Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Curt Hammerly | Episode 452
Curt Hammerly is a ceramicist that combines cutting-edge technology with age-old pottery techniques. Curt found clay after a car accident leaving him with a broken neck. Now fully recovered he is on his way to a career in ceramics full time.
SPONSORS
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
How do you numerate your pieces on Instagram so people know how to find them on Etsy?
So what I do is post some of my best and most unique pieces. Most of my kilns have 130-140 pieces in them. I then go through and take about four pictures of each piece with little stickers numbering on them and a couple of days before the Etsy launch I put a big drop gallery on my website with all the pieces, one picture of each and the number on it. Then from Instagram I direct people to my website, which also has a sign up for my mailing list and I send out an email to my mailing list saying, Hey, the preview is up and the Etsy is on Wednesday at 8pm est. People go to the website and they find which numbers they want and when the things are actually up on Etsy they type in which number they are looking for and it pops up on their screen and they go and buy it.
Instagram only allows us to have one link on our page. Do you link up your website?
For my purposes where I have a website, I have a Youtube channel, I have an Etsy, I have a Patreon, it is kind of irritating. But what I do is just switch the link to the pertinent thing for the couple days surrounding when that link is up. So when the preview goes up I send people to my website. When a sale goes live I put that link to Etsy, when Youtube goes live then I put the link up for Youtube. So I change it fairly regularly.
So you are saying the bio can be updated as often as you like.
It’s been my experience. Yes. I have never had any issues. I switch that link every couple of days.
Do you ever have a concern that when people are scrolling through and they find old posts that say the link is in the bio that the wrong link is up there?
No, I really believe that after on an image post after 24 hours -36 hours you pretty much have hit the majority of the views that you are going to get. I video post maybe three or four days. Up to seven for a really good post. I don’t really worry about it and do my best with the tools that are in front of me.
How often do you post on Instagram?
I try to do two to three videos a week and four images. In the last month or so I am running into a problem where I have too much content and I really try to post only once a day. So at this point it is one post every day of the week for the most part. But you don’t have to. There are wildly successful potters on Instagram that post far more infrequently.
What kiln do you use?
So I have a Skutt 1027 in my garage because my studio is out of my home right now. So I make stuff in my basement. Bisque fire in the garage and I wrap up every single piece and haul it up to Boulder to the Potter’s Guild, glaze and I fire in our 12 foot, 40 year old gas kiln that we have out there.
So it is a gas kiln you use?
Yes, I do cone 10 reduction. I am waiting on a quote because I am going to order a 12 cubic foot Blaauw.
Why gas over straight electric?
It’s really funny because it is just what I fell into. I started taking classes at the Boulder’s Potters Guild and most of their classes are cone 10 reduction. So that is what I started in. I learned cone 10 glazes. I learned cone 10 clays, Last summer when I was moving into my home studio I was really trying to ramp up production I really strongly considered going to electric cone 6 but I didn’t want to start over with clays and I didn’t want to start over with glazes. And I am a really big believer that you have to set yourself apart especially on something like Instagram. It also makes it harder for people to rip off my work because I share all of my processes openly.
What does your wife think of you working at the school and becoming a full-time potter and how important is that support?
I can never honestly know what she truly thinks, but she is extremely supportive. She is more cautious of the future of the family, but she knows that I am very good with money and I have been doing very well for myself in this pottery game in a short amount of time. So as far as she tells me openly she is on board with this entire adventure.
Book
Contact:
Instagram: @hammerlyceramics