Custom Orders

 In my endeavours to focus more energy this year into my online shop, (as I get help with my health/energy/detoxing mercury) , I am making listings showcasing some of the many unique hats that I have made during my 25 year herstory of hat making, and suggesting people consider a Custom Order.
The hat shown above was bought in person, by West Australian Pam, after she'd spotted the hat I was wearing, at the Alice Springs Beaniefest, the first of my new style 'Jacaranda Crown'.

Pam, sent a message with a friend, the following year, requesting a Custom Order, in Reds and Purples. (see photos below). Pam said she wanted another as wearing the first one, had "opened doors for her, and started important conversations", during her travels.

Being able to call myself a Beanieologist, a customer recently suggested I could add in a Doctor of Beanieology ! LOL

My online selling mentors, have often said it may be harder to sell One Of A Kind works, being much easier to sell and re-list items that are the same. I concurr.

How many times have I listed a hat, only to then sell it offline?  I struggle to get product photos that 'pop out' at future customers,  spend time editing the photos, writing out individual listings etc etc.  ...... So now with the added Custom Order button in our Etsy Shops, it is even easier to 'advertise' custom order possibilities.

 Custom Orders are always wonderful as sometimes the requests are for using specified colours that I may not have thought to use, (without adding in others).

Taking your artworks to markets is often purely just promoting yourself and work, especially in this region I live in, as the craft markets are so large and very full of many diverse and colourful work, it can be very hard to be seen as it can take a long time to get a permanent site, that stallholders can begin to form a regular clientèle. ( I began my selling hats at a regular weekly market, and found that it could take a quite some time for some people to have need, or really appreciate the quality of my work, and value the time and creativity involved in each individual hat.

Some hats have sat on my stall or in my display stock for years, until the right person, comes along and is smitten by it. Often it can be a hat that I personally may not like anymore, (or at all), and I have to be careful to not 'knock off' the price just to 'get rid of' the old hats! lol


So to use my Etsy Shop, as Publicity, for my FreeForm Crochet work, is what I am going to focus on, and get my listings up !
Yesterday, I edited a heap of photos, taken back in October,
(nearly finished!)..... and I can begin to make them into listings, continuing my 'run' of new listings I managed in January !

Also I am going to make more posts in here ! (There it is written ! It shall Be !) fingers crossed. ( I now have a mobile 'dongle' and am online, down in our Artist's Co-op gallery 'Viridian', so it should be easier than at home, where I have a very dodgy connection across the main house, where the modem/router is based. ie faster uploads)