Thursday, August 4, 2011

on my side of the fence

I've had to step back on the blogging front here this past week. I'm so busy, working hard, long hours to be on schedule and to keep up with everything while Dean is away.  The boys were at the family farm for a few days and I was able to pool together a few lovely people: my sister, my good friend Kat, Sarah and my cousin, to help me out with the most tedious and repetitive part of my glazing process- the stripes. I'll be firing my first of 6 glaze loads to complete this order I've been working on... so much work.  In the meantime, a lot of my local galleries are starting to send me orders to finish up the summer with.  Not only do I not have a lot of spare work in the studio, but I also don't have any room or energy to make anything besides this order until September comes, even when they are expecting and asking for me to send the work asap.  Since when did pottery get made asap?  
I often straddle between worrying that I can't possibly keep up with the demand for my work verses being concerned that people won't be able to afford what I make, considering all the financial crises and budget cuts.  I hesitate to push my little studio into a bigger space with more equipment and a full-time assistant in order to keep up production, and yet I am at full capacity with just one order right now.  It's clear to me a few things have to change for me not to burn out, but I'm not quite sure what it will be yet.  I'm just taking it one day at a time and trying not to feel too overwhelmed by it all.  

1 comment:

krystal said...

I appreciate your honesty. Since when does pottery get done asap?! I know, right? I recently had a gallery (who doesn't sell for me at all) send an email stating that I should "Double my order," a week before I was due to deliver it. Not a "Hey can you maybe bring double?" A real order. I respectfully declined.

Oh lord help us. At least you can see the finish line with all your vases well on their way to the shop. Fingers crossed for the 6 glaze kilns ;-)