Bill Tarrant
eight years of selling mugs at the Saturday market, rain or not
$20/hour , set by Bill Tarrant.
I fixed furnaces around Dayton for twenty-six years. Took a pottery class at the community center in 2015 because my knees were done with crawl spaces, and by 2017 I had a booth at the Saturday market off Wayne Avenue.
First market I sold $85 worth and had paid $60 for the space. Sat in my truck afterward and wondered what I thought I was doing. Then in 2019 a kiln element failed overnight and I lost about sixty mugs the week before my biggest show of the year. You learn to keep going or you quit. I didn't quit.
If we talk, we talk plain. Your prices, your table, what people pick up and put back down. I'll tell you what I see. Most makers charge too little and talk too much at their own booth. We work on both.
More background
Know it cold: cone 6 stoneware production, keeping glazes consistent across batches, pricing handmade work so you don't lose money on it, booth layout, tents and tent weights (learn about weights before the wind teaches you), market applications, sales tax basics for Ohio makers, and reading which pieces actually move versus which ones just collect compliments. Eight years at the Dayton Saturday markets plus about a dozen craft fairs a year. Right fit: potters and other makers who want to sell in person at markets and fairs. Also decent for anybody starting a small trade after a long first career, since I know that road personally. Wrong fit: folks aiming at galleries, folks who only sell online, and anybody who mostly wants their feelings managed. I'm friendly, but I'm not soft about numbers. I'm mostly free November through March; summer Saturdays are out, that's the market. Between sessions I'm not much of a texter, but send one photo of your booth or your price list and I'll call you back inside a couple days with what I'd change. Sessions are on the phone. I don't do video. Shop wifi is terrible and my hands are usually muddy.