Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Handled With Care

I'm happy to say that so far, sales are continuing even after Christmas. That means I'm still making trips out to the UPS Store. Dar takes care of most of the shipping, but I take the packages to the UPS Store quite often.

Dar packs our pottery extremely well. In two years we've shipped over 800 pieces and (though I shouldn't say this out loud and jinx myself) we haven't had a single piece break.

But not for want of the fates and perverse gremlins plotting, as evidenced by this VERY amusing email from a customer named Kathy:


John,
The casserole was in perfect condition, thanks to your perfect packing.

I had to tell you how it came.

The UPS driver left it in front of my garage instead of putting it on my front porch like he usually does. I had gone grocery shopping and decided to back into my garage. I was literally running the box over!!! I heard a scraping and saw it under my bumper, the box was quite dented in. I thought I was going to cry. Took it in, opened it and it was untouched! I really do love it, and plan keep your lovely work in mind for the future. I won't run it over next time.

Several times in the past, I've mentioned in this blog how concerned I was that selling through the internet would end up feeling like an impersonal interchange, devoid of the contact I've enjoyed in of past 30 years of art fair selling -- that of meeting in person the folks who will be taking my pottery home with them.

But thanks to people like Kathy, and Jasmine -- who recently posted this photo of one of my casseroles in use at Thanksgiving dinner..


...and Lynn in Ohio whom I met at Cincinnati Summerfair, but who also buys from me online, and Nancy, who sent along this photo of her new teapot in service...



...so many others like Susan in Rome, GA (who has also sent photos of the pots in their her home), and Doreen in Maryland, and Miriam down in Texas have been such faithful supporters of my pottery. I could never thank them enough ... and I probably shouldn't even start naming names because there have been so many who have been such an encouragement to Dar and me in this online pottery endeavor.

In short (yeah, I know, when have my posts EVER been short?!), this internet thing has been a wonderful AND personal experience. And I've made new friends all across the country in the process.

I mentioned in the "comments" section to one of my blog posts that just maybe the era of the art fair is waning. As I analogized, perhaps that low-hanging art-fair fruit has been picked. But the internet has given me, and many other potters like me, a ladder and a good reason to get back in the orchard. And just maybe -- as with an orchard -- there're more apples in the upper branches than we could ever have hoped to reach on tip-toes.

I put up a few pieces this morning, but I'm running outta pots! I gotta get some firing done!

4 comments:

  1. Runnin out of pots... that's a good thing!

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  2. Most experiences are what we make them. Your character and work brings out the smiles... that's the romance of the arts. Happy Seasons John.

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  3. Thanks fellas! And thanks for the kind words, Fetishghost. Have a wonderful new year!

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  4. You should try FedEx Ground. Much better rates than UPS and they don't walk on your boxes in the truck. Ace Ventura doesn't work there.

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