Brad Sondahl on thu 11 may 00
I just finished 400 little cups stamped with a camp logo on them, and
can't recall a larger single order. It felt fine doing it, although I
wish I'd charged a bit more (but they asked if I could do it for the set
price, and I agreed...). Anyway, it put me in mind that the potters I
apprenticed with used to make mugs for the Minn. Renaissance Fair, which
was a large order--in the thousands. Before completing the order they
were sick of making them, and hired me back after I'd left them to stamp
and handle several hundred of them.
In general I like production of single pieces, as long as I've got
something like NPR talk programs to occupy my mind...
So what's the largest single potter production order you've done, and
how did you feel about it?
--
Brad Sondahl
New Homepage: http://pages.about.com/bsondahl/index.html
New commercial pottery page http://sondahl.safeshopper.com
Original literature, music, pottery, and art
Paul Lewing on fri 12 may 00
Brad Sondahl wrote:
> In general I like production of single pieces, as long as I've got
> something like NPR talk programs to occupy my mind...
> So what's the largest single potter production order you've done, and
> how did you feel about it?
Two years ago, I made 400 6x6 tiles silk screened with a logo for a
convention. They were china paint screened onto a commercial tile and
mounted in a wooden frame. It took one day to do the drawing and make
the screen, four days to screen and fire them (two colors), and one day
to glue them into the frames. And actually, I didn't work a full
eight-hour day any of those days, I just had done all I could that day.
Got $8 apiece for them. It felt like a good week's work, and I'd like
to do that kind of order more often. Just turn up the NPR and boogey.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Nikom Chimnok on fri 12 may 00
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>So what's the largest single potter production order you've done, and
>how did you feel about it?
**************************************************************
Just to give you something to compare everyone else's stories to, here is a
production tale from Thailand. It is not atypical of orders here; there've
been lots bigger.
About two years ago we took an order from Pier I for 15,000 plus pots--18
forty foot containerloads. The biggest pot was a 25" high, 21" diameter jar,
which they sold for $100--I know because our final task before packing was
to attach bar code stickers. We got $20 for it.
You should understand that although we call our workplace here a factory,
many of your studios are more automated. In fact we have a series of
studios--there are 4 roofs for 4 throwers, and 3 guys threw all these pots
over a 5 month period. It wasn't their only work; actually it was their
fallback work--lots of other orders were produced in the meanwhile. When
they had nothing else to do, they threw Pier I pots, tho there was a crunch
toward the end when they threw nothing but.
Our throwers don't do anything but throw. A crew of 2 or 3 makes clay
constantly, and each thrower has a helper who kneads and coils clay, as well
as turning his wheel for him, and lifting the pot off the wheel. Throwers
don't complain about too many repeats; they complain about too few.
Repeating is the way to make money. After the throwers were done with the
pots, they were decorated by 5 or 6 decoration specialists, who incised,
applied, and added handles. Pier I wanted lots of handwork.
After the pots dried, they were loaded in 300 cf wood burning kilns and
bisque fired--2 day firings in 4 kilns, 2 firemen firing 2 kilns at a time,
one guy taking naps in an unused kiln while the other worked. Lots of
overtime. For moving the pots to the kiln, loading, and unloading, temporary
crews of 8 or 10 were pulled together. It took about half a day to load a
kiln, tumble stacked, with a fireman in charge, and pot brigades passing
pots in through the door of the kiln. Unloading was always done hot, in
about two hours.
When all the pots were assembled in front of the kiln a specialist walked
through them with a rock and a piece of plaster. He'd thump each pot, listen
to the ring, and if it was uncracked, he'd mark it with a zero. If cracked,
he'd X it, find the crack, and draw an arrow to it. The crackers were all
collected to the fixed with cement and superglue before the painting crews
got to them. I should say that this was not hidden from Pier I--they had
inspectors around regularly. They knew they were selling cracked pots; they
don't care. In fact it makes no differnce--these are completely
non-functional pots, good for setting in a foyer with dried flower arrangements.
The order was all shipped during the final two months of the six month
contract--15,000 pots, all painted blue with some yellow and "antiqued",
sent to 6 different US locations. It seemed like a lot of pots, but
remembering that Pier I has 500+ stores, it's only 300 each.
In the final analysis, it was a lot of money but not a lot of profit. Cases
of Superglue start to add up, and the cost of managing all that activity was
substantial. Pier I soon came back looking for 40 containers at yet a
cheaper price--the owner sent them packing. They're still buying 60 or so
loads a year from others in the village--I guess it keeps lots of people
working.
We've moved on--a new claybody which doesn't crack, Cone 7 gardenware in gas
kilns, sent mainly to Japan. Smaller volume, more profit, and a product I
don't mind being associated with. Our thrower did 8000 owl planters over a 3
month period; his only complaint is the price he gets. The firecrew likes
firing all owls--never have to tear down the shelves, just reload and fire
it up again.
So there it is--a picture of Thai-style Productionism.
Nikom
Hank Murrow on fri 12 may 00
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I just finished 400 little cups stamped with a camp logo on them, and
>can't recall a larger single order. It felt fine doing it, although I
>wish I'd charged a bit more (but they asked if I could do it for the set
>price, and I agreed...). Anyway, it put me in mind that the potters I
>apprenticed with used to make mugs for the Minn. Renaissance Fair, which
>was a large order--in the thousands. Before completing the order they
>were sick of making them, and hired me back after I'd left them to stamp
>and handle several hundred of them.
>In general I like production of single pieces, as long as I've got
>something like NPR talk programs to occupy my mind...
>So what's the largest single potter production order you've done, and
>how did you feel about it?
>--
>Brad Sondahl
Dear Brad; What goes around comes around.......When I had my first shop in
Venice, CA I got an order for three hundred soup bowls to be used at a
fund-raising dinner put on by KPFK-FM on behalf of the first Renaissance
Fair in Simi Valley, CA in 1962. Never did get paid; but the stretch was
good for me, if a nuisance for the other folks in the studio. Hank in Eugene
NLudd@AOL.COM on mon 15 may 00
Two thousand saltglazed mugs, thrown, with pulled handles, each with stamp
bearing the Royal Crest luted onto the side.
The commission was to design and make these mugs to commemorate the Queen of
GB's Silver Jubilee.
The mugs were thrown by me, the deputy and the other apprentice (learning by
being thrown into the deep end in ye time honored tradition), the handles
pulled on the pots, and the stamped plaque applied. We lost a few hundred to
those darn plaques easing away from the mugs in the drying/firing, so
whatever the number of pots wanted, we made plenty more to complete the
order.
Ever since, I have been a republican.
Ned
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