The original. This guy has a serious case of the dreaded slip cracking. I liked it too much to send off to the seconds table so it went into the studio to become a source of inspiration.
Here are a bunch of yunomi I've made for what is going to be my variation of the C.U.P. project.
I've had this idea for awhile to give pots away to people who might be interested in the whole handmade thing. I've struggled with the best way to go about doing it. My solution is to give away 2 cups to people who make purchases at our next 2 home sales(dec/may). The first is to give away to someone who is not yet a believer in all things handmade but might become one. The second is a gift to the purchaser for their continued patronage as well as helping to potentially further my customer base.
I could potentially be giving away a lot of product here but like lots of potters I can make waaay more pots than I can sell if I choose to. Mugs seem to be the better choice but I can make yunomi twice as fast as mugs and can squeeze more into the kiln. The longterm benefits may or may not be worth it...I'll let you know in a year or so.
My next brilliant idea? Pots for clunkers. Bring in your mass produced dinnerware set and get 40% off a new set from me. I've not worked out the kinks in this one yet, but be on the lookout.
Time to go drop my aesthetic biases on a group of aspiring potters ;)
Cheers!
10 comments:
you know I had made a note in my sketch book that said Art for Clunkers, not knowing what I could do. I love what you've come up with by bringing in the commercial dinnerware. I think that's a great idea! Let me know if you decide to do it and I may join you if that's okay.
Glad to hear you're imposing your beliefs on your students!!!!
I love the 'pots for clunkers' idea! Maybe you can go one step further and find a nice place to 'retire' the clunker to... like let the customer break it into your shard pile. :)
It's always nice to see your rows and rows of pots! There was something you said about making more pots than you could sell that struck a chord. I wonder about this, too. I think a more industrious potter, not myself, would be out hustling those pots. I seem to spend way too much time with my pots after the firing, when I should be getting them out into the world. I'm sure you could sell all of the pots you make, you probably do. But it is always a better option to cull the not so nice ones, as you mentioned about your jugs.
Nice post. I hope your bias's were accepted without much of a fight!
;-)
Dropping the seed of an appreciation for handmade work is a good idea, Brandon. The trick will be to figure out where the fertile ground is. I used to try to give a bit of a discount to people who bought lots of pots from me, but I always got an argument from them. They wanted to pay full price. So what I now do is wrap up and drop into their bags a small bowl or a teabowl, something that shows appreciation for their buying without taking money away from me or risking an argument. I'm still trying to figure out how to let them know I'm giving them something as a way of saying thanks. Sometimes they think when they get home that I've wrapped and given them the wrong pot. Sometimes I don't hear from them at all ... I never quite know what that means.
mmm.. great challenge it will be interesting to hear the results...
Brilliant... all of it!
The C.U.P. project has legs. You already are making a big impact with your work and when you put your yunomi in new hands you'll make a huge difference to your local market. Gotta grow that market one person at a time...
C.U.P. project good!! I like the rows of yunomi all in a row... nice post thanks...
MAN!! Bryce these ideas are so great!! I love the pots for clunkers. haha! So ingenious to try and spread the beauty of pots all around. Hopefully we will win some over to the beauty of it. I am going to do something like this myself I believe. so great!! keep up the good work.
I do the give them a cup idea with small condiment cups. I don't make enough mugs to offer them , and the small dishes are enough to say "thanks" for supporting your LOCAL potter. It works well for me.
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