The Possum Shop at Tea Horse Studio on Etsy
I hate wasting things. My mother and father were Children of the Depression so their habits of frugality and creative use of remnants have been passed down and they slide into my studio practice. While reclaiming waste clay is a common habit of any good studio practice, I also like to make use out of as much of the clay as possible before it becomes reclaim. Over the last few years I have collected many buttons and disks stamped with my hand made stamps and they fill bowls and bowls in my studio. Sometimes I make magnets out of them but recently in the last year I’ve begun turning them into simple pendant necklaces.
I started out selling my work on an Etsy site along with thousands of other people. Initially, it was easy-to-use and the only game in town to handle back-end of selling online. However, over time more options have become available to sell online. I was looking to more firmly brand my work separate from the Etsy brand and that precipitated a move to this stand alone Tea Horse Studio website. Additionally, I wasn’t all together happy with Etsy’s marketing of “free shipping” and pushing small independent artists and craftspeople into financial decisions that weren’t wise for their business. Still, I was reluctant to give up the Etsy presence completely. In fact, even with no items in my shop for the last year, I still get hits from time to time from people peeking.
at Tea Horse Studio on Etsy
My solution this year is to list my jewelry separately on the Etsy site in The Possum Shop at Tea Horse Studio. The searchable Etsy name will still be teahorsestudio but I’ll switch up the banner artwork and logo as soon as I get around to creating it. Here I can price items to take advantage of their “Free Shipping Guarantee” program as the necklaces will start at $35 which is their threshold. The problem with Etsy forcing small makers like myself to do “Free Shipping” to get to the top of the heap in their algorithm is that because pottery is heavier than most other craft items plus each item’s weight can vary, it puts me in a conundrum. Do I eat the cost of shipping or do I add the cost into the final price of each item and call it “free shipping” which isn’t altogether true? How would that affect my prices locally in galleries and when I do my outdoor festivals? On the other hand, jewelry, being smaller and lighter, is easier to pack and price and use the “Free Shipping Guarantee” without me feeling like I’m losing money or taking advantage of my customers.
So: The Possum Shop at Tea Horse Studio
The necklaces use either leather cord or hemp cord. The clasps are silver plated for now. I use both white and brown stoneware and porcelain on occasion. cord lengths run from 20” up to 29” with the clasp. Dimensions, etc. are in the Etsy listing descriptions. There’s twenty up there now, I’ll be adding more over time now that I have a proper lighting set-up for indoors and can consistently shoot photos in any weather.
This has been in the works for a while. I may take my time but eventually, I get my shit done! Thanks for visiting The Possum Shop!