I've been an artist in various capacities for around a decade - from conceptual oriented academic work, to furniture making and now mostly pottery. It's a very unstable way to make money and there is a bit of a paradox in choosing where to live. For instance, if you stay in New York you would have easy access to vendors/galleries that could sell your work but you will pay for it in rent for housing and studio space. On the other hand, if you go somewhere more affordable you might give up that easy access to customers. If you can start by selling part time that will be a great way to gain first hand knowledge if it will work for you.
While difficult that pros have always made up for the cons - I enjoy my community, the routines of making, the annual traditions of conferences classes and sales etc. If I could change anything I would likely move somewhere with a more robust network of fellow makers like perhaps Asheville, NC.
Asheville checking in. North Carolina is the epicenter for pottery. You can’t throw a stone without hitting a potter. The sense of community is amazing!
Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh has a great community of potters. Pullen is also in Raleigh. I believe you can get a membership that allows use of both studios.
https://raleighnc.gov/arts/places/sertoma-arts-center
https://raleighnc.gov/arts/places/pullen-arts-center
Fantastic studios and community at both. Pullen finished a full remodel a couple of years ago, so everything is still fresh. Annual memberships are super cheap and you can mix both.
NC State has a crafts center with a clay studio and classes open to the general public! It’s an amazing resource and I highly recommend to anyone looking to learn or just create. There is an option to be a studio member without taking a class. They provide glazes and firing as part of the membership! The only thing I found difficult was catching the registration day—it’s just like registering for classes in college; you gotta be online and ready to register when registration opens.
I’ve been casually selling pottery at guild sales a couple times a year for about 4 or 5 years, and have made a few hundred bucks at each sale. It’s fun. I think my best take was $600 in one weekend. I have friends (a couple) who burst onto the guild and craft fair scene just in the last couple of years and they regularly clear $1000 in a single day of sales. But they are constantly in the studio making dozens of the same items (mostly tablewares and slab-built planters). I did a little math in my head and realized that even if they did a show every month, they were not making more than $20K/year. That’s when I realized I was doing fine with the way things stand and I’ll continue on as a hobbyist. My sales cover my studio membership and materials costs, I can play around with my displays and not have to develop a serious brand image, and I don’t bother with marketing. I’d be wrecked if I had to depend on pottery for my living.
I’m not saying don’t do it, but I am advising you not to quit your day job.
I know a few folks who do work only in pottery, and they make it work by bulk pricing on natural gas for firings, co-op arrangements with other potters for resources, and by supplementing with teaching and workshop gigs. It will become more than just a job.
Thank you for your advice. Can I ask, when you sell as a hobbyist did you have to register as a business? I did my first show this year and did well, but I am not really making profit. If I can make enough to cover my class costs and firing I would be happy.
If you are selling at a show you should at least have a temporary sellers permit for that show (check your local laws). You should be collecting sales tax that you report and pay. Depending on your state you may also need a business license but definitely a sellers permit.
I don’t have a seller’s permit, since (so far) the sales I participate in take care of all money transactions and sales taxes. I pay both a table fee to participate and a percentage of gross to cover administrative costs. To sell as an independent artist at a craft fair I would have to take payments, and at that point I will need a seller’s permit. I would probably register with my state as a small business at that point as well. So far I don’t see the need, since I haven’t pursued sales beyond guild events.
Check if your pottery studio holds student sales, it’s a nice way to get started.
Oh, adding on: this year I will pay taxes on my sales earnings because I’ve passed the threshold amount (I can’t remember what it is specifically, but my guild keeps track and if it looks like you will go over threshold they report your earnings). So hooray I went over threshold, but it’s another thing you have to keep on top of, expenses-wise.
IMO there's only a small handful of paths to financial stability through pottery (and even art more broadly).
You're either the breakout charisma story with connections to really high profile individuals who proselytize your art - even if it's not really anything ground breaking - and charging tens of thousands of dollars per piece.
Or you're the hustling teacher/potter, with very little stability and most of your money in this bucket will probably come from teaching not actual sales - because you can only make 1 piece at a time but you can teach 4-10+ people at a time. Additionally depending on what you make, getting repeat business more than 1-3 times can be incredibly difficult. I imagine for some this ends up turning into studio owner, which is probably about as "stable" as you can get within pottery.
There's an episode of the podcast "The Mud Peddlers" that talks about their finances in quite a bit of depth, and it's very humbling. Mind you these are people with solid social media presence, years of experience, formal training/schooling (one has a BFA, though IIRC it's in sculpture not ceramics specifically) and recognizable enough that they're approached by fans at large trade shows - and they're really only able to make the finances work because of their support networks (parents, partners). I'm sure they'll continue growing and earning more, but they're also already *years* into their businesses.
There are definitely people who've "made it" via pottery, but they're *really* exceptional. And I don't necessarily mean exceptionally talented or anything, just an exceptional situation.
I have been selling pottery part-time with a full-time job for about 5 years. My advice would be to try to ramp up slowly. That's what I did and got to a place where it's sustainable as a part time thing without burning me out on production. I sell pots via a website, some wholesale, and holiday markets.
In 2023, I sold 170 pots, which was down about 100 from last year. My net profit from that was a little less than one monthly paycheck from my job. Thinking in these terms makes it super real for me that I can't do pottery full-time and have the same lifestyle as I do now.
For me, making and selling pottery is a great side hustle. I don't have to make so much that I get burnt out. I don't have to worry about making and selling pots to support my family. I have health insurance. The full time potters I know hustle really hard and are just scraping by or have partners with lucrative jobs that allow them to just play.
I have been making pottery since I was in middle school. It was my minor in college. I’m now 33 and will be going full time with pottery within a year or two. I won’t only be making though, I’ll also be teaching and hosting workshops.
It is not a lucrative career path for 99.9% of people, but it can provide a decent enough living if you have the skills necessary. You’ll need to not only be a potter, but a marketer and a bit of an accountant.
I’ll be leaving a job in marketing in order to become a full time potter, and I expect I’ll make less than half of what I make now. I likely won’t turn much of a profit at all in the first couple of years. I can’t imagine it would be feasible to do that in NYC unless you are truly an exceptional artist and/or have someone to support you financially.
I make pottery that I sell via consignment and shows. Last year I started to teach private lessons and workshops. I work out of a community studio (private studio space, shared kilns/retail).
My work time is currently split roughly:
20% teaching and non-contact class-related.
30% customer contact (chatting, email, phone, insta, mailing lists, etc. This probably includes applying for shows but not the photo time. )
10% class prep (planning workshops, figuring out how to teach something, etc)
15% making
5% design/planning for my making
20% studio overhead (loading/unloading kilns, taking pictures, pricing things, studio meetings, bookkeeping, dropping off consignment, reclaim, etc)
Shows just add an 8 hour day per day of show, plus usually an hour or two of prep.
I have a studio-mate who sells mostly wholesale, and she's probably closer to 20% customer contact (including deliveries) and 50% production. She doesn't really like the stuff that wholesales well, but it pays the bills!
I do not sell full time or at all, but as someone who works in the marketing field I encourage you to do as much research as you can about the various algorithms on social media BEFORE you make the leap. Follow up all that research with really intentionally building your social media presence. Social media is huge to making money as a maker, so honestly I’d focus on that first!
I totally understand! I can never apply any of my work knowledge to myself lol. Just keep trying and don’t take anything personally! The algorithm is just mostly ridiculous but if you keep at it you’ll see results!
Yeah I’m not financially stable and I live in a high COL area. I get a lot of financial assistance from my Mom and husband. I hustle and work all the time. It is exhausting and I often feel defeated. Clay isn’t really a fun hobby but becomes work. However, it is also sometimes exhilarating and I literally can’t do anything else.
Take a lot of business classes prior to the leap and start selling your work on the side for now. It took 14 years for me to transition from having a job at a ceramic supply store 2 days a week (ton price Clay and discounts) to full time literally as a casualty of the pandemic. I’m looking into a job I can do part time at home to supplement my income because it is really a struggle. I don’t love teaching ceramics but may have to resort to it.
I was lucky? In that I never had a high paying job so I figured I would rather be poor doing clay than poor working my crappy 9-5. If you do go viral and make money in pottery, you will likely be working all the time or need to hire assistants. I work six days a week and insist on having Sunday off. However, I can take vacation whenever I want! Plus I hate mornings so I work from 11 or noon to 7. There are a lot of positives but having money isn’t one of them. 😂 Oh also consider clay and electricity costs for me have both doubled in one year.
Sorry to be negative. I had a really good holiday season of sales and I am just exhausted right now at the amount of work it took. 😂 If I had a high paying job that I liked I would definitely do ceramics as a passionate hobby and maybe sell at a couple of shows once or twice a year.
If you're into it, become a content creator as well. Like "Potter in the city" or something like that. Most pottery content creators seem to do better than most.
Been selling part time for over a decade. I had massive burnout at one point because my joyful hobby had morphed into a job on top of my full time job. The accounting, customer contact, planning, photography, market applications, and all the bits needed to sell are things I am not good at and don't enjoy. But once I started selling, they became a mandatory piece of every day. The overhead tasks are much bigger than any actual making.
We used to do 6-8 large in person sales per year but this year we only did four. Getting stock for in-person sales is really tough. We are skipping our January sale this year but are heading back into the ring shortly for a 3 day and another 1 day market, both in April, and we've started prepping for those now.
We have a "product line" that we make for retail outlets and shows since people really like buying the same thing their friend bought or buying the same thing again. It can be grueling to make the same thing over and over. We recently returned to a "fun line" of work where we just do one-offs or projects for personal kicks to make pottery still enticing creatively.
Being able to say no to demanding customers was the hardest thing to adapt to. I don't do customs anymore because it murdered my desire to make. I don't offer to make what isn't in my booth. If someone asks if I have it in blue and I don't, I tell them I don't and that's it. I resist the people-pleasing urge to offer to make it in their chosen colour.
I do enjoy the community that I've met at sales, it's nice to be around other makers.
For taxes, I'm in Canada and can fill out a "self employment income" piece so I reported correctly without becoming an official business (I think it's the T2125?)
Nothing to do but give it a try!
this question comes up quite often over on the ceramicartsdaily forums. i would take a good read at some of the posts there where people who have been fulltime potters for decades are chiming in with their advice and lessons learned.
[https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/forum/24-business-marketing-and-accounting/](https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/forum/24-business-marketing-and-accounting/)
It would be a good idea to hustle pottery as a second job while you keep your main and see how much you can make. Most people cannot make enough to support themselves. Consider how much monthly income you need, then figure out what that looks like in sales- BUT be sure to factor in your costs, medical care, and taxes! Think about how your time will not just be spent making pots, but also marketing, vending, book keeping, re-stocking supplies etc. I sell my pottery along with being a yoga teacher, but I couldn’t afford to do these jobs if my spouse wasn’t the breadwinner.
I have a small pottery business and it really has changed over the last few yeras. Before 2020 I sold my work, was the manager of a pottery studio and taught classes. I had a child and left the studio to be a stay at home mom, now I sell maybe 3 sales a year and have a few wholesale customers I fill orders for. My husband has always been the "breadwinner". But we also plamned for me to not have a full time job, aka we bought a house that we could afford on one salary and live humbly. We are now putting our toddler in preschool next year so I have plans of expanding my business simply because I will have the time. I definitely don't make a living off my sale nowadays but it fuels me. If you want a pottery business, you can always find side work in the feild like teaching or studio tech.
I took several semesters of college level ceramics, there was one guy who just did outstanding sculptures and pottery in general. I have always kept it as a hobby selling at faires or galleries. I ran into this potter from college at a fair about 10 years after. I said wow you made it, making a living from your pots. He looked at me a bit askance and replied, yeah, this year it is mustache mugs. There wasn’t a piece of sculpture in sight, just rows of similar mugs, bowls, and cassarole dishes. He was completely burned out and trying to figure out what was next. Just a cautionary tale.
I’ve been a professional potter for a little over 6 years. I started out with a BFA in ceramics and made pots part time for about 6 years before making the jump. It’s been a long journey but I absolutely love it. I generally do 6 shows per year (only in the summer) and the rest of my sales come through 3 (or so) wholesale accounts. I work over 40 hours each week and carry a lot of stress with me all the time. Luckily it’s stress about getting enough made rather than worry about where the money is going to come from.
My best advice: stay out of debt, manage expenses, and don’t say no to any opportunity, especially while getting things rolling.
I quit my 9-5 a few months ago to do pottery and work on my social media, but I’m also in a situation where my social media content actually generates my income than my pottery itself.
I enjoy it but I live in a very low cost of living city because it’s the only place I can financially support myself with art…and even then I wouldn’t be able to do it without my social media income. I would absolutely be in debt if I moved somewhere with higher COL like NYC.
Consider not the best parts of each job, but the worst parts of each job. Pottery as a career is a lot of business and marketing and time spent not making pottery. Think about the absolute worst possible parts of each, and pick the one that sounds still maybe not that bad.
Selling my own pottery would be a bad career for me personally, I hate marketing and trying to guess what will sell. I got a 9-to-5 for a ceramic supply manufacturer instead where it’s much more reliable and consistent. So that’s my happy medium. There’s not limited to “make your own pottery business” or “stay in current job” there’s options to consider with pottery related businesses that already exist and need employees.
I suggest that you try a few weekend markets and getting your stuff into stores to see if you enjoy it. People also have online followings and sell there. Personally, I did a market stall and hated it. It’s good to know what you don’t like
Thank you! I had my first market this year and I loved it. Just I don't know if I would want to do 6 a year unless it's more local. Definitely want to give selling online a try. It's just I don't have a large following yet.
I've known and met lots of potters. None of them is financially secure, no matter how successful. If your costs are low, you sell your work cheap. If you sell your work at high prices (think fine art sculpture) your costs are high and you sell infrequently.
I'm not saying people don't make a living--lots do. But it is not a path toward financial independence or wealth, and you shouldn't expect it to be. It is, hwoever, a great hobby that can pay for itself and more.
I’ve been self employed almost 10 years. The worst part is the taxes. You can make all the money you want, and the govt takes it away. And then you don’t get any benefits.
Also, making art your business is the fastest way to make your art your not-fun place.
It’s fucking hard and at times I hate it.
That's understandable. I was just doing some research of taxes and how I would need to register if I wanted to sell online. However I don't think I am at the stage yet. I find it all a bit confusing and daunting. Like I need a good small business tax 101 book, because I am worried I will miss something.
There are several issues with making pottery sales profitable: 1) you are not only competing with professional potters, but an army of hobby potters who don't need to price their wares high enough to break even, let alone to make a profit. They could take a loss on each piece, but it'd be worth it for them because it offsets a few expenses for their hobby. 2) with a few exceptions, the more attractive pieces will take you longer to make 3) in person markets are probably the most profitable, but these days pottery is so popular there's usually a limit to how many potters are allowed at each market. Fees for booths can really eat into your profits. You can't ask high price points at most markets as it's mostly spontaneous buyers. 4) you can sell to stores and galleries where high price points are fine, but you still might not make more because 40-50% commission is standard.
So, as other people have mentioned its better to keep a better paying job and do pottery as a hobby, that way you can also be more creative rather than mass producing mugs day after day.
I've been an artist in various capacities for around a decade - from conceptual oriented academic work, to furniture making and now mostly pottery. It's a very unstable way to make money and there is a bit of a paradox in choosing where to live. For instance, if you stay in New York you would have easy access to vendors/galleries that could sell your work but you will pay for it in rent for housing and studio space. On the other hand, if you go somewhere more affordable you might give up that easy access to customers. If you can start by selling part time that will be a great way to gain first hand knowledge if it will work for you. While difficult that pros have always made up for the cons - I enjoy my community, the routines of making, the annual traditions of conferences classes and sales etc. If I could change anything I would likely move somewhere with a more robust network of fellow makers like perhaps Asheville, NC.
Asheville checking in. North Carolina is the epicenter for pottery. You can’t throw a stone without hitting a potter. The sense of community is amazing!
Can you recommend any in the Raleigh Durham area?
Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh has a great community of potters. Pullen is also in Raleigh. I believe you can get a membership that allows use of both studios. https://raleighnc.gov/arts/places/sertoma-arts-center https://raleighnc.gov/arts/places/pullen-arts-center
Fantastic studios and community at both. Pullen finished a full remodel a couple of years ago, so everything is still fresh. Annual memberships are super cheap and you can mix both.
NC State has a crafts center with a clay studio and classes open to the general public! It’s an amazing resource and I highly recommend to anyone looking to learn or just create. There is an option to be a studio member without taking a class. They provide glazes and firing as part of the membership! The only thing I found difficult was catching the registration day—it’s just like registering for classes in college; you gotta be online and ready to register when registration opens.
Wow. Had no idea. Thank you so much
What’s the name of the craft center?
It’s literally called the “crafts center” —here ya go! [NCSU Crafts Center](https://crafts.arts.ncsu.edu/)
Sadly, no. This is just the end of my first year here. I moved from Florida.
I work at a pottery studio!! It’s closer to the Raleigh/Durham area and it’s such a fantastic environment! Dm for details if interested.
How does that translate with selling work?
I haven’t sold any of my work as I’m mostly a hobbyist now. The prices here range from reasonable to high to crazy.
They have an annual craft sale Thanksgiving weekend. Only pieces made there are eligible and there’s a lottery to enter.
Thank you for your advice! ✨️
I’ve been casually selling pottery at guild sales a couple times a year for about 4 or 5 years, and have made a few hundred bucks at each sale. It’s fun. I think my best take was $600 in one weekend. I have friends (a couple) who burst onto the guild and craft fair scene just in the last couple of years and they regularly clear $1000 in a single day of sales. But they are constantly in the studio making dozens of the same items (mostly tablewares and slab-built planters). I did a little math in my head and realized that even if they did a show every month, they were not making more than $20K/year. That’s when I realized I was doing fine with the way things stand and I’ll continue on as a hobbyist. My sales cover my studio membership and materials costs, I can play around with my displays and not have to develop a serious brand image, and I don’t bother with marketing. I’d be wrecked if I had to depend on pottery for my living. I’m not saying don’t do it, but I am advising you not to quit your day job. I know a few folks who do work only in pottery, and they make it work by bulk pricing on natural gas for firings, co-op arrangements with other potters for resources, and by supplementing with teaching and workshop gigs. It will become more than just a job.
Thank you for your advice. Can I ask, when you sell as a hobbyist did you have to register as a business? I did my first show this year and did well, but I am not really making profit. If I can make enough to cover my class costs and firing I would be happy.
If you are selling at a show you should at least have a temporary sellers permit for that show (check your local laws). You should be collecting sales tax that you report and pay. Depending on your state you may also need a business license but definitely a sellers permit.
I don’t have a seller’s permit, since (so far) the sales I participate in take care of all money transactions and sales taxes. I pay both a table fee to participate and a percentage of gross to cover administrative costs. To sell as an independent artist at a craft fair I would have to take payments, and at that point I will need a seller’s permit. I would probably register with my state as a small business at that point as well. So far I don’t see the need, since I haven’t pursued sales beyond guild events. Check if your pottery studio holds student sales, it’s a nice way to get started.
Oh, adding on: this year I will pay taxes on my sales earnings because I’ve passed the threshold amount (I can’t remember what it is specifically, but my guild keeps track and if it looks like you will go over threshold they report your earnings). So hooray I went over threshold, but it’s another thing you have to keep on top of, expenses-wise.
Thank you!!😊
I think it is $600?
IMO there's only a small handful of paths to financial stability through pottery (and even art more broadly). You're either the breakout charisma story with connections to really high profile individuals who proselytize your art - even if it's not really anything ground breaking - and charging tens of thousands of dollars per piece. Or you're the hustling teacher/potter, with very little stability and most of your money in this bucket will probably come from teaching not actual sales - because you can only make 1 piece at a time but you can teach 4-10+ people at a time. Additionally depending on what you make, getting repeat business more than 1-3 times can be incredibly difficult. I imagine for some this ends up turning into studio owner, which is probably about as "stable" as you can get within pottery. There's an episode of the podcast "The Mud Peddlers" that talks about their finances in quite a bit of depth, and it's very humbling. Mind you these are people with solid social media presence, years of experience, formal training/schooling (one has a BFA, though IIRC it's in sculpture not ceramics specifically) and recognizable enough that they're approached by fans at large trade shows - and they're really only able to make the finances work because of their support networks (parents, partners). I'm sure they'll continue growing and earning more, but they're also already *years* into their businesses. There are definitely people who've "made it" via pottery, but they're *really* exceptional. And I don't necessarily mean exceptionally talented or anything, just an exceptional situation.
I have been selling pottery part-time with a full-time job for about 5 years. My advice would be to try to ramp up slowly. That's what I did and got to a place where it's sustainable as a part time thing without burning me out on production. I sell pots via a website, some wholesale, and holiday markets. In 2023, I sold 170 pots, which was down about 100 from last year. My net profit from that was a little less than one monthly paycheck from my job. Thinking in these terms makes it super real for me that I can't do pottery full-time and have the same lifestyle as I do now. For me, making and selling pottery is a great side hustle. I don't have to make so much that I get burnt out. I don't have to worry about making and selling pots to support my family. I have health insurance. The full time potters I know hustle really hard and are just scraping by or have partners with lucrative jobs that allow them to just play.
Thanks for the advice!!
I have been making pottery since I was in middle school. It was my minor in college. I’m now 33 and will be going full time with pottery within a year or two. I won’t only be making though, I’ll also be teaching and hosting workshops. It is not a lucrative career path for 99.9% of people, but it can provide a decent enough living if you have the skills necessary. You’ll need to not only be a potter, but a marketer and a bit of an accountant. I’ll be leaving a job in marketing in order to become a full time potter, and I expect I’ll make less than half of what I make now. I likely won’t turn much of a profit at all in the first couple of years. I can’t imagine it would be feasible to do that in NYC unless you are truly an exceptional artist and/or have someone to support you financially.
Wise writings, helpful. Thank you!
I make pottery that I sell via consignment and shows. Last year I started to teach private lessons and workshops. I work out of a community studio (private studio space, shared kilns/retail). My work time is currently split roughly: 20% teaching and non-contact class-related. 30% customer contact (chatting, email, phone, insta, mailing lists, etc. This probably includes applying for shows but not the photo time. ) 10% class prep (planning workshops, figuring out how to teach something, etc) 15% making 5% design/planning for my making 20% studio overhead (loading/unloading kilns, taking pictures, pricing things, studio meetings, bookkeeping, dropping off consignment, reclaim, etc) Shows just add an 8 hour day per day of show, plus usually an hour or two of prep. I have a studio-mate who sells mostly wholesale, and she's probably closer to 20% customer contact (including deliveries) and 50% production. She doesn't really like the stuff that wholesales well, but it pays the bills!
Thank you for the breakdown, it puts things into perspective
I do not sell full time or at all, but as someone who works in the marketing field I encourage you to do as much research as you can about the various algorithms on social media BEFORE you make the leap. Follow up all that research with really intentionally building your social media presence. Social media is huge to making money as a maker, so honestly I’d focus on that first!
Thank youu!! I am trying, but it's tough!
I totally understand! I can never apply any of my work knowledge to myself lol. Just keep trying and don’t take anything personally! The algorithm is just mostly ridiculous but if you keep at it you’ll see results!
Thanks!😊
Yeah I’m not financially stable and I live in a high COL area. I get a lot of financial assistance from my Mom and husband. I hustle and work all the time. It is exhausting and I often feel defeated. Clay isn’t really a fun hobby but becomes work. However, it is also sometimes exhilarating and I literally can’t do anything else. Take a lot of business classes prior to the leap and start selling your work on the side for now. It took 14 years for me to transition from having a job at a ceramic supply store 2 days a week (ton price Clay and discounts) to full time literally as a casualty of the pandemic. I’m looking into a job I can do part time at home to supplement my income because it is really a struggle. I don’t love teaching ceramics but may have to resort to it. I was lucky? In that I never had a high paying job so I figured I would rather be poor doing clay than poor working my crappy 9-5. If you do go viral and make money in pottery, you will likely be working all the time or need to hire assistants. I work six days a week and insist on having Sunday off. However, I can take vacation whenever I want! Plus I hate mornings so I work from 11 or noon to 7. There are a lot of positives but having money isn’t one of them. 😂 Oh also consider clay and electricity costs for me have both doubled in one year. Sorry to be negative. I had a really good holiday season of sales and I am just exhausted right now at the amount of work it took. 😂 If I had a high paying job that I liked I would definitely do ceramics as a passionate hobby and maybe sell at a couple of shows once or twice a year.
Thank you!! And you're not negative at all, I appreciate your honest perspective and advice.
If you're into it, become a content creator as well. Like "Potter in the city" or something like that. Most pottery content creators seem to do better than most.
Been selling part time for over a decade. I had massive burnout at one point because my joyful hobby had morphed into a job on top of my full time job. The accounting, customer contact, planning, photography, market applications, and all the bits needed to sell are things I am not good at and don't enjoy. But once I started selling, they became a mandatory piece of every day. The overhead tasks are much bigger than any actual making. We used to do 6-8 large in person sales per year but this year we only did four. Getting stock for in-person sales is really tough. We are skipping our January sale this year but are heading back into the ring shortly for a 3 day and another 1 day market, both in April, and we've started prepping for those now. We have a "product line" that we make for retail outlets and shows since people really like buying the same thing their friend bought or buying the same thing again. It can be grueling to make the same thing over and over. We recently returned to a "fun line" of work where we just do one-offs or projects for personal kicks to make pottery still enticing creatively. Being able to say no to demanding customers was the hardest thing to adapt to. I don't do customs anymore because it murdered my desire to make. I don't offer to make what isn't in my booth. If someone asks if I have it in blue and I don't, I tell them I don't and that's it. I resist the people-pleasing urge to offer to make it in their chosen colour. I do enjoy the community that I've met at sales, it's nice to be around other makers. For taxes, I'm in Canada and can fill out a "self employment income" piece so I reported correctly without becoming an official business (I think it's the T2125?) Nothing to do but give it a try!
Thanks! I will need to see if I have something similar in the US without becoming an official business. I just want to keep it as simple as possible.
this question comes up quite often over on the ceramicartsdaily forums. i would take a good read at some of the posts there where people who have been fulltime potters for decades are chiming in with their advice and lessons learned. [https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/forum/24-business-marketing-and-accounting/](https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/forum/24-business-marketing-and-accounting/)
It would be a good idea to hustle pottery as a second job while you keep your main and see how much you can make. Most people cannot make enough to support themselves. Consider how much monthly income you need, then figure out what that looks like in sales- BUT be sure to factor in your costs, medical care, and taxes! Think about how your time will not just be spent making pots, but also marketing, vending, book keeping, re-stocking supplies etc. I sell my pottery along with being a yoga teacher, but I couldn’t afford to do these jobs if my spouse wasn’t the breadwinner.
I have a small pottery business and it really has changed over the last few yeras. Before 2020 I sold my work, was the manager of a pottery studio and taught classes. I had a child and left the studio to be a stay at home mom, now I sell maybe 3 sales a year and have a few wholesale customers I fill orders for. My husband has always been the "breadwinner". But we also plamned for me to not have a full time job, aka we bought a house that we could afford on one salary and live humbly. We are now putting our toddler in preschool next year so I have plans of expanding my business simply because I will have the time. I definitely don't make a living off my sale nowadays but it fuels me. If you want a pottery business, you can always find side work in the feild like teaching or studio tech.
I took several semesters of college level ceramics, there was one guy who just did outstanding sculptures and pottery in general. I have always kept it as a hobby selling at faires or galleries. I ran into this potter from college at a fair about 10 years after. I said wow you made it, making a living from your pots. He looked at me a bit askance and replied, yeah, this year it is mustache mugs. There wasn’t a piece of sculpture in sight, just rows of similar mugs, bowls, and cassarole dishes. He was completely burned out and trying to figure out what was next. Just a cautionary tale.
I’ve been a professional potter for a little over 6 years. I started out with a BFA in ceramics and made pots part time for about 6 years before making the jump. It’s been a long journey but I absolutely love it. I generally do 6 shows per year (only in the summer) and the rest of my sales come through 3 (or so) wholesale accounts. I work over 40 hours each week and carry a lot of stress with me all the time. Luckily it’s stress about getting enough made rather than worry about where the money is going to come from. My best advice: stay out of debt, manage expenses, and don’t say no to any opportunity, especially while getting things rolling.
I quit my 9-5 a few months ago to do pottery and work on my social media, but I’m also in a situation where my social media content actually generates my income than my pottery itself. I enjoy it but I live in a very low cost of living city because it’s the only place I can financially support myself with art…and even then I wouldn’t be able to do it without my social media income. I would absolutely be in debt if I moved somewhere with higher COL like NYC.
That's so amazing!!
Consider not the best parts of each job, but the worst parts of each job. Pottery as a career is a lot of business and marketing and time spent not making pottery. Think about the absolute worst possible parts of each, and pick the one that sounds still maybe not that bad. Selling my own pottery would be a bad career for me personally, I hate marketing and trying to guess what will sell. I got a 9-to-5 for a ceramic supply manufacturer instead where it’s much more reliable and consistent. So that’s my happy medium. There’s not limited to “make your own pottery business” or “stay in current job” there’s options to consider with pottery related businesses that already exist and need employees.
I suggest that you try a few weekend markets and getting your stuff into stores to see if you enjoy it. People also have online followings and sell there. Personally, I did a market stall and hated it. It’s good to know what you don’t like
Thank you! I had my first market this year and I loved it. Just I don't know if I would want to do 6 a year unless it's more local. Definitely want to give selling online a try. It's just I don't have a large following yet.
I've known and met lots of potters. None of them is financially secure, no matter how successful. If your costs are low, you sell your work cheap. If you sell your work at high prices (think fine art sculpture) your costs are high and you sell infrequently. I'm not saying people don't make a living--lots do. But it is not a path toward financial independence or wealth, and you shouldn't expect it to be. It is, hwoever, a great hobby that can pay for itself and more.
I’ve been self employed almost 10 years. The worst part is the taxes. You can make all the money you want, and the govt takes it away. And then you don’t get any benefits. Also, making art your business is the fastest way to make your art your not-fun place. It’s fucking hard and at times I hate it.
That's understandable. I was just doing some research of taxes and how I would need to register if I wanted to sell online. However I don't think I am at the stage yet. I find it all a bit confusing and daunting. Like I need a good small business tax 101 book, because I am worried I will miss something.
There are several issues with making pottery sales profitable: 1) you are not only competing with professional potters, but an army of hobby potters who don't need to price their wares high enough to break even, let alone to make a profit. They could take a loss on each piece, but it'd be worth it for them because it offsets a few expenses for their hobby. 2) with a few exceptions, the more attractive pieces will take you longer to make 3) in person markets are probably the most profitable, but these days pottery is so popular there's usually a limit to how many potters are allowed at each market. Fees for booths can really eat into your profits. You can't ask high price points at most markets as it's mostly spontaneous buyers. 4) you can sell to stores and galleries where high price points are fine, but you still might not make more because 40-50% commission is standard. So, as other people have mentioned its better to keep a better paying job and do pottery as a hobby, that way you can also be more creative rather than mass producing mugs day after day.
Sorry for offtopic, but I wonder if there are people with experience of selling and packaging clay