Weller started making portraiture pottery with Indians, animals, and even whimsical themes from children's stories such as those of Charles Dickens. Pottery with scenes from Dickens stories and other people and animal themes became known as Dickensware. Many other lines followed, and most had some degree of market success. During this period, Weller also continuously improved his manufacturing techniques, seeking reasonably high quality detailing in ever less labor intensive production methods. This allowed Weller to sell a high quality product at an affordable price. Weller was influenced by the Art Nouveau movement as well, producing floral themes in the ornate styling of that period, but he also produced other lines for which the name often belies the style: Woodland, Oriental, Hunter, Auroral, etc. One of the best known of the art pottery lines was known as Sicardo, after the style of the French artist Sicard which achieved a unique and lustrous glaze seldom seen at the time. Around the turn of the century, Weller basically reorganized the company around two divisions. One continued to concentrate on more automated production techniques to keep quality high but costs low, while the other indulged ever more into the creation of high end, hand crafted art pottery. Weller was notable for his contributions to the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 where many Ohio potteries burst onto a national stage. He actually set up a working pottery at the fair so visitors could see his workers and production in action. As a marketing promotion, Weller also creeated what he termed the world's largest vase, an Aurelian line piece that towered over 7 feet high.

Like many potteries, Weller was forced to scale back during the years of World War I as the market for art pottery largely dried up. To survive, he concentrated on the mass produced wares and was always seeking cost and labor savings to keep their production affordable to the general population. While he could not afford hand crafted artistry and was working almost exclusively from molds, he nevertheless experimented with new glazes such as "Burnt Wood" (looks just like the name implies), "Graystone" (looks like granite and stone) and "Ting" (looks like teak wood). These new glazes were unique and highly decorative but added little if anything to the cost of production. In this manner, innovation allowed Weller to survive where many others failed. Some Weller pieces were close copies of other lines such as Roseville pine cone, and pieces are often mistaken today from appearance alone. Sam Weller died in 1925, leaving the pottery to his nephew Harry who had been working in the business. Harry died soon thereafter, in 1932, at which point the company was inherited by Sam's two sons-in-law. Weller survived World War II just as he had the first world war, but it was a much smaller company that was able to emerge from the war years. The company continued in operation until 1948.

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