Sourwood and TailGate same day!

Oh my. Having enough inventory to cover contributing to two sales in one day is awesome...or gruesome depending upon your viewpoint. Just lugging around a couple of table's worth of pottery and sculpture told me I was over-doing it ...again.

But I had a good day at both venues...considering I set my sights pretty low. And I didn't even haul everything out. I desperately need to sell some things so I have room for the new ones.

I shared sales with the other Mud Buddies at the TailGate market, but I was the only one there to set up and take down the display, as well as to load and unload boxes and crates. Am I complaining? Not really. But my back is. I'm a whimp.

The set up and take down at the Center for the Arts is being done by others. I knew I couldn't extend myself that much. And I did go and share some time being a sales rep for the student and community members to make some money for the Center. We donate a portion of our sales to the Center for supplies and upkeep of the clay studio, which is as it should be.

My sales at the TailGate were pretty good, and I usually don't do as well when other members of our co-op are doing the work at the little booth. They didn't do as good today with me doing the work. So it all shakes out in the end. I like that each week the person in charge shows mostly her own pottery, and this leads to the unbalanced sales. But the good news is that person is the one paying for the booth, so she is reimbursed by her sales.

The Studio Pottery Market is located in the parking lot right outside the studio...and that's up the hill from the entertainment tent at the Sourwood Festival. I am sure that many tired and hot festival-goers don't make it up that hill, unless it's already the direction their car is parked. We had a fair turnout, and many people realized we had quality goods, a great diversity of styles with maybe 20 student potters, and great prices. So of the folks walking by, we had a larger percentage who became customers, compared to those strolling down the lane for the main streets of Sourwood. There may be many more people down on the main drag, but they are mainly "window shoppers," I think.

And the other aspect of our Pottery Market, is that it's a great venue to attract students to sign up for classes at the BMCA. We have brochures telling what classes are available, either for tourists who want short classes while they visit, or local folks who want to be able to start doing something they've longed to do...there's that opportunity available.

I'm also praising the weather gods and goddesses...cause it only rained once, very briefly, but enough to cool things off pretty well. It was easy enough afterward to go around and dump rainwater out of pots and dry them off. They were mostly under the canopy anyway. And due to having cloudy skies all day, Black Mountain hasn't been as hot as it has been lately. That was a major comment at the Tail Gate market this morning, how cool it felt.

So I feel mainly good about the day. The only thing I have any negative feeling about is the batch of mugs that I made for the Sourwood festival, which didn't come out well after the glaze firing. The glaze I put on wasn't adequate for my minimal criteria. It didn't cover the clay enough. So eventually they will be reglazed. Since there are lots of pots waiting to be glazed the first time through, re-glazing is a long wait. But they really aren't salable the way they came out. That happens. Glazing is the last step, and the one that is more often disappointing to a potter. We learn to have low expectations or go home and feel inadequate. Since I can do that to my psyche any day of the week, it's better to just not expect much, and some days I get so excited about something that comes out well. There were 3 little trays that did that today. I didn't even take pictures of them before I set them out to sell. If that happens, I'll be delighted twice over.

So here is the end of a long day for me. Whew.