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!!
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