A Chicken 2-Piece Jar I Built

 

An Adorable Chicken Jar I Created

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4590697470/handmade-chicken-jar-red-orange

Should I Give Up and Completely Retire

 All summer I worked really hard to get enough pieces to sell on Etsy during the usual heavy-autumn-demand months (usually starting in late September, early October and going up to the end of the year).  For me, at least, it just isn't happening.  As I've stated before, I'm almost 80 years old now and love making - and selling - my beloved unique pieces of ceramic animal artwork.  I had a great year up through August, exceeding my goal significantly.  Then very suddenly, everything went dark for me -- almost no or very few views, a small sale here or there, and that's it.  Could it possibly be that suddenly no one likes my works?  That's hard to believe.  I've had collectors for decades, and I just can't imagine that they suddenly have had enough of my work.  And new buyers just don't exist for me now.

Is it my work?  Or is it that everyone, everywhere in this country and elsewhere is concerned about the exploding costs of pretty much everything we need these days, from groceries to fuel for our vehicles, and so on.  So needs are prioritized over wants, I suppose.  It makes sense to me.

I am not a social person online, or in real life either, and I have little to no desire or skills to promote my work other than listing them on Etsy, which has worked for nearly 20 years now.  I want my work to speak for itself rather than being "hawked" online.  This blog, which almost no one reads, and some small promotion that Etsy provides is all I've ever done.

I did an incognito search for my pieces online a few days ago, and at least a few do show up -- which is fair -- everyone should have a chance to be seen, so that's no problem to me.  But again, nothing is being looked at, nothing is selling.  Maybe I was wrong to list a lot of the pieces so quickly?  Maybe having a lot of pieces for sale at one time suggests that the pieces are "mass-produced"?  They are absolutely NOT, I can tell you.  Each piece I make, even a very small one, takes at minimum of an hour and a  half, and that's being very conservative and does not include all the prep time, cleaning, prepping the clay, loading and unloading the kiln, photographing, listing, etc.  Then there are all the fees I'm charged if something does sell, then the cost of shipping (because I have to give free shipping to be seen at all, and ceramic pieces are fragile -- and heavy).  Oh, and the materials (clay, underglazes glazes, shipping boxes, packing materials, etc., etc.) have nearly doubled in costs.

So I just don't know what's going on -- and I'm hoping that any day now I'll regret creating this post.  I wish!  But if things don't change for me soon, I'll decide that I'll have to quit this probably last phase in my working life.  If this unfortunate situation occurs, I have no idea what I'll do with myself all day, every day.  

Again, I'm not a social person at all and have always been happy with my creative life and the nearly daily interactions with my family next door.  But I can't expect them to spend more time with me -- and neither of us would like it, anyway.  So, really, what am I going to do to fill (and enjoy) long days.  I've worked out and gardened to the point already that my muscles scream for a break and my gardens are starting to look a bit "cluttered."  I read books until my eyes cross.  Maybe something I haven't thought of yet; who knows. 

Also, if I do have to retire completely, my income will drop significantly, which is okay; I can live with that.  I'm not at all an extravagant person and can easily live within my means.  But, obviously, there will be compromises I'll have to make.  (I realize I'm going on too much now, so I'll cut this off.)

If you've read this far, I guess thank you.  And maybe in a month I'll be either deleting or at least making invisible this post because it won't be relevant anymore!!

A Large Dog Face Sculpture with a Stick in Its Mouth

 One of my Most Popular Pieces, a New Large Dog Face Sculpture with a Stick in its Mouth.  

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4589191092/handmade-ceramic-dog-sculpture-playful

A Dog with a Shoe in its Mouth -- I've had that happen!!!

My new listing on Etsy for today.  As might apparent, I try to add a listing or two every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

 

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4515376347/handmade-ceramic-dog-face-wall-hanging

A Holstein Cow with a Bunch of Pink Flowers in Her Mouth I listed on Etsy today

Sold  (I may try to make another one before the end of the year but am not sure when.)

 This Holstein cow wall sculpture is a popular piece that I make from time to time -- always different but the same theme -- that has always been popular.  As usual, it is handmade by me, and each one is unique.

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4585848705/whimsical-black-and-white-ceramic-cow

A Cat Face Sculpture with a Mouse on its Head, listed on Etsy

 

                                                                    https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4584376303/handmade-ceramic-cat-face-wall-sculpture

A Creepy Fish, inspired by a rock I found on a walk. I love it!

 

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4584383196/handmade-ceramic-scary-fish-sculpture

The Rock that Inspired the Fish

So is it a "rock fish" or just a creepy deep-sea creature inspired by a lumpy rock I found on a walk?  Someday maybe I'll show a small sampling of all the rocks I've found and saved. 

This is not my first rock-inspired sculpture -- and won't be my last!

A Banana Bird!!!

 

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4582520709/handmade-ceramic-banana-bird-sculpture

This is one of my sweetest, strangest pieces I've made!  I was pondering about what to do with a bunch of bananas that were nearing being over-the-hill when the ridiculous idea of creating a bird shaped like a banana.  I rushed into my studio right away and started playing with the idea.  Finally, I came up with a bird that was literally a bunch of bananas -- with some huge feet and legs to carry the "whole bunch."  I love it!  And I searched to see if it was an original idea, and there is indeed a "banana bird," a tropical bananaquit bird -- and a character in an old Donkey Kong Country 3 game.    But I still think mine is the only bird made entirely of bananas!!!  Well, a clay depiction of them, anyway.  Hope you like it.

A Playful Crouching Dog Sculpture I just listed on Etsy

                            This Dog Has Been Sold                     

                                                https://www.etsy.com/listing/4581128879/one-of-a-kind-playful-dog-ceramic?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=25fa6d007d788b103a556152dfda403d13c59bab%3A4581128879

I enjoyed making this piece.  I first threw on my wheel its body as a straight, narrow cylinder, which I altered with my hands to resemble a crouching dog's body, just the core.  Then I threw the head on the wheel as well and altered its shape, too.  Then the rest of the body parts, legs, tail, etc., were loosely hand-shaped and carefully attached, using both my fingers and many different small tools, to the emerging dog sculpture.  Then I had to wait a while, hours, for the piece to firm up before I could refine its shape and give it as much personality as I could.  Then I put it up to dry, but I was constantly checking back on it to tweak a foot here, a shoulder there, etc., until it became too dry to make any more refinements.  And you know the rest:  When it was bone-dry, and when I had enough other pieces to fill a kiln, I bisque-fired it, painted it with underglazes (which act like artists' paints but can be fired and become permanent), then glazed it, and then finally fired it again, hopefully to end up with a piece worthy of showing to the world.  This little guy I think is definitely ready to meet its public and maybe go to another good home.

An Ostrich mask wall-hanging that just came out of the kiln -- and a kiln opening, kind of

 

I just listed this guy a few minutes ago on Etsy.

with lashes (my preferred), and below, without.

https://dottiedracos.etsy.com/listing/4579830849/whimsical-ostrich-bird-wall-hanging

The eyelashes can be removed, rearranged, and reattached as you wish

                                               "Kiln Opening:"

And re the kiln opening, once again I forgot to actually photograph each shelf layer, but here are some of the pieces that were in the kiln, and a pic of the bottom layer.

2 of my favorites:  A playfully evil-looking deep-sea creature and a very, very rare banana bird!  In fact, I would venture to say the only banana bird  (that is, a bird of bananas) in the world!

bottom shelf

I should have had a few small pieces to fill in those blank spaces on this shelf.  Some small figurines would have easily fit into these spaces.  The more I can pack into a kiln, the lower the cost of firing an individual piece.  (And costs are very high in the ceramics business.)  

A Dog with Lots of Tennis Balls in its Mouth, and a Wall-hanging Koi Fish

Here are a couple more of my animal sculptures available on Etsy.  I opened the kiln today, too, and forgot and took everything but the bottom shelf out.  I'll show a couple of photos of some of my new pieces Monday, before they go up on Etsy.  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4562394385/tiny-ceramic-dog-sculpture-handmade-wall?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_4&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=7bfe6f89987dca8041cbe2485ac3cd0e53f6c144%3A4562394385

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4555969964/handmade-ceramic-fish-wall-art-pink-blue?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_5&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=0f73af3895f5ac78726636b2f8236c09d9914da2%3A4555969964

Another piece I've made (a large goofy rooster mask), and I'm bisque-firing another kiln load today. Results Monday.

            

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4571479466/handmade-whimsical-large-ceramic-rooster?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_20&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=6a15efe0b322b16b3e80849053be47651097140f%3A4571479466

A few new pieces in my Etsy shop

                                          A small dog mask with a stick

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4576503747/ceramic-dog-face-wall-art-handmade?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=3d236030db7a3e816ed6c56f634b9beed50aad2e%3A4576503747 

                                    A Cute Fish Mask with a Uvula in its Throat

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4576521688/handmade-ceramic-fish-face-wall-hanging?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_2&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=4c71758f65ef4074d0acb6bfab62b1885828d6a1%3A4576521688

                   

   One of my favorite pieces!!  A sweetie bird looking for a friend

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4535780655/whimsical-shoebill-bird-sculpture?ref=shop_home_feat_1&sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=479ff683f330ab86c33abcf60437afb13a93be75%3A4535780655

A One-of-a-Kind Crazy Fish I Created

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4549299654/handmade-ceramic-fish-face-wall-hanging?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ref=shop_home_active_15&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=338ea7ada4cf39a2bbed0319c8589ecd18535df0%3A4549299654

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New Listing on Etsy Today

This Dog Has Been Sold

This is a little guy I finished a few days ago and have now listed it on Etsy.  It's a tiny dog mask with a huge bone in its mouth.  It's made entirely by me and is signed and dated on the back.  There'll never be another one just like it.  It sells for $65 at this time, and shipping is free.  Here's the link to it:

https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/listing-editor/edit/4480343094