Well you win some, you lose some and HOLY COW I'm on a losing streak!

Bown Crossing has a Sunday market and I have participated as a trial run for the last two Sundays. This is in conjunction with the Indie Made Store. Apparently I didn't sell a single item so that is more money down the drain in booth fees.
This pic isn't very good but the wood stand on the right is my shelf.
Since I didn't even sell enough from the store to break even on my rent this month I very highly doubt I will do the Bown Crossing market again.
I am not use to this kind of failure. At my very worst moments as a working artist I have always been able at minimum to break even so this past month has been particularly painful.
It has made me reflect on many things which is always constructive. Is it my work? Is it the market? Is it the store? Perhaps is is a combination of all three. Whatever the case I will not give up. The only thing I can control is the quality of my work...so that is what I will do!
I took a big risk accepting the invitation to be a part of this artist coop and as I stated before it could turn out to be a huge flop. It is definitely starting to look more bleak than not right now. I am hemorrhaging what little money I have. But I am still holding out hope that something good will come from all my hard work in the end.

SUCCESS!

The first "batch" came out of the kiln this morning and I am very pleased with the results. I started out with the idea to make JUST ceramic buttons but as I was punching the button holes I thought, "Why not medallions for jewelry"? I used to make all kinds of really cool one of a kind medallions for necklaces so this was a natural progression. So the options are not just limited to buttons.








I will be listing some of these in my Etsy shop today and the rest I will take down to "Indie Made".
I have a total of 36 tree designs that I settled on so you will be seeing a lot more of these.
What can I say? I LOVE trees!
....oh oh and oh, I am also making these with tatted lace designs...so stay tuned tatting friends!

Spring Cleaning

I was all gung-ho to get to work in the studio today. I have about eleven ideas running through my mind for what I want to produce. So I got in there and rolled out a big slab of clay, put some texture on it and draped it over a bowl. Then I just stood there and didn't know what to do next. Every time I tried to start something I couldn't find all the tools I needed. Then I realized what a deed'n mess everything was so I started cleaning, but haphazardly so.
I vacuumed part of the floor then got distracted by some disorganized shelves which then reminded me that I need to bring all my glaze chemicals up from the basement and so forth. So basically I need a good Spring clean but am I out there doing that? No, instead I am writing this post and telling myself that I will come up with a plan of attack tonight and "bust my rump" tomorrow....
In the meantime I got distracted by another project I had started but didn't have the right tool to finish until today...
Remember the tag I was working on for Indie Made? Well, I am proud to present this final draft which will be placed on the higher priced pieces....for that extra little magical touch.


The tool I was missing was an eyelet punch so now that I own one here are my cloth tags. I think they are pretty cool! I built upon this idea from PatchworkPottery. She has an excellent fabric labels tutorial.
Well...I must be off to waste some more time! Mwa ha ha!

....and now it is "Wait and See".

While I was only at the Grand Opening the first hour or so there appeared to be a wonderful turn-out. There were so many people in the store that it was hard to move around. I met a few of the other artists and they were all very nice and seemed very happy to have a potter join the group. Yep...I am the only potter! There is a nice variety of different kinds of art and hand made items available in the store, it is definitely a place I would shop. Great Idaho made products at a great price!
So now I will sit back for a time and hope that I make some sales. My pieces are certainly priced to sell and I hope buyers know that they are getting a smashing good deal!
I have some garden markers I will bring in next week since Spring is practically here. I am excited to see what kind of pieces I will produce over the next several weeks.

Big News!

I was invited to join a co-op of artists in down town Boise. The invitation came in extremely short notice so I am scrambling to try and get something together for the Grand Re-Opening in two days. It's a good thing I had some pottery sitting around waiting for this very moment.
I had some trepidation about this venture because it does come with a cost. I have to sell quite a bit of pottery just to break even. However, one never knows what can happen if one doesn't take a leap of faith. That "one" being me of course, a potter with OCD and anti-social tendencies. I am hoping through this experience to make a lot of new friends, to stretch and grow as an artist and of course, to prosper.
Anyhow, the most time consuming project today is creating special labels for my work and then inventorying every piece. It's not like I haven't done this a dozen times before but never on this short notice.

I was thinking something like this. First impressions are very important and I believe every detail counts while at the same time trying to make everything look effortless. Not sure if I accomplished that yet as this is just the rough draft.
You'll recognize the tea set up in my banner here, and Curlz MT has been my font for over a decade now.

Well I better get back to work because as I said I am short on time. I don't know if I have any Boise readers for this blog but if so here is the 411.