How I Got My Hands Messy

One night in December of 2011, I casually said to my husband, “What do you think of me quitting my job?” He immediately replied “I was thinking the same thing.” So, after a mere 10 days of prayer, thought and some loose financial calculations, I wrote a quick resignation email to the Personnel Director at my “hard-to-get-a-job-in” school district in a suburb of Philadelphia, PA. After 9 ½ years of teaching art (mostly elementary) I decided to stay home with my two little boys, start teaching Sunday School and..... make pottery! While a full time teacher I was frustrated that I couldn’t find time to for my own artwork (unless you count my amazing tissue paper butterflies, paper mache masks and watercolor-over-crayon masterpieces). I used my last precious paycheck to buy a small kiln. I had already purchased my own wheel a few years back while in Graduate School at Tyler School of Art, earning a master’s degree in Art Education. Our basement was now my studio! My goal was to spend about 1 day a week making pottery and eventually try to sell a bit of it here, on Etsy.

I opened my itty bitty business, Dandelion Pottery, in late April, 2012. I made my first sale on my birthday in early May to a total stranger. Since then the sales have been coming in at about the same pace as I am able to get the work done. I haven’t worn my “teacher clothes” in months, have short ugly fingernails nails, rarely wear my wedding ring (sorry Pete!), and we have a faint trail of clay footprints in varying sizes all through our house. I am one happy Mommy.