Roeder on wed 2 oct 96
Do you ever find yourself resenting your best sellers? Are you in a
love/hate relationship with your dip dishes/pasta bowls/candlesticks? Do
you ever feel that so much of your time is spent filling your "best seller"
inventory, that you don't have time for growth and exploration?
Just wondering if those feelings are out there, and what you've done to deal
with it?
Candice Roeder
pondering in Michigan
June Perry on thu 3 oct 96
A good way for production potters to avoid the best sellers blues might be to
allot one day or whatever time feels comfortable, to making what you want.
Many potters choose that option.
I think that is a good way to balance the need to pay ones bills and still
allow ones creativity to expand.
Regards,
June
Cobalt1994@aol.com on thu 3 oct 96
Oh yes, oh yes.....Best sellers can rule your life, especially with kids in
college, a very expensive time of life. Experimentation is necessary for
sanity, but the time is so hard to find. I've been finding more of it these
days, but it's hard when the new stuff (sigh) doesn't sell all that well. I
give alot of it to fundraising auctions. But I'll keep making it and giving
it away, just so the kiln openings can be like xmas again. Like it used to be
every time. 20 years ago.
Jennifer in Vermont
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email: Cobalt1994@aol.com
Jennifer Boyer
Thistle Hill Pottery
Montpelier, Vt.
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Sue Davis on thu 3 oct 96
Whoa!!!! Did you hit a nerve!!!! If I look at another "Bahamian House" design
on ANYTHING I think I'm going to puke. Just kidding. I've been calling it
Pottery burn out. I have to drag myself to the studio and make myself get my
work done. Of which I now have an order out there
waiting...waiting.....waiting. And what am I doing? Why I'm carving fish
design on pots. Don't know where I'm going to merchandise them at this point
but I really needed the break. Now the deadline is coming close and must
finish the order. One thing I do is allow myself to completely go in any
direction AFTER the order is completed and delivered. I take a walk on the
beach and just dream. Then I return to the studio and allow myself to throw
anything I feel like for a day or two. No weighing clay, no set form, just
PLAY. This usually helps, for awhile anyway. Glad to know I'm not the only
one that feels this way. Pottery is such a lonely job. Sometimes you start to
lose touch and it's nice to know you aren't the "lone ranger".
Sue Davis
Waiting for the sun to come up so I can walk the beach today. :-)
Dan Taylor on fri 4 oct 96
Man...this sure did hit a nerve! I have for years tried (unsuccessfully)
to marry production potting with one-of-a-kind pleasures. It seems some
god-forsaken ill-placed work ethic gets in the way and the studio time I
faithfully promise myself is to be set aside for clay growth gets used up
making those dip dishes/pasta bowls/candlesticks. I am at the moment trying
again...this time promising to make at least one growth piece during each
throwing session. Doesn't allow very much R&D time but better than
nothing...if it succeeds! I too would love to hear from others struggling
with this dilemma. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some candlesticks to
make. ;-)
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Do you ever find yourself resenting your best sellers? Are you in a
love/hate relationship with your dip dishes/pasta bowls/candlesticks? Do
you ever feel that so much of your time is spent filling your "best seller"
inventory, that you don't have time for growth and exploration?
Just wondering if those feelings are out there, and what you've done to deal
with it?
Candice Roeder
pondering in Michigan
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Dan Taylor dataylor@mlc.awinc.com
Taylor Clayworks Ph: (403)527-1002
1340 - 10th Ave. NE Fax: (403)527-1032
Medicine Hat, AB T1A 6G3 "Live your dreams"
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Pelly123@aol.com on fri 4 oct 96
Well, Yes, I hate them....I have to deliver six french butter keepers to the
show I'm in this weekend and, I have to tell you,I hate them so much that i
finally I threw them last night and it took me until almost midnight to do
it....I am going to put them in the little kiln tonite, soak them and fire
them in the morning, glaze them tomorrow night and fire them so they can go
on Sunday...I have been selling lotion bottles and 1 lb vases by the dozen.
I love huge things with applique work...giant flowers, mainly and lots of
construction pieces, but I have little time to do them.
This year, I have made the show this weekend my last show until spring..I
have to make a large quantity of pitchers for a restaurant opening in the
city.....I will teach a couple of classes and concentrate on doing just want
I want to do. I am going to make a mondo slump mold from a round kid's sled
and create a magnificent fountain.... glaze test all of these wonderful
Clayart recipes until the cows come home......lamps to fill the
studio....wall hangings..huge footed porcelain planters with leaves all
around...I'll go out now and gather the leaves and make bisque stamps out of
them...I have a small apartment-- I'll paint all of the wooden furniture off
white and inlay copper green and white tile onto all of the tops.....the
ideas are running around in my head like a tornado...I will put a ton of clay
in the studio and I will not make a best seller until I have gloriously
consumed all of it....COWABUNGA!!!!!!
Pelly in Rochester, NY
Dave and Pat Eitel on fri 4 oct 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Do you ever find yourself resenting your best sellers? Are you in a
>love/hate relationship with your dip dishes/pasta bowls/candlesticks? Do
>you ever feel that so much of your time is spent filling your "best seller"
>inventory, that you don't have time for growth and exploration?
>
>Just wondering if those feelings are out there, and what you've done to deal
>with it?
>
>Candice Roeder
>pondering in Michigan
Candice--On the contrary, I LOVE my bestsellers. They (it?) keep me in
business. Sure, they take alot of time to make, but I am fortunate in that
I love to make them. Actually, I wish I had more "best selling" things to
make. I probably felt differently 10 years ago, but at the age of 53 with
no retirement plan, lots of bills and a lifestyle that requires some cash
to maintain--house payments, for example--I'm really grateful for them.
Later...Dave
Dave Eitel
Cedar Creek Pottery
Cedarburg, WI
daveitel@execpc.com
http://www.digivis.com/CedarCreek/home.html
CaroleER@aol.com on sat 5 oct 96
Make a date with yourself (and don't break it!) to throw or build something
different one day a week - two days if you have to trim. If you think of it
as a promise to a kid (your 'artist child') it may be easier to keep - who
wants to disappoint a kid?!
Carole Rishel
Bastrop, TX
CaroleER@aol.com
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