Christmas pots
8 January 2009 6 Comments
I was thrilled to receive as Christmas gifts from my wife two pots which she purchased from Etsy sellers. Both are porcelain works by female artists whose work I’ve been admiring for a couple of years now.
This first one is a sweet pea pot by Kim Westad. It measures about 3.5 inches across. Westad works from her studio in the Bronx. “My goal is to design and produce unique, quality pieces that people will be happy to use and have in their homes,” she states on her website. Interestingly, she started as a graphic design major, but that plan was derailed with the first pottery class she took after graduating with a BFA from the University of Connecticut. Her shop here.
This second piece, a bud vase, is the work of Stepanka Horalkova. Horalkova was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the United States in 1995. She’s a self-taught artist and also works out of New York City. I like that she hand builds with porcelain, something that I don’t see very often. The vase is about 3.5″ x 3″. Her shop here.
The Aesthetic Elevator 
Tell your wife she was exquisite taste! Those happen to be 2 of my favorite ceramic artists on etsy!! 🙂
Mine too. Other personal faves are Newby (I like your Awakening No. 1 and Blue in particular. I’d have been just as happy with one of those for Christmas . . . but I suppose it’s more appropriate to give a ceramic artist ceramics?)
and
Paintbox
and
mLee
I love the contrast of glazes on that pot in the top picture. It is also very elegantly proportioned.
The bud vase is whimsical and fun.
I’ve been thinking about an Etsy store. Any advice? Impressions? I know you’ve talked about it a little before, and I am familiar with it in a general way, but I’m just wondering about what I should know before making the leap.
There’s actually not a glaze on the outside of the sweet pea pot. It’s unfinished porcelain.
On Etsy: It’s a nice looking site with a pretty good user interface, and it is definitely good for the price. Don’t expect, however, much if any traffic just by virtue of setting up a store. You have to market your store yourself. Some Etsyans are good at this, but from what I can tell your success is somewhat random.
So if you’re looking for a nice looking, inexpensive storefront, it’s great. If you expect to get sales just because you have an Etsy store, you’ll probably be disappointed.
“If you expect to get sales just because you have an Etsy store, you’ll probably be disappointed”
Thanks, Paul. That’s not really a shock, most things work that way, I suppose.
Cost is definitely a factor. I’ve had some good early success with e-bay (I sold three pieces, already) which is encouraging, but continuing to list items can run into some money, and there is in addition a sales fee (some percentage of the sale price).
On the other hand, there *are* apparently people looking for inexpensive art on e-bay. I don’t know how much this would apply to Etsy.
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