Sunday, June 16, 2013

Thinking Outside The Box


Creative people think outside the box, don't we?  I mean, isn't that one of our very defining elements?  Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, and Thinking Outside The Box.

Well, I'm trying something.  I'm using my Etsy account to offer slip-decorating workshops.  I don't know if it will work.  I don't know what I haven't thought of.  That's the nature of being outside the box.  I haven't been here yet, and neither has anyone else.


But working with slip is what I do.  I've done it so much and for so long, it's almost who I am.  Elemental.  Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, and Slip-Decorating.

It's essentially a pretty open-ended offering -- allowing whomever is interested to customize the kind of workshop they want me to conduct:  Hands on or simple demonstration and lecture.

And I'm using the "Shipping" portion of the Etsy listing to negotiate the travel and lodging expenses.

I've never been in the "in crowd" of workshop presenters, so I had no idea what might seem reasonable.  I asked around, but got no replies, so I'm shooting in the dark.  I didn't want to seem presumptuous.  Neither did I want to propose what might turn out to ultimately be a losing venture.

 I merely figured that if I don't do something like this, I would be taking a job or jobs by wintertime.  As such, I tried to figure out how much I might be paying myself.....and whether that would be any better or worse than a local minimum wage job or jobs.  I hope I'm solving more than exacerbating my situation, huh?


Anyway, I'd like some feedback.  What have I not thought about?  How will I get burned?  Is this a winning idea?  (It seemed like a good idea when I dreamed it up on the way home from my South Carolina show).


21 comments:

  1. I think this is an awesome idea! If you have a facebook page be sure to market the idea there as well. I am forwarding your link to our local guild~
    :)

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  2. I have a done several workshops and not sure about ETSY but I found out (shockingly!) at a one day workshop I sold more pots to a captive audience than standing at a show for three days! Just through your writing I assume you are a personable kind of guy and bet you would rock the workshop world! Try it on etsy but get your resume' together and get it out there! Check with Appalachian Center For The Arts. I was pleasantly surprised that on a two day workshop I made my studio expenses for the month. Next thing ya know you'll be booking slip trailing crusies ;)

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    1. Thanks for the reply, Sandy. The few workshops I've done I discovered the same thing about sales. It's part of what gives me hope that this could be a worthwhile avenue.

      Additionally, it's been nagging at me for some time that what we do is a cultural thing that is only going to be passed down this way. The schools aren't there to do this. And if we expect a longer life for the crafts movement, it's up to us to win over a new generation.

      But, yeah, I'll keep putting my resume out there. So far, though, the only offers I've had are for delivering pizza or driving a bus.

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  3. John,I'll talk it up to the Clay Alliance in Cincinnati. I suspect that is one of the groups that Sandy is talking about. She did a great workshop for us a while back. I would love to attend one of your workshops so keep us posted if anything works out from this. Good Luck..

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    1. Thanks, Dennis. You've been a great encouragement to me, and I appreciate it.

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  4. Hey have you heard of Craftsy? Dunno if it would work for this, but I know it has been pretty popular in some circles. Love your work!

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    1. Thanks! And thanks for the tip. I'll look into Craftsy.

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  5. One of my friends has sold her mosaic classes/workshops through Etsy and I believe it has been a successful venue for her. Good luck... hope it works well for you.

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  6. As I have stood at shows over the last few years and talked with other artists, the conversation always rolls around to.... Are shows dying and how are we going to make a living? While also attending Craft Boston during the bombing and watching the two day aftermath I have to say since 9/11 I think the paradigm has shifted. Standing on the floor of the Boston world trade center knowing that right over my head corporations are making multimillion dollar deals on conference tables from IKEA and sucking coffee out of cups from Pottery Barn I started to wonder how do I get there? How do we get those corporations and individuals to sip coffee out of my cups? One word...... Education. Imagine my shock after asking a couple good friends in the "investment world" why they don't plunk their money down on a hand made conference table from Sam Maloof? And they asked; Who's he? And then I asked; what if you went to an artist and plunked down $2,000 for a table but in 25 years it was worth ten times that? They laughed! Well how do we do that? The conversations over the last few months have many and great. They people who move around mucho $$$$ said..... Well my designer might not like that! I just called the design center in my town and offered a class on Collecting Fine Craft for your Clients....... Bootcamp! I also called my local chamber of commerce and offered to speak. We have to fix this or we are going watch our craft dwindle. Yes, I love giving workshops! But I think we need to extend the hand a bit farther out into world.

    And thanks Dennis!! That was my first workshop and it opened my eyes immensely! After your workshop I hit the ground running :)

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  7. I think this is a great idea! I think Etsy has the great potential to reach such a large number of people.
    Be sure to read Etsy's sellers handbook regarding listing a service for sale. I believe that if you offer a craft workshop you have to provide the participants with a tangible item at the end of the course... instruction booklet or an item created during the workshop - easy enough to comply with and add it into your description.
    Best of luck!

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  8. I would be interested for sure. I am way up in Canada, but if the timing of the workshop is right, I think your work is fantastic and would love to have the opportunity to learn from you!

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  9. Check with your craft/ceramic associations- I know in the UK ours do suggest rates of pay for people giving workshops.
    All the Best
    gz

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  10. Hello Mr. Bauman,

    I am just blown away by your work and perplexed how your career came to such an abrupt end. I have spent the better part of all of my free time since 2009 researching making a living in Pottery and to a certain extent I feel somewhat like I know what I'm talking about. Examining your work and looking at your show schedule I would venture to guess that the high quality of your work was a large part of your undoing. A 2-3k show is what I think an above average potter can strive for once they can find the right mix of shows that matches their work. This average means that the potter not wanting to do shows every weekend must be constantly developing multiple sources of income and venues to string together a good annual income. That's the new reality I think of all artist and means business development now consumes more time than ever for an artist.

    My guess is that over the years you have always done much better than this and therefore could rely on fewer shows, better prices and forego developing additional income streams.

    You said in one of your post that your income was constrained by how much you could make a year not with what sales. You also said that the potters you knew were in the same boat, meaning they to just concentrated on the single avenue of selling.

    As I said, I have traveled the net extensively and that is a condition that exist, or existed, for very high end artist such as yourself and not the typical functional potter. The problem is not that pottery doesn't sell anymore its just a much different dynamic, as you are ofcourse aware.

    Anyway this is a long way to get to the point, it is of course absurd for someone of your talent to be doing min wage jobs. Beyond absurd and you are only at this point because you were insulated from having to change by your talent. Yes, workshops are of course what you should be doing but your out of the box idea is silly and I doubt was successful in the least. Its a business and you can't just skip that part of it. There are probably hundreds and maybe even thousands of potters both hobbyist and professionals that would gladly shell out four or five hundred bucks for a 2-3 day workshop with you and that means for 10 folks about 5 grand for you and a studio to split. My wife pursues these several times a year but she has a hell of a time finding our about them.

    You have a studio, set the dates and advertise for folks to come to you. You can put your notice on the online sites such as ceramicartsdaily.org and so on. The mags can't be too bad on price, have you checked. Go to InfoUSA.com and check on a mailing list for pottery studios. Hell, go to google maps and just type in 'potteries Chicago, IL' and you will see the potteries on the map with the mailing instructions. Call them if you can't afford a brochure or send them an email. They can setup workshops pretty easily and take the cut or you can charge them so much a day for your services.

    If you want to reach these folks you have to do a hell of a lot more than what you mentioned here.

    You are one hell of an artist and the only reason you are talking about such silly things as min wage jobs is simply that you did not plan and diversify your business before your model stopped working but that can be fixed and you can fix it by just working the phone and email getting heard by the folks that want your knowledge. I would sign this but pottery is a small world and since I am being so presumptuous and arrogant I will stay anon, but I will say I am a mid fifty something and this is good advise.

    Signed,

    An aspiring potter that would have gladly paid for your workshop if you had let me know it existed.

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    1. I'm supposed to get an email when there is a reply to my blog. In this case, I didn't. So I apologize for not noticing your reply. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thoughtful, well-considered reply. You gave me a lot to think about.

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    2. So simple...... Just get on the phone! I wish it took just four years for me to figure it all out. Applied theory?

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    3. Hi John,

      Maybe you should reach out to http://nwclayclub.com/

      I new potter started this group a couple of years ago and they hosted a Simon leach workshop in Snohomish and they are doing another one in June with Cynthia Bringle in Kirkland, Wa.

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  11. Note above that on google maps you need to type 'potteries cityname,st' to get the listings. 'Pottery' gets mostly unrelated entries. I will say I am in the NW and when you do one in the northwest you will get $500 bucks from us for my wife to attend!

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  12. actually if you leave the 'cityname,st' off you can pan around the map and pick of more and more listings as you go.

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  13. but you have to click the search button each time you stop panning to get the new listings ;-)

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