In the spring of last year a new, local shop reached out to me about including my pottery in their store. I was excited about a new opportunity to sell my artwork, but tentative about the required year-long commitment, and monthly rent. Despite my concerns, I decided to jump in with both feet, and commit to Crafted Westside.
Since I signed my contract I have been hard at work, creating, producing, and filling my space at Crafted. The store has been a huge success, and after a short 5 months of being open, they have already expanded into the space next door. I’m looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, and am keeping my fingers crossed that I will set my personal best sales months.
One of my favorite things about my commitment to Crafted is it has pushed me out of my comfort zone. I have had to develop new designs, techniques, and products. Figure out what is selling, and what is collecting dust and taking up space on my shelves. I have had the opportunity to experiment and experienced a great deal of trial and error.
A few weeks ago, while brainstorming new ideas, I decided I want to try my hand at hand building with slabs. Up to this point, all of my products had been thrown on the pottery wheel, and I needed a change of pace. I went to my local ceramic store, perused their shelves, and fell in love with a wood grain stamp. An idea immediately hit me, I would hand-build a few sets of mugs and vases, using slabs, and this beautiful pattern.
Keeping with the look and feel of my pottery, I decided to keep the exterior simple, with the white body of the clay, and a quick layer of clear on top. For the interior I used blues and greens, to stick with the earthy feel of the wood. I also decided to experiment with gloss and matte finishes. Rather than coat the entire exterior with clear, I left a section at the bottom unglazed.
I was really excited about my finished products. They have been delivered to Crafted Westside, and are sitting on the shelves, waiting to find a happy home. I hope they do well, so I can continue to play around with my beautiful new stamp.
In addition to my wood grain pieces, I also made a set of hydrangea-inspired vases. Check out Crafted’s website here to look at more products!
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