Goods and Bads of the Craft Fair Circuit

The last few weeks I've been stressing about my first official craft show which was today. I've been pushing stuff through the kiln, hoping I had enough to actually make a display. Pulling my hair out when the glaze results were disappointing and getting really frustrated when many of my large bowls developed cracks.
No matter how unprepared I was though, the show came anyway, and today we went. That is not the royal We, Peter went too.

It was a small show in a local school that was a fund raiser for the football team. There were a number of crafters there, two gymnasiums full. (is that meant to be gymnasia? yes I think so but the spell checker doesn't agree) I was the only potter, which was good and bad. Good because anyone who was desperate for pottery had to come to me, and good because there was no real potter's pottery that people could look at and then realize that mine is pretty rudimentary. Bad because apparently not that many people were desperate for pottery today. Bad because I was hoping to snoop other booths before the show to decide out what sort of prices would be reasonable. There was nothing comparable, except a glass slumping artist who used recycled liquor bottles to make trays and I didn't see her until after lunch. Bad because much of the craft was someone's Granny who has nothing else to do and so sells extremely elaborate and time consuming items for less than what it would take to buy the materials. Bad also because what with buying Blackberry Jam, Chicken Bones* and coffees and lunches at the school cafeteria I think we took in $2 less than we spent.

This purple butter dish was much admired and handled, but no one bought it.

More Bads than Goods.
It was a very slow day, everyone said so. And this was a Good. We got to chat to a lot of the regulars that do the craft fair circuit, and they are all very friendly and welcoming and supportive of each other and us. If we hadn't talked to anyone, I think I would have come home completely demoralized and just packed it all in right then and there. But it was apparent that no one was selling much at all. Even the stuff that was cheaper than dirt wasn't moving.

This new Spiderweb bowl was much admired and handled, but no one bought it.

On second thought, as pottery is comprised mainly of dirt I think I will retire that expression, because my dirt wasn't that cheap. After agonizing over pricing, I don't think that I would have sold any more pots if my prices were lower, but I do know I would have been much less satisfied to sell more pots at lower prices. At the end of the day, I think the people who come out to support a Football Club fundraiser in a rural high school are simply not the people who want a One-of-a Kind, handcrafted butter dish. I realized this when one woman asked if I had a margarine holder instead, something she could slot a Becel tub directly into. My first thought was, "Why would anyone want to eat Becel?"

I have heard other potters say that everyone wants blue, and it is true,
many people admired this mug with the blue rim, but no one bought it.

The next fair is in two weeks. Hopefully it will be better. I am no longer stressed about having enough stuff for a display, at this rate I could do 10 more Fairs without stepping into the studio. But I will keep at it instead, because pottery must be like gardening; you only do it if deep down you are an optimist.

*Chicken Bones are a candy, often seen around Christmas, that are long pink hard candies with chocolate stripes up the centre.

We Have Good Friends

Today is Wednesday, which means it is weekly cancel the power upgrade day. (Oh, and Ash Wednesday as it turns out.) The first three times our electrician couldn't book off his regular job to come on a week day. Last week it was cancelled because the inspector couldn't come. Today Nova Scotia power cancelled because we got snow last night and they are busy reconnecting power to customers in Windsor.
But in anticipation that it might really happen this time (ha) we dug a trench last weekend to bury the new service from the house to the garage. Most people would not attempt to dig a 40 foot trench by hand. Most people would not attempt to do it in winter either, but I think we all agree that we are not like most people.
We must be OK people though, because we managed to coerce 5 friends to help us dig. We began Saturday morning at 8:30, and paused long enough to give the boys an egg and bacon burrito for breakfast.
Then we paused long enough to rent a demolition hammer once we realized that picks were not going to make it through the foot of frozen ground on top. Then more pausing as they excavated a 500 lb rock from the trench. I kept thinking this was an excellent history and archaeology experience and we should have organized students to come help. History because this must be what it was like to dig trenches for World War 1. Archaeology because excavating that rock without large machinery must be what it was like to build the pyramids. Fulcrums and levers.
We also found a layer of thick ash about two feet down all the way along. I wondered if this was a brush clearing fire when the land was originally cleared for farming or from when the Acadians were deported in 1755. We also found a layer of burned glass and what looked like cinemoid in one spot about a foot down. Did the New England Planters have cinemoid?
They dug all morning while I made fish chowder to feed them lunch. After lunch I joined them and we accomplished 3/4 of the required length by beer o'clock. Now I know what the phrase "Colder than a well diggers ass" means.
Sunday morning Peter and I finished off the digging and buried the conduit.

Lessons learned:
1. Dig trenches in summer.
2. Hire a back hoe.

Thank you to Andrew, Peter, Peter, Tony and George.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

When we lived in Vangroovy, friends of ours lived the basement apartment of the house we rented on John St. One day Corey announced he was taking up the violin. At the tender age of 20something when most violinists start at 8 years of age, Corey began his musical career. It was fun to hear Corey sawing away in the basement, and both Peter and I would silently cheer him on as he made his way through a barely recognisable Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. That is when I knew what my parents felt all those years ago when I would plink my way through "Lion in the Long Grass' on the piano in the basement.
Now we are on the other coast, and we are again sharing a house with a musician. Tiffany lives in the loft apartment upstairs, and she is working on her Master's degree in Ethnomusicology. But to get a Master's degree in music you first has to have a Bachelor's, which means that she plays a little better than Corey used to. Her instrument is the cello, and Friday mornings are her time to practice. Mostly she does fingering exercises which I don't profess to understand, because when you play the piano you either hit the key or you don't. (mostly I didn't) Occasionally you can hear the cello part for a quartet or a symphony and with a little imagination, you can fill in all the other parts and it sounds really nice. Last week though she treated us to a very rousing rendition of Three Blind Mice. Only she plays it sadly, like gypsy music.
Peter and I both thought of Corey at the same time. And laughed.

A thanks for the thank you

Today my nephew 'Jamin sent me a painting he completed recently as a thank you for his birthday pressie. He was 2 in August. It's called Philosophy. I like it, although I prefer to think of it as Paeonia and Solidago. I am a fan of his work, as I am a fan of his mother's before him. Her Mountain and Seagulls in the Upstairs Gallery, Mahone Bay, is a particular favourite of mine. Although knowing her much more structured style leads me to believe that 'Jamin must take after his father.
I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my nephews Claude and Lester have also sent us cards since we have been here. Thank you boys.
Peter thinks it is strange that the only people who write to us are toddlers and cats, but I pointed out that everyone else has email.