Another BRILLIANT idea

[Pixilated]

*snip* And claims to own a sewing business of their own!

Ooooh, probably just like mine: a 50-year-old sewing machine (currently in pieces, which are scattered throughout boxes in my storage unit) and on a good day I can just about sew a straight seam ... that qualifies me, right?

A dog toy

Even assuming a person has more money than sense and wants to spend large amounts for something their little Fido will love no more than the $tree version and destroy in five minutes, it's just wrong. You don't give hand-made, specially created, fussed over and lovingly made hand-crafted art items to a dog

My Dad was a wood carver. We're talking beautiful, lifelike hand carved animals & figures. Art gallery quality, though he never sold them that way. One year our town had some sort of celebration for reaching a certain age. Way back when, it had some horse drawn trolleys. For our church's exhibit at the big festival, my Dad made a detailed working model of that - carved the horses, made the trolleys out of balsa wood. Very intricate, took him weeks.
Everyone loved it. After the festival, did our minister display it proudly in the church, give it to the town museum, or just give it back to my Dad? Nope. He let his two young sons play with it til it was destroyed. I don't think I've ever seen my Dad so crushed, it was a blatant insult to his talent.

And giving your little critters to a dog would be the same.

That is beyond appalling. Your poor father. I hope he never did anything for that church again, at least not while that same minister was there.

[Kogarashi]

don't actually use etsy myself so I don't know the ins and outs of the market there.)

On the Etsy side of things, they actually have a ton of blog articles and the like to help with the marketing side of things. I haven't followed most of them myself, but haven't done too shabby either just uploading frequently when I have things to sell. One good tip I've heard, though is staggering listings so they get seen more frequently. Also, having good product photos. Product photos are key just about anywhere, but especially so on Etsy.

Lots of gread advice, spark! It's neat hearing things from a plush-maker's side.

[Teefies2]

Why do I hear that in Jack Benny's voice?

Because you're old, like me

[spark]

You're welcome. I never mind talking shop about business, really. At least so long as people ask me politely and don't *demand* all my secrets. (I don't have any secrets really. Everything I do any idiot could do if they were just willing to put in the time to learn.)

[Kristev]

Thank you.

[PepperElf]

Plush-murder is about the only game I can get my dog to play consistently. Sometimes he'll fetch a tennis ball, and occasionally he'll chase down a stick to chew, but his favorite is to get the squeaky out. I can sometime coax him into tug-o-war, but only with a plush he's thoroughly de-stuffed.

mine doesn't understand fetching yet.

and the only balls we get her are made of this special non toxic rubber that smells like vanilla - it's safe to chew. cos... we know she'll just chew the ball.


i'm just glad she understands tugging games now.

[spark]

How do you manage to make money doing your craft? I'd love to know.

Well, I started attempting to build up my business eight or nine years ago. So I've had time to gain a reputation and loyal repeat customers. The more *you* in particular are in demand, the better your business will do.

And I feel that's very important. Just making some stuff and selling it isn't having a business, it's making some stuff and selling it. You need to do a lot more than just do the crafting part. You have to build up a customer base, and establish a reputation.

You have to network, to be aware of your competition and aware of how your particular market behaves. You need to find ways to advertise, take advantage of programs like google's adwords and various other types of paid ads and also you have to person-to-person advertise as well. You have to constantly be looking for new places and new pools of customers to reach. But you can't spam. Just blaring that people need to buy your stuff will drive them away, not bring them in. You have to entertain them. Present people with things they want to see, that they'll enjoy looking at, without pressuring them to buy. Use gallery sites like DA and FA and sites like etsy to show off and build potential customer base. Upload regularly and often. (On FA at least it's worthwhile to upload during peak times, when more eyes will see your stuff. On DA always try and find communities to submit to, so people interested in that particular thing will see it. I don't actually use etsy myself so I don't know the ins and outs of the market there.)

Take EVERY chance to advertise that you can. I mean, I chose to not be anonymous on this site, where nearly everybody else is. I wanted to make friends and show off my work and meet potential customers here too, so I chose to take the risk of an irate customer seeing one of my rants and knowing it was about them, because they know who I am. I consider that chance a fair trade-off for both the friendship and the business.

And you do need to treat your customers well, even if they're not "friends" you should be friendly. Some will push that boundary, and you don't need to let them, but as much as it's great to come here and rant about the bad apples, giving good, polite, professional service IS very important, and I make an effort to do so in all but the very worst cases. (Though I'll admit I treasure the way I can tell the worst of them to f*ck off.)

You also need to be professional about your work ethic. You need to produce on time. You need to be able to make yourself work even when you don't feel like it. You have to treat it like a job.

I think that's why most crafters fail to make real money. They treat it like a hobby that's supposed to pay them for having fun. It's NOT. It's a job like any other job and you must be able to be your own boss in the sense of being that bastard who won't accept your "but I don't feel like coming in today" excuses!

Also know that at first you have no reputation, no customer base, and no clue what you're doing. Even if you're very good at your craft you're not very good at running a business, and it's going to take time to learn the ropes. Every kind of craft is a little different. The plush market behaves very differently from the fursuit/costume market, and it took me quite a few years to finally get the plush side of things up and running. Don't quit your day job until after you're making decent money at the craft job. It may take longer to get to that point than you'd like. You may have to radically under-sell yourself at first in order to attract people and get your foot in the door.

Of course you also have to work on the crafting skills side. The better your stuff looks the better you can compete and the more easily you can draw in loyal customers who like you in particular. That's important too. But if "make good stuff" is the only thing you do, the world will not beat a path to your door, you have to lure them in.

Man, that turned into a much longer thing than I meant. I have no idea if that's what you meant by your question, but that's what I consider important as far as making a living doing crafts goes.

[ArcticChicken]

she loved it... killed the squeaker in 10 minutes and proceeded to rip the stuffing out. and played tug-of-war with us a little when we encouraged it.

Plush-murder is about the only game I can get my dog to play consistently. Sometimes he'll fetch a tennis ball, and occasionally he'll chase down a stick to chew, but his favorite is to get the squeaky out. I can sometime coax him into tug-o-war, but only with a plush he's thoroughly de-stuffed.

[PepperElf]

<curls up in a corner, shaking, thinking of them being given to a dog>

That's just pure heresy.

not only that but ... it's a hand crafted toy. that's a bit much to spend on something if you plan to let a dog destroy it.

i mean my doggie doesn't attack my plush dachshund ("Dogulum") but we never presented it to her as a toy. and it doesn't have any yummy plastic on it save for the eyes. (My stuffed wolverine didn't fare so well cos she ate his toes in her first week here).

but give her a real dog chew plush, one with a squeaker in it... 10 minutes. that's how long it usually takes her to rip it apart and get the squeaker out. Except the kong bubba - that took her 15 - 20 minutes. (she targeted the stitching!)



So yeah... hand made plushes to give to dogs =
unless you have a weird dog that just wants to cuddle them and not treat them like a hunt-kill.

and frankly i don't see what's wrong in a plushie doing "nothing" but sitting and being cuddled. Or admired. I mean why does everything have to "DO" something? What's wrong in existing to be admired?

That woman has clearly never had a dog. I'm currently trying to find a place that will give me a bulk discount on my dog's favorite victim.

We personally found... Tractor Supply Store & Rural King. Also Pet Smart.... Prepared bones.

I'm not entirely sure how they prepare them but it looks like they bake the tendons on in some kinda tasty bbq sauce. We started her out on thin ribs but she figured out how to kill those pretty quickly (still we use them for quick bone treats).

For her birthday I gave her a giant bone joint that she managed to break into 3 pieces - so it's like she has 3 bones now instead of just one. Plus we let her keep some of the older ones too.

Mind you we're careful about them - she doesn't get them unsupervised unless it's one she can't really break down. the ribs she can crack open so we monitor those with her but... the femurs that she can't really break open are there more for comfort.

as for price. even the $1.50 rib will last longer than a $10 plush. the knuckles and big joints are a bit more but still... they'll last her a good week at least. some of them she never really finishes before it gets "old" and replaced by a fresh one.

my bf tried a "tough" plush on her last week. she loved it... killed the squeaker in 10 minutes and proceeded to rip the stuffing out. and played tug-of-war with us a little when we encouraged it.


but yeah, the bones have been the best. but we're very careful with the fresh ones now - like the ones from our steaks. she tends to barf those back up

[Kristev]

How do you manage to make money doing your craft? I'd love to know.

[spark]

I think a lot of us were. I never *quite* got that one, but I got "you can never make a living with art, you need to focus on getting a real job/career." Well screw them, I AM making a living with it! And have for SIX YEARS NOW, NYAH! (I sometimes wish I could find some of the people who used to tell me that, especially all the ones who insisted that art wasn't an actual career goal when I was in high school and tell them all that to their faces!)

[Seshat]

Your poor father.


. . . maybe I should put more value on my own art. I grew up being told much the same . . .

[Merriweather]

I think that's much worse. I mean, that was a total labor of love. (It doesn't sound like he got paid for it, no?) I really mostly just do this for the money. So while it would be a shame and I'd be a little sad, mostly I don't care, so long as they pay me. (I have reason to suspect some pretty indecent things have been done to certain of my costumes, actually... Long story.) So my main objection to the dog toy idea is just that I doubt there are enough people with more money than sense out there to keep me in business.

And that kind of crap is why I never do free stuff for anybody anymore. People value what they pay for.

Nope, no pay, just as a nice gesture to our church. I don't think my dad ever put the value on his own carving it deserved. He grew up being told "stop playing and go do some real work" and kept it as a hobby, gave a lot away, eventually sold some later in life after he retired, but not for huge amounts. With the right attitude & PR, he could easily have been a "folk artist" and made a fortune, sigh.

[RichS]

He let his two young sons play with it til it was destroyed. I don't think I've ever seen my Dad so crushed, it was a blatant insult to his talent.

I read this and was , in that order.

[XCashier]

Yeah, this one is being persistent. And claims to own a sewing business of their own!

If they own their own sewing business, why don't they do it themselves, as you said?!

(glances up at page header) Oh, yes, of course. Silly me.

My Dad ... made a detailed working model of that - carved the horses, made the trolleys out of balsa wood. Very intricate, took him weeks.
Everyone loved it. After the festival, did our minister display it proudly in the church, give it to the town museum, or just give it back to my Dad? Nope. He let his two young sons play with it til it was destroyed. I don't think I've ever seen my Dad so crushed, it was a blatant insult to his talent.

That is so wrong in so may ways. I don't blame your dad for feeling so awful, I'm angry on his behalf and I wasn't even there! I think that minister deserves a new one ripped, at the very least.