& Poll Question">Kiln Opening & Poll Question
I fired both of my kilns yesterday and need to re-load then again today! I could hardly wait to open up the glaze kiln because I had tested a new glaze and texture on some of my pieces. I used a celadon and an aqua libre glaze that’s very runny and so this was a test for me to see how thickly I can apply it without worrying about whether or not the glaze would run all over the kiln shelves. What did I learn?? I can apply the glaze on thickly without worry. Aqua libre is a gorgeous aqua blue crackly glaze that reminds me a bit of the the color of the ocean in the Carribean or something.
Sales have been a little slow on Etsy for the past week and I wonder if I should change my strategy a little bit. I need to gauge other people’s opinions on whether or not I should try a different way to sell ceramic jewelry online. I have 3 different cords/chains in the works; black satin cord with sterling findings, sleek stainless steel cable and crocheted silver wire chain. Obviously each costs me different amounts of money and time to make. So I was thinking, I could sell the pendants and chains separately and if someone just wants the pendant, they could purchase the ceramic piece alone at a lower cost than the whole necklace. If they want a chain or cord to go along with it, they could purchase it separately. Anyway, let me know what you think – I would really appreciate it!
To get around selling jewelry at the Summer Art Market this coming weekend, I am going to be offering free shipping again on all the jewelry in my Etsy Shop on June 9th and 10th.. I’ve also crafted some buttons and magnets that I can sell at the market so that I have some items in an affordable price range.
Thanks again everyone,
Note: My apologies, I had to reconfigure the poll vote counter because it was acting up….
My first pendant glaze firing…
I was pretty dang (I say “dang” because this is the expletive my daughter often uses when excited) excited when I opened my mini Aim kiln this morning. My friend Mary Cay had given me some old glazes and underglazes a few weeks ago. Many of them needed to be reconstitued with a bit of water, and I decided what the heck…let’s give them a whirl on some of my pendants that I had bisqued last week. 2 of the glazes I tried were low fire crystal glazes and one was a low fire glossy apple green.
I think they turned out pretty well! So well, that I went and purchased some other crystal glazes at Mile Hi Ceramics today. While I plan to make most of my own glazes, these are pretty handy for small sized items and they fire to cone 06 (roughly 1880 degrees F) which uses a little less power than at cone 6 (around 2230 degrees F).
Now, I just need some findings to begin listing them on Etsy in the near future. That and figuring out how to photograph them so that they look just like they do in person as one the screen. The darker ones are purple with blue crystals, the brownish ones are a matt brown with some glossy brown, yellow and red crystals melted into them.
Must go now, have a good week!
P.S. I’m very pleased…I just sold my first item on Etsy under my new shop, coloradoartstudio.
