Stuff Going On Today

Here is our new showroom door sign.

As the weather starts getting colder, I'm going to be

closing the door, so I hope people will just push the door.

I do have a push sign as well.

The showroom is still looking a bit sparse

even after a kiln opening today.

But I do have another kiln opening tomorrow. 

We have some nice Devon Jugs 

More Ramekins coming out the kiln tomorrow. 

 The article in the National Trust magazine

has been bringing more customers in, but mainly

to see Cadbury.

 I made 12 serving dishes today, plus some more Devon Jugs.

 I've been rushing around a bit

which is when silly things like this happen.

 I've also been drying pots on the kiln as it cools down.

 so that I can fit them in the other kiln for a biscuit firing.

 all of this while Cadbury tucks in to yet another stick

on the showroom floor.

So that's what's been going on today.

Somerset Art Weeks 2012

Yep It's that time of year again,

This year is individual Open Studios.

A Time to start your Christmas shopping early

and find some great presents made by great local makers.

These books are a great reference, because it gives you a list of local makers

and where they are all year around.

Here is the map for our area.

Clare Newman who was in with us last year has here own venue

this year, she is Venue 148 on the map.

As ever we have our workshops open to the public

and you can also come and see the field for Somerset

created over the past few months with Marion

outside our workshop, so if you made a figure

come and see if you can spot it in the Field!

Making Pottery Adds up Sometimes!

This blog is about my journey in the world of Pottery.

But today I just want to share a thought to  those

who think you can't make a living at Pottery.

It depends how you apply yourself.

Give this some thought.

I buy my clay by the tonne this means

I pay around £3.50 per 12.5KG bag

These small sauce pots take 2.5 ounces of clay

this I have worked out means I can make 9 per 1 Kilo gram

so allowing for a bit of wastage

this means I can make 100 per 12.5 KG Bag.

I sell them retail at £4 each

that means that from one £3.50 bag of clay

you can make £400 worth of pots.

This picture gives you an idea of the size

here I have sat one next to a 4" wide Ramekin.

100 of these small pots could easily be made in one day

with just a bit of slip on the inside

and glazed on the inside and the rim only

they don't take much glaze.

The great thing about these is that you can fit them in the kiln

in all the small gaps between pots

so in my kiln I can usually fit between 10 - 20

per glaze firing.

so if you think this through that's an extra £40 -£80

worth of value in each glaze firing.

I was doing the sums on this on Monday and I just wanted to share

the sums with you.

Makes you think dosn't it.

Not one of my normal blogs I grant you

but one that I think was worth sharing. I hope it gets a few brain cells working.

River Cottage Autumn Fair Stall.

This weekend I was at River Cottage HQ

as a demonstrator, I wasn't holding a placard

and shouting Vegetables have feeling too!!

I took the small wheel and demonstrated

Pottery throwing 

to anyone that was interested.

 I took only pots that I felt would appeal to people who loved their cooking.

 Pancheons, Lipped bowls, Pie dishes & Ramekins

 It proved to be a great show, the weather on the Saturday

was brilliant, no wind and warm sunshine.

 We had decided that Marion would keep the workshop open

because we felt that was the right thing to do, so I manned the stall

myself on the Saturday which was hard work.

As it turned out sales in the workshop were very poor

so on the Sunday we decided to close the workshop

and Marion came to the show with me.

 I didn't see much of Marion as she was off and about around the show

she said

"I seemed to have everything under control."

She came back later and said we were picking four Chickens up

next weekend.

So I suppose I'm gonna have to start making Egg Cups again!

 

 These chaps were opposite my stand and I got quite fond of them

they make a funny murmuring sound

and Fart a lot, but they were still cute.

after a busy day it's a long walk back up to the car park.

But we had a great couple of days

and the rain kept away on the Sunday

which was a real bonus.

People Loved our pots and someone should

tell Hugh about us, because everyone thinks

he should be using our pots.

National Trust Magazine.

Well the Good stuff just keeps happening

Now that we are supplying the

National Trust web site

Back in May this year the NT Magazine editor

came to see Me with a Photographer

They wanted to do a feature as part of the promotion

for the web site.

and this week the Magazine starts to get posted out

to National Trust members.

I'm told the circulation for the magazine is

 around 4 Million.

We have had a few advanced copies sent to us

so I hope I'm not breaching any rules

by showing you our bit.

Don't worry Mum I've put one in the post for you.

The Photographer Andrew Montgomery

was Brilliant

here is a link to his blog.

http://andrewmontgomeryphotographer.tumblr.com/

So hopefully this article

might bring us in some more business.

here is the link to the NT web site.

http://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/category/handmade-in-britain/103/0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0/1

It's a great opportunity for us

and one of the main reasons I wanted Marion

to come and work with me.

We are getting on great and Marion is loving it.

Even though every time I leave her on her own

in the workshop, when I get back something else has

changed, or been moved or cleaned.