Box of Art Creations!

[MauEvig]

Thanks! I am working on one now for a former co-worker.

I have decided to go ahead and offer them "made to order" for $5.00 plus S&H. ^^; I'm not sure how I'll package them up and ship them though should someone want me to make one and send it through the mail.



I have another one for a friend in college that's in the oven right now.

So I am doing my "holiday baking"...with clay! lol

[MauEvig]

Sorry to double post but I can't seem to find the edit button.

Here is a variety of "Kringle Kreations" by Box of Art Creations Earrings made by me:



Also these are all $5.00 each plus S&H. I have already shown off the reindeer, here's some more I have finished up. Took me a while. Been busy.

[Murfreesboro]

Very cute! Holiday baking with clay! I love it.

[MauEvig]

Added some new designs to my Red Bubble account and I have been on a roll so I'll probably be updating this more frequently.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/boxofar ... v-dropdown

I wish they didn't price everything so darn high though...if I had it my way everything would be half the cost of that website...but oh well. The alternative was this website that required you to put in your social security number. Not gonna happen!

[Murfreesboro]

I wouldn't want to give them my social, either.

I really like that black & white cat face--the one that looks like a pen & ink drawing.

[MauEvig]

I like that one too. I really worked hard on it and I was inspired by a picture of our cat Storm, and an old piece of art I made in Highschool in a similar design fashion, except it was an Eagle head (since Eagles were the mascot).

I wonder if there are any lower priced alternatives I could offer my designs on? Etsy requires a listing fee and so does Ebay, and even then I'd probably have to transfer the design onto a tee shirt myself, and other than using an iron on transfer sheet I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that.

Zazzle was the alternative website if I remember right. I have an online friend who uses it, but yeah...I'm very suspicious of putting down my SS#.

I wonder what the requirements for Cafe Press would be like, or if anyone would even recommend that site?

[Murfreesboro]

Sorry, I am no good for info about stuff like that. You know way more about it than I do!

[MauEvig]

Yeah that's true, and the advice I got was from other people who have done similar things. It's not that I feel my designs have any less value, certainly they do have value to me anyway, but I think a huge obstacle is that a lot of people are in the same situation I'm in and just can't afford to buy a lot of things. I hate to spend more than $10 on a tee shirt, but that's just me personally. The design you like on here is available on a tee shirt for $25.52 to the public. As the designer, I do get a slight discount, but it's still pretty expensive even for me. I think the cheapest thing I can buy on here are the post cards.

Now for the original unmounted paintings, I think $50 is reasonable because I put a great deal of effort, and I use the canvas boards. These are the originals after all. But for a print, a copy of the original on this website they want more than that when I think a copy or a print should be half the price of the original. I am planning to mount some so I might raise the price a bit for the mounting, and I want to feature some at the local Farmer's market when that comes up. I need to get a hold of the Chamber of Commerce for more information. As I mentioned in another thread, I plan to do the gourds as well.

The cat designs I am keeping the originals of. But I think that's mostly due to the fact that I can't part with a cat design, but I don't mind making and selling the copies lol

Well if you think of any ideas, let me know. I'm all ears to anyone who wants to lend advice to promote my products.

[Murfreesboro]

I think getting a booth at a local craft fair or farmers' market is a good idea. I know you have to pay something for the booth, but it would have to be helpful to speak with your potential clients face to face and actually see what they are most attracted to. You might find that your jewelry sells better than your art work, or that one motif is more popular than another, that sort of thing.

[MauEvig]

Assuming I can get a weekday job for the summer, I'll definitely be setting up at the Farmer's market, assuming I get the A-OK from the town or whoever is in charge of these things.

I might get a job at Subway though and that will require me to work weekends. So then it would just depend on what hours during those weekends, and I asked the manager about working every other Sunday so I can at least have those open to spend time with my boyfriend.

What do you think of the painting being mounted?



I think it gives it a nice professional art gallery feel to it. I might raise the price slightly though for the cost of the mounts.

[Murfreesboro]

It does look more professional, but yes, if you are going to do that, you will have to charge a little more for it. After all, you have to make some profit!

[MauEvig]

This is true Murf. So probably about $15 more or so to pay for the expenses of the mounting. I'm not sure what to tie it down with. For now I just put some tape in.

And now for a little Preview, I know we here at Halloween.com don't mind seeing Halloween stuff as early as April, so I'll go ahead and share these with y'all:



If anyone wants a pair of these cute Pumpkin Earrings, I'll sell them for $5.00 each + S&H. I'll probably keep this particular pair (I consider them to be prototypes lol and I got a little bit of glitter on them, whoops!) but I don't mind taking custom orders. I left the Jack o Lantern face off and just kept them as regular pumpkins, but if anyone wants me to draw a Jack o Lantern face on them, I can do that as well.

I just figured I'd get a head start on certain holidays, especially since it takes me forever to plan things and keep focused on anything. Plus I wanted to test the water and see what I can actually do with the clay.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I think earrings like that will sell! And of course you need to work ahead of the holidays.

[MauEvig]

I really hope so Murf. I'm happy with them. People on facebook seem to like them. I think I might have got a few "favorites" on Deviant art.
But my Box of Art Creations stuff hasn't got a lot of customers. My dad bought two things on my Red Bubble account. Two friends bought a snowman ornament and my Math Professor at college bought a pair of snowman earrings for his wife. I love doing this stuff, I'm very passionate about art and writing. But I'm not making much sales wise. I hope I get a chance to do better at a craft show of some kind. Some days I feel like giving up because I put way too much into it than what I'm getting out of it. Obviously I'm not going to give up, but I hate to buy more supplies or make a surplus amount if people aren't interested.
I hope people will at least spread the word on this stuff.

[Murfreesboro]

I bet having a booth at a crafts fair will help.