Announcement    Welcome to AntB! Sept 2023: I'm putting in more paintings and more pottery as I get it fired. I'm busy in the garden, and with the chickens and sheep and bunnies. I want to thank those of you who shop here, both for pottery and paintings. I so appreciate you! An extra big shout out to those who've been buying my pottery and paintings on Etsy! Thank you for helping me to keep making new things! BTW, I'm trying out some new ways to sort my shop to make it easier to find things, and I'm open to suggestions. I have no ideas on how to sort the paintings. If you have an idea, convo me here on Etsy and I'll send you a coupon code for 25% off, whether I use your idea or not. Help me organize! ⊛(◕‿◕)⊛
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**To reduce waste, especially plastic waste, I have gone as plastic-free as possible with my shipping. About the only plastic is the shipping tape.**

My daughter and I make one-of-a-kind handmade pottery for your home, garden, and pagan altar. Hand thrown porcelain, stoneware, ritual items, chalices and food safe kitchenware.
I also paint a bit, and some of that shows up here now and then too.

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Jan, 2022: *How do I price my pottery? I get asked "Why does your pottery cost so much! I can get a mug at Walmart for 4 dollars!" at art fairs, and this past holiday season I got asked that a lot here on Etsy too. It is a good question! I want people to feel they are getting a good value, so I wanted to answer that question as best I could, but the answer is long. I can steer people who really want to know to this section so they can have a good answer if they choose to read it.

Here is the breakdown for a carved tea bowl, one of my favorite things to make:

Clay-- .95 cents
2 glazes-- 1.50
Cost to fire the kiln, prorated for one tea bowl:
Bisque fire --.60
Glaze fire-- .90
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Material Costs Subtotal: 3.95

Time:
Preparing clay: 8 min
Time to throw tea bowl (I've been throwing about 20 years now, so I'm speedy if I want to be). 15 min.
Trimming-- 5 min
Carving all- over pattern: 25 min
Glazing time: 10 min
Photographing: 8 min
Creating listing on Etsy: 10 min
Packaging tea bowl to mail: 18 min (I'm speedy here too)
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Time Subtotal: 99 minutes

(This doesn't include time to go to Columbus to buy clay and glaze materials periodically, Or time to measure and mix glaze recipes, or time to drive to the post office, and does not account for the tea bowls I mess up along the process. It doesn't include the time and money to send broken and ruined pottery to mosaic artists I've collected. I have carved through or badly glazed so many tea bowls in the last 20 years!)

Shipping and Fees:
Shipping a tea bowl from Ohio to California for a 1.2 lb box, mailed USPS priority with Etsy's shipping discount
USPS cost-- 13.20
Packaging-- 1.00 for cloth bags, recycled bubble wrap is free, boxes are USPS or recycled free.
Gas to go to Post Office-- Free if I combine trips
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Shipping subtotal: 14.20

Etsy Fees:
Listing Fee-- .20 cents
Transaction fee--6.5% of price, so it varies
Mandatory Offsite Etsy Ad Fee-- 12% (Some sellers, like me, can't opt out of this)
Payment Processing Fee--4%
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Etsy Fees Subtotal: -- 21% of final price plus .20

Remember that Etsy prefers shops with 'free shipping' so they put those shops higher in their search. That means that the shipping fees are built into the price, and Etsy is able to use that higher price to figure their fees.

So, the cost of a tea bowl is 3.75 for materials, around 14.20 for shipping, and 99 minutes of time, plus 21% plus .20.

My average carved tea bowls are priced at about 36.00 each.
So 36.00 minus 3.75 for materials, minus 14.20 for shipping, minus 7.99 for Etsy fees = 10.29

10.29 divided by 1.5 hours (99 minutes is about 1.5 hours) is 6.86. So I'm paying myself a bit less than 6.86 an hour for labor for a craft I've been doing for about 20 years.

Luckily, carved tea bowls are one of my favorite things to make, and I use making them as a treat to myself after my other work is finished. I'm just happy to make a little on them, but this break down should give you an idea of why craftspeople price the way they do.

I have to throw a shape about 200 times to become competent at it, and get all those brain canals used to making that form without too much of a struggle. That is why I don't make mugs too often- I hate making handles and am not willing to make and apply 200 of them to make them nicely. If you have a mug from me, you are blessed, :).

So, your carved tea bowl is at the end of a line of hundreds of other tea bowls. A new thrown shape in the shop has been made 200 times before I sell the first one. (The basic form for the Guardians, face planters and Goddesses I have thrown hundreds of times, but the features are all one of a kind though). All that time and practice is in your piece, and how could I possibly charge for that? A simple tea bowl would cost thousands of dollars.
A few things in the shop I have priced to pay myself 10.00 an hour. They are items I am very excited about but take more time, and more kiln room than my smaller works. There is nothing in the shop that I pay myself more than 10.00 an hour, though maybe someday I'll be famous and be willing to go up to 15.00 an hour. :D
This is also why you know every single item I make is an act of love. I only make what I love to make. For less than minimum wage, I'm not going to make anything I don't want to make, so I don't do special orders, or very many sets, or too many mugs... If I don't love doing it, I don't do it.

Thank you for reading through all this! I am so very grateful for my customers, because you are willing to buy a 36.00 tea bowl to support a craftsperson, when you could buy a 4.00 tea bowl on Amazon. Thank you so very, very much! You are a hero. Thank you.