I have a bit of a perfectionist streak, and I find it difficult to get my clay crafts as perfect as I would like sometimes. I actually get angry when I look online at some of the poor craftsmanship I find on sites like Etsy, where crafts people are trying to sell clay items that are covered in fingerprints, have visible joints in the clay when it would have been easy to hide with a little extra smoothing, or just look nothing like what they are intended. I don't want to call anyone out directly, but do a search for something popular like "zelda" on Etsy and I'm positive you'll find some examples.
There's a huge difference between crafting items I feel like making, versus crafting things with the intention of selling. There are a few issues to consider when you're thinking about selling your wares.
The first issue is the concept of easy and consistent production. A good example to use is my butter earrings. They are very popular, but they are hard to make. I hand cut a small stencil for each earring, and stencil the letters, paint the lines, and then have to clean them up and glaze them. They take a lot of time, and while the sticks of butter themselves are easy to produce, the steps to get to the finished product are tedious. A more simple design, like the rupees featured below, are easily reproduced and don't require much more work beyond the shaping of the clay.
The second issue is pricing. How much is your time as a crafter & creator worth? Sites like Etsy factor in here as well. You will find some items that are skillfully crafted with prices that undervalue the time and effort put in, but you will also find some items that are woefully overpriced. I perused shops that I admire, and used their pricing to get a starting point. In addition to estimating material costs, I started using a timer for batches of items I make, and paying myself an hourly wage based on that time. Don't undervalue your time! Personally, I'd much rather pay $10.00 for a handmade version of a trinket, versus a cheap plastic mass produced version for $5.00.
The third issue is figuring out the types of items that you can do well, that will also sell. There area many sellers on Etsy making really cool things, but they don't sell. People aren't interested, the seller hasn't promoted their stuff, or a combination of the two. I recently started selling items at a local used video game store, and I've shifted my focus away from mushrooms and moustaches to game related items. I always created game and Star Wars items, but not regularly. Now it will be much more of a focus.
Moral of the story/rant about selling: Produce quality items, don't undervalue your time, and find a theme that works for you.
On to the rupee project!
This was my first time making a mold for clay. Sculpey sells a mold maker compound, and it's super easy to use if you have something you'd like to reproduce without having to sculpt it every time. I created a "blank" half of a rupee out of bulk polymer clay. I made sure it was as close to perfect as I could get it. Then I pressed it into the mold compound and baked it. Perfect rupees every time!
This was the first rupee I made. I used a metallic shimmer finish on the red clay. I like the way it came out, but it was a little too metallic instead of looking like a jewel.
For the large batch, I switched to iridescent powder, which certainly changed the look slightly. I prefer this one, and I think I'll be experimenting with translucent clay in the future to give it even more of a jewel look.
Prepping for glaze!
I highly recommend trying a mold if you have never done it. It will rock your world. It would be more difficult with items that have significant details, or if you were planning on doing multiple clay colors in the mold, but it can be done! Experiment!
I've also continued to crochet in my free time. Here's the pile of squares I have at the moment. I have a long way to go, but a little at a time. I didn't realize it would take 100 squares to make a throw size blanket!
I'm going to go make myself another cup of coffee and clean the house today. I have one tomato turning ripe, and one pepper...I'm super excited! More gardening stuff to come!
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