Sublte Shifts

About a month ago, I began working with a personal trainer. We meet every week or two for about a half an hour. I needed someone to be accountable to in order to make sure I would get myself to the gym on a regular basis. One of the downsides of working at home is that there is that it is too easy to stay home! Getting myself out of the house and to the gym has been a challenge. For three weeks this summer, I made it to the gym about four days a week, in large part because I was out of the house already bringing my daughter to camp each morning. It was easier. But when camp ended, I needed to create something that would motivate me to keep it up long enough to build the exercise habit into my life again. Thus, the personal trainer.

Linda, my trainer, is terrific. One of the things she does each time we meet, and with each exercise I perform, is to monitor my body position. Posture and body position are as important as repetitions and level of exertion. It is important in order to make sure the right muscles are engaged, and to reduce the risk of injury. I find myself throughout the day, at the gym, walking the dog, or just walking down the street, checking in. Knees soft, abdomen tight, pelvis tucked, rib cage lifted, shoulders back, and head up. From knees up to my head, small adjustments as I move my body into proper position.

What I have noticed, as I make these shifts, is that they affect how I look, how I move, and....surprisingly to me, how my knees feel, and my balance. I am left with a sense of discovery. So this is how it feels to be more coordinated or athletic in how you move through the world. As someone who never felt coordinated or athletic in any way, and I still don't,...there is a better sense of what it must be like.

And, it brings me to my point. The power of making subtle shifts. What makes the difference between the work of an artist that knocks your socks off, and someone who has not yet reached that level of mastery? I propose that it is small and subtle things, that cumulatively end up in a place that is refined, balance, and complete, in a way that other work is not.

The master has learned the nuances of the material. How to adjust there pressure just so, to accomplish with ease what they set out to do. That nuanced sensitivity takes time and hands on effort to develop. It does not come with the first time you sit down and do something. It is entirely possible to do most things adequately at first. But to master it, it takes an attention to details and nuances that are not seen by the amateur. It takes an understanding of when and how best to finish a piece. It takes a strong sense of design and balance. An ability to edit.

All these things may happen in almost an unconscious manner with a master of their craft. They are taken into consideration as they move through the process of creation. At one point, they were done with effort and concentration. And there is still effort, but it becomes second nature, and full anticipation of where they are going and what must be done. My goal in the gym is for those positions and movements to become second nature. And in the studio, I continue to learn about how to move my work to a place were it is fully balanced and aligned.

What do you think? Have you seen your work develop in a way that reflects an increased understanding of material, process, design, or finish? Are you integrating that understanding into your approach to design, and material? Does it give you a sense of accomplishment?

If not, maybe it is time for some focus on the essentials in the studio. Where do you need more attention? What are your weaknesses? Do you need someone to help you reach your goals?

Too Busy

Have you missed me?

I have missed the time I had been spending writing here, but lately it seems like that is a luxury for which there is no room. I thought I worked a lot before. Now I have had to cut out lots of little "extras", .... like writing in this blog.

So what have I been up to?

First, cleaning out space. A few weeks back I rented a dumpster. Nothing is more satisfying than clearing out lots of clutter, and ending up with space. Our basement was filled to the gills and beyond. It is gratifying to finally have begun to re-establish order where before it was sheer chaos.

Part of the motivation to do this was I was desperate for space. The Crane Project is taking up more and more room. Both storing the cranes, and work space to string cranes up on cables. My work spaces were becoming unworkable. The change has made a large space available to me in the basement, and now I can safely have them out of danger, and more easily do the work I need to do with them.

I also decided it was time I admit that my dining room had stopped being a dining room several years ago when I started selling lots of cranes. It had become my crane packaging and inventory area, and shipping area. But I never fully admitted that. Even though hosting a meal in the room would have been impossible.

So the hutch was cleared out, the table moved to a wall, and a second table brought into the room. My computer came downstairs, along with all my paperwork. Getting an order out the door has become more efficient. It is still chaotic because I have not had the time to organize my office "stuff", but already, it is feeling much better than what existed before. And my husband has taken over the office space upstairs. He has a place to read, to play his guitars, and do yoga.

I have set a tough schedule for myself to complete cranes for the Crane Project. Sixteen cranes a day. Seven days a week. Right now, I am two days behind schedule, or thirty-two cranes. I hope to make eight more before I go to bed tonight so that the deficit shrinks just a little. But it is gratifying to watch the number climb. I just crossed 800 cranes tonight. It is also stunning to see how many that is. And to realize that is it only a year and two months of a war that is already over five years in length.

The motivation for staying on schedule is because it may put me in position to "catch up" at about the time of the inaugural in January of 2009. I like the idea of that deadline. A karma shift of sorts.

The waxed paper cranes are getting folded here and there. I bring a bag with paper squares with me where ever I go. I have folded over 500, and received nearly 100 from other folders. Last night, about 15 to 20 were folded before and during my daughter's band concert. I even taught my dentist and her assistant how to fold cranes last week. I have a new idea that I will be working on in the coming days to recruit more folders.

I still don't know where this project will be installed. It is one of the first questions I get, and all I can say still is "I don't know." All I can do is trust. I am continuing my search for a place, as well as funding options. Filling out applications, and learning.

I have also been dealing with some difficult choices in my business. I will write more about that soon. All I can say for now was once I made the choice it felt better than it did when I was avoiding the inevitable. Once I crossed the dreaded line, answers and solutions seem to fall into place. I don't know how it will work out, but I do know I feel comfortable with my decision, regardless of the outcome.

For the time being, my posts will probably continue to be sporadic. This post is more scattered than I like, but I guess that is a reflection of my state of mind right now. A bit like a pinball bouncing around. Time to bounce back into my studio, and make a few more cranes....

Maybe, This Stuff Works...

Just about five years ago, I started down the path of playing with polymer clay, and not long after, learning everything I could about the business of being in craft. You might think that someone with an MBA, would not need to learn much. But I have never in my life presumed expertise. And, after working in so many industries in the past, I knew I would have to learn what made the business of craft tick.

What have I learned in the last five years? LOTS! Some things the hard way, some the traditional way. But I certainly know more now than I did then. I'll try to summarize a few of those lessons here,

1. Doing matters. In the end, without action, it is nothing. Talk truly is cheap. Acting takes guts and often funds. But without taking action of some sort, nothing happens. And even when things go wrong....there is always an opportunity to learn, or to gain experience. Nothing has ever been a complete waste of my time. A few things came close. But I never came close to making those mistakes again.

2. The most successful are those who are usually just plugging away. You seldom see them complaining about much. Not because they are successful, and have nothing to complain about. No. It seems to me, that more often it is because they see little is gained from the complaint.

Complaining about ignorant or irritating customers, wholesale or retail, seldom does much except allow you to spend more time in a time drain. Complaining about artists who rip off others seldom is a well-spring for creativity. Complaining about how lousy the market is does not help you find new customers.

The successful are not Pollyannas. If anything they are hyper-realists. They realize that the only thing that is going to get them closer to their goals, whatever they might be is themselves. And no amount of complaining ever moved anyone forward. Usually it keeps them firmly planted in place as the rest of the world moves forward.

3. Perfectionism can be a crutch. It can be a way to avoid trying. It can be an excuse for item number 1. Good enough really is good enough. Don't get me wrong, craftsmanship matters. But, there is a line. Cross that line and you will never have anything leave your studio, and you will never be able re-coupe your investment in time if you try to sell your work.

4. Craftsmanship develops best in volume. Make something over and over and over again, and you will learn it and understand it in ways that are not possible in the first, the fifth, or possibly even the 100th piece.

5. Pricing never ever gets easy. You just reach a point of peace. You know you are covering your costs. You know your work will sell at a price. You are not selling it faster than you can make it. An equilibrium of sorts is reached, but it never maintains itself indefinitely.

6. Packaging matters. The best work in the world is enhanced with good marketing support materials. Some sort of packaging that tells your story or presents the work to best advantage will nearly always help sell the work a bit better than without it.

7. Understanding your customer is essential. It will help you answer so many other questions about how to bring your product to market. What shows to do? Pricing. Packaging. Colors. Designs. Where to advertise or publicize.

8. Even in a good market some will fail. Likewise in a lousy market some will succeed. Our success is more often influenced by our own actions than by those of the general climate. Those things matter, but they are not the only factor.

9. The world keeps moving, and so should you. New designs. New markets. New ways of getting your work out into the market. The internet is going to play an integral role as we move forward. If you are reading this you probably already sense this, if not know it and live it. Stay still and you will be left behind.

10. Going it alone is lonely. I love time on my own. But I can't say I would ever have learned as much, or gone as far as I have so far without the company of others.....virtually or in person. That new person at the show that you have been doing for years may know just the web guru that you need. The craftsperson who seems to be able to set up his booth with his eyes closed, because he probably can....will probably have some good advice if you are willing to listen. Sharing your dreams with others may mean that when they see the opportunity that is perfect for you, you will find out. Be a friend and make a friend. Your business will benefit, and so will you.

The title? It seems as if I should be in a lull right now. The economy is faltering. I had a large order with a catalog company cancelled. And yet, I am working like crazy. Orders are coming in. Opportunities dropping in my lap.

Why? Luck, perhaps. But maybe because I am working to stay focused on these essentials. I don't know. But I do know that the more I do that is alignment with the things I profess here, the more success comes my way. I get it wrong, like anyone. But I allow myself the error, and move forward. I hope that you can do the same with your business, and that it brings you the same satisfaction and success. I am looking forward to the lessons that the next five years will bring.

Owning Up

Sometimes we screw up. Even under the very best of intentions, things go wrong. But just like we learned back in grade school, owning up, taking responsibility, really is the best way to move through the problem, and then be able to move forward.

I wrote last year about how I was going to be working with a catalog company. I was excited by the possibility, but also a bit anxious about what that might entail as far as production, and would I be able to live up to my end of the bargain.

Doing the work to make sure that I would be able to meet the demand, helped me to look at my production process differently. I started to see that if I could make a dozen cranes at one time, all with the same pattern, it would actually be easier than trying to make a dozen different cranes. Thus began the idea of exclusive designs for each year.

As I began to prepare myself to fill orders for the catalog company, I anxiously awaited the initial order from them. The contract I signed stated I would need to ship cranes to them by early January. But it was mid-December before I got the order. The first order was for 54 cranes, and I began making them right away. I wanted to be sure I fulfilled my responsibility. The ship date had been moved to a later date, so I felt comfortable that I would be able to easily manage it and the orders I had at the time.

Less than two weeks before I was supposed to ship this first order, on a Friday afternoon, after 4 p.m. I got a call from the catalog company. They wanted to cancel the purchase order. No reason was given. No sense of whether or not there would be a future order. Just a call saying the purchase order was cancelled. By this time I had made and boxed up nearly 40 cranes. All done in a design that was exclusive to them. I was so surprised by this I had little to no response, and there were no real answers to the few questions I stammered out.

Now what?

Fortunately, I have a resident contracts expert in my husband. He helped me draft a letter requesting payment for the cranes I had made for them. According to contracts law, I was due compensation for the cranes I made for them, against their purchase order. He even went so far as to tell me that I should ship them out on the date they were originally scheduled to ship. This is where I took my own counsel and decided a crane in the hand is better than no cranes, and no check.

Today I spoke with the catalog company. The woman I had been working with owned up. She told me they were going through a difficult financial period. They had readjusted the products they were carrying. They were struggling to pay their existing vendors. (My instinct about holding onto those cranes was the right one!) They were not prepared to compensate me for the cranes I had already made for them.

It was easy for me to be gracious, and ask for a compromise in return. She had been honest with me, and so I knew where I stood. I asked that we cancel the contract, and that I be released from having the design held exclusively for them. It was as close to a win-win as we were going to get in the situation. She was happy to accomodate me, and there were no angry words or accusations.

It could have been nasty, and vindictive. I read about such exchanges from time to time on the discussion forums. I could have stood up for "my rights". But all that would have happened is that I would have spewed a lot of frustration and anger. I asked them to compensate me, and meet their obligations. She was honest, and told me where they stood. I had a fall back position, and I was happy to go there. I could easily do business with them again.....not sure if I want to!......but should she end up somewhere else down the round, I have not burned a bridge, and I know she is someone I can trust. And she knows that I can behave professionally.

We sometimes focus all our energy on our reputation for the quality of work we produce. But the reputation we develop as a business person is also important. How are you to work with? Do you meet your obligations? If you can't, do you own up, or leave people hanging? It is never easy to let people down. But to do it in a responsible way is always better than to quietly slink away hoping the problem will go away. It won't. And your reputation will suffer.

It really is as simple as the lessons we learn in grade school. Be honest. Don't make promises you can't keep. And if you do, own up.

"Time, Time, Time....is on My Mind..."

"Yeess, it is."


If there is one commodity I could use more of, it would be time. And that scarcity of time is what is driving some of my decisions and choices in the coming year. It is easy to lose track of time when I get engrossed in my work in the studio. Or to have a relatively simple task take much longer than expected for any number of reasons,....interruptions, distractions, equipment or material problems,...you name it.


In many ways, time is one of the main ingredients in our work. How we value that time depends upon the skills and experience we bring along. But ultimately, for many artists, (excluding those working with metals these days!), the cost of materials can be insignificant compared to the time put into creating their work. Yet, it can also be the most undervalued component by the new artist starting out.


Several things got me thinking about this issue of time. There was a great post I found through Alyson Stanfield's ArtBiz blog about tracking time spent in the studio. I have tracked how much time it takes me to do a particular task, but I have not tracked my overall studio time quite the way it is described by Lisa Call. She has been writing down her hours in the studio each day, in her sketchbook. I love the sketchbook idea, but I am afraid I would fall into the judgement and evaluation of the numbers if I had them. Knowing this about myself might be why I was particularly struck by her goal to not judge the hours she had spent (or not spent) in the studio. But instead, her goal was acceptance that the hours spent there were the right amount for her.

Too often we are looking externally for cues and measurement comparisons. How much time do they spend in the studio? How many hours? Days? How many shows? The probem with these comparisons is that they are always missing essential information. No one else is where we are with our work, or lives. We all bring different experience, and baggage, to the party. And we all have different styles of work. Trying to adapt yourself to another person's work style or schedule so that you can perhaps achieve what they have done will only end in frustration.

Several other discussions in on-line forums have caught my attention when they touch this issue of time. One was about how people track time to price their work. One artist had a price per minute that she factored in for labor. Another had calculated how many pieces she could produce during a week. By adding together a weekly overhead cost, her materials, and her "weekly salary", she could then calculate a wholesale price without worrying about her hourly rate, or the exact number of hours it took her to produce an individual piece of work. One person was more exacting, and another more global in their calculations. Both had figured out what worked for them.

Another discussion centered on retailers' concerns about artists undercutting them on websites or at retail shows. This has become more and more of an issue as there are more and more direct outlets available to artists to sell their work. Without getting into the pricing discussion, a comment made in the thread resonated for me. I will try to paraphrase the comments. One retailer commented that many artists she represented had stopped doing retail shows after they did the math and saw the true cost of the retail show...beyond the booth fee, ...and found that it did not pay. An artist chimed in with her experience that reinforced this observation. She had found that she made more money, and had more time at home, and in her studio when she went to two wholesale shows a year, supplemented with on-line wholesale sales.

This reflects where I am coming to as I look at my goals for the coming year. Sales at retail shows, with just a few exceptions, have been dismal for me this year. I am not ready to write off retail entirely, but I am backing away from it. I like the idea of making work to fill an order. I like the idea of more time at home, and less of my time spent selling. I want to spend my time in the way that is most efficient and enjoyable for me. Too often this year I would spend three or four days away at a show while I had wholesale orders waiting to be filled. This just added to the frustration of a disappointing show.

As I make this choice to focus even more on wholesale, I know that there are many others out there who are leery of wholesaling their work. We all need to look and find the right combination for our time, our temperament, and our work. The balance or approach that works for me might feel completely out of balance for you. But maybe, like me, analyzing the mix in the context of time might just be what you need to help make a decision that feels right.

Enough time out of the studio.....it is time for me to get back to work!

Contest: Name that Crane

For the last few years, when I make a crane I start from scratch. I may make a cane that will create 3 or 6 or more cranes, but when that cane was done, so was that design. While there is some creative freedom in this approach, it can also be challenging when I have orders to get out the door. And there is anxiety as I package up an order. Will they like this one? I had a few variations that I could easily reproduce, such as a Skinner blend with a metal leaf crackle finish. But the patterned cranes were the ones that many people love.

After having to come up with a reproducible design for the catalog company I began to rethink my whole approach to making cranes. Maybe it would be easier to have several patterns that would be exclusive for one year. The next year, I would have a new set of designs. With that in mind, I have been working on several styles or designs to offer for 2008, and I have come up with a few that I like, and I know I can repeat....at least in pattern, if not in the exact colorway.

The group of cranes at right are called "I Love You" cranes. They were designed with Valentines' Day in mind. But I will only have this design for 2008. In 2009, there will be a new design with this theme.

The next picture is a group of cranes I call "Carpet Ride". When I am laying out the sheet of clay with the cane slices, I am using the idea of an oriental rug. I spent a year working part time selling rugs at an area furniture store. I loved the colors and patterns, and each night when I came to work, I would look through the rugs, to see the newest patterns and designs. Most rugs have a center field and a border. These cranes use that idea in how they are created. This pattern that will have more variety...depending on the canes I have to work with at the time.

Now, you come in. I have a few other designs that I need some help with naming. The right name can romance the work a bit. A story can be conjured up in just a few well selected words. Problem is, I have a nasty cold right now. My brain is in slow motion. Which can be great for getting tedious tasks done, but not so great for brainstorming. I need your brains and creativity. Two designs are wanting for a name.

Every idea I have come up with falls flat. The top group can be called group 1, and the lower picture, group 2. These are not the only colors that these cranes will come in, but they give you an idea of how the pattern can look in a variety of colorways. Submit your ideas in the comments, and specify which group you are naming. You are welcome to submit as many ideas as you can come up with. You have until next Friday, December 28th, at midnight(EST) to come up with an idea and post it in the comments. If your name is selected, in exchange for your permission to use the

name to promote that line, I will send you a crane in that pattern....hanging or sitting, you choose.

I hope your creative juices are flowing better than mine are right now. I look forward to seeing your ideas! And thank you for your creative energy....I need it right now. :-)

Failure to Communicate

We have so many ways to "reach out and touch someone" these days. Phones, cell phones, internet, e-mail, snail mail, fax....you name it, we can do it. But does this easy access to communication actually make it happen? No, not at all. They are just tools of communication, and they still rely on our initiative and action.


I have been surprisingly busy right through this month. Not swamped, but not idle, either. I delivered the fifth order in the last two months to a local shop. I love working with this shop owner. If she needs something or has a question, she picks up the phone, or shoots off and e-mail. And the easy flow of communication has paid off nicely with all the sales she has generated with my work. It never takes more than two contacts by either of us to make something happen.

On the other hand, I am awaiting to hear from another customer about a pending order. I know they want early January delivery, but still no order giving more details about quantities. Will I spend Christmas in my studio,....... or will I have some time to spend with my family while they are off from school and work? I want it to be the later, but the delay in getting information creates anxiety. I have called. I have left messages. I have spoken with people. Still, no order. Just the promise of an order. I am making product for them, but will it be enough?


I am not the best person at communicating, so I am willing to cut some slack to those who also struggle to make that phone call, or get the letter out. But, when I have to call again and again, and I get no response, I end up frustrated by the experience. Good communication means much more than finding the right words. It has to involve action.


I am seeing first hand how valuable clear and open communication is between our accounts and ourselves. There is a delicate balance between regular communication and harrasment....one person's regular check-in could be considered pestering by another. Understanding expectations, and working to keep open communication can make the difference between a good relationship and a disaster.


Do you find you struggle to find a balance in communication with your customers or galleries? Or have you managed to find the balance? And how do you manage the unresponsive?

If I was to pick one area to work on in the coming year, this might just be it. Do you have one thing that needs a little extra attention? Perhaps a goal for the new year. Now is a good time to start thinking about where you want to go and what you want to accomplish in the coming year. Accomplishments do not always have to be about getting a certain number of new accounts, or doing such-and-such a show. Sometimes setting goals to work on things that present an on-going challenge can do more to help our business get stronger than focusing all our energy on the externals. Something to think about in the next few weeks.....

Helping Hands

As my business has grown, I have had to think a bit about how to manage the growth. I have been a one-woman show. Doing everything in the studio, and the marketing, the photography, packaging, selling, bookkeeping, webmaster......etc. You name the task, and I have probably done it. In part because doing it myself is usually the cheapest way to get it done.

Doing it all is getting harder and harder, and the outlook is that I will eventually have to get help. Some of what I do will have to be handled by others. Whether it is hiring a high school student...perhaps my own daughter??...or a stay at home mom looking for a few hours work...eventually I will have to face up to this issue.

In the meantime, I have come to realize I already have quite a few helping hands, ready to dive in when asked. Yesterday, and today, my dear husband has been helping out with stringing and packaging cranes. My youngest daughter loves to set up the boxes for the cranes, and place each crane inside the box. On Halloween evening, as my daughter went Trick-or-treating with her good friend, the friend's mother helped out with labeling packages, and folding inserts. In the past my daughters have helped get mailings out the door....stickering and stamping. And financial support has come from several sources as I build my business.

Yesterday was my largest output of cranes in a single day, thanks to the help of my husband with those little task that consume way too much time. It makes clear to me that soon I need to move from thinking about having someone help me, to finding the person a part-time assistant or helper. I am not ready to make that move yet, but before 2008 is over, I may well be there.

It takes time to move from doing it "all" on your own, to recognizing that having help can free you up to do what it is that you do best. I have talked about how I like doing wholesale because it gives me more time in the studio. Likewise, finding someone to take on some of the many small tasks will free up more time for me in the studio.

That studio time is why we get into this business. In the beginning it can be surprising how much time all the other work takes away from time creating. But ideally, we can work towards a new balance again. Finding the help we need to be more productive, and do more of the work we love. Are you a do it all yourself person? Or have you had help? What works best for you?

Wholesale Shows, Why?

This continues the series of posts about wholesale craft shows....or the sale of craft to the trade.

Why would someone want to do a wholesale show? There are several good reasons. Primary among them is efficiency. Set up a booth with your samples, and you can get exposure to hundreds of buyers from shops and galleries. The larger shows will draw people from across the country, and perhaps beyond.

These buyers will get a chance to see and touch your work. They will be able to discuss issues like your terms, perhaps learn a bit about your story. By going to a wholesale show, the buyers will be able to make a big chunk of their purchasing for year, or at least the next season, in one shot. They may be able to find new artists. Artists who they have not seen and heard about before. There is more comfort in taking on a new artists that you meet in person, than one that you have only seen pictures of their work.

As an artist, you can get anywhere from several weeks to a full year's worth of business at a show. These days, the sold out artist is a rarer phenomenon, but it can happen. Other retailers may take your literature back with them, and place an order with you at a later date. It may take a few years of seeing your work for some retailers to place an order. But each exposure, builds your base of customers, and builds your credibility. The cost of doing a wholesale show may be a bit higher than doing a retail show, especially if you have to travel a long distance, and perhaps ship your work. But, you are likely to sell more work at a wholesale show, and since you are taking orders, every item you produce, is already sold. You are not making inventory that you hope to sell. You make it, you ship it, and you are paid for it. What's not to like about that??

Let's assume the first year you get five new accounts. A few order your minimum, but a few more order significantly more than your minimum. During the course of the year, several of those accounts are likely to place re-orders for your work. And perhaps a few more orders come in from people who did not place an order at the show. The first year, you may only break even, or not even that. But you are building your base.

The next year, several of those accounts from the previous year may place new orders with you at the show. You may get five to ten more new accounts. And ten or twenty new leads, if not more. This is how a wholesale business will typically grow. Slowly and surely. Building off a base. Adding new accounts. Getting re-orders from old accounts. Over the course of several years, you can build a nice foundation of wholesale business.

Production, How do You Plan Your Schedule?

When you go to a wholesale show, rather than selling the work that you have brought with you, you are taking orders. You may have some of the work already produced, in which case you just need to package it up and ship it out. But how do you know how much you can commit to and when you can deliver it to the customer?

It is something that was a puzzle to me for some time. But over time I began to sort it out. In part it came from the wisdom shared by others on discussion boards. And in part it came from my own experience in the studio. While I was getting ready for ACRE, I had a reader ask, "How do you plan your production schedule?" It was a great question, (thanks Loretta!) and one I did not forget. Since I am in the middle of filling some of those orders, it seemed like a good time to finally address it.

Rule One of wholesale. You set your schedule. You are in charge of when you can deliver the work. Everyone may want it yesterday, but buyers of craft understand that you are the factory. You are an individual who can only produce so much. And if your product is a good one, there will be demand for it, and they may just have to wait if they want it bad enough. Without this rule firmly implanted into your head, and every cell of your body (lol), you may find yourself to be an overworked, sleep deprived, stressed out artist, who is wondering what you were ever thinking when you decided to start selling your work. And every creative fiber in your body will have shriveled to a frayed and fragile thread. Not a place any one of us wants to visit.

So now you know the ground rules. You are in charge of your schedule. Where do you go from there? The next step is to get out your calendar. Start filling in all the commitments you already have. Are you doing a retail show? Block out the time you need for the show, for set-up, for packing, and for getting ready for the show. Will you need to get some inventory made? Block that time out. Will you be doing a mailing? Put that on the calendar. Give yourself a day, or half a day, to make that happen at the right time to make it effective. Do you have a vacation or other event coming up? Put that in. Start by figuring out what time is available to you to make the work to fill the orders.

So you have a calendar with days blocked out. Now what? Now you need to know about how much work you can produce in a day or a week. I prefer to look at a week. My day-to-day life needs as much flexibility as I can provide.

I know some of you are thinking, how do I do this? How do I know? It goes back to some of what we did before with the pricing. If your pricing is done correctly, you will be able to look at your day or your week and know about how much work you can produce in that time by a dollar amount. It may be $200, or $2000, or much more. It depends on how much time you have to commit to your work, whether you have assistance, and where your prices fall. This is a number that only you can determine. And it will take some experience to work it out. But fairly quickly, you will get a sense of what it is.

At the show, as I took orders, I would mark out the time needed to produce the order, based on the desired delivery date, and the dollar amount of the order. It did not matter what the order was for, as much as how much it was for, and how my calendar looked. A manufacturing facility has a production scheduler. This is the hat you are wearing when you plan out your schedule. I have orders that will ship in August, September, October and November, in addition to those that wanted the work as fast as I could get it to them. Those orders for deliver in the future were blocked out at the appropriate times on the calendar. This does not mean that I can't make the work sooner. But I know, if I have not done it before the time I have planned, I will have to do it then. And if I can get it done before then (in all likelihood), then I will be able to free up that time to fill other orders, or do some marketing to try and generate some more business.

Buyers that wanted work as soon as I could get it to them were scheduled on a first come, first serve basis. As a week filled up, they were given a date for the following week. The advantage to planning your orders this way, as well, is that you can doing your shipping for a week's worth of production on one day. As I completed the work for an order, I put it aside, with it's order form, and went on to the next order. When I had the work for a week done, I could create my invoices, call to get credit card information, and package and ship the work. This is far more efficient than going through all these steps each time you fill an order. You can stay in the flow of production till several orders are filled.

By being able to plan out my schedule like this, it has actually brought sanity to my life that doing retail shows does not always bring. I know what I am making, and how much to make. I just get it done, and ship it out, and then it is on to the next batch of orders. Or if I have time, I can go putter in the garden, or get the grocery shopping done,.....just basically try to live a normal life!

I hope this explanation helps to demystify scheduling production. It really can make your life more sane in the long run. If this is what is holding you back from doing wholesale, perhaps it is time to rethink that objection.

One more thing....don't forget to look at your upcoming schedule and see if you need to be ordering any materials to be sure that you have what you need to fill the orders. That is part of the planning process a factory will use as well. You are the factory, the scheduler, the procurement person,......etc. You can't make it if you don't have the supplies on hand.

In Praise of Production

I often hear the comment...."I could never do this as a business. I could never stand to make the same thing over and over again." The very idea of becoming a machine, cranking out the same thing, over, and over, and over,.....again, and again, and again.......sends people scurrying in all directions.

I used to be of the same mindset.

Yes, it is true. I uttered those very same words. But now I live on the other side of them, and I have to sing the praises of production. Yes, there are times it is monotonous, and I don't want to make another crane! "No, no, please! Don't make me do it!" But those are brief and fleeting moments in the grand scheme of things. So what is so great about production work?

1. You learn. You learn lots and lots of things about the nuances of the material you are working with. Things you would never learn or understand if each time you sat down to create you were doing something different. In the 1oth piece you may learn some way to do a maneuver more efficiently. On the 100th piece you may find the piece more finished and refined than the first, without even knowing for sure how you got there. You learn subtleties about the limitations of the material, or how to work with the material, rather than against it.

2. Every job has it's production aspects. Every job is repetitive to some degree. It is where "experience" comes from. When I was a marketing analyst, I used to do market studies of various areas of the country trying to determine the growth prospects, and which industries would predominate. Every area of the country I studied was different. The competition, the industries, the product mix, etc., etc. And yet, each time I began working on a new project I began from the same place. Gathering the data. Putting it through the same types of analysis. Getting a lay of the land. From there each project diverged, but then it was back to "production"....creating a report with the same general format as those completed in the past.

3. There is comfort in production. There is something nice about just sitting down to make something you are good at making. Knowing the moves. Knowing what to expect. Knowing where to start. You don't need to reinvent the wheel each time. You can just get to work.

4. There is inspiration in production. Yes, inspiration. As your mind is in that relaxed state as you work with your material, you may find an idea pop into your head....that eternal question...."What if?" Nothing feeds creativity like daily, or near daily contact with your work. If you had to sit down and create from scratch each time, it is overwhelming. But as you work with the material each day, you will find the ideas coming to you. The incremental changes to what you do regularly each day can lead to new products and new ideas. The media gets into your bloodstream. You can't help but think about other ideas of what you could do and where you could go with the material.

5. If you are going to try and make a living, isn't it more fun to be doing it with something you love than doing work you hate? I had a "crisis" moment about a year ago. I finally realized that if I got serious about my cranes, there was a market for them. A really good market. But I wasn't sure I wanted to be making hundreds, if not thousands of cranes.

But then I realized, people would pay me to make things from clay. People were finding inspiration in my work. People were connecting to the cranes in ways I never could have seen. How could I not make the cranes? As I expected, demand has been fantastic. I could barely keep up last fall. I gained fifteen new accounts between the end of July and November. Many were re-ordering the cranes multiple times. I was a crane factory.

This might be where some of you say, ...."See, that is what I am talking about! I don't want to be a factory."

But the cranes have brought me cash flow. They have financed my first participation in a wholesale show. Nine out of the the ten new accounts from the ACRE show were people buying cranes. They have generated lots of interest from media. And there are the stories. The personal stories of connections with the cranes. The more cranes I make, the more lives I get a chance to touch.

6. Production is everywhere in our lives. The repetition we want to run from is a part of our lives. Doing the dishes. Sweeping the floor. Picking up the clutter of life. We do it, and then we do it again, and then again, and again. We may not always enjoy it. But sometimes, we may notice that time spent doing the dishes has a certain meditative quality to it. Or when we finish picking up the living room, vaccuuming and dusting, there is some pleasure in seeing the results of our labor. And soon, we will do it again. The laundry, the cooking, the shopping, and on and on. Sometimes we want to run screaming from the room rather than do that task yet again. But it is often the thought of the task that is more distasteful than the actual task, once we get started.

7. Production of a product we don't like making is the real problem. Sometimes when people make the decision that they want to sell their work at shows or through shops, they begin by looking at "what people will buy". You see the questions on discussion boards, "What sells well at shows?" And maybe they get an answer to that question, and they go off and start making the work that will sell. They don't particularly like making it, but they have been told that it is a big seller, and that is what they want,....something that will sell.

This is the production you will grow to hate. You are making something that does not come from you and your heart and voice. You are making it because "it will sell". But it might not sell nearly as well as you think it will because your heart is not in it. You will begin to resent every pen, bead or widget that you make. This is not what you wanted to be doing. You used to have fun working with your media. This is not fun. And you will resent anyone who looks at your work at a show and doesn't buy it. "What is wrong with them?" "This show stinks." Can you feel the bad karma? Pretty soon no one wants to be in your booth. Heck, you don't even want to be in your booth.

Production work that comes from your love of the material, your connection with the work, is what will bring satisfaction. Your enthusiasm will be evident to anyone who sees your work at a show. And you will hear those voices of people who connected with your work as you sit in your studio, making more.

"POP!" That was the sound of a bubble bursting. If the thought of production work is what stops you from moving toward selling your work, maybe you need to look again and rethink your objections. It may not be nearly as objectionable as it first looked.