Studio Saga: Vol. 2

I believe the studio is going to be registered as an LLC. From my limited knowledge of business, this would probably be the safest route. If you have an opposing opinion, please share it. Those of you with businesses, what are they registered as and why did you choose to do it that way?

In any case, in order to register as an official business we will need a name to register as. I have been going by the moniker "Simple Circle Studios," but my wife (heretofore known as "Alicia") thought it might be better to have something with the word pottery in it to make it easier to identify what the studio does. I tend to agree with her. Since I do not really have much of a business presence built up I don't think changing names will make much of a difference. Thus we have been brainstorming lately to come up with a different name for the studio. So far we have come up with the following...

Mud Chucker Pottery
Chestnut Pottery (pending on the acquisition of a specific property)
Simple Circle Pottery
S.C.S. Pottery (Simple Circle Studios Pottery)
Rockwood Pottery

I know there have been more but I can't remember them at the present. I like Mud Chucker, but Alicia thinks that name would be too coarse for my style of work and might scare people off...I don't agree. Chestnut is the name of a cafe we are looking at for a possible studio space, so that one would depend on getting that building. Simple Circle Pottery would be pretty easy, as would S.C.S. Pottery, especially as I already have stuff set up as Simple Circle Studios or some variation there of. Rockwood has no meaning whatsoever; Alicia just thought it sounded nice.

Now your job, faithful reader, is to assist in the naming of the new studio. Give me your opinions of the present options and let me hear your suggestions for names. Alicia and I will sift through them all and if we pick yours (ala Ron Philbeck), perhaps I might be able to find a little something as a token of our appreciation. Let's hear those names!

And so there is at least one picture in this post...


This fine piece of work is a mug I recently purchased from Brandon Phillips during his Etsy cup sale. It has a great gestural movement and a knockout handle; not to mention the wood fired surface. Perfect for a cup of coffee or some freshly pressed apple cider with just a pinch of whiskey.

Ok, I have bread to finish and a kitchen to clean. Remember, send in those name suggestions and you may be handsomely rewarded! Until then...

-Rob

Studio Sage: Vol. 1

DISCLAIMER: This post consists entirely of words. There are no pictures. It may, in fact, be quite boring. If this does not sound like your cup of tea, farewell gentle reader. I hope you come again when you may.

It has been far too long since I have posted anything on here. Part of the reason has to do with my new son. My current schedule is: pick up my son after work, take care of him until my wife gets home, eat supper and catch up on computer stuff, try to take care of any cleaning that needs to get done, etc. then go to bed so I can get up at 5:15 am and start it all again. All that leaves very little time to get into the studio.

What is more than all this, though, I have been rather depressed lately. Depressed about not being able to work like I want to; about the prospect of never being able to turn pottery into a business, about having to work some menial, shit job that I hate for the rest of my life. And really, that is what I was facing; doing something I barely tolerate for the rest of my life just to pay the bills.

I have been bothering my wife for a number of years about not working in a school (or wherever) and starting a full time pottery business. Her response was always the same. Once you can make as much selling pottery as you do working now, then you can do it full time. I could never seem to convince her that I would not be able to make what she was expecting while working another job, at least not a full time job. As it would be rather difficult to start a business without her consent I was stuck.

Now here comes the good part.
I am not entirely sure what brought it on, but my wife finally agreed to starting a full time pottery studio. I think she finally realized that since raising a child is not going to be getting any cheaper, if we didn't jump in now it was probably never going to happen. Granted it would have been nice if she had let me do this four years ago when I first mentioned it, when we didn't have a child to worry about...but I'll take what I can get.
Enough of this talking. I will keep you all posted on how this whole adventure goes.

-Rob