Unclear on the concept

[spark]

Wow, two of these in a row.

A customer commissioned some costume hand paws of her character, which is something I do fairly often. I messaged her asking a few questions about how they should look, and her response included... well, I really wish I could show you the picture, as that would probably make you laugh. Anyhow, her response included a "reference" picture... in which her character was sitting on his hands! No hand paws visible at all!

It made me literally laugh out loud when I realized what I'd gotten. And then I asked her if perchance the hands had the same pattern of colors as the quite visible feet, and she said yes, so it turned out to be a useful reference after all, but still!

[zombiequeen]

Nice.
Don't you love when they do that?
A friend commissioned me on a stuffed unicorn, and when I asked her what color or pattern she wanted, she said "Surprise me!"
She's a really good friend, so I'm thinking of messing with her and making something totally out there to show her, then giving her a really nice looking one.

Maybe you could trick people that way, just for fun? Or would it hurt your business?

[spark]

Oh I do wild and weird stuff when people say to surprise 'em. But my gallery has a lot of that kind of thing in it already, so anybody with even half a brain is going to expect something fairly weird if they let me do whatever I like.

It doesn't happen too often though, the vast majority of my customers want exactly what's in their imagination, and I run into the "gives me a list of picky details a mile long" type far more often than I run into people who let me get creative.

[zombiequeen]

Right, I get that sometimes too...mostly I just get "Do whatever you think is best" or a couple vague details and I go from there.
Or the people who are so specific they have to go supply shopping with me to make sure I get the right thing, and enough of it...I generally get extra supplies because if they are being that picky, and paying for it, then they can get the extra in case I need it for their project.