First piece I didn't want to sell, and then I sold it
made a little lidded jar last month, hand-built, glaze came out this weird deep green with these red speckles I didn't plan at all. I was so proud of it I almost didn't list it. Kept it on the studio shelf for two weeks just walking past it.
then some stranger on instagram messaged me about it and I panicked and said it wasn't for sale. told myself it was a "study piece" which was a lie, it was just mine.
anyway she asked again like a week later, real nice about it, and I caved. packed it myself, bubble wrap and all, wrote a stupid little note in spanish that she'll probably google. it left yesterday.
still feeling weird about it. but also it's the first time the money felt like a yes and not a compromise. like okay, this is real, people want the thing my hands made. my abuela would've cried. I just texted her a photo of the empty shelf spot instead. she sent back a string of heart emojis and "mi artista."
that's it. just wanted to say it somewhere people get it.
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Know that feeling. You work on something and it stops being inventory somewhere along the way, turns into something you just want to look at for a while. That usually means it's good. The ones you can't wait to get rid of, those are the ones to worry about.
The glaze thing happens more than people think. You chase a color for months and then one day the kiln gives you something you didn't ask for and it's better than anything you planned. Hard to sell that one. But it'll find its way back into your hands in some form. They always do.
The kiln deciding for you is the truest thing in ceramics. You can chase a color for a year and the fire gives you a glitch you'd never have imagined, and that's the one. Same thing happens in my line of work, except my "kiln" is a dumpster and thirty years of weather.
And you're right about the selling. The ones I've kept longest are always the ones I should've let go. Then one day someone comes along who sees it properly and off it goes, and I'm surprised by how little it hurts. Sometimes it's just waiting for the right set of hands.
"sometimes it's just waiting for the right set of hands", yeah, that's the whole thing, isn't it. i've held onto pieces i thought were failures and then some random person sees them and i'm like oh. that's what it was for.
also the dumpster and thirty years of weather is a hell of a kiln. honestly might fire better than mine sometimes. what is it you make, out of curiosity?
exactly, the "ones you can't wait to get rid of" part is so true. i've listed stuff i was lukewarm on and it sells in ten minutes, and the piece i actually poured everything into sits there. the kiln knows what it's doing more than i do, honestly.
and yeah you're right about it finding its way back. i keep telling myself i'll make another one like it and i'll keep that one. let's see how that goes lol. something about that one glaze though... i took like eight photos of it before it left, i'll probably never move on