This summer has been crazy busy both in my family life and in my studio practice. I HAD several consignment contracts and recently acquired two additional wholesale accounts. After some hard self reflection I came to the realization…that I am a HORRIBLE consignment vendor. To those who have me as a consignment vendor/artist, let this be my public apology to you all!
Yes. You read that right. I am publicly admitting my “faults”, my weaknesses. I think as a person, it’s important to realize and accept these aspects of who we are. I could give a list of excuses as to why consignment just doesn’t work for me, but in the end, the only thing that really matters is that it just doesn’t work.
- I can be unreliable. Though this is through no malicious intent of my own, it is a factual statement. One of my many health issues is commonly known/lumped into one phrase – *Brain Fog*. My short term memory is atrocious. I will make a list of things to accomplish and misplace that list. I can’t drive, so getting deliveries to the shops in a timely manner has proven difficult. Shop owners cannot rely on me to get them new product on a regular basis.
- I suck at deadlines. There is a reason I have such a LONG window on my custom order requests. It’s also the same reason I’ve largely moved to selling in stock items online and doing custom work on a case by case basis. While my health is more stable now than it’s been in a really long time, it still fluctuates. I never know how I’ll be feeling day to day. There have been weeks where I’ve not been well enough to get down to the studio to do the work that needs to get done. So short turn-arounds and deadlines just don’t work for me.
Thankfully, the universe knew I sucked at consignment orders and put enough signs in my path this summer to finally make me realize and acknowledge this fun fact. In one month, I was afforded the opportunity to secure 2 wholesale accounts. 1 at a quaint shop in Maine and 1 in New Hampshire. Having items in stock, or having a shop owner willing to give me free reign to create within a very broad set of parameters to fulfill their wholesale request has been an amazing change in my studio practice for my JSB Arts business. This summer I created the little ceramic mushrooms and they have proven as popular as I’d hoped. These are something I can produce quickly and easily. Not to mention, I love making them.
When we embrace our artist persona, we also have to embrace the business persona. Part of operating your art practice as a business is that you have to be okay identifying and acknowledging your weaknesses so you can push forward with your strengths. As a consumer, I know I appreciate when a business is honest and forthcoming. It shows me that they are human. More and more lately, it seems that as a society, we are becoming more and more accepting and embracing of the “human experience”.
So if you’re a business that might be interested in carrying my ceramic baubles – please let me know if you’d like to discuss my wholesale terms. You can look through my ETSY shop to see what I am currently producing, or EMAIL me if you’re looking for something specific. If you’re looking for consignment vendors – my apologies; you don’t want me as a vendor.
