offcntr | Bucking the trend (Reply)

It was perfect day for Market. Sunny and mild, no morning fog or clouds even. But the morning seemed to drag. Not many people around, most of them out for morning coffee. I guess the football game ran late Friday night?

I decided to just post a bunch of koala pots on Instagram. I have a small square baker that everyone admires, but nobody buys. A batter bowl, tall mug, dinner and dessert plates. And it may have worked? Someone picked out the dinner plate, was about to look for a matching dessert when I pointed it out on the display stand. She bought both, and a saw-whet owl dessert as well.

Had a nice chat with some folks from Wisconsin, spotted by the Packer shirt their local friend was wearing. Oconomowoc, which I always loved, because every second letter is "O." Also a family from Florida--Mom zoomed in on the dolphin mug, then decided she wanted something distinctly Oregonian. Liked the hummingbird bowl, and I pointed out that the pattern was an Anna's Hummingbird, our local variety, so that clinched the sale. Could have sold a sea turtle mug to son--he had a carved coconut-shell turtle pendant--but they were both in the shed at home. He took a card, though, said he might order a set. We'll see. I also got to show my platypus mug to a girl in platypus socks. Simple pleasures...

Then there was the guy--it's always a guy, isn't it--who'd bought an owl mug at Tsunami, and really liked the owl, but didn't like the fact that he couldn't see it while holding the mug. I explained that I put the image opposite the handle so I didn't have to do right and left-handed mugs, which made him think I should paint two owls, one on each side. Yeah, right, double the amount of work on every mug... He kept hammering at his point, even left and came back to repeat one more time how nice it would be to see the painting while using the mug. I was feeling snarky at this point, so showed him how I held my mug: fingers wrapped around the mug (two in the handle), with the painting facing me. He wasn't convinced.

Late in the afternoon, a pair of Muslim women stopped in the booth, pointed out different patterns on pots and commenting in Arabic. One was wearing a hijab and N95 mask, but the other was in full niqab, and snazzy indeed. Black dress with gold buttons, matching black head-gear, like a mini-pillbox hat and veil, covering her hair and full face, except for the small band around the eyes. They seemed to like what they saw, though didn't buy; I gave the one in niqab a card and she thanked me in English.

It felt like a slow day. I turned the page of the sale book around noon, which is good, but a number of sales were of $4 watercolor cards, so the total wasn't that great. Sales accumulated, though, and by 4 pm, while my neighbors were complaining about the crummy day, I quietly totaled up over $800, including nearly fifty for Denise from cards.