How to Start a Ceramics Business
Do friends and family love your creative pottery works? Turn your love for crafts into a lucrative ceramics business. Many people find pottery construction quite fascinating. In addition to selling your works, you could also open a ceramics studio where you can earn a living teaching other craft enthusiasts about the trade.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Location with good ventilation
- Pottery wheel
- Kiln
- Work table
- Shelves
- Tools
- Glazes
- Bubble wrap
- Packing materials
- Liability insurance
Instructions
-
-
1
Have an idea of the direction in which you want to take your business. Your business can be home-based, in which you make your crafts at home and then sell them online or at craft shows and local events. Another option is to throw pottery parties, similar in nature to other types of direct sales parties. Or you can mass produce a line of pottery, such as flower pots, for a gift shop or florist. Or you may want to open your own ceramics store or studio, both of which are a more costly endeavor than the former options. Expand on each arena, laying out projected costs, permits and inventory needs.
-
2
Enroll in a ceramics course. If you are just starting to work with pottery, start with a basic course where you will learn the forming, glazing and firing process for stoneware, porcelain, raku, and earthenware. Or look for a more advanced course that can give you some new approaches and ideas for designing your pottery. Start with your local community college. If it doesn't offer a course, contact colleges, other ceramic stores, studios and universities in your region. AMACO is another excellent resource for clay-making tutorials (see Resources).
-
-
3
Find a location for your ceramics business if you don't have a garage that you can convert. You'll need room for a kiln and pottery wheel, adequate room for drying, shelves to store your completed works, storage for your clay and supplies and a table to work on. Your kiln will need at least one and one half foot of clearance along the sides and bottom and at least four feet of clearance overhead. You'll need good ventilation. Look for an area with high visibility, preferably in a popular shopping center.
-
4
Purchase equipment and supplies: a pottery wheel and accessories, a kiln, stool, table, shelves, potter's needles, cut-off wires, fettling knives, ribs, scrapers, wooden modeling tools, sponges, brushes, calipers, clay, stains and glazes or the chemicals needed to make your own. When buying your kiln, you'll need to consider the amount of your materials, your production rate and the temperatures needed, which will vary depending on the type of clay with which you'll be working. Additionally, you'll need to ensure that the temperature inside your kiln can maintain the heat levels needed. If shipping your goods, purchase bubble wrap and packing materials.
-
5
Get to work. Create your pottery. Experiment with glazes, different types of clay and new shapes if selling your work as art. If contracting your pottery to florists, design a variety of flower pots in various sizes. Think beyond pots and vases. Make ready-to-paint products for kids and craft enthusiasts. Make tiles, switch plates, wine stoppers, picture frames, salt and pepper shakers and holiday décor. Use precious metal clay to make jewelry that you can sell at pottery parties. Take high-quality images of your work to put on your website.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Purchase space at craft shows, fairs and festivals.
Sell your goods on eBay and Etsy, or start your own website.
Contact local artists to join your ceramics studio.
Offer to hold free classes at a local craft store in exchange for promoting your business or studio. Consider teaching a class at your local college to supplement your income.
Purchase liability insurance for your products, supplies and studio (if applicable).
