Sierra 5: Throwing Pots

[jljohnson527]

Kilns aren’t as expensive as I had expected… $3k or so new. Not cheap, but I’m the same range as a snowmobile or ATV or other big toy that would seem totally normal for this set.

[Cat Damon]

She's one of the few that I follow on Instagram, and I just have to wonder how she's managing what seems like a growing pottery business with homeschooling her kids. She made a comment that she has a huge order and is trying to finish her "pottery drops" before announcing another drop soon. How many of them would be able to be enrolled in school at this point - four or five? 

I guess it's a good thing she won't have to make that long drive anymore, but if she's got hundreds of pieces to make, how can she adequately educate those kids?

[HereticHick]

17 hours ago, Cat Damon said:

I guess it's a good thing she won't have to make that long drive anymore, but if she's got hundreds of pieces to make, how can she adequately educate those kids?

Yes--especially since she is always carrying on about her husband generally works long hours, 6 days a week. Her parents live over a hour away up in Missouri, and she mentioned that her mother still works, so I don't they come down to Sierra's home much. I think the kids are parked in front of workbooks/videos & are being minimally educated. And I don't understand how she can take care of the 2 youngest (who are what, 3 and 5?) while working on her pottery.

[Cat Damon]

21 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

And I don't understand how she can take care of the 2 youngest (who are what, 3 and 5?) while working on her pottery.

Unfortunately I think we can assume that she isn't taking care of them, but her older kids are watching them while she works in the garage. 

[Bad Wolf]

Remember. Education is not a priority for many fundies.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Yet another fundie who should put her kids in public school but won’t. 

[SassyPants]

I can’t think of many mega families who do a decent job of homeschooling a broad general education. Abbie H., Comes to mind, but she has a village of educated people homeschooling her kids, so those kids are getting a better general education.

Most fundies are training out intellectual curiosity. That is their primary goal. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:24 AM, SassyPants said:

I can’t think of many mega families who do a decent job of homeschooling a broad general education. Abbie H., Comes to mind, but she has a village of educated people homeschooling her kids, so those kids are getting a better general education.

Most fundies are training out intellectual curiosity. That is their primary goal. 

Braggie’s friends Jenny Flanders educates her children well. 

[patsymae]

Sierra doesn't seem to be besties with Joy or any Duggars any more. Did I miss something?

[Cults-r-us]

On 3/16/2022 at 10:24 AM, SassyPants said:

I can’t think of many mega families who do a decent job of homeschooling a broad general education. Abbie H., Comes to mind, but she has a village of educated people homeschooling her kids, so those kids are getting a better general education.

Most fundies are training out intellectual curiosity. That is their primary goal. 

Beall Phillips, who is a reader her own self, seems to have raised literate and life-curious kids.

[Snarkasarus Rex]

1 hour ago, patsymae said:

Sierra doesn't seem to be besties with Joy or any Duggars any more. Did I miss something?

Honestly, I don't think Sierra was ever BFFs with Joy.  IMO that was all manufactured for the show.  Sierra still follows most of them on social media and occasionally comments, but I think she soured on her show experience based on her IG posts.  The Duggars are users, and they no longer had a use for her once TLC no longer needed/wanted her on the show.  

[CaptainFunderpants]

4 hours ago, Snarkasarus Rex said:

Honestly, I don't think Sierra was ever BFFs with Joy.  IMO that was all manufactured for the show.  Sierra still follows most of them on social media and occasionally comments, but I think she soured on her show experience based on her IG posts.  The Duggars are users, and they no longer had a use for her once TLC no longer needed/wanted her on the show.  

And remind me: did her intense procreation start before or after she became "friends" with the Duggars?

[Karma]

4 hours ago, Snarkasarus Rex said:

The Duggars are users, and they no longer had a use for her once TLC no longer needed/wanted her on the show.  

This does seem to have been a two way street at least.  Without her exposure on the show, no one would have been paying $$ for glass shards in cupcakes/strawberries or whatever she was selling a couple years ago, and certainly not paying the price she’s charging for her mugs now. 
At least she’s stopped/slowed the baby train!

[theotherelise]

Sierra appeared in the show starting in 2012. She was in Joy's wedding party in 2017, so I do think they had a real relationship.

• 7/29/10 - Khai
• 9/6/11 - Daylon (404 days after last)
• 1/21/13 - Asher (503 days after last)
• 9/1/14 - Ellyn (588 days after last)
• 11/12/15 - Edyn (437 days after last)
• 12/29/17 - Brooks (778 days after last)
• 9/28/19 - Merrick (638 days after last)

We know that Sierra has had some health issues and she did not get pregnant quickly after marriage. My gut says they've intentionally stopped or slowed the baby train. But they were definitely drinking the kool aid before she was on the show. I think she met the duggars at the kool aid stand. 

[HereticHick]

Did you see Sierra has 2 kilns in her garage now?  Why?  She's only 1 potter. I still firmly believe she and Mark have  credit card debt. I know she's got a big fundy following, but I think many of them have purchased a mug from her already and I don't know if they will keep buying.  

[BadMurphy]

She definitely has a predictable cycle of motivation and exhibition followed by exhaustion and absence from social media. Every time she comes back with a new project and exhausts herself (massive toy purge and organization, flipping around everyone’s bedrooms, starting a kitchen renovation then putting it on pause indefinitely, mail order chocolate strawberries and glass jar cupcakes, buying 30 random window panes, pottery business, one could go on and on forever) I brace myself for when she’ll eventually come back with one of those “choose joy keep marching” speeches.

it may not sound like it but I do like Sierra though, she cares and puts in the work. (And isn’t an insane hypocrite like KNY)  I just wish she didn’t bury herself so much with all these huge projects piled on top of a homeschooling mother of seven. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by BadMurphy

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 minutes ago, BadMurphy said:

She definitely has a predictable cycle of motivation and exhibition followed by exhaustion and absence from social media. Every time she comes back with a new project and exhausts herself (massive toy purge and organization, flipping around everyone’s bedrooms, starting a kitchen renovation then putting it on pause indefinitely, mail order chocolate strawberries and glass jar cupcakes, buying 30 random window panes, pottery business, one could go on and on forever) I brace myself for when she’ll eventually come back with one of those “choose joy keep marching” speeches.

it may not sound like it but I do like Sierra though, she cares and puts in the work. (And isn’t an insane hypocrite like KNY)  I just wish she didn’t bury herself so much with all these huge projects piled on top of a homeschooling mother of seven. 

I agree with your post. I wish she would send those kids to school and focus on her pottery if it truly makes her happy. But I’m afraid she will burn out within the year and move on to another venture. 

[Dominionatrix]

There are definite benefits to having two kilns. Pottery needs to be fired twice: the first time firms up the clay most of the way, then that gets glazed and the second firing hardens the glaze into a glasslike finish and makes the colors come out (pottery glaze is different from paint; the colors come from a chemical reaction at high heat in the kiln). I may be off, but I believe it can take close to a full day to get a kiln to temperature, actually bake everything, and then let it cool enough that it’s safe to open and handle the contents. Different glazes and clays also fire at different temperatures, so she can do more variety quickly this way. 
 

Nonetheless, it’s hard to imagine that Sierra’s likely going to be able to ramp up production and sales enough with that time savings to justify the cost of a second kiln. 
 

She has made some shifts that seem to make the production more sustainable for her, though, and she does have real skill. She’s simplified the shapes she’s offering, and she’s letting interesting colors and glaze textures add visual interest instead of using so many pattern transfers as she used to. Pattern transfers work kind of like temporary tattoos for pottery, except they stay on permanently. They’re pretty, but they’re expensive and time-consuming to apply. She’s also made some custom glazes, which are cheaper than buying premade and also give her something unique to sell. Once the glaze is perfected, it’s pretty simple to apply the way she’s doing it. 
 

I agree with @HereticHick in that my bigger concern for her (other than the whole caring for kids factor) is that her followers may be disproportionately one-time customers who are spending more than they normally would to help a sweet Christian momma. It’s going to be much, much harder to compete in the general market because her price point is quite high compared to other potters. However, she seems to be pursuing large-scale commissions like the set she did for a local store, so she is making what seem to me ( a random internet non-business-owner) to be smart diversification moves. But at this point the second kiln still seems like overkill. 

[Nothing if not critical]

5 hours ago, Dominionatrix said:

Nonetheless, it’s hard to imagine that Sierra’s likely going to be able to ramp up production and sales enough with that time savings to justify the cost of a second kiln. 

That's the point, really. I agree with everything you've said about the advantages of having a second kiln, but even most professional studios I know around here make do with one kiln. Firing up a kiln not only takes a lot of time, but also huge amounts of energy, so no potter I know would ever dream of letting theirs run at anything less than full capacity. Most studios offer firing services as well and have their kilns running pretty much around the clock, alternating bisque and glaze firings, but they still couldn't fill up two kilns on the regular.

Now, electricity costs may be less of an issue in the states, and we know most fundies care little about sustainability, so Sierra may run hers half filled. As an aside, has she ever mentioned reclaiming her clay or how to deal with toxic wastes from glazing? Just asking, because I follow a lot of pottery accounts, and most of them seem very aware of their environmental impact. I've never seen anything of the kind from Sierra.

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

The day a fundy confesses to giving any crap about the environment is the day hell freezes over!

[Nothing if not critical]

Just checked out her insta, and the second kiln seems to be a tiny one, probably meant for testing new glazes and firing temperatures. That actually makes sense, especially if she's mixing her own glazes. I just hope she knows enough about food safety to do so (over here, every new glaze has to be approved by health authorities before you're allowed to sell any pottery glazed with it, so that's definitely an issue).

[HereticHick]

Sierra is now selling earrings as well: https://sierrajodominguez.com/collections/pottery-look-book 

They don't seem to be selling as fast as her pottery does.

[catlady]

While they’re not really to my taste, her earrings are rather pretty and eleventy bazillion times better than what the Rod girls are doing.

[marmalade]

5 hours ago, catlady said:

While they’re not really to my taste, her earrings are rather pretty and eleventy bazillion times better than what the Rod girls are doing.

Where did you find the jewelry? Does she have an Etsy shop?

[Bad Wolf]

On 4/26/2022 at 6:24 AM, PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea said:

The day a fundy confesses to giving any crap about the environment is the day hell freezes over!

Well, that would be an interesting climate change.