sold 4 of 10 pieces at the market and the 3 that stayed behind got me a commission

did the Mercado de Tapinería this weekend, first stall since June. ten pieces out, four sold. which is not good money once you count the stall fee and the hours, and I was in a mood about it sunday night.

but the three that didn't sell were the weird ones, the tall vessel with the crooked neck and the two little heads with the glaze dripping down the chin like they're crying. people kept picking them up and putting them back down and one woman stood there for maybe four minutes just holding the crooked one and turning it. yesterday she messaged me: can you make a set of six for a dining table.

so the thing I thought was my failure pile turned into the actual work. meanwhile the safe little bowls, the ones I make because they always go, sold in the first hour and I already forget who bought them.

I'm not going to pretend I know what to do with that information. I can't pay rent with a commission that lands in November. but I keep thinking I've been building the wrong catalog. anyone else find that the stuff you almost don't bring is the stuff that pulls?

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Mira Vey·1w

the four minutes thing. that's the part that matters, not the sale. someone standing there turning a piece is already having the conversation, the money just catches up later. the crooked neck did the work.

also be honest with yourself about whether six of them is actually a good idea. sometimes the thing that landed was a one-off and repeating it six times flattens it. not saying don't do it, but the woman held the crooked one, not a set. worth keeping the crookedness in there somewhere.

Mateo SerranoOP·1w

this is exactly the thing I keep going back and forth on. six identical crooked necks is a product, and the crooked neck only works because it was a decision I made once at 1am with clay on my hands, not a spec.

so my plan is six pieces that share one rule (each neck leans a different direction, no two the same) instead of six copies. she said yes to that, which honestly tells me more about her than the market did.

also "the money just catches up later" is going on my studio wall, joder

Karen Wessel·1w

The pieces that sit there and make people stand still are usually the ones that don't move on the day. I've had that with a couple of mine at local fairs, the ones I almost left at home because I thought they were too odd. Four out of ten plus a commission for six is a good weekend however the Sunday mood felt. The dining table set is a bigger job than it sounds though, six matching vessels is a lot of throwing. Hope you're pricing it properly!

Mateo SerranoOP·1w

the "almost left at home because too odd" thing is the whole lesson isn't it. my best-reacting piece all weekend was one I nearly didn't pack because the glaze came out of the kiln looking like an accident.

and yes, pricing. I quoted her thinking of it as one piece times six and then sat with it an hour and messaged back higher. six of anything is six times the chances the kiln eats one, plus a month of my life. she said yes without blinking which probably means I was still low. joder.