Wheel Talk
Ryan Durbin (@rdceramics) & Becca Otis (@5linespottery) share their experiences as potters, makers, small business owners, and creatives. Becca is a full time studio potter, while Ryan is a full time website developer and part time potter. We'd love to share our ups and downs along the way as we build our skills as makers and small business owners in an honest, informal manner. We hope to bring you helpful tips we've learned over the years, learn from each other, and share expertise from a number of guests with you also. Please join us for some Wheel Talk!
Episodes
272 episodes since 2019
#268 - Blending military life and ceramics with Delvin Goode from D Goode Art
Ryan and Becca welcome Delvin Goode of D Goode Art to share his creative evolution while balancing a military career the past 20+ years. We discuss his experience getting an MFA from Fort Hays State University while still serving before getting...
September 14, 2024
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Episode 268
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2:29:09
#267 - Embracing a Creative Life: Big Magic with Taylor Swilley
Ryan and Becca return for another chapter of the podcast book club, diving into Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. They’re joined by Taylor Swilley—voice actor by day, potter by night, and cat snuggler in betw...
September 07, 2024
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Episode 267
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2:20:02
#266 - Creating through health struggles with Aleatha Aiken-Sherrer from aleathabean (Pt 2)
Ryan and Becca are back to finish their chat with Aleatha Aiken-Sherrer. Aletha flips the interview a bit and starts asking the hosts questions as we get deeper into topics ranging from commission orders to developing a style to being prepared ...
August 31, 2024
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Episode 266
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1:38:10
#265 - Creating through health struggles with Aleatha Aiken-Sherrer from aleathabean (Pt 1)
Ryan and Becca welcome back Aleatha Aiken-Sherrer from Aleathabean to chat on a range of topics. Aletha has some insights on using a cheap Amazon pottery wheel to sustain her business the past few years. We also get to hear more about how Aleth...
August 24, 2024
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Episode 265
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1:24:00
#264 - Spaghetti brain or box brain?
Ryan & Becca get into an interesting discussion sparked from a human psychology thought experiment Ryan had recently. We get into the weeds about the differences between those who are flexible focusers ("spaghetti brained") and priority foc...
August 17, 2024
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Episode 264
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2:08:28
#263 - Cohesion vs. creativity in your pottery
Ryan & Becca tackle a listener question today about the importance of having a cohesive style in pottery. Two Sisters Pottery includes a sibling duo creating work in varying styles today. We discuss the balance between creative freedom and ...
August 10, 2024
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Episode 263
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1:48:39
#262 - Lessons from The E-Myth Revisited
Ryan & Becca discuss some lessons learned after Ryan recently listened to some of The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. They specifically focus on the idea of the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician and dive a little bit into fr...
August 03, 2024
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Episode 262
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2:10:18
#261 - Virtual teaching milestones & new horizons with Tzipporah Schvarcz from Sipor Ceramics (Pt 2)
Ryan & Becca finish up our conversation with Tzipporah from Sipor Ceramics to hear more about packing for a big international move and a big project she's hosting this August. Tzipporah is bringing together 5 artists for Modern Clay: A Live...
July 27, 2024
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Episode 261
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1:32:06
#260 - Virtual teaching milestones & new horizons with Tzipporah Schvarcz from Sipor Ceramics (Pt 1)
Ryan & Becca welcome back Tzipporah from Sipor Ceramics to catch up on what's happening with her virtual workshops since we last talked. Virtual teaching was in it's very early stages the last time we talked in August of 2023 for Tzipporah ...
July 20, 2024
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Episode 260
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1:44:37
#259 - Q&A Part IX
Ryan & Becca are back after a long time since their last Q&A episode nearly a year ago. They answer many of your questions related to business, studio practice, and a few random ones. Thanks to everyone who continues to send us question...
July 13, 2024
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Episode 259
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1:47:25
#258 - A new start for Bluebird Clay with Jordan Kloppe (Pt 2)
Ryan and Becca are back with Jordan Kloppe, owner of Bluebird Clay, for part two of our discussion. He shares more about new product development, manufacturing challenges, experiences at pottery conferences (Clay Con West & NCECA), fulfilli...
July 06, 2024
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Episode 258
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1:23:59
#257 - A new start for Bluebird Clay with Jordan Kloppe (Pt 1)
Ryan and Becca introduce listeners to Jordan Kloppe, new owner of Bluebird Clay. Bluebird is a name that’s been around our industry for decades and are most known for manufacturing pugmills, clay mixers, and Soldner pottery wheels. Jordan share...
June 29, 2024
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Episode 257
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1:22:33
#256 - Moving out of a studio
Ryan & Becca come ready to chat all about what's involved in moving out of a studio, no matter the size. I think we can all agree, moving sucks! Both have experience in moving to larger and smaller studios over the years. With Becca's rec...
June 22, 2024
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Episode 256
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2:24:37
#255 - Adapting to uncertain times with Link Henderson from Kentucky Mudworks (Pt 2)
Ryan and Becca welcome back Link Henderson, the owner of Kentucky Mudworks and Dirty Girls Pottery Tools, for part two of our conversation from last week. They discuss switching to Shopify as a sales platform, running marketing campaigns/sales ...
June 15, 2024
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Episode 255
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1:19:30
#254 - Adapting to uncertain times with Link Henderson from Kentucky Mudworks (Pt 1)
Ryan and Becca welcome back Link Henderson, the owner of Kentucky Mudworks and Dirty Girls Pottery Tools, for an in-depth conversation. They discuss the significant adjustments Link's businesses have made since their last chat 3 years ago, part...
June 08, 2024
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Episode 254
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1:32:12
#253 - Becca's next challenge
Ryan & Becca are back to chat about Becca's next challenge as she's made her way back east for the summer. She's planning ahead for diving head first into online teaching in clay. It's not something too foreign for her, but she's been plann...
June 01, 2024
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Episode 253
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2:07:49
#252 - Making pottery for restaurants with Bethany Kramer from Bethany Rose Pottery
Ryan & Becca are happy to be joined by Bethany Kramer from Bethany Rose Pottery to answer all of our questions about working on orders with restaurants. Bethany has been working with various local and regional restaurants over nearly the la...
May 25, 2024
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Episode 252
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1:54:39
#251 - What can you do when sales are slow?
Ryan & Becca discuss how they think about adjusting their business & finances when sales are harder to come by. We've seen slower sales to start the year online, at shows, and general sentiment around folks having less disposable ...
May 18, 2024
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Episode 251
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1:55:43
#250 - Finding the right shows
Ryan & Becca go in deep on finding shows early in your selling career. Becca plays interviewer on this one to ask Ryan all about his early shows, what he hopes to get sales-wise these days at a show, and how the progression has evolved year...
May 11, 2024
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Episode 250
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1:23:35
#249 - Calculated risk-taking
Ryan & Becca are back together once again to discuss risk taking in our businesses. What's the most risk we've taken lately, how do we think through risks we're willing to take, how having a support system influences our decisions, and how ...
May 04, 2024
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Episode 249
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2:10:59
#248 - Is your price right? with Isaac Shue and Heidi Fahrenbacher
Ryan & Becca have the whole crew here today, joined by Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery and Isaac Shue from Gallery Mostaza. They talk a lot more about our hot topic as of late: pricing. Heidi continues where we left off last time ...
April 27, 2024
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Episode 248
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2:23:45
#247 - "Resources for your business" at NCECA 2024
Ryan & Becca are proud to share the topic of "Resources for your business" live at the NCECA 2024 clay conference hosted in Richmond, VA. We hope you enjoy the discussion as we share how our friends and peers become some of the best resourc...
April 20, 2024
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Episode 247
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1:07:17
#246 - Let's talk preorders
Ryan & Becca chat about preorders today! We cover a few pros and cons of doing a preorder, what we've preordered before, what we'd like to preorder in the future, and customer considerations when receiving an online preorder. Enjoy and good...
April 13, 2024
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Episode 246
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1:31:05
#245 - Pricing your work pt 2 & presenting at NCECA with Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery
Ryan & Becca welcome back Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery for third time to chat all things NCECA and catch up on Becca's pricing. They recap how NCECA went for them as demonstrators & presenters, what makes the conference so ...
April 06, 2024
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Episode 245
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2:18:42
#244 - Road trip home from NCECA!
Ryan & Becca are heading home to Cincinnati with Erica & Jessica from Richmond, Virginia after attending NCECA 2024. Enjoy the events that made this week special and some of our key takeaways as we get home, rest up, and get back into o...
March 30, 2024
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Episode 244
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2:29:00