The market where I made more selling seconds than I did all month on Etsy
So I did a little market in this old garage space in El Cabanyal last weekend. Thought it'd be quiet, maybe sell a few small pieces, cover the table fee.
I brought a box of seconds, things with cracks, glaze drips, a little jug that leaned so far it looked drunk. I almost didn't unpack them. Put them at the edge of the table for 10€ each, basically clay cost.
They went first. People loved them more than the "good" pieces. One woman said the crack in a little cup looked like a lightning bolt and she wanted to drink her morning coffee from it. I had to stop myself from explaining it was a kiln failure.
Meanwhile on Etsy I'm fighting the algorithm, paying for ads, packing things in bubble wrap like a warehouse robot. And I made more in four hours sitting in a chair drinking terrible coffee from a thermos, telling people yes that cup is supposed to look like that.
I'm not saying markets are the answer for everyone. But I'm starting to think the friction of selling online is getting ridiculous for small makers. You spend more time managing the store than making the thing. At the market you just... show up. Talk to people. Hand them a wonky cup and they love it.
Maybe the real hack is just lowering your standards and letting people see the ugly ones lol
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There's something in this. The seconds have the process on them. They show the thing was made, not produced. A perfect piece from a kiln looks like it arrived from nowhere. A piece with a crack or a lean still has the hand in it.
I have a canvas in my studio I never sold, a bad pour, muddied, I scraped half of it back and left it. Every painter who comes through here stops at it. They don't ask about the ones that came out right.
I think people want to see the decision, not just the result. The fault line is where you can read the making.
yes, exactly this. the perfect pieces come out the kiln and they're pretty but they're also... quiet. they don't tell you anything. the seconds have the whole story right there, you can see the moment it almost went wrong and the person kept going anyway.
that canvas thing is so real. the bad one has more of you in it than the ones you got right. i'm gonna be thinking about that.