It's March and my firing is coming up fast. Why am I still making pots?
[rant]
So much for 12 pots a day. That luxury is out the window as I try to cover my bases for upcoming place setting shows at NCECA and the Penland Gallery. It seems like the place setting show is this year's cup show. They seem to be popping up everywhere. It's understandable. It's logical. But is it profitable in the context of a group show giving 50% to the gallery? Is the risk equal to the publicity that one might gain from such a speculative venture?
Be ware, says the old potter.
I guess the price just needs to go up like everything else these days.
Consider the loss rate with warping, cracking plates, the shipping that I have to pay, the price of fuel, and on and on. The flip side, for me, is that I really like the frame of a plate for my painting, and doing these shows give me the "permission" to break out some new riffs and motifs. Obviously for anyone trying their hand at the pottery career, it's not about the money. But you damn well better make some along the way or you'll be out before you're ever in!
Speaking of adding it all up, and getting back to the 12s that Ron mentioned briefly in his post yesterday (do I hear a pottery bloggery echo?), it appears that I just didn't do the math or maybe some days I didn't make the 12. Whatever the reason, there's always more planning one can do. Next time I need a checklist of pots and maybe keep a count of what I've made as I go along. It's a process, it's timing, it's cyclical. You (read "I") have to factor in last minute requests, like 4 pitchers for the NC Museum of Natural Sciences!
[/rant]
OK, now they are made.
Now, where did I put those brushes???
[addendum: Carter just posted a very thoughtful edition on the subject of the 12's. the pottery bloggery pool ripples again!]
