To every thing, there is a season...

It's less than three weeks until Christmas, and I'm sitting here thinking about Valentine's Day. Between the holidays and my regular job, I have just eight days to make new work before I go on vacation in mid-January. I'm thinking about Valentine's Day because if I want to try to make anything Valentine-oriented, I have to do it now.

Being ready for holiday/seasonal sales is something I'm trying to improve on. In late April and early May of this year, I had this huge spike in sales in my Etsy store and I had no idea why. I thought maybe the world had finally discovered my work and couldn't get enough! I thought I had finally "made it." Turns out it was for Mother's Day gifts. That one made me feel a bit dense.

So, I am now trying to capitalize on holidays in terms of both merchandise and marketing. I did that this past Halloween when I produced some limited-edition Halloweeny colored jewelry. I don't think I got it into my shop early enough though, because it didn't sell super well online until I put the remaining stock on sale the last week of October. Or maybe it was because Halloween is not really a gift-giving holiday. However, the items did sell very well in person to a friend of mine who went to OSU and therefore loves the color orange to an almost unhealthy level...

The hardest part of this process for me is trying to prepare for a season beyond that which we are currently in. I mean, I'm surrounded by Christmas stuff right now, so it's hard to find Valentine's Day inspiration. I had a hell of a time designing my Christmas ornament this year, because I was trying to do it in August. I was still in a long hot days-bright flowers-garden tomatoes-eating breakfast on the patio frame of mind. I was struggling so badly to come up with an idea, I nearly had to take myself on an inspiration trip to the local year-round Christmas shop.

Christmas is, of course, the big selling highlight of the year for artists and crafters. Last year, I made half of my entire annual sales amount in November and December. But beyond Christmas, what can we do to take advantage of gift-buying holidays? Valentine's Day is the first gift-giving holiday after Christmas, so I would tend to think that people are shopped out. My husband and I still exchange Valentine's gifts, but they're usually of the cheap and quirky handmade variety. One year, he actually made me a heart-shaped pendant out of dried macaroni and glittery ribbon. It's still the best gift I've ever received.

But back to the subject at hand, do very many people buy each other Valentine's Day gifts, especially of the pottery variety? I don't know. I figure I'll try a few ideas and see how things go. I've learned that there's really no other way of doing things in this line of work!