[Mark C.]

There was some interest in spoon rest production on another thread so I shot some photos of a run today.

You may or may not want to make these. If you want to pay off your house or buy a new car or put your kid thru collage these are just what to make-If they are below you then skip to the top ramen for dinner staving artist post.

Get your bats ready-I throw on small plaster ones on wareboards I carry out to the sun to dry like the old Japanese village throwing movies (ok some of you do not know about these films where whole villages make pottery- check them out)

The plaster dries out the bottoms so they release and dry very quickly.

The main thing is plenty of bats.

First get the softest pug of clay you can find or soften one up the softer the better.

This soft clay will make throwing them faster and easier.

Cut it into 48 pieces-It helps to have a wire with only one handle to pull thru the pug at the bottom (old timer trick) cut the pug down the middle center of the top to bottom- then each side once-then into thirds on the side-that equals 48 pieces-see photo

Next center one and before you spread it out cut a drip line and foot with wood tool-then lay it out sideways. These are no trimmers so get that foot right.

See photos

Stop wheel pull spout move on to next one

Etc etc.

Carry out to sun and dry-I like to sponge the bottoms while still soft enough to work just as soon as they are firm enough to remove without distorting them.

When you get this down it will take less than 1 hour for itall.

After drying

Board or bat them up in piles of 4-5 high and bisque them

I hot dip wax them and production glaze them with tongs- (nextweek) we can cover that.

These will sell better at a low price point-if you ask to much no need to make this many.
I display them in piles on two higher pedestals so folks can find their special one.

Mark

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[INYA]

I love your posts

How to pay the house 1/50



and looking forward to th next chapter about the waxing (please write about the mixture I would like to star but don`t know what material to use)

[Heidi]

awesome and thanks for sharing

[TJR]

Hey, Mark;
Once again, thanks for sharing! I saw those things in your other pictures and wondered how they were made. I don't have a pug mill-I am thinking about 3/4 of a pound of clay for each? Does that sound about right?
I could stand to pay off the house.
Tom [TJR]

[Mark C.]

Tom
one 25# pug divided by 48 is .52-so thats about a tad over 1/2# each 3/4#s is way to much clay
Again I sell these for 5$ each-I price them at 4.70 and round off the tax wherever I travel with them so they are 5$ each-at that price they fly off the pedestals. Find your price point in your own area -if they are slow selling the price is to high.</div><div>Often folks want to leave the show with an item and find these then add another piece or two from my booth.
They are fast and easy to make-I pack them about 50 fired ones to a clay box.I do track them as far as how many I sell at a given show so I can always take more than I need.
Big 3 day shows I go thru over 300 of them-do the math and one sees the beauty of them
small sleepy shows maybe a 100 of them sell.
The items that sell best with them are lotion bottles ,sponge holders,soap dishes. I tend to show all these small items near one another.
Mark

[atanzey]

Mark - do you have bat pin recesses in your plaster bats, or do you put them down with clay? I really want to go to plaster bats, but my one-and-only plaster experience (a wedging table) was not happy. I'm trying to convince myself it would be better next time.

Alice

[Mark C.]

No pins -I just throw a wet centered slab of clay down with some groves cut into it. Pin holes wear out to fast-I pour my own bats.
Mark

[~janie]

What a good idea. The house is paid for, but the Suburban has 317,000 miles on it, all on the same engine, transmission, and rear end.

So I am looking for things like this to make and sell for little money. Want to sell big things for big money, too, but not so many people have big moneys.
It all adds up.

What kind of clay do you use? No way I could put them out in the sun, tho. Our sun would bake them, pronto!

[Mark C.]

I use Dave's Porcelain for 99% of my production. The sun on the Texas coast is hotter so they will dry inside just fine.


Mark

[yedrow]

Products like this are great kiln stuffers. Another good item is a ring holder; basically a spoon rest without a 'spout' and a stem in the middle. Another good thing about spoon rests is that they give beginning potters practice on spouts!

[Bobg]

Mark,

Yes, they do sell fast. I make quite a few of them when I have time and they do sell quickly. I also sell them for $5.00. My brother sells them for that much and he has orders from gift shops and such. One time they wanted to know if he would do 500 of them, he did, but said he wouldn't do another order that big. Took too much time away from other items he can make more money on. The photo is one that I made.

Bobg

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[clay lover]

Mark, thanks you for your generous sharing of info. I appreciate the time and thought you were willing to spend on showing us this.

I think it is important to get proficient at your small things, otherwise they cost more to make than you get.

[DAY]

Here's another "quickie" that helps pay the bills. I call it the "whatever" dish - spoon rest, powder room soap dish, ring rest, what ever.I cut a couple dozen per slab, with a 4" cookie cutter, form them on plaster hump molds. Wholesale for $60/dozen.

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[Bobg]

Day,

Good looking dishes. Can you tell me how you do the dish in the lower left? What do you use to color the leaf.

Bobg

[Joanie]

DAY, on 15 June 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

Here's another "quickie" that helps pay the bills. I call it the "whatever" dish - spoon rest, powder room soap dish, ring rest, what ever.I cut a couple dozen per slab, with a 4" cookie cutter, form them on plaster hump molds. Wholesale for $60/dozen.

VERY nice!

[Clay Pigeon Pottery]

These are great---and just what I need to make when I transition my studio back to throwing after I've been glazing for a month! Thanks also for posting your selling price. My family members tell me my prices are too low, but I want people to own my pieces. Schlepping them from event to event isn't my idea of a good time. I think it's nice to have smaller pieces so people on a tight budget can take something home and enjoy it.

I've just started pairing up my extruded soap dishes with a really nice locally made soap, and I've donated the first 6 sets to a fundraiser auction with a starting price of $10. We'll see tomorrow how people like them----fingers crossed!

Again, thanks for sharing the spoon rests. I'll be adding them to my next project list.

[Dharsi]

As my husband likes to say, do you want to sell it, or have it for sale?

[Mark C.]

Clay Pigeon Pottery, on 15 June 2012 - 06:43 PM, said:

These are great---and just what I need to make when I transition my studio back to throwing after I've been glazing for a month! Thanks also for posting your selling price. My family members tell me my prices are too low, but I want people to own my pieces. Schlepping them from event to event isn't my idea of a good time. I think it's nice to have smaller pieces so people on a tight budget can take something home and enjoy it.

I've just started pairing up my extruded soap dishes with a really nice locally made soap, and I've donated the first 6 sets to a fundraiser auction with a starting price of $10. We'll see tomorrow how people like them----fingers crossed!

Again, thanks for sharing the spoon rests. I'll be adding them to my next project list.

Extruded soap dishes are also in my small stuff thats sells-mine are 9$ plus tax-they sell ok but nothing like spoonrests . Soap dish's sell good at my gallery outlets as they are next to hand made soaps.
Mark

[Estelle.the.potter]

this is very COOL!!

yes better to sell a lot of cute fun pieces than hold on to bigger ones forever

[trina]

Keep meaning to reply to this post for ages, thank you for sharing your spoon rest ideas with us.... great post! T