Does Cash Workspace calculate my cost per piece automatically?

No. It does not do math for you or read your meter. It gives you structured records and note fields to write the figures into, attach the receipts and meter readings, and keep the result. The allocation and division are yours to do; the workspace keeps them organized and traceable.

How should I split one firing's electricity across different pieces?

That is a judgment call you record, not one the tool makes. Many potters divide a firing's energy cost evenly across the pieces in the load, while others weight larger pieces more. Whichever you choose, write the method in the firing record's note so the per-piece number is reproducible later. This is organizational guidance, not accounting advice.

Can it pull my electricity usage from my utility account?

No — Cash Workspace does not sync with your bank, utility, or kiln controller. You read the kWh or gas from your meter or controller log, record it, and attach the bill or a screenshot as proof. Everything is entered manually.

How do I handle pieces lost to cracking or glaze defects?

Record the total fired and the sellable count separately, then spread the batch material and firing costs across the good pieces only. A 30-piece glaze load that yields 26 good mugs means the same fixed cost divides across 26, not 30 — which is why losses raise your real cost per piece.

Is this a substitute for bookkeeping or my accountant?

No. This is a way to organize batch and firing cost records so you understand and can price your work; it is not bookkeeping or accounting software and does not replace your accountant. Keep your accountant-ready records here and hand them off when needed.

Cash Workspace

Use the Freelancer template

For studio and production potters

Kiln and clay cost records for a pottery studio

Most potters can quote the price of a 25-pound box of clay, but very few can say what a single fired mug actually cost them — because the answer hides in two places at once. Part of it is material: the clay body and the glaze that went into the piece. The rest is the firing: the electricity or gas the kiln burned to bring a whole shelf of work to temperature, shared across every piece that rode in that load. Cash Workspace gives you a free place to keep both halves together. You record each clay-and-glaze batch, attach the supplier receipts, log the kiln firing that batch went through with its energy cost, and divide that firing cost across the pieces that came out. The result is one number you can finally price from: cost per piece. This page covers exactly that — batch material cost plus allocated firing energy, rolled to per-piece cost. It is organizational, not accounting or tax advice, and it is free.

Start a free workspace See the butcher yield-cost approach

The problem

Why a per-piece cost is so hard to pin down

A potter's cost lives in two layers that never line up neatly. Materials are bought in bulk — a box of stoneware, a bag of dry glaze chemicals, a jug of underglaze — but they get used across many pieces over many weeks. Firing cost is even slipperier: a single bisque or glaze firing might hold forty mugs or eight large planters, and the electricity meter does not care how many pieces are on the shelves. When you try to do this in your head, you either ignore the kiln entirely (and underprice everything) or guess a flat "firing fee" that has no basis in your actual power bill. The honest answer requires keeping the batch and the firing as separate, attached records and then doing the division on purpose, once, when the load comes out.

Clay and glaze are bought in bulk but consumed across dozens of pieces, so the material cost of one mug is never printed on any receipt.
A kiln firing's energy cost is a single number that must be split across everything on the shelves — and every load holds a different mix of pieces.
Bisque and glaze firings are separate events with separate energy costs, so a finished piece often carries a share of two firings, not one.
Without a record that ties the firing to the batch, you end up pricing from gut feel and quietly absorbing the kiln bill.
Losses to cracking, glaze defects, or kiln mishaps shrink the number of good pieces the same fixed cost has to spread across.

The batch-to-piece workflow

From clay bill to cost per piece

Here is a practical way to run a single batch through Cash Workspace, from the supplier receipt to a per-piece number you can put on a price tag. Each step is just creating or updating a record and attaching the proof — no automation, no math the workspace does for you, but a clean place to do it yourself and keep it.

1
1. Record the batch and its materials
Create a batch record — for example 'Batch 2026-04 Stoneware Mugs'. Note the clay used (e.g. 25 lb cone-6 stoneware), the glazes (e.g. 0.8 kg Celadon dry mix, one jar white liner), and the cost drawn from each. Attach the clay-supplier receipt and the glaze-chemical receipt so the figures trace to real documents.
2
2. Log the firings the batch went through
Add a firing record for each kiln cycle the batch passed through — a bisque and a glaze firing are two records. Note the firing date, cone, kWh or gas used (read from your meter or kiln controller log), and the energy cost. Attach the relevant utility bill or a screenshot of the meter reading as proof.
3
3. Allocate the firing cost across the load
In the firing record, note how many pieces shared that load and what share of the energy cost each piece carries. If a glaze firing cost $9 in electricity and held 30 mugs, that is $0.30 of firing per mug. Record the math in the note field so the next person (or future you) sees how it was derived.
4
4. Subtract the losses, then roll to per piece
Record how many pieces came out sellable versus lost to cracks or glaze faults. Spread the batch material cost and the allocated firing cost across the good pieces only, and write the resulting cost-per-piece into the batch record. That single figure — material share plus firing share — is your real floor for pricing.
5
5. File the closed batch and reuse the pattern
Once the per-piece cost is recorded, file the batch into your fiscal-year folder and clone the layout for the next batch. Over time you build a row of batches you can compare — useful when clay prices rise or you switch to a cheaper glaze and want to see the effect on cost per piece.

Record structure

Fields to record per batch and firing

These are the metadata fields worth capturing so a batch's cost can be reconstructed later without guesswork. Split them between the batch record (materials) and the firing record (energy), then bring them together for the per-piece number.

Batch ID and date: A stable label like 'Batch 2026-04 Stoneware Mugs' plus the throwing/forming date, so firings and receipts attach to the right batch.
Clay body and quantity: Which clay and how much (e.g. 25 lb cone-6 stoneware), with the unit cost drawn from the attached supplier receipt.
Glaze materials and quantity: Each glaze or underglaze used and the amount (e.g. 0.8 kg Celadon dry mix), with cost apportioned from the chemical receipt or mixed-batch cost.
Firing type, cone, and energy used: Bisque vs glaze, the cone reached, and the kWh or gas burned read from the meter or kiln controller — one entry per firing.
Firing energy cost and load size: The dollar cost of that firing's energy and how many pieces shared the load, the two numbers needed to allocate per piece.
Pieces out, losses, and sellable count: Total pieces fired, how many were lost to cracks or defects, and the good count the fixed costs spread across.
Cost per piece (material + firing): The rolled-up figure: batch material share plus allocated firing share, divided across sellable pieces — your pricing floor.
Attached proof documents: Clay and glaze receipts plus the utility bill or meter reading screenshot, attached to the record they support.

Example setup

An example folder layout for a season of batches

A simple structure that keeps materials, firings, and finished per-piece costs together for one studio. Clone the batch sub-layout for each new load.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Batch 2026-04 Stoneware Mugs

Batch record with clay (25 lb stoneware) and glaze (Celadon + white liner) costs; attached clay and glaze receipts; the rolled cost-per-piece note.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Batch 2026-04 Stoneware Mugs / Firings

Two firing records — 'Bisque Cone 04, Apr 12' and 'Glaze Cone 6, Apr 19' — each with kWh used, energy cost, load size, and an attached meter reading or power bill.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Batch 2026-05 Large Planters

Separate batch with its own clay and glaze records, its own glaze firing log, and a higher per-piece cost reflecting fewer, larger pieces sharing the same firing.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Energy Bills

Monthly electricity or gas statements filed here once, so any firing record can reference the bill it was costed against without duplicating the document.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Material Receipts

Clay-supplier and glaze-chemical receipts grouped by purchase, so a batch record can link to the exact box or bag it drew from.

Pottery Costs 2026 / Closed Batches

Finished batches whose per-piece cost is recorded and locked, kept for year-over-year comparison as clay and energy prices change.

Common mistakes

Common mistakes to avoid

Pricing only from the clay box and ignoring the kiln entirely, which quietly hands your firing cost to the customer as a loss.
Allocating a firing's energy across the planned load instead of the pieces that actually survived — losses make each good piece carry more.
Folding bisque and glaze firings into one number when they are two separate energy costs the piece really incurred.
Reusing last batch's per-piece cost after clay or electricity prices changed, instead of recording fresh figures for the new batch.
Recording the cost numbers but never attaching the receipt or meter reading, so a year later you cannot tell where the figure came from.
Treating the per-piece cost as a finished price rather than a floor — it is your cost, not your margin, labor, or studio overhead.

How it helps

How Cash Workspace helps

Two-part records that stay linked

Keep the batch's material cost and each firing's energy cost as separate records under one batch folder, so the per-piece roll-up always has both halves in front of it.

Receipts attached to the figure they back

Attach the clay receipt, glaze-chemical receipt, and the power bill or meter reading directly to the record, so every cost number traces to a real document.

Fiscal-year folders for season comparison

File closed batches into a year folder and line them up, making it easy to see how a clay price hike or a glaze switch moved your cost per piece.

Reusable batch templates

Clone the batch-and-firing layout for each new load instead of rebuilding it, so a busy production run stays consistent record to record.

Butcher shop product cost records

The neighboring maker-cost approach for one input split into many outputs by yield percentage — useful contrast when your costing is yield-driven rather than batch-and-firing.

Jeweler repair and custom order records

For makers whose cost is per single high-value piece with a deposit-and-balance trail, rather than a batch shared across a firing.

Antique dealer acquisition cost records

A per-item buy-restore-resell margin ledger for one-off pieces, a useful pattern if you also resell finished work or studio equipment.

Farmers market vendor stall records

If you sell your fired work across multiple market days, this covers stall-fee-versus-takings and spoilage tracking per venue.

Business expense categories

How to sort studio spending — clay, glaze, kiln energy, tools — into consistent expense categories that feed your batch records.

Project profitability tracker

Step up from per-piece cost to whether a commission or wholesale order made money once labor and overhead are weighed in.

Finance workflows

The hub of step-by-step finance organization routines, if you want to see how batch costing fits beside invoicing, receipts, and year-end tasks.

FAQ

Potter cost-record questions

Does Cash Workspace calculate my cost per piece automatically?: No. It does not do math for you or read your meter. It gives you structured records and note fields to write the figures into, attach the receipts and meter readings, and keep the result. The allocation and division are yours to do; the workspace keeps them organized and traceable.
How should I split one firing's electricity across different pieces?: That is a judgment call you record, not one the tool makes. Many potters divide a firing's energy cost evenly across the pieces in the load, while others weight larger pieces more. Whichever you choose, write the method in the firing record's note so the per-piece number is reproducible later. This is organizational guidance, not accounting advice.
Can it pull my electricity usage from my utility account?: No — Cash Workspace does not sync with your bank, utility, or kiln controller. You read the kWh or gas from your meter or controller log, record it, and attach the bill or a screenshot as proof. Everything is entered manually.
How do I handle pieces lost to cracking or glaze defects?: Record the total fired and the sellable count separately, then spread the batch material and firing costs across the good pieces only. A 30-piece glaze load that yields 26 good mugs means the same fixed cost divides across 26, not 30 — which is why losses raise your real cost per piece.
Is this a substitute for bookkeeping or my accountant?: No. This is a way to organize batch and firing cost records so you understand and can price your work; it is not bookkeeping or accounting software and does not replace your accountant. Keep your accountant-ready records here and hand them off when needed.

What this does and does not do

Cash Workspace is a free place to organize your batch material costs, kiln firing energy costs, and the per-piece figures you derive from them, with receipts and meter readings attached. It does not calculate costs for you, does not read your documents or meters, and does not sync with your bank, utility, or kiln. The cost-allocation method — how you split a firing across pieces or account for losses — is your decision, recorded here for your own reference. This is organizational guidance, not accounting, bookkeeping, or tax advice, and it does not replace your accountant.

Start costing your batches for free

Open a free Cash Workspace and set up your first batch folder — clay and glaze receipts on one side, the kiln firing on the other, and a real cost per piece at the end. No bank connection, no spreadsheets to maintain, just organized records you control. Questions? Reach the team at info@helperg.com.