Well, a few months have passed since the Michiana Pottery Tour so I thought it was about time for me to give a quick recap.
I returned to the tour stop at Northern Indiana Pottery Supply hosted by Moey Hart. There were a bunch of new potters there this year. I think one of my favorite parts about the tour is meeting new people and talking to them about their work. And of course, trading pots at the end!
Northern Indiana Pottery Supply Tour Stop
Pots
It’s always great to talk to other potters. I really enjoyed catching up with Rebecca Graves and Ryan Taylor about recent shows they have done and see the production work they are making. I talked to Garrett DeLooze about all the wood firing he has done recently. It was also awesome to meet Alec Hoogland, Maddie Gerig, Joe Chomyn and Elizabeth Wamsley.
Pots I Traded For:
Moey Hart, Alec Hoogland, Garrett DeLooze, Maddie Gerig, Josh Heim
Josh Heim is a potter from Warren, IN. He and his wife own a flower shop / pottery studio. I talked to him quite a bit and picked up some tips about running a business, making pots and offering pottery classes.
Josh Heim: selling pots and taking names at the Michiana Pottery Tour
As for the actual tour, it was fantastic. Two perfect days to be outside: sunny and 70’s. The kind of day you might go do yard work just so you can be outside. But I got to sit in the shade of my tent and talk to visitors about my pots!
Visitors and Sales
From my crude tally, we had a lot more visitors than last year. And such interesting people. My sales went pretty well, especially Saturday.
My dad, brother and niece came down from Michigan for a while. It was good to see them. My aunt and uncle made the trip down from Michigan too. My daughter even came over and got to play with Moey’s kids for a while. Here are are my notes:
Saturday 9/26/15
- items sold: 20
- transactions: 9
- non buyers: 72
- total visitors: 85 (at least)
customer location: Brooklyn MI (my aunt and uncle), St. Claire Shores MI, Chicago IL, locals and unknown.
Sunday 9/27/15
- items sold: 14
- transactions: 10
- non buyers: 53
- total visitors: 65 (at least)
customer location: Ft. Wayne, Kentucky (visiting her sister in MI), Indianapolis, Cadillac MI, Elkhart, Ann Arbor MI, and a few locals. I also talked to many other visitors from different locations. Two that stuck out were a lady from Alaska visiting family and 2 potters that live in Florida and spend a few months in Chicago each year.
So it was a pretty fantastic weekend. Pack it up and get ready for the next one…
