My favorite running spot, the C&O Canal at Swain's Lock.

Once again, I am starting the new year resolving to stay on a consistent running schedule. Running is something I began doing in 2008, specifically because I had begun to see the possibility that my pottery studio could provide a livable income. I could also see that in order to keep up with a potter's workload, I needed to be in better shape. The first time I tried running, I made it about 1/4 mile, started seeing stars, and felt like vomiting. I'm proud to say that 15 years later, I'm still doing it. My mileage had fallen off in recent years. At the beginning of last year, I resolved to get back into it seriously. I managed to stick with it for most of the year, until the holiday season workload came crashing on my head. So right now I'm working my way back. 

People sometimes ask me how I have the energy to produce as many pots as I do. Running is a big part of that answer. Good stamina and strong legs count for a lot in pottery. Every day in a pottery studio requires a lot of physical effort. That's not counting those unusual days when I have to move 1000 lbs of clay from my car and down a flight of stairs. And every art fair is an exercise in weightlifting and endurance, both physical and mental. One of my missions with this blog is to give aspiring potters an accurate picture of what it's really like. If you currently feel that the workload of pottery is too much, do what I did when I felt the same way. Start running. 

Three years ago, I wrote a blog post on January 1, 2020, saying that the new decade felt very auspicious. A few months later the world shut down for a pandemic, and all of my plans for that year went out the window. 

Not many people know this, but at the time I was actively planning to wind down this business and retire from pottery. The retirement would be happening right about now. I was envisioning a completely different lifestyle, where I did not need a 1600 square-foot house, a lot of heavy equipment, and a minivan. I wanted to live in a tiny apartment, that I could leave unoccupied whenever I wanted, in order to be nomadic in a tiny fuel-efficient car. I wanted to never mow a lawn or shovel snow again. I could prevent boredom by learning a different craft (bookbinding) that does not require all the equipment or the physicality. All of the tools of bookbinding are very portable, which would allow me to move to different places, or even different countries. 

Yeah, I had it all planned out. Then the pandemic forced me to be separated from art fairs for 1.5 years. It gave me the space and time to think about all of these things from a different perspective. What I learned was that it wasn't my house or the pottery studio that I wanted to walk away from. There were other aspects of my life that I was dissatisfied with, and moving away would not solve them. The issues would have simply followed me, because they are internal.

When shows started coming back in the fall of 2021, I was startled to realize how emotional I was about it. I was so happy! I missed it so much. This fall, after being back at it for about a year, I had a moment of acute and profound awareness. I was thinking back to myself in 2008, seeing stars after running 1/4 mile, trying to convince myself I could be a full-time potter. And realizing that I was currently sitting in my booth at the PMA Craft Show, not only making a comfortable living now, but making work that I am really proud of. "This is your wildest dream," I said to myself. "And you worked so hard to get here. If you want to stop doing this, you are out of your mind." 

Generally speaking, I want to go back to the way I was running this business before the pandemic. But some things will need to change. The art fair landscape has changed a lot. Also, I had my best annual gross sales year in 2022, despite doing only 7 shows. My previous best year was 2017, when I did 12 shows. Some of this year's revenue came from my online pottery school. But my sales-per-show average has grown by a lot. I simply can't do as many shows as I used to.

About those internal issues that I need to work on? This is about differentiating between things that are worth my loyalty and energy, and things that aren't. How does that apply to my business? As shows began to emerge from the lockdowns, I saw some stark differences between show producers and how they behaved. Some shows really do have the artists' best interests in mind, knowing that a show cannot succeed long term unless the artists do. And some of them view artists as just a source of revenue. Some have good intentions but just aren't very competent. From now on, I will no longer treat all shows with the same regard. There are shows that I will jump at the chance to do. And some that I will use as a back-up, in case I don't get into something better. There are also shows that are in-between, meaning I would like to do them but only if the timing and location align perfectly.
​ 

The line of people I found when I opened my door for the Open Studio last month.

My last sale of 2022, the Open Studio at my house, was an all-time record-setter for any event, by a wide margin. During this sale, some people told me that they wished I did sales at my house twice a year. I've never considered doing that before, because I am cautious not to rely too heavily on my existing email list for sales. I've always thought it was better to be at art fairs, where my email list brings some customers, and the attendance provided by the show brings the rest. Here's another thing I learned from the pandemic: During the lockdowns, my only method for generating sales was to lean on my email list. And it didn't hurt my business! When shows came back, things picked up right where they left off. Maybe I can afford to rely on my email list a little more? Would it actually be better to do so?

I decided to ask my email list if they wanted me to do two shows per year at my house, one in June and one in December. I also said that my plans for 2023 were unclear, and that all feedback would be considered. I asked these questions on Facebook and Instagram too. I had never made a direct query like this to my customer base before. To my surprise, I got 82 replies, 59 of them via email. I learned a lot about what my best customers were thinking, including things I was not expecting. Here's what the replies said:

68 people said "do the second home sale!" This is way more than enough people to make a sale successful.

17 people said "I can't or couldn't make it to your December sale, for various reasons." This is something I had not considered before, that December is an overloaded time for a lot of people. There are holiday-related obligations, and for other working artists like me, attending other artists' sales is impossible. Some of my December customers are indeed buying holiday gifts, but most of them are buying pots for themselves. Which means the holiday season is not really a requirement in terms of timing.

8 people said "I am not local to you. Please don't stop doing shows in my area." Don't worry, shows are still the backbone of my business plan. And traveling to other cities/towns is really fun for me. But this is an area where I will need to make some changes (see below).

5 people said "I am not local to you. But I would consider traveling to Maryland in June, which is not feasible in December." Wow!

4 people said "I don't really like going to art fairs." I can understand this. When a show is really good and worth attending, that generally means it involves challenging logistics, such as difficult parking and a lot of walking.  

3 people said "your December sale has become too chaotic." This is the feedback that I pondered the most. Every year, the number of people waiting outside at 10am on Saturday gets larger (see above photo). When the sale opens, pots start flying off the shelves. Paying for your pots requires standing in a long line. For some people, this is fun. And for others, it's unmanageable. I heard from people who attended the December sale, found the space to be too crowded to see anything, realized the displays were emptying fast, and left without buying anything. I really don't want anyone to come to my house and have this experience. I'm not sure there is a way to fix this. But maybe doing two sales per year will take some demand off both sales. And a June sale can be held outdoors, so it won't feel as crowded. And by replacing one art fair with a second home sale, this might be a more balanced use of my email list. It's possible my reluctance to overuse my email list doesn't apply to me anymore. In fact, maybe I should try to slow down the growth of my list instead. I don't need to earn more income. But I would like to provide a better experience to the people who have already been supporting my work.

2 people said "I don't live near any of your shows. Please sell online." I did several online sales during the pandemic, and I simply won't do them anymore. If you think the December sale is chaotic, the online sales were so much worse. When you're at a fast-paced, crowded in-person sale,  everyone will at least be polite to each other. Online stores allow people to buy pots that are already in somebody else's cart. It's the equivalent of wrestling a pot out of somebody else's hands. That's how it feels to the customer. I know this because they weren't shy about telling me. Again, it really bothers me that some people had a bad experience. Plus, I hate how much trash it generates, and how much time is takes to process the shipments. It's not the kind of business I want to have. The only reason I might do it again is because of another pandemic. 

1 person (who has been buying my pots since the very, very beginning) pointed out that I don't do many local shows anymore. I admit that this is true. I've been using my pottery business as a means of travel, for purely personal enrichment. I'm not going to stop doing travel shows, but I can balance that with the knowledge that my largest audience is very close to me. Here's yet another thing the pandemic taught me: I conducted my lockdown sales by delivering pots to customer's houses. Which means I got a really clear picture of where my customers live. I accepted orders from Baltimore to NoVa. By far the largest concentration of pottery customers was in southern Montgomery County, within minutes of my own house. I also did home-delivery sales for Central Pennsylvania and for the Philadelphia region. These were good sales, but revenue-wise they were not anywhere close to the DC/Baltimore home-delivery sales. 

All things considered, it absolutely makes sense for me to add a second home sale per year, in June. It will be outdoors, in my backyard. It will probably be a one-day event, not two. It will be poorly advertised, haha, but my email subscribers will be well-informed. The purpose is to return some of my focus to my existing local audience.

I don't think I'll ever do 12 shows in a year again. I think 7 to 9 is the right amount, including the 2 at my house. I'm not going to stop seeking interesting travel opportunities. Before the pandemic, my goal was to do at least one show per year that I had never done before, in a new city or town. I haven't been able to do that since 2019, and I really want to have this again. I think it's important, as a human being, ​to expand your horizons. And there are places that I've been to once and would really like to return (Boston, Chicago, Raleigh). This means that for some shows that I have been doing every year, I will switch to doing them every other year, or every third year. There will be some tough decisions here. Some of these shows might not be happy with me. And since every show involves a jurying process, I might be shooting myself in the foot. I'll just have to deal with that. I'll also be making myself less available to some non-local parts of my existing audience. I don't love this, but I see that it's necessary. 

When I go to a new city or town, maybe I won't even put out my email list sign-up pad, because it's not worth capturing contacts in places I might not return to. When I am in places that I do wish to return, maybe I'll put away the email list pad after I gain 20 new contacts, or some other arbitrary number. This is a completely different mindset for me! I've always preached the importance of building an email list. But for a while I've also been feeling the pressure of too much demand. It's time to stop focusing on growth. I never thought I'd say that, but I don't need it anymore, and I can't keep up with it anyways. I am entering a new phase. I'm still going to try to build my email list in a steady way, just more slowly and not all the time. 

These changes are all in line with the internal issues I am working on. Putting less pressure on myself, prioritizing, deciding what really matters to me, facing the risk of shooting myself in the foot and trusting that I'll be ok.

I am still planning on retiring from pottery someday. But the timeframe has been pushed back by a lot. I do really enjoy bookbinding, and will continue to learn it. But I'm not done with pottery yet! Thank goodness for the pandemic? It showed me things that I wasn't seeing. And it stopped me from making a big misguided mistake. "Auspicious" is not quite the right word this time, for how I'm feeling about the new year. I think I was being a bit hubristic three years ago. The path ahead contains some uncertainties, but I generally feel optimistic about it. Just like with running, I will take it one step at a time, and try to enjoy the scenery along the way. 

Please join me for my 2022 Open Studio, back in the safe confines of my basement! Here’s what’s new and exclusive at this year’s event.

The first new design is called Nine Rice Bowls, which are connected by one geometric carving. Not just for Asian meals, they’re the right size for desserts, general snacking, or mise en place. Each bowl is 5 inches across. I made one set of these for the sale, $200 for the set.

Edit: The Nine Rice Bowls have been sold. 

You may have already seen these, because they were featured in my blast email for the PMA Craft Show in November. This set of six nesting bowls is named New Home Starter Kit: Salad, Popcorn, Ramen, Cereal, Ice Cream, Tea. My goal here was maximum functionality in the smallest amount of space. I made three of these sets for the sale, two of them via reservation. There is one set available. The largest bowl is 9 inches across. $280 for the set. 

Edit: The last of the New Home Starter Kits has now been sold. 

Last year when I discontinued my 5 inch blossom-shaped dish, due to some nagging production issues, I promised to come up with a new design of similar function and scale. And here it is, now shaped like a ginkgo leaf! The Ginkgo Leaf Dish is primarily intended to be a place to dip one’s sushi, but has many other uses too (soap, jewelry, candles). 5 inches across at its widest span. $10 each. 

Until now, I have only sold my handmade books online during the pandemic. This weekend will be the first time you get to shop the books in person! The books you see at the sale are SAMPLES ONLY. I will make them to order, and mail them to you before Christmas. Free postage. 

From the very beginning of learning bookbinding, I have wanted to design a weekly planner, and this year I finally did it! The 2023 Weekly Planner is based on the planners I relied on back when I had a desk job, but pared down by a lot. There is a year-at-a-glance on page 1, followed by double-page spreads of one week at a time, broken down into half-hour increments. Major holidays and daylight savings days are noted. 7 x 8.5 inch overall size, 108 pages. Slim, portable, and doesn’t take up much space on a desk either. $40 each. 

In addition to the Weekly Planner, I am offering all of my existing book designs, including Notebooks in small ($18), medium ($25), and large ($32). Notebook pages can be blank, lined, or grids. Plus, Old-Fashioned Ledger Books ($32), Password Books ($15), and a very limited quantity of Coptic Stitch Sketchbooks ($60)

Earlier this year, I made a video titled “How to Mix a Glaze from Raw Materials” in which I produced a bucket of teal glaze, and four teal bud vases. The vases will be for sale this weekend, and priced to sell! I also have about 2 gallons of the teal glaze remaining, which I am offering for FREE to the first potter who agrees to pick it up during the sale. (I have nothing against teal pots, I just don’t want to make them!) If you just want the recipe, it’s in the video (click below) which is free to watch. 

​A Deer Tail Brush is an important tool in my glazing process. I talked about it in my video “Glaze Like a Pro” but then several people asked me where to get a deer tail brush. I realized it isn’t easy to buy them, because you have to find someone who makes them by hand. So this year I learned how to make them, made a video titled “How to Make a Deer Tail Brush,” and also held an online sale of the brushes I made. I have 8 remaining and they will be available this weekend for $12 each. Or, you can watch the video (click below) and make your own!

In addition to everything listed above, I made an oversized inventory of all of my usual things: mugs, bowls, platters, trays, jars, vases, and more. And a table full of seconds!

Good Elephant Pottery’s 15th Annual Holiday Open Studio
December 10-11, 2022 / 10am to 5pm both days
​
Entrance to the studio is behind the house and down a flight of stairs. No parking in the driveway! Street parking is plentiful and free on weekends. 

At a recent show, I sold every pot I made for the show, over 300 pots. I had previously thought this was impossible. Selling becomes harder and harder the more empty your display becomes, because the remaining pots look more and more like "leftovers." It's like trying to climb an exponential curve. But I was proven wrong. Anyhow, the reason I know about this exponential curve is because in the past few years, most of my shows end with only a handful of pots left.

At another recent show, the artist across the aisle from me, who had been observing the pace of sales happening in my booth for a few days, finally marched across the aisle and asked, "Are you having a crazy good show? Or is this normal for you?" He did so in a way that conveyed a compliment, but he was also a bit agitated. That's not unusual either, when other artists get confused or bothered when they see my nearly empty booth. Don't worry, most people I encounter at the end of a show are positive and supportive about it. But still, I do feel uneasy about making others feel bad. It probably can't be avoided, just part of the reality of a competitive situation. Mostly I just need to suck it up, because I am not in a position to complain.

This is how my booth starts out, with more work stored as back stock underneath the tables, sometimes equal or more than the front stock.

​And this is typically how my shows end.

In an ideal world, I want every artist to have a nearly empty booth. I can't control what happens to other artists, but I'm happy to share exactly what I'm doing. Along with what I see other artists doing wrong. What I'm doing is not magic, I'm not cheating, nor did I make a deal with Satan. There are lots of components here, but they can be sorted into three parts. Many things in this post have appeared on my blog before, or in my online school (links provided). The information is kind-of scattered though, so this blog post is meant to consolidate it into one place.


Part 1: A Simple Venn Diagram

This is a touchy subject, that most artists do not want to talk about. It should only be discussed in settings of trust and privacy, with people who are qualified to discuss it. I'm talking about the quality and appeal of one's work. When I see artists complaining about poor sales (either in person or on the internet), they tend to place blame on everything else besides their own work. At the same time, when I am walking around at a show, I see a lot of great work, but also plenty of stuff that is not very appealing. Getting juried into a good show does not mean your work is sellable. Some artists will rationalize that impressing show jurors and making sellable work are mutually exclusive, but that's just an excuse. I can get into the highest tier of craft shows, with work that also sells great, and so can plenty of others.

It's a venn diagram of "work that fulfills me artistically" and "work that others want to buy." I see a lot of artists who ignore the second part. Unfortunately, a lot of academia teaches art students that the second part is beneath them, and that is a shame. There's no truth in that way of thinking. It's just out-of-touch pretentiousness. And immaturity. And for those who think it's not possible to solve the diagram, you just haven't tried hard enough. Or possibly, you don't have the talent to do so. 

"Work that sells" is not about pandering. I don't chase sales by trying to dazzle people with flashy or attention-seeking pots. I'm also not aiming for "most beautiful" or "highest degree of difficulty." These are vanity traits. If this means most people will walk past gray and brown pots without a second glance, that's fine! Flashiness and vanity have only short-term value. I'm trying to impress the person who picks up a pot and notices its comfort and balanced weight. I want them to realize, at a later point, how much they appreciate it after using it many times. I call that "design merit" and that is my goal. When you reach people on that level, the reaction that you get in return is of immeasurable value.

Just because my work is minimal and neutral, "design merit" does not require these traits. Colorful and ornate work can be loaded with design merit too. The real issues are functionality, ease of use, and quality of construction.

I'm also not really making individual pottery designs. When I design a new pot, I always consider how it fits into my entire line of work. I see a lot of pottery displays containing individual pots that don't relate to each other. Or with pots that are somehow competing with each other. This matters because a functional potter needs to convince at least some of their customers to buy large quantities of work. The "nearly sold out booth" doesn't happen without this type of selling. Like this:

​Or this:

Or even this (this was a wedding registry):

Note how easily my pots stack up into tall and stable piles. Pots that don't store efficiently do not meet the "ease of use" standard. This is not just about design but also consistency in production.

Customers do not buy these large sets unless I accomplish both things that I'm talking about here: I need to impress them with the design merit of my work, and every piece needs to work together with everything else. To the functional potters out there who want to improve their sales, I would start by concentrating on these two things. 

As I've written about before, my training is in design, not fine arts, and this is a big advantage for me in terms of coming up with work that sells. Designers are trained to "solve a problem" and/or to "convey a message." I bring these attitudes to everything I make, and every decision about my business. Unlike many artists, who were taught to prioritize self-expression and aesthetics. This is an incomplete skill set for an artist in the real world. You can't just be thinking about your own needs. You must also be willing to view your work through the eyes of a potential buyer, and to consider their needs too. Remember when you solve this as a venn diagram, you are still making work that fulfills you artistically. There is no compromise or sacrifice if you do it correctly.

Don't interpret this too far in the other extreme. You cannot simply focus on the "work that sells" part. Pottery is so physically labor intensive. If you ignore the "work that fulfills me artistically" part, you will burn out before you get very far. I have unfortunately seen this many times over the years, when a potter grows tired of their own work. Even for a potter like me, who has held on tightly to my artistic values, I regularly find myself in the studio thinking "I'd rather not do this today. I'm sore and I have no mental energy." I can't imagine being able to carry on if I no longer liked my pots.

This leads to another element of good selling, that I mention throughout this blog post, which is "longevity." In order to achieve the "nearly sold out booth" on a regular basis, you need to be out there selling for a really long time. Years and years. It takes that long to develop a fully-fledged and motivated customer base. Plus, many customers buy full sets (like the ones pictured above) a few pots at a time, over years. They need to trust that you're going to be around long enough to finish their set. But your business won't last if you are not taking care of both parts of the venn diagram, because you will either burn out artistically or you will run out of money.


Part 2: Inventory and Pricing

​There are two places where I've discussed this subject before, this blog post, and this video in my online school.

Making sellable work is just the starting point. I also strive to make work in the right quantities, and charge the right prices. I do this by keeping track of my sales, and using these metrics to guide me. My system is very simple, a notebook and a pen. As I prepare for a show, I make a list of every pot I'm packing. At the end of a show, I make a list of what's left. As I explained in the above-mentioned video, it takes about 10 shows before you start to see selling trends. After 20 shows, you'll have a really good idea about how to prepare the right inventory, and whether your prices are correct. I've been doing this consistently for years now, so these days when I am packing for a show, I feel pretty confident that I'm going to sell most of it. 

​Here's an example of my before and after lists from a show in 2018:

Ever since shows started up again last fall, after 1.5 years of pandemic cancellations, I have not been making the after lists, because there have not been enough pots left to bother. This has led me to cut back on shows this year, so I can pack more for each show. But even when I pack an extended inventory, I am still ending up with only a handful of pots. This has to do with post-pandemic pent-up demand. Not sure how long that will last. But when it ends, I will adjust my packing plans accordingly. 

At the beginning of every year, right after the holiday sales season is over, I take a hard look at the previous year's selling data, and use it to adjust my production plan for the next year. Here is my 2022 Inventory Production Plan:

There are eight to-do lists here, and each one takes me two days to complete. Including the days it takes to glaze the pots, and some days off, it take me five weeks to complete all eight of these lists. 

For what I consider a "large" show, I will try to complete and pack all eight lists. I will scale my packing quantities up or down depending on the size of the show, and based on how sales went at a show the year before, once again referring to the before and after lists.

Note the range of quantities for different items. Again, these quantities are based on selling trends. Mugs are my bread, and small bowls are my butter. If the thought of making thousands of mugs in your lifetime turns you off, professional pottery might not be a good choice. 

Sometimes when my booth is nearly emptied out, somebody will tell me that I should have packed more. I shrug and say "maybe" but I don't feel any regret. The person who said that didn't see how much I started with, including all of my back stock. Could I have made more sales by bringing more stock? Maybe, but I'm already taking home a nice paycheck, enough to make me feel like my time and effort were well spent. I like it when I only have a few pots left. Full boxes of pottery are heavy! It's a nice treat to only have to transport them in one direction. At the show where I sold out, I did sort-of wish I had more pots. But when I am left with a single-digit number of pots, I feel like I nailed the planning just right.  

Now on to the other half of this subject: pricing.

When I introduce a new item, I offer it at a low introductory price. If it doesn't sell well, it simply gets eliminated. If it sells well, I raise the price, a little at a time, until it stops selling. Then I reduce the price back down to the last number where it sold well, and call that the "sweet spot" price. Over time, I am constantly evaluating whether a price needs to be adjusted up or down. The before and after lists come into play here. Usually, these metrics tell me to raise or lower quantities, but sometimes the better choice is to raise or lower prices. In other words, I know my prices are correct because they are based on data. Not guesses. 

My prices end up in the middle, compared to how other potters price. Not the lowest, and not the highest.

Pricing is another touchy subject for many artists, because too many of them are using ego as a basis, rather than metrics, and egos are very sensitive. There's also a lot of peer pressure going around, to make our prices unnecessarily high. Sometimes, other artists will tell me that I need to raise my prices. I smile and pretend it was a compliment. But inside I am thinking "I'm sorry you're having a bad show." I can see they meant it as criticism, because they are cross with me for selling so well. Which, of course, wouldn't bother them unless they were having a bad show. And this means they are not putting much reason or proof into their own pricing. If they were, they would know better than to tell another artist what to do, without knowing anything about that person's business.

And then there are artists who are addressing the art world in general with "We all need to raise our prices, in order to benefit each other." Um, I guess they don't realize that's called "price fixing" and it is illegal. People who say this are demonstrating how ignorant they are about business. It's another indictment of arts academia, where these attitudes of entitlement are taught, and business sense is not. 

Another mistake I see is when artists express something like "I need to charge this exorbitant price because I deserve to be paid for my tttiiiiimmme!!!!!" I want to grab them by the shoulders, shake them and say "It doesn't work that way." Your time does not have an automatic value. If you devote a really long time to one piece, that doesn't make the work more valuable. It might only mean that you are slow and unskilled. Inexperienced sellers only have "time" to measure their worth, because their perspective on "expertise" has not yet been developed. When an artist has developed some real expertise, they can see that time spent does not correlate with finished quality. 

Your pricing should be based on one thing: market value. My method described above will find the market value. If you want your time to have a good value, you can't just demand that from others. It's up to you to provide that value to yourself, by developing your skill and speed.

This is another thought that goes through my head when another artist tells me to raise my prices. Not only do they not see my selling metrics, they also don't see how quickly I can produce my work. This allows me to charge reasonable prices, making my work accessible to a wide range of people, and still get paid handsomely overall. I don't feel any financial pressure to charge more, which allows me to stick to market values in an objective way. 

Speaking of market values and accessibility, another common mistake I see is when artists decide they will only go after the top 0.1% of wealthy people, by charging prices only they can afford. They think they are being savvy, by expecting to make more money for less work. This is a complete misunderstanding of demographics and wealth. A tiny percentage of artists can succeed with these price points, when their market values actually match the prices. These artists have built up the quality of their work, their following and reputation over a long time. You cannot simply assign these market values to yourself. But I see this all the time, artists sitting in their booth at a show, with unrealistic prices on their work, looking very glum.

The truth about wealthy people is that they don't spend money for the sake of owning something expensive. These are intelligent people and they care a lot about getting value for their spending. The ones who spend loosely are the "pretend wealthy" and they are more attracted to flashier things, like cars, technology, and other status symbols. Not art and craft. In another blog post on financial preparedness for artists, I recommended the book The Millionaire Next Door, which does a great job of illustrating the difference between "actual wealthy" and "pretend wealthy" people.

Pricing is where so many artists make mistakes. Again, I wish the formal education system for artists would teach them applicable and realistic business skills.

In one sentence, my goals regarding inventory planning and pricing are to make pots as fast as I can, in the right quantities, and price them so they sell as fast as I make them.


Part 3: How I Interact With People

My thoughts about customers can be found in this blog post, and also my most recent post.

This is one of the most rewarding aspects of this line of work. The people you deal with are lovely. How many jobs can you say this about? It is a great privilege, and I do not take it for granted. Not all art fairs will deliver this type of customer, it's something you find as you move up into the higher quality shows. This is not necessarily about wealth. It's about maturity, education level, and an appreciation for the arts.

I have a code for how I treat customers. I respect their time and their boundaries. I communicate clearly, thoroughly, and with timeliness. I put my prices in plain sight, because I don't play games, trying to make people guess. I have tight policies about my mailing list, making sure to only add contacts when they have intentionally opted in.

I have my own boundaries that I expect others to respect. I'm not trying to be a service worker. I want to be treated like an expert, and the owner of a busy enterprise. I find that you attract even higher quality people by fostering a "mutual respect" environment. Only happy and intelligent people are capable of this.

This relates to the "longevity" issue that I spoke about earlier. A lot of festival artists quit because their customer interactions turn unpleasant too often. It takes a great deal of energy to keep things positive, when dealing with hundreds of people per day. That energy needs to come from the artist. You can't be passive about it, but many artists are. Even though I enjoy this part a great deal, when a show day ends, I retreat to my house or hotel room and don't want to talk to anyone! My well is dry, and I need to replenish it before the next day begins. If you aren't managing the people skills well, you're going to hate art festivals and you aren't going to last. And like I said above, you don't get to "nearly sold out booth" level unless you've been around long enough.

I want everyone to leave my booth feeling glad they entered it, whether they bought something or not. Don't underestimate the importance of "customer experience" when making sales, and especially repeat sales. Sometimes I hear struggling potters say "how can I compete with $5 mugs from Target?" The answer is, you need to make the experience worth it for your customers. I have a lot of well-rehearsed blurbs at my disposal, to put people at ease, and to be informational about common questions. You don't need to be "entertainment" though it doesn't hurt to display some humor. Mostly it's about being kind, respectful, professional, and competent. It doesn't take that much on a per-person basis. But it does take a lot to maintain this consistently throughout long days. 

I try to make everyone feel welcome. But I make a point to treat repeat customers better than new ones. At this point, I have so many repeat customers, I don't always recognize a person upon seeing them twice. But after three or four times, I will catch on. I try to learn and remember their names. I am extra nice to them. I make sure to acknowledge and show appreciation, and let them know they are important to my business.


Which brings me to the point of the entire blog post.

This is all about converting customers into repeat customers. 1) I try to design pots that will inspire customers to build a collection rather than buying just one. 2) I make the quantities they want available, and I price them fairly so repeat buying is accessible. And 3) I give them a customer experience that makes them want to come back. And when they do, I make sure they feel my appreciation. 

Here's what's so valuable about repeat customers. They know me better, and my work, and my business. They know that popular things might sell out, so they reserve their pots in advance. For many shows, I will be in the black before the show even starts. Or, they arrive as soon as a show opens to see the best selection. This gets my show off to a running start. Experienced festival artists know that selling happens in waves. When somebody is making a purchase, your ability to impress new customers is at its highest. It spawns more selling. In other words, repeat customers are the ones who sell out your booth, both with their own purchasing, and by helping to convince new customers to do the same. 

At the show where I sold every single pot, the last few sales were made to people who had bought my work before. (Thank you Kerreesa, William, Tracy, and Nathaniel!) Again, when a booth is nearly empty, you're not going to convince a new customer to buy something, because they will assume they missed out on the more popular items. But existing customers, who are already familiar with my work, don't need to see the rest. It helps that this show was in my hometown, where my customer base is the largest.

It's important to recognize that repeat customers have a life cycle. Typically, they start with a pot or two. Then they realize they want more, and start collecting. Eventually, for various reasons, they will finish their collections and reach the end of their cycle. This is not a bad thing, it's natural. I wish them well! And I'm grateful for the support they gave me. At the same time, I know that I need to be constantly seeking new customers, to find those who will start the cycle from the beginning.

During the pandemic, when there were no shows, I relied entirely on my mailing list of existing customers, in order to promote my sales. I was really grateful to the people on this list! They kept my business alive during a 1.5 year-long shutdown of in-person events. But during that time, I was also a little worried about not being able to find new customers. It feels really good that shows have returned (at least for now, knock on wood), so I can resume my usual strategies for keeping my business healthy. 

In my last blog post, I said that the way some businesses harass and trick their customers into joining their mailing lists is really cheesy. I put my mailing list signup pad out in my booth, but never refer people to it, let alone pressure anyone. Now that I've thoroughly explained how I get customers to sign on, through merit, fairness, and a sense of welcome, I hope you agree this is a better and more sustainable way to go. 


Final Thoughts

I hope you weren't looking for a quick-fix that would allow you to start selling out your booth in a short time frame. The answer is a combination of factors, plus a great deal of time and consistency. It all centers on fostering repeat customers. I did my best to provide every detail of what I'm doing, and what I'm thinking. For those who read this in order to improve your sales, my advice is to be honest and objective with yourself. Don't look for others to blame, because that is a waste of time. If you are the product of arts academia, you have a lot of brainwashing to unlearn. The good news is that the answers are entirely within your control.

The things I've described here are not for beginner sellers. This post is written for those who are already past the basics of selling, and want to reach a higher level. For those who want more entry-level advice, read my blog series The Art Festival Plan. Some of this series was referenced above, but it also provides guidance on picking the right shows, tips for designing a good display, branding, and email marketing. 

These days, I get so annoyed when shopping inside retail stores. Namely, I hate it when the cashier asks if I want to join their rewards program, then they don't take "no" for an answer. They ask several more times, using different rehearsed pitches. They know I don't want it, but are hoping to wear me down. When I finally manage to get my "no" message across, they act like I've hurt their feelings. Well truthfully, I probably barked "NO" somewhat rudely at that point. But if they had accepted my first "no" I wouldn't be so triggered. In interpersonal relationships, this behavior is considered abusive. Why is it ok for a business to do it? It shouldn't be, but in these times it has become normalized.

And I hate it when I am shopping online, and uncheck the box that says "send me updates and marketing messages," but that retailer adds me to their mailing list anyways. The anti-spam law in the US makes it legal for them to do this. Fine. But then why put that check box on their shopping cart at all, when they are just pretending to ask for permission? Again, in interpersonal relationships, this would be considered extremely flaky. But sadly, it's normalized when it comes to online retail. 

I'm certain there are "marketing consultants" teaching these "best practice" behaviors to retailers. I wonder if those who do this are actually making more money? Or are they doing it because they are struggling? It conveys a sense of desperation for sure. Is it worth the cost of creating an uncomfortable environment for their customers and employees? I now boycott stores where this treatment was particularly bad, such as Staples, Ulta, and Old Navy. 

Yes, a customer's email address is a valuable asset. But obtaining them via harassment and trickery seems like a counterproductive approach. Even if you succeed in growing your email list that way, you are only gaining low-value contacts, who are just marginally interested in your work. It's also totally unnecessary. I put an email list signup pad in my booth, but never refer customers to it. I still get plenty of signups at every show. My list might grow faster if I was prompting people to do it. But a person who signs up purely on their own motivation is an extremely valuable contact! I want my list to contain only these high-value contacts. I am interested in long-term value, not short-term gain. If I notice somebody signing up, I will say "Oh, thank you! You'll get an email from me every time I do a show. It's usually about ten per year." I want to convey that I know they did me a favor, and exactly how I plan to use their address. 

In the pottery business, I believe that your ability to turn "customers" into a "repeat customers" will determine whether your business will survive. "Customer experience" is just as important as the quality of your pots. The people who are willing to buy handmade pottery is a tiny subculture. You can't afford to annoy them, because replacing them is much harder for us, compared to retailers selling mass-produced clothing, makeup, or office supplies. I would never want a customer to walk away from my booth thinking "well, that was triggering." I want my customers to leave feeling buzzed and happy. If they don't, they will not come back, no matter how much they like the pottery.

My payment processor, Square, recently developed a new feature that allows me to send marketing messages to anyone who has made a credit card payment to me. I know that legally I am allowed to do this, but I won't. Even though these people have made a previous purchase, they did not intentionally "opt in" to receive further communications from me. I will not cross that line. 

In the early days of developing my online pottery school, I realized that I shouldn't send school announcements to the subscribers of my main mailing list. Those people signed up for art festival announcements, not for a pottery school's announcements. So I started from scratch with a separate mailing list for the school. Some of my videos are now available on a subscription basis, which I think is a better value for most people, compared to renting the videos one at a time. I know it is common practice for those who offer subscription services to try their darnedest to stop their customers from unsubscribing, even sinking as low as feigned incompetence. I will never do that! When a student asks for help with unsubscribing, I send them clear instructions for unsubscribing. I have no interest in harvesting money that someone doesn't intend to spend. Recently, Vimeo (where my videos are hosted) made a mistake (accidentally on purpose?) that sort-of tricked its users into not unsubscribing. I was pretty mad about that, and sent all of the school's email subscribers a heads-up, describing what the issue was, and making sure they knew how to unsubscribe. 

Am I hurting myself by not following what are now considered "normal" retail tactics? Apparently not. My business survived 1.5 years of pandemic shutdowns with no pain. And now that shows are back in person, I have been selling much better than before the pandemic. At a recent show, I literally sold every single pot. This is due to the strength of my high-value mailing list, that I acquired on a slow basis, prioritizing quality over quantity. By viewing customers as real people with real boundaries, not as credit cards with legs. I have maxed out all of my goals for this business, and I didn't have to trick or harass anyone to achieve this. If I had, I believe I would have a lot fewer repeat customers, and I would be unhappy with myself for making people feel obligated or deceived. That buzzed and happy feeling is not just for customers, I want that reward too. 

I've heard other artists say that their customers do not use their email list sign up pad, unless they are prompted. I have lots of thoughts on why some artists experience this. My high-value email list did not materialize simply because I DON'T ask people for their email addresses. There are many other factors in play. I am planning to write another blog post about all of these factors, which will hopefully make these modern retail practices seem really cheesy. 

I am currently taking another break from work. Yes, that's two in one year, and it's only May. I am consciously trying to cut back on working, in order to not neglect the rest of my life. This is one positive outcome of the pandemic for me. Being forced to slow down, then realizing how much happier I am when I am not staring at a long list of things I haven't gotten around to. 

This break was mostly planned so my alter ego "Harriet Homeowner" could come for another visit, before the weather got too hot for an outdoor project. Harriet's shed is now 19 years old, and its roof was totally shot. Over the winter, she was shopping for a new shed. But aside from the roof, the rest of the shed was still in decent shape, so she considered hiring a roofer to just replace the roof. While researching whether that was possible, she watched a lot of YouTube videos on replacing a shed roof. Which led her to decide to try to do the job herself. 

This is way more construction than I had ever attempted. What would be the worst possible outcome? I would be out a few hundred dollars, before buying a new shed anyways. Or, I might fall off the roof, but from that height I wouldn't be too badly hurt. I certainly wouldn't die. What would be the best possible outcome? I would save about $5000 by not buying a new shed. 

Here's a "before" photo of the shed. You can't really see the roof damage from the front. The damage is visible from the back, and from inside. However, the entire shed was very dirty! That's 19 years of dirt, moss, algae, mold, etc. So I started the whole project by renting a pressure washer. 

The guy at Home Depot expressed doubt that an electric pressure washer could clean a shed. But the gas models were not an option for me, because they were too heavy to lift into my car. It turned out the dirt was very soft, and the electric model did the trick. I was soaking wet and covered in shed crud. Having never used a pressure washer before, I admit it was kind of fun. 

This is one of two major faults with the old roof. There were dozens of staples that were in the wrong place, where they were NOT covered up by the next row of shingles. Whenever I noticed a small leak from inside, I would climb up a ladder and always find one of these visible staples. If I caught the leak early enough, a blob of caulk would solve the problem. 

And this is the second major fault with the old roof. The shingles were installed directly onto the wood decking, without any underlayment in between. 

A few winters ago, several shingles were blown off the roof in a storm. They were on the back of the roof, so not visible from the house. And because it was winter, I did not visit the shed again for a few months. And because there was no underlayment layer, there was no backup protection for the missing shingles. By the time I discovered the problem, it was really bad. 

I nailed on some new shingles, but because the wood was already warped and spongy, the new shingles were not watertight, and this spot continued to leak. The damage to the wood got worse and worse.

This is the only tool I needed to buy for this project: a small $10 shingle remover. (I like anything that is orange because I'm an Orioles fan.) The only other tools required were simple hand tools that I already owned.

Once all of the shingles were off, I had to decide how much of the decking I was going to replace. I wanted to save money and labor, and to generate as little trash as possible. I decided to keep anything with only minor water damage, if it felt solid enough to hold new nails. The major area of damage was only on one piece of wood, so that is the only one I replaced. 

After getting this onto the ground, I took its measurements to Home Depot, and had them cut the new pieces for me. Instead of one 3x8' piece, I had them cut two 3x4' pieces instead, so it would be easier for me to carry them up a ladder. 

After getting the new pieces of wood in place, I installed a proper underlayment. (Big thanks to Dave and Emily who gave me the tar paper left over from their own shed project.) I marked the areas with minor water damage, so I could avoid nailing into those spots as much as possible.

This is where I left things at the end of Day 2: shingles removed, rotten wood removed and replaced, underlayment installed, and all the old shingles and trash picked up. BTW, the drip edge from the original roof was in good shape, so I re-used it. 

The third and last day of the project was for installing the new shingles. To the professional roofer on YouTube who replaced an entire shed roof from start to finish in two hours: SLOW CLAP. For me the shingling alone took over seven hours. Granted I was using a hammer instead of a nail gun, but still I think I spent too much time trying to line things up. Much respect to the real experts!

Total cost of the project: $359. After three days of work, Harriet is triumphant! Today, she is hobbling around on sore muscles, and nursing various blisters, scrapes, and bruises. But she is very proud of the fact that she didn't fall off the roof. And she never hammered her thumb, not even once. 

It is now over two years since the pandemic first started shutting down our lives. The virus is still around, but the situation has evolved to where the healthcare systems are not overwhelmed. Art fairs and craft shows have been back since last fall. I still wear a mask when I am in indoor public spaces. And I take an at-home Covid test a few days after I’ve done a show (all negative so far). It’s worth taking these easy precautions, in exchange for being able to run my business using my preferred format again. 

I was forced to make one big change. My claybody was a mixture of two clays, and one of them became very difficult to buy, due to supply shortages caused by the pandemic. My clay was still being produced, but the manufacturer could not produce several of their more popular clays, and therefore they would not make any shipments to my local supplier. Last fall, while I was still hopeful that the supply issues would be solved quickly, I had the manufacturer mail me 100 pounds of clay, just to tide me over for a few weeks. The postage cost as much as the clay. 

When I posted this photo on Instagram, someone commented “Pre-wedged via the USPS!” Ha ha, yeah, the texture was great, after apparently getting dropped many times. It soon became clear that the shortage would not be resolved quickly. I calculated exactly how much clay I would need to get through the rest of 2021, and had the manufacturer send it to me via a freight shipment. The freight shipment was a little more expensive than USPS flat rate shipping. But as you can see, USPS beats up the boxes pretty hard. The manufacturer did not want to send 400 pounds through the mail. 

When this shipment arrived, I could finally exhale. This was very stressful, all the uncertainty and the extra expense. The situation wasn’t over, I had a big decision to make. Should I stick with a clay whose manufacturer was having serious problems? They weren’t alone, other clay brands were having shortages too. There is one that wasn’t, and they have a clay that is very similar. They sent me a sample so I could start testing it. This takes a few months and a lot of test tiles. I had to figure out how to mix it with my other clay. Was the ratio the same or different? I had to figure out how to fire it. It turns out it needs to be fired a little hotter. The new clay is a slightly different color. A little less red and a little more yellow. It also has no speckles, which is a feature I never thought much about in my old clay. But once they were missing, I realized how much I needed them! I solved this by buying some granular manganese, and adding back the speckles. That involved a whole new round of tests, to figure out how to mix in the speckles, and how much. 

The right amount of speckles for me is between 0.1% and 0.2%. Many thanks to the Digital Fire website for clear guidance on adding granular manganese to a claybody. 

So I had my speckles back and the glazes fluxing (almost) the same as before. I was still nervous about the color being slightly different. Would customers notice? Or care? It turned out I was way too close to the situation to be able to judge that clearly. I made over 450 pots for my first two shows of 2022, using the new clay. I sold all but five of them. I guess the slight difference in color is something only I can see. (Or it’s just in my head.)

Going forward, it’s possible I will switch back to the old clay, if the supply problems get worked out. The new clay does not present a shortage problem, but it does require a special order through my local supplier, which takes some lead time. (btw, my local supplier, Clayworks Supplies in Baltimore, was really awesome to work with through all of these tribulations. No doubt they were going the extra mile for countless other customers too.) Mixing in the manganese speckles also takes some extra work. So the old clay is more efficient, but only if it’s available. The way I see it, I have two good options now, which provides some insurance during times when supply chains are unstable. 

I have one more big announcement for 2021. Some of my work has been purchased by the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum for their permanent collection. This is for a research project titled "Asian-American Foodways in the DC Area." The project focuses on Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese food cultures in and around Washington DC. The museum is collecting artifacts, documents, and histories from local restaurants, home cooks, and producers of foodwares such as myself. 

My work was sought due to the strong influence of my Korean heritage in my foodware designs. And that I tend to adapt traditional forms to make them accessible for use on western tables. Being a lifelong resident of this area also plays a big role in my design choices.  

The items they purchased include an Ahjoshi Hanbok canister, which is an abstracted anthropomorphic representation of a Korean gentleman's traditional garment. Plus a stack of kimchi dishes with a modern hexagonal design, a bowl that incorporates chopstick rests on its rim, and two serving platters that are love notes to my home state of Maryland. 

These pieces will be catalogued and made available for researchers (and anyone else who is interested) to access online, within the next year. Along with an audio recording of me being interviewed about my work history. 

This acquisition has been in the works since last spring. It has been an exciting process and I feel incredibly honored. 

In the name of Covid safety, I held my annual Open Studio outdoors this year. Take note of the canopy in this photo, it becomes the star of this blog post later. This was my first time holding a sale in my backyard. Being outdoors did have some advantages. Namely, I had so much more space! In the first few hours of the show, the crowd is really big and the basement can get really packed and feel claustrophobic. The backyard did not have that problem. In fact, I thought the layout and flow outside was a big improvement. Another advantage is that I did not need to deep clean my studio in advance, which usually takes four days. This means I had more time to make pots.

This year in particular, those extra days made all the difference. I ended up doing four shows this fall in addition to this Backyard Sale, which is one or two more shows than I should have done. Covid uncertainty made scheduling very difficult. So I was cranking at full-speed since mid-August just to have an adequate amount of inventory, barely taking any days off. Still, I really did not have enough. I pulled out all of my tricks for making my displays look fuller than they were. For the last two months, I was making extra pots with each cycle, often working until 8 or 9pm. 

Next year, I will try to plan my schedule better. Although Covid might still make that hard. 

Here’s the bad part about doing an outdoor event in December: the weather really isn’t reliable enough at this time of year. It doesn’t help that local meteorologists tend to exaggerate all the time, which means it’s hard to know when to take them seriously or not. The forecast changed every day for a week leading up to the sale. Luckily on Saturday, the temperatures were quite warm, winds were gusty but it wasn’t raining.

On Saturday night, things turned ugly. The same storm system that caused tornadoes in the middle of the country arrived on the east coast. I was pretty tired from having gotten up at 5am, and had planned on going to bed early. When the winds began howling I decided to stay up as late as possible, just to keep an eye on my canopy. I only had a small inventory left, and it was all being stored under the canopy. This is one of those times when I am pretty sure I have a guardian angel. The angel told me to stay up late, and had me walk over to the back door in the kitchen to check on the canopy, so I there watching as a crazy gust of wind caused the canopy to slide over by a few feet, then start to collapse. Therefore I was able to intervene right away. 

When I got outside, the tent was sort-of on its side and no longer in the shape of a cube. At first, I tried to stand it upright, and that’s when I realized that one of its legs had snapped into two pieces. 
​ 

Here’s my display for the second day, minus the broken canopy and the five broken pots. The weather was much calmer, but cold! Things went very smoothly from here on, good sales during the day, and an easy clean up at the end, given that most of the gear was already put away. 

This doesn’t mean I will refuse to do this outdoors again. I definitely prefer to do it indoors, but if Covid is still an issue next December, I will do it outdoors again, just with different strategies in place. 

On Monday, I called Creative Energies, the company that makes the Light Dome Canopy. The parts I needed ended up costing only $160. So while I was on the phone with them, I did something that I had wanted to do for many years, which is to buy another set of four legs, so I can cut off the very top part that curves in towards the roof rafters. I’m going to use the second set of legs for indoor shows, where the top part of the leg looks a little weird. You can see what I’m talking about in this screenshot:
​ 

(Click here to watch the 1 minute video titled “Fast Motion Booth Setup”)

Before, I wasn’t sure if it was possible to cut off that top part. But this weekend I found myself with an already ruined leg, so I took a hacksaw and tried it. And it worked! So going forward my booth at indoor shows will look a bit more polished.

My year is not quite done yet. I need to finish a wedding registry and deliver it later this month. I had already set aside many of those pots throughout the fall, so this week’s workload is very light. Then I need to clean the studio. Then I will take a couple of months off. I am skipping the ACC Baltimore show next February. (See, I’m already learning how to give myself a break sometimes!) My first show of 2022 will be the Smithsonian Craft Show in April. 

The Holiday Open Studio is back in person! This is my 14th one, and it will be held in my backyard this year, for sake of Covid safety. Masks are requested, not required. Everything will be generously spread out. Keep in mind, there are still some hours when the event is very crowded. 

READ THIS CAREFULLY ... if you are planning to attend, please do not enter the sale before 10am. Over the years, I've had various people trying to figure out how to sneak in early. This year I don't have a door that I can keep shut until I am ready for customers. Please do not take advantage. Absolutely no parking in the driveway! Again, every year a few people ignore this instruction. But this year there will be people and pottery in the driveway. Not to mention, the driveway is shared with my next door neighbors, and their access must be kept open. So please park your car in the street, which is free and plentiful on weekends. 
​ 

These Soap Dishes are a new design that I will be debuting! They are about 5 inches across, and will be introductory priced at $15 each. During the pandemic, one of the rabbit holes I went down was to explore bar shampoos and conditioners. I made some soap dishes for myself, and I like them so much that I am now offering them for sale. And now I'm going to be one of those people who tells you to reduce your consumption of plastic bottles! Sometimes it's hard to avoid them, but bar soaps and shampoos are easy. 
​ 

This is another new design for this sale ... a Gravy Boat! I only made two for this sale, and they are both already sold (to the person who suggested I make gravy boats). But you will probably get to see them in person, and think about whether you'd want one later. They hold about 20 oz. Introductory priced at $45 for now. 

This will be your last chance to buy the Small Blossom Dishes. They are being discontinued. They have always presented some production issues (a lot of them end up as seconds). But really the sale of these has dropped off ever since I introduced my latest hexagonal Kimchi Dish design, which I have to agree is a much more appealing design. This doesn't mean I don't want to sell small $10 dishes. I will probably come up with a new one this year, that is more in line with my current design sensibilities. 
​ 

There will be a well-stocked table full of seconds. I tested a new clay body this year, and also tweaked some glaze recipes. Which results in a lot of seconds!

Here are all the important details:

Good Elephant Pottery's 14th Annual Holiday Open Studio, Backyard Edition
December 11-12, 10am to 3pm each day
​(note that I am closing at 3pm rather than the usual 5pm)

Hope to see you there. Please do not enter before 10am! No parking in the driveway! 

But when you are offered a chance to put your pottery on TV, you take it! Many thanks to Janine and Lisabeth from the PMA Craft Show's PR team for asking me to be a part of this. This aired on Fox29's Good Day Philadelphia on Friday, November 5. The interviewer is Shaynah Ferreira, and the segment also features show director Nancy O'Meara, and fellow artists Galen Gibson-Cornell and Emily Shaffer. Enjoy! 
​