Another Day, Another Trip to FedEx

Stacking Sculpture
in Sunset Colors

Pottery sales tend to ebb and flow for me. For a few years I sold all of the "Happy Children" and stacking sculpture like this that I made. It takes quite a few pots to add up to selling a bigger piece. They help sales quite a bit.

Well, then the 2000s hit and I would haul these to fairs and haul them home. After doing that a couple of times it gets to be a drag -- especially since these are supposed to be my fun, spontaneous pieces.

Fast forward to 2012 and Sunset magazine reprinted some photos of Ketzel Levine's garden with one of my stackers in the background. A couple people managed to track down who made the sculpture. They contacted me, weren't too shocked by the price and commissioned sculptures for their gardens.

I've always used fairly light bright colors to show up in a Pacific Northwest garden, but one of the clients wanted sunset colors for her home in the San Diego area. Here's how it turned out. And yes, I cut the pole so the bird wasn't left high and dry before shipping. Just didn't have time to stack it all back up and take a photo before shipping it onward.

It would be nice to think that selling a few larger pieces again is a good sign that the economy might be picking up, but it feels a little ego-driven, small world-centric. And I wouldn't want to jinx anything. (smile!)

Six months of Etsy

At the sixth month mark of being an Etsy seller I'm employing only 1/10th of the tools out there to increase sales. One that seems to be working is the cross promotion that comes via the Treasuries. Buyers and sellers alike create themed mini-collections. They help bring visibility of our work to a broader audience. This one was entitled "Brown" and is lovely.

A month ago I joined a Treasury Team that requires members create a treasury of team members' work at least once a month. So far I've been included in 1-3 treasuries each day! (See links in the sidebar.) I've also had a few more sales in the past week--my first since the first of the year--so perhaps this extra traffic helps. Of course, if I could manage to list a new piece or two more often that would help, too. Watching traffic on Google Analytics shows that each new listing brings a spike in viewership that drops off after 3-4 days.

First Etsy Sale

Something I've done since my first art fair is "prime the pump" with a purchase of my own as soon as I'm set up and ready to take sales.

Give a little to get a little.

So, finally after getting 14 items in my Etsy shop (which makes it look full at least on the front page of the shop), I thought it was time for me to make a purchase of my own.

While shopping I found a lovely silver crane necklace created to look like an origami crane. The perfect thing to gift the person who hand-folded almost 1000 cranes for our wedding. (People attending our party the night before the big day were able to whip up the balance.)
Then SURPRISE, this week my first sale came through after being on Etsy for less than a month. Three stars are on their way to Brooklyn. With the Etsy fee, the Paypal fee and mailing costs I'm just barely clearing 50%, which is my goal.
I hope to have time to read more of the Etsy blog posts about maximizing all the many tools there to generate sales. Coupons, specials, BOGO offers, etc. There is so much to learn. Some of it can be used in other areas of our art businesses, so it's well worth it to tune in.

If only there were more hours in the day...

Top Potter in the Valley

Imagine my surprise this morning to see my name in the paper. (And no, not in the Crime Watch!) There I sat innocently sipping my tea, reading the paper version of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, already basking in the glory that the festival I spend so much time organizing got TWO Top honors in the Top of the Valley Poll...and having just blogged, tweeted and Facebooked it all over the place... and Yes, there was my name as Top Potter!!! Ahead of long-timer Dale Donovan and buddies Keith Moses and Jeff Gunn... Ho-ho!

I entered the poll and voted in many categories, but hadn't noticed any of the art, music, gallery categories, so it was a double surprise. The past few years I have barely gotten it together to do one or two shows, keep a couple galleries stocked and have always felt fairly under the radar when it comes to marketing my own work in Corvallis. Quite a honor to be plucked from anonymity to Fame (and fortune?!!) in the Gazette-Times.

Believe me, I'll be milking this for the next twelve months!!!!

Wonder if I get a crown or anything?

To see some of my AWARD Winning Work go to my other blog "Spencer Work in Clay"

Thanks all!