Earrings!

Here is a peek into my jewelry making process!

Making little things can be quite tedious, so I have to really be in the mood to chill out, listen to a good audiobook or podcast, and relax and make as much as I can. The nice thing about little items is that I can let them air dry without worry about cracking, and they dry out in a couple days! Which is an amazingly fast turn around. Anything I've made on the wheel has been prone to cracking these summer days, so I have to wrap them in plastic and let them slowly dry for a week or more!   

 Once I have a batch of fun shapes in pairs, I imagine some decorations. I used silk screens of flowers and ferns to make these. Silkscreens are really fun to use with clay because they are tough and detailed. You just have to get them flat on the clay, then dab underglaze with a sponge over the image. Peel off the screen and a pretty design is left behind!

For these star shaped ones I used a tiny cookie cutter! It's about the size of a dime. It was very tedious, and I actually don't really like how they turned out. I feel like the organic free forms of rectangles and circles looks better.

I got the metal earring backing from Michaels and glued them on with Gorilla Glue gel. I like using extreme glue to make sure that it will be a long lasting hold. I would feel so bad if someone bought my earrings only for them to fall apart!

Here are the silkscreen earrings after firing once with the underglaze design, then again with a semi-transparent glaze in pale blue and pale green.

I also decided to get a professional light box for my photos, don't they look better? I'll write more about that soon.

You can find these earrings and more in my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoseAvenaPottery

Thanks for looking! 

Spring time designs

By some miracle I managed to get some photos of a few new things I pulled out of the kiln this last weekend. I haven't made the photo booth yet because we're in the middle of moving! Once we get settled into our new place we will have a whole office room so that I can set up a photo booth and really get some great pictures (I hope). But I was tired of not having anything new on Etsy, so here you go!

Be sure to check out my etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoseAvenaPottery !

New red poppy bowl. I can't wait to do a set of these!

Fern mixing bowl with small spout. This design would also make a great set of dinnerware or multiple mixing bowls.

There's more waiting to get posted, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Also I had some glazes goof up on me, which is really disappointing. I'm going to try to fix them, but they might have to be chucked. But that's another blog post! 

How do I get great photos?!

Oh boy have I been busy. I've been learning a lot about promoting stuff on Etsy, which can be quite time consuming and frustrating, especially when there's a super cute little toddler hugging your knees. 

Crow!

To keep us both sane I put together this sandbox so that she can play outside and I can huddle up on the porch with my laptop and a cup of coffee. As long as she's outside she is as happy as can be.

My next project (besides glazing my stockpile of bisque ware) is figuring out how to get some better pictures. I'd like my pictures to be brighter so that the color on the inside of the mug or bowl shows up better. It would be much easier if I could get a spot to take photos inside, but our house is so dang dark it's impossible. UNTIL!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diffusion-Screen

I was reading up on how to get great photos when I found this on wikihow.com. It's a step by step on how to make your own soft light booth, or as those fancy photographers call it a diffusion screen! How cool is that? I will try to make it and see how it turns out. It definitely wont turn out as pretty as the picture but I think it will create better photos, and that's all its really about, right?

February Garden

I ran around in the cold and did a photo shoot with my new garden decor! Most of it is on Etsy now, check it out at etsy.com/shop/roseavenapottery

Can't wait til spring!

First Sale On Etsy! ... Now where did I put the bubble wrap...

I've been an official Etsy shop owner for a few weeks now, and I've really learned a lot! For starters, it really takes a lot more time than you think when you're just browsing Etsy. Taking pictures, writing product descriptions, figuring out prices, all of that takes HOURS! So if you're pondering opening up shop, start a little notebook and just think about how to describe the color, texture, size, everything about your item. Here are some other things to consider:

PICTURES

To get a good picture, you have to consider lighting, the background, and your camera equipment. I am by no means a professional photographer, so figuring out how to get a good picture was no small feat for me. I set up a mini photo booth with a fold up table, an ivory tablecloth, pushpins, and my back porch. It's been two weeks and I still have a tablecloth pinned to the wall out there, because it was so convenient having it all set up! Now it has rained and the cloth is probably starting to mold, so yet another chore awaits the next photo session. But I think the pictures turned out okay!

Sunshine shadows. I never thought I would be cursing a sunny day!

I took this picture the next day, when it was overcast. I think it turned out much better!

For my pottery I think a simple white background is best. Sometimes I see interesting backgrounds for jewelry, but in my opinion it's best to limit the wild background to one picture. Customers want to see exactly what they are getting. 

GETTING NOTICED

The first few days my shop was open I anxiously awaited any sign that it was visible. Etsy allows you to track how many people visit your shop, how they found it, and what items have been seen. From there people can favorite items, favorite your shop, add something to a treasury, and of course they can purchase something. NOTHING HAPPENED! It was so anticlimactic. Then, slowly, a few people visited, and then someone added my mugs to a treasury. I was so excited! And from there I got a few favorites, those lovely little hearts. And after two weeks I finally had a sale! It was a fun little bowl that I didn't really think that much of, but it had actually gotten a lot of attention in my shop. 

Goodbye, little one!

 

So if you have the time, really go through what Etsy has to offer. Build a treasury list with items from other shops that you like, you never know who will be your next customer! And there are lots of groups and teams on Etsy that are all devoted to cross promoting things. I just joined one that is for the Olympic Peninsula, so I'm hoping that I can make some connections there and maybe do some craft fairs this next year. Also when I was stumped about something, I searched the forums and found discussions that covered it. It's never too early to start eavesdropping on the forums and learn from the pros!

 

PACKAGING

I opened up shop expecting to not sell anything right away, which was good because that's exactly what happened. After I got some good pictures I could make my business cards, and then because I was cheap I went for the "sometime in the next month" shipping. Suddenly I was left to send off my first sale without a business card! Oh well, people usually just throw those away anyways, right? Still, I was scrambling to pull together the right size box and safe packaging for my little bowl. I have some gift boxes I've used for art shows, but they aren't tough enough for shipping. In the end I wrapped the bowl in soft foam and tissue, then put it in the gift box, decorated the box a little, and then spent a few extra dollars at the shipping store for them to put it in a shipping box. I ended up spending about seven dollars more than I expected for shipping due to not being prepared. 

So, before you post something in your Etsy shop, think about how its going to be packaged. 

Supplies you might need:

-bubble wrap

-tissue paper

-gift box

-business card

-note card

-shipping box

And if your going to ship from home you will need:

-printer

-blank labels for shipping info

-postage scale

-packaging tape

What else can I call a tax write off? Markers, ribbon, stamps, whatever else you want to do to make your item a present for the customer. I've bought quite a few things off Etsy, and its always a treat to get it in the mail. Even if its just in a simple little box, usually there's a sticker or stamp to make it feel like a gift. I put a little charm on the box and tied it with embroidery thread. I also made a little heart sticker with some scrapbooking paper I had. I have a lot of craft supplies, so it's fun to actually use it all! I was in a hurry to ship it off before the shipping store closed, so I sadly did not take a picture of the packaging. Next time, just for you blog! 

Now I have my second sale to mail off, and many glazed things ready to go into the kiln. I can't wait for this next round, I made some fun garden decor that I think will go well on Etsy. Pictures coming soon!

 

Etsy- Opening day!

Today I opened my Etsy shop! It was rather anticlimactic actually. There were two things holding me back, first the photos, the second- figuring out the shipping.

I set up a photo booth on my back porch to get the pictures. Our house is pretty dark, and finding good natural light is not as easy as you would think. So I ironed out an antique white tablecloth (leftover from my wedding!) and pined it to the wall, then set up a little fold up table, and draped the cloth over that.

Photo booth next to the home brew equipment... we have a lot of hobbies.

Finished Photo. Not bad, huh?

I set up a clip on lamp too, but it didn't make the biggest difference. Natural light is key! The best photos came from when it was overcast out, which is basically every day except the day I set this up.

Overall I think my photos turned out really well. Etsy allows you to put five photos with each item, so I really tried to get different angles and a few good close ups.

The next hurdle was the shipping. I plan to get a shipping scale, but for now I just did an estimate. If it ends up too high I will put the refund in cash with the package, if it's too low then I'll just have to take it out of pocket. There's a lot of great info in the Etsy seller's handbook, which is free on Etsy. I also went into the forums and found some good Q&A. I really recommend going through the Etsy website and figuring out the forums and groups and look at other shops similar to what you want. Try not to just duplicate another shop, but use others to find your own voice.

I've been studying other potter's descriptions and shop info, and had a rough draft ready for set up. I'm glad, it really is a lot of work! You want to have detailed descriptions, and maybe something whimsical to describe it so that a customer really bonds with the piece they're considering buying.

Check out my Etsy page at http://www.etsy.com/shop/RoseAvenaPottery?ref=ss_profile

I also filed my business license a few weeks ago, but so far I haven't gotten anything in the mail. I figured I could jump start my Etsy shop while the paperwork comes in. It was pretty easy to do online.

I still have a lot of work to do on my shop, but I think it's pretty good for a sleep deprived mama! My little toddler is cutting a few new teeth, and it's been rough. I think it's about time for us both to go to bed.

The S Crack

There's something that happens to wheel thrown pottery that can completely ruin a piece without you ever laying a finger on it. The S crack. It's something I had been battling for a long time. You make a beautiful little cup, and are sure that it's perfect, you leave it to dry nice and slow, only to find a few days later that the bottom had cracked in the form of a S. Sometimes it cracks all the way through the piece, or maybe its just a little hairline split, but either way it's ruined.

Four years later and I'm still having that S happen!

 

While known as the S crack, it can sneak up on you in a variety of annoying cracks.

I had thought that the S came from too much water collecting at the bottom of the cup while being thrown. In high school we cut our pieces off the wheel, which I guess eliminates the S problem since a bit of clay stays behind on the wheel. My teacher had never mentioned the S, and I don't recall my aunt, who first taught me pottery, ever mentioning how to remedy this problem. Yet it continued to happen to me quite randomly whenever I was throwing pots.

Leafing through the book The Ceramics Bible, I came upon the answer! All you have to do is "compress the base with your thumb to prevent an 'S' crack from occurring". Something I had never paid too much attention to because I tend to naturally pull out a pretty flat bottom. But by simply going back over it a few times with your thumb or a sponge, it can align the clay so that that all the particles are cylindrical. You can actually feel the clay aligning under your fingers.

I also came upon this little article, which had some other ideas if you're still having the S crack problem.

http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/103000.htm

For a little while I had been trying to keep the spiral pattern from wedging the clay aligned with the wheel, but really, it didn't seem to help as much as just pressing the bottom of the bowl right after I pulled out the initial shape. In that article the potter also suggests its a problem from too much water left in the bottom, so I guess my previous assumptions were correct too.

So remember, sponge out the excess water, compress the bottom a few times until you feel the clay align, and let your pieces dry nice and slow.

It's good I finally learned this, since I'm trying to go pro. It's never too late to learn a new trick!