Hangin’ with the artisans
My table, set up and ready for the clamoring hordes.
The Artisan Market at Common Fields went off fairly well for me yesterday. I mean, my expectations are pretty low, so by some standards, I’m sure that it was less than a roaring success. But in my estimation for a relatively quiet Saturday afternoon, I didn’t do too badly selling two offering bowls, a bier stein and a couple of mezcal copas.
I was fixated on having several offerings of smaller, inexpensive pieces, having watched fellow Willamette Ceramics Guild member, Annalie Haberman’s little pinched horse figurines fly off the shelf like Pegasus at the clothesline art sale last month. But that’s not what eventually went yesterday.
Prosit!
The first thing to leave the coop was a Bierstein with a duck on it. Ute Vergin noted that business can pick up with the let’s-go-out-for-a-beer crowd later in the afternoon. That suggests to us that beer krugs, steins, tankards — whatever you want to call them — might be something that could be attractive to the market. I’ll crank out some more of those and work on scaling them up to hold a full pint. These are 12 ouncers, just about right for a can of beer.
Bye-bye, Ducky.
The next thing to leave the nest was kind of bittersweet for me. Someone fell in love with the very first duck-footed offering bowl I made. That critter was created when my husband said that, to be fair, I should create some pieces to cater to the UO Duck crowd, not just the local OSU Beaver Believers. Made as sort of a joke, I’ve grown fond of this thing and felt a little sad seeing it waddle off to a new home. But it’s gone to a loving family who promises to take good care of it.
Side note: wasn’t it interesting that on a Beaver Football game day in Corvallis, it was ducks that caught people’s eyes first?
Beaver waddles off to serve candy to the masses.
Finally an anthropology colleague (and former student who says it’s my fault that she has a successful career in NAGPRA) stopped by and scooped up a beaver-footed offering bowl and two mezcal copas. Earlier in the day, someone admired these tilted, footed bowls, but couldn’t think what one would use them for. Besides sitting there and looking cute, these are great for offering up candy, nuts, and other such dry snacks. I’ve also used them as bowls for serving up spreads like pimiento cheese. Great fun at parties! Come on, now, folks. Use your imaginations.
So, what does all this tell me? In a nutshell, while the sales might not be massive, buyers want the stuff that’s really unique. I would have had to sell 12-14 small kitchen prep sets to reach the number I did with these few, relatively more expensive pieces.
I’m going to keep my eye on the prize, then, focusing on the things that seem to really garner the attention. I might not be hopping up to score a sale every five minutes, but that didn’t happen with the small bits and pieces that are supposed to be so attractive to the crowd, in any case. And while it didn’t take me a lot of time to whip out kitchen prep sets, the time it takes to churn out a bunch at a time might be better spent creating another fabulous bowl on critter feet.
