So in my frenzy of organizing last weekend I went through an old Rubbermaid filled with scrap booking paper, scissors, ribbon, and apparently my little Tupperware of beads.
If you happen to wander in my etsy shop and look at my first few sold items you'd see that I started on Etsy with jewelry in my shop (and poor photography). Selling jewelry was rather circumstantial actually.
I had started making my own earrings and bracelets for weddings I had been
attending (you know the after collage rush). I could never find anything simple, yet different that matched my outfits so I resorted to making my own jewelry. Making a pair of earrings generally leaves you with plenty of beads which just got stashed away in my box of crafty things for a couple years.Well, one day in late September of 2007 I happened upon Etsy from some Google search I was doing. I was instantly struck! I loved browsing the site, in fact, I couldn't get enough of it. After mulling over it for a week I decided I would try listing a few things since it was (and is) so inexpensive.
While I was listing my first couple items (including some jewelry since I had beads on hand) I made a sale!!! This is hugely rare on Etsy, especially now considering how the site has grown, but with that first sale I was caught hook, line, and
sinker... er, for the non-fisher people - I was totally taken in!I learned more and more about Etsy. I would obsessively refresh my shop (to see if I had new views) and hang out in the forums for extended amounts of time (for learning purposes, of course).
I learned more and more about running a shop and slowly tried to trim down my inventory to just fiber related items and just this past week I have finally made it. My last sewn item was sold and my inventory now solely consist of knits and yarn (sometimes spinning fiber).
As for the bead stash I found last weekend, well, it made me a little nostalgic and so I got to work making myself some stitch markers.
I am really, really happy with how they turned out. And I was so excited to find a use for the red seeds that I brought home from Swaziland - they look just lovely. I haven't decided if I ever want to offer stitch markers in my shop, but it is something to think about. For now I'll stick with my knitting and spinning passions and see where those take me.
What's your Etsy story?
Posts
That's great! It's fun to see how your shop has evolved! You have some lovely knitted items for sale! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd look at you now...over 70 sales! Every one deserved!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had health issues that caused us to go organic...you can read the story in my profile. That's how our organic clothing line came to be. I have just over 40sales and it has been a blast!!!
-10oneworld
I heard about Etsy from someone in my ceramics class. Some other potters that have been making ceramics for a while thought it was for hobbyists. I on the other hand was just starting out in ceramics and thought... why the hell not?. Needless to say, at least 3 other potters followed me to Etsy. At the beginning I too suffered from poor photography. I found that Etsy is great. Especially if you dont want to maintain your own website. I wish you all the best! Rock on.
ReplyDeletealina hayes
http://alinahayes.etsy.com
emmy, i love those stitch markers! i would definitely buy some if you ever decide to offer those. :)
ReplyDeletei also liked the bags you made in your last post. i recently got a sewing machine - i'd like to try those patterns sometime! hope you're well!!
Cool stitch markers!
ReplyDeleteI don't really have an Etsy story. I have had my blog for 3 years, and noticed that others had that Etsy mini widget on their blog. I looked at the site a few times, but never bothered with it. I had resisted it a long time, mostly because my work is quite large and very pricey for a site like that. But, several people kept asking me why I wasn't there, and told me they were looking for me on the site. Due to popular demand, I opened a shop! It's really just an experiment for me, though. It seems that most people who shop there are looking for inexpensive items, which is discouraging to me. My main goal is to redesign my official website and sell directly from there eventually. Baby steps!