 to
.25 to
.15 up
.30 up
.50 to
2.00
3.00
2.OO
3-50
2.OO
a.oo
2.OO
a.oo
5.00
10.00
1.50
2.50
3.00
2.OO
3.00
STACKING SUNDRIES
shelves
per square foot
i.oo to
3.00
tile setters
each
i.oo to
a.oo
posts
each
.10 to
50
stilts
per gross
75 to
2.50
saddles
per gross
75 to
4.00
pyrometric cones
per box
75 to
1.50
g d
p tinum
si er
BISCI r WABE
ti ss
p tes
E Q I P M E NT
per gram
per gram
per gram
each
each
-25 to
.25 to
.10 to
.10 to
.25 to
.50
So
-25
25
l.OO
STUD i KILNS
1 rubic foot
2 rubic feet
4 rubic feet
6 ruble feet
8 rubic feet
i cubic feet
PTRO 3ETERS
POTT R S WHEELS
EBS
BALL COLLS, COMPLETE
i gallon jars
g nding pebbles
SPHA [NG EQUIPMENT
c npressors and guns
I oths
PORT BLE WEDGING BOABD3
per pound
GRIN
SCA1 3
WHEELS
65.00 to 100.00
150.00 to 300.00
300.00 to 500.00
500.00 to 1000.00
800.00 to 1200.00
1000.00 to 1500.00
15.00 up
to 350,00
50.00 up
50,00 up
20.00 up
.so to .50
1O.OO Up
25- ttp
&oo to 12*00
7,50 Tip
Tip
I Be weight
1O-OO
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We -wish to express our gratitude to the following:
The magazines, Ceramic Industry and Ceramic
Age; Marshall Lee, who designed the book; the type
setters and proofreaders of H. Wolff, New York, for
bringing order out of the chaos of our copy; the
White Plains School of Adult Education, whose
Ceramics Group enabled us to become teacher and
potter respectively, and co-authors jointly; and the
ceramic hobbyists whose requests for information
acquainted us with the need for a book of this type.
the Authors
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