The new year has brought in a wonderfully consistent flow of fine folks to my Etsy shop and business has been good! While I cannot yet supplement the family income and convince Matthew that this could indeed be my new job, it's a start and I welcome it with open arms.
The first of many big shop-related events came in the form of a wholesale inquiry. The lovely Suzy of the Soo Visual Arts Center in Uptown contacted me and purchased a whole bunch of Topo cards and Wall Topo pieces to sell in the SooVAC shop. Once again, I was excited and nervous, but the process was ultra smooth and the shop is a great fit for my work. Here is a look at the loot before I hand delivered it.
Later that week, I also received a request for a commissioned set of papercut houses like this piece. In the meantime, I was gearing up for a feature article on the Apartment Therapy blog by writing an artist statement, taking some work-in-progress photos, and stocking up on Wall Topo pieces. I was contacted about it and given about two weeks to prepare. I appreciated the time, but it ended up being a bit hard keeping the pieces in the shop - definitely a good problem.
The article was published on Wednesday, the 4th of this month and I had a banner day of sales, interest, and requests for custom work. It was so much fun to be a celebrity for a day and to feel at least a bit of what it must be like for some of Etsy's superstars who sell five times as much as I sold that day on any given day. I worked out a system of assembling orders, printing mailing labels, writing thank yous, and getting everything packaged and ready to ship the next day. This was my "mail bag" to bring to the post office on Thursday:
Since then, the daily sales have slowed a bit, but the custom and wholesale requests contine to come in. I found out today that a piece of my topo work has been added to Etsy's Gift Guides in the Travel category and that's been bringing in new hearts.
So, yeah, I've been a little busy. Not too busy to keep me from playing animals with Leah or from bustin' out some beats on the keyboards so the girls can boogy. I've been trying to consciously pace myself and so far, it feels great. Have you seen my shop lately? :)
