11 things I’m learning since launching a pottery business
Working with clay feels right, like I found the thing I’m meant to do. But I’m definitely not (patient enough? fastidous?) for hand building. Give me that wheel.
Sometimes I wish a 9:00 meeting would appear on my calendar to make sure I don’t laze in bed in the morning.
Work can feel like dreaming and look like staring into space, and that makes me uncomfortable because I’m not “doing” anything.
Marketing can be a different kind of creative challenge. I need to embrace this and stop making bad jokes about being too old to understand social media.
There is such a thing as too much alone time.
I need a break from making from time to time, which lessens my irritation at the tedious admin tasks (emails, ordering, updating spreadsheets, etc). Blasting through these makes me feel productive.
Wheel throwing more than 4-5 hours will cause lower back and hip pain for the next day. (I should really stop ignoring this and convert it to a standing wheel).
Everything will take longer than I think.
Top notch photography skills are a must. After struggling to take product pics for Etsy, I understood it really was worth paying a professional photographer to take the beautiful branding photos.
I still feel shocked people want to pay money for my pieces. I need to work on this.
With pottery, there’s so much possibility in form, decoration, and technique. I want to learn all of it! How could anyone possibly get bored with this art form? Sometimes the possibilities are so overwhelming my brain might combust. But I feel truly lucky to call pottery (art!) a job.