Happy December Friends!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND ALMOST NEW YEAR!!! 🥳❤️⭐️

Thank you for subscribing to my monthly newsletter! I hope you all enjoyed the November edition! I’m always open to feedback if there is anything you would like to see in my newsletters, or specific instructional videos you would enjoy on my youtube channel! Reach out any time and let me know!

Now to the news letter.. Here are some new and exciting updates in the life of Black cat Pottery!

What’s new in the month of December?

• 👩🏻‍💼 Business thought

• 🛍️ Items available in my shop!

• 🎁 NEW giveaway!

• 🧽 Pottery Tools I love!

• 📷 Pic of the month!

👩🏻‍💼 Business Thought

Last month we discussed imitation and how to handle it, this month I would like to talk about the holiday crazies.

December for me is a month of chaos. You get swamped with custom orders, special requests, classes to create gifts, and online sales. It is hard to juggle it all, making sure custom work gets finished on time, classes run smoothly, and the website stays stocked. Oh and don’t forget the family get togethers and holiday shopping for all the loved ones you have to fit in between it all.

This year I haven’t been very good at juggling it all. My website is a little bare, my kiln is too busy turning out dragon mugs, and I have had to say no to some class opportunities just to have more time to work in the studio.

This isn’t necessarily a bad problem to have, but I know for a fact these are the starting signs that lead to burnout, as I try to make every opportunity happen and fill every moment of my time with work.

So far i’m holding it together, but I can feel the pressure bubbling, and I keep trying to take my own advice and step back, even if just for a day. But every opportunity I get, I start thinking about falling behind in work and end up pulling another full work day.

I wake up and immediately work on my online presence, then go to my studio and make product, teach in the evenings, come home for 9:30 and draw custom illustrations until I have to sleep, and then wake up and do it all over again. This is a bad cycle. Don’t do this.

Take breaks, breathe, be ok with saying no to some opportunities. Say no not because you’re so busy with other work that you don’t have time, say no because you want a day to yourself to not work. To enjoy this time of year that is supposed to be relaxing and magical. Your holidays matter too.

This felt more like a rant to myself, or a therapeutic writing exercise, than a business thought. But thank you for listening!

🛍️ Items To Shop!

^{Here’s a sampling of what I have available, but there’s much more to be seen on my website! ❤️}

🎁 New month, new giveaway!

This has been the year of giveaways, so this month I will be holding another awesome giveaway on my instagram! As subscribers, you already qualify for a bonus entry in the giveaway! So keep an eye on my instagram for the giveaway post, and enter for your chance to win!

This is the last month of my year of giveaways! I can’t believe it has already been a whole year!! I have had so much fun with this, and I hope you all have too! I wish everyone could win, but I am so grateful to all of you have entered and followed along with my journey! This month I will be giving away a custom cauldron mug! You pick if you want a carved or smooth finish, and tell me what colour you would like your mug to be! Stay tuned for this giveaway later this month!!

🧽 Pottery Tools I love!

I’m on a bit of a diamond core kick so I just want to share one more awesome set of tools with you all! These stylus tools are AMAZING and carve oh so nicely. You can get the finest details in your sgraffito work on both leather hard and bone dry clay. I love my set and highly recommend them to anyone who loves fine line detailing. You can find all things diamond core here!

📷 Pottery Pic of the Month!

I might have to change this to Finny pick of the month if I keep this up…

Thats all for the month! Thank you all for subscribing and being a part of my pottery journey! Stay tuned for the next email update coming in January, and keep an eye on my instagram for my cauldron mug giveaway!! ❤️

Love,

Catherine Harasymiw