A student's course can finish while their pieces are still waiting for firing. The booking record needs to show what they paid for and attended; the kiln record needs to show where each piece is now.
Keep those responsibilities clear when choosing software for a pottery studio.
The commerce side
- Courses. Six or eight weeks on the wheel, one enrolment, a cap of ten or twelve.
- Taster sessions. Two hours, a mug and a bowl, sold as tickets, popular for dates and birthdays.
- Open studio memberships. Monthly access to wheels and shelves, sometimes with a firing or clay allowance.
- Private events. A hen party or a team books the studio, deposit first, headcount later.
- Retail. Glazed pieces, tools, gift vouchers.
The production side
Every piece needs a unique ID and a state: received, queued, loaded, fired, ready, collected. Firing is charged by volume or weight, or covered by the membership. Students want to know when the mug is ready without messaging the studio. Evaluate kiln-specific tools against the piece records and stages your staff use.
What to test
Sell one course, one taster, one membership and one party. Then move one piece through six states and charge for it. Notice how many systems you touched.
Keep the teaching record separate from production
Gomry Experiences provide schedules and capacity for classes. Events can sell places in ticketed tasters or workshops. Test how a multi-session course is sold and how attendance is recorded across its dates.
Bundles provide prepaid credits for selected Experiences. They do not create a general clay or firing-credit ledger. Recurring subscription billing also does not establish a measured firing allowance or piece-level tracking.
For a private party, retain the quote and reconcile each payment against the agreed total. Demonstrate the approval and payment sequence rather than assuming that a held card becomes a deposit. The private-event guide covers the handoff.
Gomry does not track individual pieces through the kiln. Use the kiln queue guide to define that record. Any connection between booking and kiln software needs a specific, demonstrated integration; a general API claim is insufficient.
Tap to Pay is in private beta. Confirm access before relying on it for payments at reception.
Questions studios ask
Can generic booking software run a pottery studio? It can run the classes and the memberships. The kiln queue needs a piece record, which is a different kind of software.
What is the minimum piece record? Owner, ID, clay body, size or firing type, current state, amount due, shelf location, collected date.
Can a membership include firing? That offer needs a supported allowance ledger. Gomry bundles cover Experiences; do not present them as general firing credits.
Follow one student from a taster booking to collection of their work. Check where booking, payment and piece status are recorded and who updates each one.