Ceramics & Pottery
Clay, glaze, and kiln firings costed per piece — losses included.
Pottery is one of the hardest crafts to price because so much of the cost is invisible. Clay and glaze are cheap by weight, but a piece is thrown, trimmed, dried, bisque-fired, glazed, and fired again — two kiln loads of electricity — and some pieces crack or crawl and never sell. Price from clay cost alone and you're not even close.
CrafterBy costs clay and glaze by the amount you use, adds kiln firing cost per load, folds in a realistic loss rate, and pays you for wheel and hand-building time. The result is a per-piece price that survives a broken mug and a slow glaze day.
The challenge
- Not costing clay and glaze by the amount actually used
- Ignoring kiln electricity across bisque and glaze firings
- No allowance for cracks, warping, and glaze losses
- Undervaluing throwing, trimming, and hand-building time
How CrafterBy helps
- Cost clay and glaze by weight or volume used
- Add kiln firing cost per load, shared across the pieces in it
- Bake a realistic breakage/loss allowance into every piece
- Add studio labor at a rate you set
How to price your Ceramics & Pottery work
- 1Add clay and each glaze as materials priced per pound or per gram.
- 2Enter the clay used and glaze applied for the piece.
- 3Add a firing cost per load and divide it across the pieces fired.
- 4Add a loss allowance (e.g. 10–15%) so survivors cover the failures.
- 5Add throwing, trimming, and glazing labor, then set your margin.
Worked example
Handmade stoneware mug
- Stoneware clay, 1.1 lb @ $0.55$0.61
- Glaze (dip + liner, per-piece share)$0.80
- Kiln firings — bisque + glaze (per-piece share)$1.30
- Labor — throw, trim, handle, glaze (0.6 hr @ $28)$16.80
- Loss allowance (~12%)$2.35
The mug people try to sell for $18 costs nearly $22 to make once labor, firings, and losses are honest.
Common pricing mistakes
Costing only the clay and forgetting two kiln firings' worth of electricity.
Ignoring the pieces that crack or glaze badly and never sell.
Charging the same for a quick cylinder and an hour-long carved form.
What you'll cost & track
Materials you'd track
Equipment run-cost
Price products like
Frequently asked questions
How do I price handmade pottery?
Cost clay and glaze by the amount used, add a share of each kiln firing, include a loss allowance for pieces that fail, and pay yourself for wheel and finishing time. Then set a margin for overhead and profit — pottery is labor-heavy, so labor is most of the price.
How do I account for kiln firing costs?
Estimate the electricity for a full firing, then divide it across the pieces in that load — remembering most work is fired twice (bisque and glaze). CrafterBy lets you add a per-load firing cost and spreads it across the pieces.
Should I factor in broken or failed pieces?
Yes. A realistic loss rate (often 10–15%) means the pieces that survive cover the ones that don't. Skip it and every crack comes straight out of your profit.