Special Holiday Holly

Being a potter full time involves some business as well as making pots. Working for yourselves means you are responsible for all the many varied parts of a business. This week I packed orders which I then took to UPS in Kingston about 40 minutes from here. I also spent some time in the office working on invoicing those sent orders, bringing the books up to date, applying to art fairs and making some calls to our wholesale galleries. It is all a part of being a viable business. Fortunately I grew up in a family business so it really is natural for me to play with my own business only the stakes are higher!
I finally got back into the studio today (where Steve has been all along!) to work on a new piece that I wanted to make for the upcoming holidays. I've always thought it would be interesting to advertise just one pot in a magazine like the "New Yorker" for the holidays.You see those kind of ads in the margins all the time and wonder 'Is that a good idea?' Well, of course, I think that would be too much of a gamble for the two of us. First, it probably costs too much and secondly we might not be able to make all the orders in a timely manner. I think you definitely would need to be prepared to win even if you lost. It is a bit late to make a stock of one item as a venture for this year. However, I am going ahead with the idea of making a special holiday piece and will offer it on our website(and here on our blog) if it comes out nicely. I decided on making something with Holly as a theme this year because it represents bright good humor in evergreen. I actually have 3 holly bushes in my garden, photos shown. The last photo is, of course, the pot in the making.