Holiday Sale

Whew!

Tonight marked the end of the annual studio sale. Man, was it a lot of work. On Thursday, I helped two others set up the display area, priced and arranged my and Dave's pottery. On Friday, I worked a morning shift at the sale, answering questions and wrapping sales items. On Saturday, I taught for several hours, a beginner throwing class and a two-person glazing workshop, and also worked the sale as necessary. When I had a free moment, I threw a few pots. Today I went into the studio at 10 a.m. and stayed until 6:30 or so, helping out with the sale while I put handles on mugs and threw a few more pots. Then at the end of the evening, I started to break down displays and pack up what didn't sell. (I'll have to return tomorrow to finish the job.)

Luckily, we sold a lot! Dave and I were the top sellers this year, by unofficial count. A lot of my pieces went very cheaply, ranging from $1 to $10. (To be fair though, a lot of it was from when I first started throwing only a year and a half ago.) I also did a lot of under-the-table deals, from potter to potter, which added $100+ to our unofficial total. And I traded several pieces and gave away several pieces. (One of the trades was for the quizzical banky in the picture above. It's going to Japan, believe it or not, as a gift to a little boy there.)

And something strange happened today: A woman loved my coin banks so much that she wanted them all. She told me that she and her husband own a pottery supply store in town (one where I shop quite often) and she would be happy to trade for merchandise there. Since clay is one of my biggest expenses, I gladly traded with her. Then I thought: I hope she's legit and I'm not going to walk in there and be told that of course she has no authority to trade merchandise for pottery.

We'll see I guess.

I'm home now, wondering what's for dinner. If I even have the energy to have dinner...