Trouble keeping it up

I am having trouble keeping it up. My stock. So much on the throwing list these days, hell, just so much on the list. Here's the state of progress in the Hughes Pottery Studio.

I just got 2000lbs of clay on Monday, a big thanks to Morgan and Troy for unloading it and hauling it into the basement. It takes them 15 minutes, it would take me hours. This should keep me going for the next two months, if I am really productive, one month.

It used to be that I had stock ready to go to Florida in January and at this time of year I was getting ready for April and May. Since I started selling so steadily on Etsy it has been harder and harder to keep stock for the other venues. As you see, I am always making, but somehow I never have enough, and no matter how many I sell it seems I am still always a dollar short too.

. My last throwing goal was for Birka, now I need to have work ready to go to Tampa to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival on the 20th and finish up a bunch of special orders. I am feeling a little bit doubtful that I'll get everything done that I wanted to, but hell, I'm throwing as much as I can.

So right now, I have 77 bisc mugs to glaze for Webster's. 30 mugs thrown for Cafe Lemont. A set of 3 plates for a special order, a Garlic Keeper for a special order. I threw 16 round mugs. I trimmed and handled 16 soup mugs today and Rowan put Oak Leaves and Acorns on 7 soup mugs and 2 Lidded Pitchers. It was a pretty productive day over all.

Tomorrow Cristin comes at 11 and I'll have her wedging for me. I need to throw more butter keepers and goblets, then make as many mugs and tankards as I can over the weekend.

OH Yeah, and I have that tooth extraction scheduled for Friday morning at 9. I should be in good shape to work so hard.

I wanted 300 pieces to go to Tampa. I am not sure if I will have it or not. Worry, Worry Worry.

Covered Pitchers

Quite a week. I finished up 77 mugs for Webster's Coffee Shop, complete with special W medallions. The order was for 100, but I already delivered 25. So this will close that order.
 I have an order now for Cafe Lemont, 50 smaller 12 oz mugs, which I'll be getting started on tomorrow. I had hoped to start today, but the lidded pitchers I mentioned in the title took all day. They're as complicated as teapots to put together, but I got them done.  There are 6 total, I changed them as I went because I am still trying to work out what I really want them to look like. It was fun and they turned out well, but I need to do a few dozen more to really have them figured out. If you want to see the rest, the're on my picture uploads from today on my Hughes Pottery Facebook page.

Now I'm going to go spend some time with my lovely wife who has been visiting her parents for a week. I missed her a lot. G'night!

Birka and the cold facts of business

Hi! I missed you all!

This is a panorama shot of the exhibition hall, there were a lot of merchants, I'm guessing 700-1000 people attended the event. It went pretty well overall, but just barely passed Rowan's test for profitability. At about an hour before pack down she agreed it went well enough to come back for another year, but it was a close call, after all it was an expensive event.

Personally, I think it's worth it to go out to this event for the break in our winter routine and the networking and visiting with friends, but the bills have to be paid and it helped, but not very much.
Here is the approximate breakdown:

Table Fees $80
Gasoline up and back $175

Hotel and Hotel Parking $309
Meals out $150
Total Cost $704
 4 days away from production.
and $25/day in trade for dog care.
After paying the expenses, we came away with about $700 for the bills. Truly, it was barely worth the 4 days monetarily. I could have produced another 2K worth of pots to be sold online without losing nearly 50% to sell it.

to truly make this event pay for us we needed another $500 in sales.

But what we got...

A break in our routine
to see beautiful snowy new England
to visit with Devon and Joe on the way up and
to visit, hang out and network with other folks we only see a couple times a year
to distribute more business cards to our customers who will then visit us the rest of the year in a time of pottery needs..like weddings, birthdays and stuff.

It's hard to count the overall value, but overall I feel good about it, besides, I did relax a little..in a lovely hotel with my lovely wife, even if it was only 1 night of relaxation, it was worth it.