Spring Blizzard = Good Pottery Sales

I was participating in the Fairview Studios Pottery Sale this past Saturday. When I left my house at 7:00 it was sprinkling lightly, but not very cold out, so I decided against a jacket and wore runners without socks. By the time I got to the hall where the sale was being held (7:30), it had started to snow and was beginning to accumulate. I parked my car, got out, opened the hatch and immediately stepped into an ice cold puddle of melty slush (BTW, runners with mesh tops are not water proof). There were not many customers waiting for the sale to start, maybe 10 or 12, but by 9:30 it was packed and people were shopping. For a spring sale, I did reasonably well. My gross sales were on par with a slow Christmas sale. I ended up having to re-sticker all my pots as the ones I had used were not coming off very well. As I was standing at my table madly redoing everything, there were a couple of women looking at some of my stuff. The words coming out of their mouth sounded like “this is just beautiful, I love it”, and then they put it back and walked away. Perhaps I misunderstood them? Maybe they were looking for the same thing, but in blue? Actually, I think they were looking for the same thing, but in “Cheaper”. I do tend to price myself out of sales, but my thoughts are that why should someone else get it for $20, when it cost a minimum of $30 in materials and time to make it. I would rather wait a little longer to make the sale than give it up for a quick buck now.
I have the Mad Potters sale in 3 weeks on May 26th, and it will be curious to see how this one goes. I have been involved with them only for 2 previous sales and so far my earnings from them have been about half of what I can do at the Fairview sale, but then I am spoiled. The Fairview Sale, which has been running for over 30 years, has all the kinks ironed out and it practically runs itself. The Fairview customers are extremely loyal and it always amazes me how much money they spend. I will give this sale one more shot, and if the numbers remain the same, I will have to reconsider if I participate in it next year or not. You never know, this could be the year that everyone wants cone 6 electric instead of cone 10 reduction. At least I am not competing with salt/soda or wood fired work


I should note that the snow did not stick around. It stopped snowing around noon, continued to sprinkle on and off for the rest of the day, and then on Sunday the temperature was ~12 degrees celcius, and today, it is forecasted to be a beautiful 19 degree day, and tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer at 23 degrees. In saying this, I am looking at the weather forecast right now, and I see snow and rain on Thursday…oh well, that is what you get for living nestled up against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Southern Alberta. No two days are ever quite the same and you can always count on a snowstorm in May.