One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure

Since I first began making jewelry I often made pieces that did not necessarily appeal to my personal style and taste. This is because I know that no two people have the same taste and something I may not find to my liking may suit another person perfectly. However, I have not had this mentality so much with my pottery, at least intentionally.

With each piece of pottery I have an idea of how I want it to look and each piece tends to be, if it turns out the way I had originally pictured, something I would keep for myself if I had the room for the piece and so forth. Yet often times by the time a piece is finished I am no longer satisfied with it. I am a perfectionist through and through and pottery is not a perfectionist's art. Glazing is an extremely unpredictable part of the whole pottery process and more often than not I am unhappy with the result of my glazing. It is an art in itself that I do not enjoy nor have I even begun to master. Yet what appeals to me is not often what appeals to everyone and once in a while a person's taste will surprise you.

This weekend at the holiday bazaar I priced many of my pieces to sell sell sell. I wanted to move my older inventory to make room for newer, better pieces. I feel like my work has improved a lot and I have decided to focus more of my time of my Sand and Sea pieces that I know are unique and that I do well. So this weekend I was hoping to sell my older work and priced it very low to get rid of it. There were even a few pieces I have decided to donate because, after staring at them all day Saturday at the sale, I cannot stand to have them around anymore. Some of my older work is just terrible!

However, one piece that I planned to donate once the day was done actually sold at the bazaar! A woman with her two children approached my table and decided to get a Christmas gift for their grandmother. Apparently she loves mugs and the woman and her children chose my "Swamp Turtle" mug that I made at the beginning of last year. This mug would have been a great piece, in my opinion, if the glaze had not come out as it did. But the glaze was one that could either be a very pretty green or a very ugly brown and this particular piece came out the ugly brown. The glaze also ran a lot and ultimately came out look like it was pulled out of a swamp. See the photo below.

I vented about this piece is an earlier blog and about how I was so upset with the glazing. Yet now, a little over a year later, this mug has found its home and it was not in a Goodwill store. I guess the saying is true, "one man's junk is another man's treasure."