Tall but dirty business. We open pottery workshops and master classes for children and adults. Pottery for beginners Pottery equipment for the home workshop

Attachments: from 135,000 rubles

Payback: from 4 months

An excellent option for a budding entrepreneur with creative potential would be to open his own pottery workshop. This, at first glance, non-obvious idea can be a worthy object for investing effort, money and time. How to implement this project, you will learn from this article.

Business concept

Ceramics have been a companion of our everyday life since time immemorial and to this day do not go out of fashion. And the growing popularity of hand made products makes it even more relevant. Clay products can be very diverse - purely utilitarian or exclusively decorative. Dishes made on a pottery wheel: jugs, plates, mugs, dishes, etc. can be used for their intended purpose or as decoration. You can make souvenirs, jewelry, decorative tiles, photo frames and much more from clay. If there is enough large assortment lack of potential buyers will not be. There are also many options for selling products. You can sell products in bulk for subsequent sale through stores, make products to order, and put them up for sale in various souvenir shops. It is also possible to sell goods directly to customers - directly in the workshop or through your own shop or shop.

Various kinds of master classes, including those on making ceramic products, are quite popular these days. Equipping your workshop additional tools and pottery wheels, as well as providing sufficient advertising to attract clients, it is quite possible to organize classes for everyone.

What will be required for implementation?

You will need a suitable room for work. It shouldn't be big, but it should be able to accommodate everything. necessary equipment, materials and finished products. If you plan to conduct courses and master classes, you should choose a room with a convenient location, and also equip it with additional furniture and equipment.

The main tools will be a potter's wheel, a machine for kneading clay, scales and, perhaps, the most expensive element - a kiln for firing products. Finding material for modeling - clay - is not difficult.

Pottery wheels come in various designs (hand, foot, table, floor, mechanical, electric). Each master selects a circle individually, based on personal preferences and convenience.

For the production of standard products, e.g. souvenir magnets, it is convenient to use ready-made forms. This will speed up the process and produce identical, neat products.

Work in the workshop initial stage the entrepreneur himself can do it alone or with one assistant. While the amount of work is small, it is quite possible to combine production and organizational work. However, as the business develops and the volume of work increases, additional staff will be required.

In no case should you neglect advertising. As in any other business, it is the engine of trade. The more potential clients and customers learn about the workshop, the greater the likelihood of success. One of the most effective channels today is the Internet. You can organize your own website and online store or use the services of existing resources.

For legalization entrepreneurial activity of this kind it is advisable to open an individual entrepreneur.

Step-by-step launch instructions

Market analysis, study of competitors, product demand, possible options sales
Drawing up a business plan and searching for financing.
Registration of individual entrepreneurs.
Search and rental of premises (repairs, if necessary).
Selection and purchase of furniture and equipment, tools.
Search for suppliers of raw materials and purchase of the first batch of working material.
Advertising and promotion of a business project.

Financial calculations

A pottery workshop is a business that requires investment. Without initial costs there is no way for an entrepreneur to get by, because... funds will be required to rent premises, purchase equipment and materials for work.

The amount of start-up costs for each individual project will differ depending on the scale of the activity. As an example, consider the option of a small pottery workshop in which an entrepreneur works independently.

Start-up capital

The initial investment amount will include:

premises rental – from 20 thousand rubles per month;
pottery wheel - from 30 thousand rubles;
furnace for firing products - from 40 thousand rubles;
clay mixing machine - from 30 thousand rubles;
scales – from 5 thousand rubles;
advertising – about 10 thousand rubles.

Total minimum amount required to open your own small pottery workshop will be 135 thousand rubles.

Monthly expenses

Monthly expenses will include rental payments for premises and advertising costs, which in total will amount to about 30 thousand rubles.

Payback period

The pottery business can pay off within 4-5 months.

Business Features

Opening a pottery workshop is one of those cases when a simple hobby can develop into your own financially successful project.

This type of activity is ideal for people who are passionate about working with clay. Otherwise, you will have to first master this craft or immediately hire professional craftsmen.

Simply producing clay products is not enough. It is necessary to first find out which of them will be in demand, otherwise the entrepreneur risks being left with unsold goods. The best option is to work on a pre-order basis.

Bottom line

Own pottery workshop is a good option for a beginning entrepreneur, allowing him to realize his creative potential and receive a stable income. The risks accompanying such a business are minimal, and relatively small amounts of financial costs allow you to start operating almost immediately.

Pottery art initially developed as a craft that served for the manufacture of containers for meals or vessels in which bulk and liquid materials were stored. Today, it involves processing by molding on a specially designed pottery wheel, after which glaze is applied to the dried product, followed by the obligatory process. In this way, objects are made that are used in any field: household items, construction, decorations, jewelry, souvenirs. These products are called pottery ceramics, they can be found in every corner of our planet.

There are three main classes of production in pottery technology:

production of building bricks;
making clay or stone utensils;
production of more refined earthenware or porcelain objects.

Based on production technology, all classes of pottery art are similar to each other, however, there are a number of nuances that affect the final result. The main difference is the types of clay that form the basis of the product.

Story

As stated earlier, the art of pottery originated from a craft that served solely to make vessels for storing materials and food. Over time, it developed, became enriched, and today appears before us no longer in the same form as our distant ancestors saw it. Thanks to technological discoveries, new items of manufacture began to appear, they led to the appearance of such items as refractory bricks, stoneware, tiles, tiles, drainage pipes, architectural decorations and numerous other products.

Due to the fact that society began to decorate and decorate familiar clay products, pottery moved from the category of craft to the category of art. Making clay pots was popular in ancient times, ever since humanity became acquainted with the material common on the planet - clay and its properties.

The Old Testament contains several references to the profession of a potter and his products. The oldest clay vessels, even in prehistoric times, were finished by human hands and, accordingly, were irregular in shape. A little later, round and oval products are found, apparently made using a potter's wheel. History has not preserved information about the exact appearance of this circle, but mentions of it have been going on since antiquity.

It is known that the first porcelain products appeared in Asia two thousand years ago. This indicates that the pottery industry in China developed much more rapidly than throughout the world.

Each nation had its own traditions associated with this craft, which turned into art. So in African countries at the beginning of the twentieth century, pots were made by hand, the clay was dried in the sun, and the product was fired using a bunch of straw and fire.

As for Europe, here until the eighth century pottery was in complete decline. Only the Spanish Moors gave it an impetus; around the same time, products that were covered with glaze appeared.

Pottery made its heyday around the thirteenth century. The most striking splash occurred in Italy, where majolica was invented - a type of ceramics made from baked clay. Florence gave the world such a master of pottery as Luca della Robbia; his sculptures and other works are considered the pride of the nation in our time.

Using the technologies of the sculptor Robbia, Tuscan factories took another step forward - earthenware products. They were first fired with fire, then they were covered with white glaze, on which drawings were made, after which the product was subjected to a second firing, stronger than the first. Not only architectural decorations, but also flowerpots and figurines began to be made from majolica.

After the decline of pottery in Italy, France took over the baton. It was here that the clay kiln was invented.

In the Middle Ages, pottery was created and used only by the poor; the upper classes used tin, silver, and gold. Wide Application Pottery art also found its way into church decoration. Here it was used to create jugs. Churches of Novgorod, as well as temples of the Romanov times, are decorated with similar products.

At the end of the eighteenth century, entire factories began to appear around the world that were engaged in pottery making.

Ceramic products

The main difference between the types of ceramics is the composition of the mass, as well as the type of glaze from which they are made. There are two types of pottery: dense and porous.

Dense are those products that, when fired due to high temperature, merge into a homogeneous solid mass. When broken, this product resembles glass. It is translucent and does not absorb liquid, and when it hits the steel it produces sparks. An example of dense pottery is porcelain.

Porous ones, on the contrary, break easily and allow liquid to pass through. Among such products is faience.

There may be products that do not belong to either type, but are something transitional between these two types.

Dense

Hard porcelain. The mass is fused, translucent, fine-grained, elastic, homogeneous, hard, it will not yield to the action of a knife. This porcelain contains kaolin, chalk, quartz and feldspar. It is fired twice: first weakly for glazing, then strong after glazing.
Soft porcelain. It is also called French. Its content is an almost transparent lead glaze. Here, double firing is also necessary, only very strong at first, and weaker at the end.
Unglazed porcelain, or bisque. It has the usual porcelain mass.
Pariyan. It is close in mass to soft porcelain, has a yellowish tint, and is difficult to melt.
Carrara. White, translucent. Its mass is a cross between stone products and pariyan.
Stone products. They are characterized by a dense, fine-grained mass. There are ordinary and delicate products, mostly white.

Porous

Delicate faience. It is a mixture of refractory clay and silica. It is covered with a transparent glaze. The mass is opaque, ringing.
Ordinary faience, or majolica. This is a red-yellow mass, which, after firing, is covered with an opaque tin glaze.
Products made from ordinary and fire-resistant clay. This includes bricks, tiles, drainage pipes, etc.
Burnt stone mass, or, as it is also called, terracotta. Its composition is purified clay and ground fragments of finished products. It is used to decorate vases and other items.
Ordinary pottery. The mass is made from clay, clay marl, and also from opaque lead glaze.

Materials for pottery

To make brick, porcelain, earthenware, you need to do the following work: make a clay mass, shape it, dry it, fire it and cover it with glaze. The main material for making products is clay. Potters prefer to use pottery clay, which has the necessary viscosity and its temperature resistance is ideal for creating products. Despite the fact that the clay itself has high level plasticity, it is necessary to add auxiliary materials due to the fact that during firing it undergoes rapid and uneven compression, which turns the product into awkward thing. To make the simplest product, you also need sand, ash, sawdust, for production best quality you need fireclay - a powder that is obtained from crushed products.

To produce conventional pottery, previously mined clay must be left in air or water for one to two years. After that, it is kneaded in wooden boxes; this is done in factories and factories by special machines. This action is necessary in order to clear the clay of stones or debris. After the clay is taken out of the boxes, it is placed in piles, which are cut into thin slices with a knife. They are again placed in the boxes and kneaded again, clearing them of impurities that could remain on it. Higher grades of products, especially colorless ones, require components that must be perfectly cleaned. The basic rule of a good-quality clay mass is its uniformity. For the purpose of high-quality cleaning, the clay is divided into small pieces, which are watered and, after a day of “soaking,” thrown into kneading machines. The teeth of this machine, when rotating rapidly, cut the clay, and a stream of water passing through this chamber carries very small pieces into a special pool, while large ones remain at the bottom. The pool is designed for the next level of cleaning, where coarse particles are deposited, after which another jet carries them into the second pool. In it, the clay is completely eliminated. This technology uses only warm water because it better separates clay pieces, and the cleaning process is noticeably accelerated due to the optimal temperature.

Proportions components are determined for each type of product separately. Mixing of products also occurs in different ways: dry, with knives or with jets of water. Upon receipt of this homogeneous mass still remains in it a large number of unwanted bubbles. This problem can be eliminated either with special equipment or with the help of feet, with which the clay is simply trampled until the required consistency is obtained.

Burning

In a narrow sense, ceramics is the same clay, but fired. Accordingly, when they say “ceramics,” they mean products made from inorganic materials (often clay), as well as their mixtures with various additives, which are produced under the influence of high temperatures and subsequent cooling.

The firing process initiates irreversible changes, after which the material turns into ceramics. Under the influence of high temperature, small particles fuse in those places where they come into contact.

When producing porcelain, technologies undergo significant changes. This is due to differences in materials, required temperatures and different properties of the components. Each source material has its own proportions, as well as a certain temperature regime:

The technology of roasting products is carried out using various methods. Nevertheless, the kiln firing process is a centuries-old, unchanging tradition. Depending on the temperature and duration of the process, products of varying quality are obtained. Therefore, the maximum temperature in furnaces in production does not change until the production of an entire batch of products is completed.

Moreover, appearance The finished product also depends on the composition of the atmosphere in the firing furnace. One or another degree of air oxidation can be caused. Using specially set parameters, you can even make pottery clay change color from brown to green.

Applying glaze

Some pottery works are not glazed at all. These include bricks, tiles, terracotta, pots. The so-called glazing is carried out in order to protect clay products from excess moisture. The same result was achieved in ancient times by milk firing - a method of imparting beautiful view and waterproof.

Not the most expensive clay products are glazed in their raw form simultaneously with firing. This is called antsing. The essence of this action is that during firing, salt is thrown into the oven, which turns into vapor and settles on the product. In the place where it lands, a fusible compound called murava is formed.

Another coating method is to sprinkle the product with glaze, crushed into a fine powder. Often these are crude products: pots, unfired pipes, etc. Before applying the coating, the product is coated with flour paste and fired.

The essence of the third method is that the product is doused with glaze, which has the consistency of cream. This method is used to coat solid products that practically do not absorb liquid. For example, some types of porcelain and earthenware.

And the last method is that porcelain and earthenware are placed in a container with glaze. This method is intended for those products that are lightly fired and initially absorb liquid. The glaze is ground into a fine powder and mixed with water. A product is placed in this liquid, which resembles milk in consistency, to absorb this mixture. It is possible to make a drawing on this glaze.

Art therapy

In the modern rhythm, everyone finds their own way to relax. One of the most beautiful and unusual methods is to take up pottery. There are two ways to try yourself in this art. The first is to buy a pottery wheel and necessary materials to practice on your own. A pottery workshop in your own home is not only stylish and fashionable, but also incredibly exciting for you, your family and friends. In this case, you can feel like a free artist, try various shapes, based on video tutorials.

The second way is a pottery school. In a class of beginners like yourself, you will have the opportunity to try on the role of a creator of beauty, an artist and a sculpture.

Psychologists say that pottery is a great way to cope with stress, become more balanced and attentive. Art therapy, according to experts, is one of the best methods of combating depression and other nervous disorders. Spending time at the pottery wheel helps to organize thoughts, distract from minor everyday troubles and find a way out of a difficult life situation. “Complete dedication to your work will not solve your problems, but it will definitely help you find ways to solve them,” doctors say unanimously.

DIY products

Every home contains clay, ceramic or porcelain products. In conditions of mass production, it is difficult to surprise someone with factory-made dishes or a flower vase.

Pottery making is an incredibly fun and exciting activity for the whole family. You can have fun, learn a new job, develop skills and dexterity.

After attending your first pottery master class, you will be able to make your own pot. Attentive teachers usually treat beginners with patience, guiding them and helping them in everything. Pottery art helps to cope with minor stress and distracts from the everyday hustle and bustle. And the products that you make yourself will be a reason to be proud of your next victory over yourself. In addition, after you work in a circle and make your own pot, you will have the opportunity to paint it with your own hands. Here you can show all your imagination. Such a product will become a wonderful gift to a loved one.

Parties, birthdays and corporate events spent in such an unusual activity are popular. This is a good opportunity to chat and find out closer friend friend and see the creative potential of your friends. In addition, such a holiday will certainly be remembered for its unusualness and originality, and products made independently at the pottery wheel will be an excellent gift in memory of a wonderful day. And someone, perhaps, will discover their talent and take this business seriously in order to open their own museum of pottery art in the future. Children will especially enjoy this activity. If they are good at sculpting from plasticine, then you should try sending them to a pottery school. This will help develop hand motor skills, have a beneficial effect on the baby’s mood, and will also open up the child’s creative potential. An interesting and exciting hobby develops attention, imagination and thinking.

Hobby or business?

In the modern world, pottery is very popular. They belong to the category of products that are always in demand and relevant. Each house has dishes, vases, pots, various figurines and souvenirs. It has been developing into art for many centuries and is popular and in demand. Therefore, the passion for pottery is increasingly developing into a real business. Having your own pottery workshop is a very profitable business, because the main raw material is clay - a free material that literally lies just under our feet. Beautiful, original, designer products can bring good income to the manufacturer. A pottery master is a profession for the soul. You can diversify the world around you, get a unique hobby that will bring you profit, and also reveal your creative potential.

Pottery art is popular all over the world. Despite the fact that it is several decades old, it will never go out of fashion.

Starting to create clay masterpieces at home, do not rush to purchase a pottery wheel. After all, there are a large number of different techniques that, at first, will allow you to better “feel” the material, learn about its properties and “behavior” during and after work.

Historically, most of these techniques predate shaping on the potter's wheel: hand sculpting appeared long before the invention of the potter's famous tool. The main tool of a true master of sculpting is his hands, and clay is only a material that obediently reflects the imagination of the creator.

You can sculpt from pieces of clay, assembling a whole from individual parts. This method is called constructive. It is suitable for making various small decorative elements: toys, saucers, mugs. A striking example of such modeling is the famous Dymkovo toy. When sculpting from individual parts, the work begins with the formation of a large part, and then additional elements are literally glued to it, but so that the seams of the joints are not visible.

The second popular sculpting method– plastic – from a whole piece: all parts are formed from one piece of clay. That is, a lump of clay must first be rolled into a ball, and then additional elements must be pulled out of it with gentle movements.

The third method is combined. As the name suggests, it combines several types of modeling: structural and plastic. For example, a bowl is molded from a whole piece, and handles are attached to it.

For the manufacture of various types vessels by hand sculpting (without using a potter's wheel) different techniques are used. Below are a few of the most common ones.

Spiral technology from bundles: Initially, strands are made from clay, which are wound onto an imaginary figure, forming a real product, circle by circle. Even in ancient times, this technique was valued for the fact that it made it possible to create very large vessels: those that could not be made on a potter's wheel.

Molding from stripes somewhat reminiscent of the spiral technique. However, it is much more difficult for beginning potters: first you need to roll out the layer, then cut it into strips. The first strip is laid on the base with a notch, the next one is attached to it, and another notch is made at the junction (inside). Then a thin flagellum is placed on this notch from the inside, and the seam is covered. All subsequent stripes are added in a similar way - they gradually “grow” into the figure conceived by the author.

It should be remembered that the blank will simply “not lag behind” the product, so it must be wrapped in a plastic bag or covered with paper. And within a day (until the figure dries completely) remove it from the resulting clay product.

One of the most mysterious pottery methods Modeling of vessels on rope is recognized: archaeologists have many times found vessels with rope ornaments inside. The question arose: for what purpose did ancient craftsmen decorate vessels from the inside? The answer was hidden precisely in the method of making samples, and not in decorative techniques: a certain blank was wrapped with rope; a vessel was sculpted from the resulting blank; then the rope was unwound, which made it easy to remove the vessel from the workpiece.

Talking about decorating pottery, it is worth mentioning special techniques: molded patterns, relief modeling, rope print, painting.

Beginners should know and the fact that solid objects (colored glass, beads, etc.) cannot be used as decoration for clay products until the sample is completely ready: when drying and firing, the clay contracts and literally squeezes out all the “foreign bodies,” which often leads to deformation and damage products.

Many of us have our own hobbies. Usually these activities bring only moral satisfaction. But who said that a hobby cannot be profitable? Pottery art can be classified as such a profitable activity. How much will it cost to open a small pottery workshop? And how much can you earn by turning a pottery wheel?

Main material the potter works with is clay. It comes in different varieties and is selected depending on the product being manufactured.

Technological processes of pottery production – this is kneading, modeling and firing. In the future, the finished product can be coated with glaze.

Making one ceramic pot can take about two hours. In this case, 20-30 minutes will be spent on kneading and modeling clay, and the rest of the time on drying and firing.

Every job has its own nuances. In pottery, the total percentage of defects reaches 20-30%, and at first it can amount to half of all clay pots. The degree of suitability of raw materials, clay modeling, the level of dryness before firing - all this affects the quality of the finished product. If you intend to rotate the pottery wheel yourself, then you will have to master all the processes and understand everything technological details. Also, to make pottery or souvenirs, you must have artistic taste and imagination.

Composition of pottery workshop equipment includes
- muffle furnace - preferably 3-4 pieces. The price is about 100 thousand rubles;
– pottery wheel – quantity depends on the number hired workers. The price is 30-50 thousand rubles. But there are ways to make a pottery wheel with your own hands;
— clay mixing machine – price about 30 thousand rubles;
— scales – price about 6 thousand rubles;
- molds for products - quantity as required.

The composition of the premises of the pottery workshop consists of a production area and a warehouse. It is best to carry out the glazing process in a separate room with good ventilation. The glaze contains lead and other chemical elements Therefore, it is necessary to observe your own safety measures.

Room area selected depending on production volumes and number of workers. Minimum industrial volumes require at least 50 sq.m. production space, with about 20 sq.m. allocated for storage. The rent for such premises will be about 30-40 thousand rubles. per month.

Pottery activity workshop falls under OKVED code 26.21 “Production of household and decorative ceramic products.” This category includes the production of dishes, household items made of ceramics, as well as figurines and other decorative items. However, the production of toys is not included in this group. If you plan to produce such products, then during registration you must add OKVED code 36.50 “Other production”. Number of recorded species economic activity should be maximum and include all possible productions.

When registering an activity, it is better to choose an individual entrepreneur under the simplified taxation system as an organizational and legal form. This will reduce tax payments and insurance premiums.

Number of workshop staff directly depends on sales volumes. As a rule, pottery is practiced by people who are in love with their craft. And there are not many of them. In addition, pottery and souvenirs are exclusive works of authorship. Finding customers and organizing sales is a very labor-intensive process. Typically, craftsmen export their products to places with a large flow of foreign tourists, to various festivals and exhibitions, closer to Europe. Where clay pots and hand-made jars are in demand. Therefore, the staff in a small pottery workshop consists of 1-2 people.

Sales establishment - the most crucial moment in the entire pottery business. Despite the fact that sales volumes of souvenirs in last years have grown significantly, 90% of all products are manufactured outside of Russia. In any case, traders import their goods from Southeast Asia. This means that this market is still free for domestic producers.

According to wholesalers, Russian manufacturers are very unreliable in terms of timing and quality of their products. For a large souvenir chain, the minimum batch of products of one name must be at least 1000 pieces. Therefore, when concluding a contract with such a customer, there are very large risks for the supplier.
Arrangements with small souvenir shops are more attractive for a small pottery studio. The volumes are smaller, but the income is correspondingly smaller.

One of the implementation options is the production of custom-made products. For example, when designing interiors, many people look for special vases, clay pots or reliefs, tiles or frames. Fridge magnets, small stationery stands, clay figurines, and beer mugs work well as promotional souvenirs.

Pottery business development In addition to selling finished products, it also involves establishing a program for teaching pottery. Organization of master classes or training courses can become a good income item. There has always been an interest in this type of art. Rotating a potter's wheel and watching a piece of clay transform into a slender vase or jug is truly a pleasure. Therefore, there are quite a few people willing to try it. In addition, recently pottery therapy has become very popular. By the way, master classes can be held at the customer’s home. And, as customers, elite schools and kindergartens can act here.

Advertising of products and services – this is an element of promoting any business, including pottery. In order to be noticed and appreciated, you will have to spend heavily on advertising. But, as they say, the end justifies the means.

Cost of clay products ranges from 100 to 1000 rubles. a piece. The price depends on the volume, shape, design, complexity of the work. Souvenirs and magnets range in price from 40 to 100 rubles.

Cost of education can vary from 300 to 1000 rubles per hour. It all depends on the professionalism of the master and the availability of those willing to pay a certain amount.

To summarize all of the above, we can characterize the business model of an ideal pottery workshop, which works in three directions at once: 1) production of clay products for large wholesalers; 2) a separate small workshop for the production of custom works; 3) a school for teaching pottery. The head of this enterprise is himself individual entrepreneur and exercises direct control over the quality of manufactured products and delivery times.

As for the initial investment, as you can see, it is small. Opening a workshop and promotion will cost no more than 10 thousand dollars. But the payback period and the amount of profit will depend on the creativity and organizational abilities of the entrepreneur himself.

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