AntB

Announcement    Welcome to AntB! July 27: I think I've *finally* gotten my kiln running well again. It is about 18 years old, and I've only had to do the most basic maintenance up until now, so I'm not complaining too much. Also, you may notice my photos look different. I chipped the lens on my old camera, and upgraded the pixels drastically with my new one. You will see every bit of how gorgeous the glazes are!
For Plastic Free July, I stopped using bubble wrap, and have gone almost completely plastic free with my shipping, except for the packing tape. It has gone so well that I'm going to keep doing this. The only plastic other than tape will be recycled packaging if I happen to get some.
I hope your summer is going well, and you are staying cool and hydrated!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all those who have purchased from my shop during the pandemic! I can't tell you how grateful I am for you. And a big shout out to the members of our UU and pagan family across the US. Your purchases of home chalices and other pottery have literally put food on our table and kept on our lights. I've been able to do work that I love and still keep ourselves safe at home because of you, our wonderful customers. Gracie and I can't thank you enough for making the past two and a half years so much healthier and happier than it might otherwise have been. I cannot express properly how grateful I am to all my customers! <3 <3 <3

**To reduce waste, especially plastic waste, I can mail your item in recycled packaging, if you ask. I already have reduced my plastic packaging as much as possible, but I do have an eclectic supply of recycled packing materials. Just let me know, and I will use them, instead of new packaging. If you request recycled materials and don't mind thinking outside the box, packaging-wise, I'll include a little "thank you for recycling" gift in with your purchase. Your item will be just as safe (maybe safer!) during shipping with recycled materials. Just put in the "Notes to seller" box that you want recycled packaging when you purchase. Thank you!!**

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.

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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-- .75 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: 3.75

Time:
Preparing clay: 4 min
Time to throw tea bowl (I've been throwing about 20 years now, so I'm speedy if I want to be). 10 min.
Trimming-- 5 min
Carving all- over pattern: 25 min
Glazing time: 6 min
Photographing: 12 min
Editing photos: 12 min
Creating listing on Etsy: 10 min
Packaging tea bowl to mail: 15 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.