I'm always trying to figure out what to do next; perhaps it's my background in commercial art sales that percolate to the surface.
Feeling a bit dejected about the ongoing lack of stone sales, I spent a little time poking around Etsy looking at what some of my colleagues were doing and realized that a surprisingly large number of people who make things don't only offer the things they're making, but they also have separate categories offering the supplies they use to make whatever it is they make...and other things.
Because there are ways of looking at what has already been sold, I was able to discern that a lot of ostensibly quite "successful" artists - at least if you base it off of how many sales they've made - are often more successful selling supplies than they are at selling their actual art.
Small pieces of locally collected driftwood
I noticed one particular person seemed to be making a lot of sales off of selling small uniformly sized and colored beach pebbles that were designed for making jewelry with! Some were even drilled as beads and pendants, which I can totally do!
Why has it never occurred to me to do that?
Wait, don't answer that! I know why that has not occurred to me... it's because I thought that I would genuinely make a lot more sales just selling painted stones, and I did, during pre-covid times.
So would this be considered "selling out?"
These are challenging times financially, so I have to be as creative as possible, and if we can scrape in a few extra dollars a month by selling the supplies to paint on rocks rather than the finished rocks themselves well then I'm definitely going to get on board with that.
So, I looked around some more and determined that there is also a large market for loose pieces of weathered driftwood for art and crafts. We get a lot of interesting driftwood wash up on our beaches, so that's going to become another sideline I will experiment with.
As I said, if I can add a few extra dollars a month by selling beachcombed art supplies to creative people who work with "found objects" and make jewelry and art with a tiny stone items and small pieces of driftwood... well then I'm totally good with doing that, too!
A couple of pieces of weathered wormwood from the nearby beach. These evidently are quite sought after!
Accordingly, I'm going to use one of my two remaining open categories (you get 20 in all on Etsy) to offer up some supplies.
I harbor no great expectations that this is going to be much of a successful venture, but if I even sell one or two additional items a month then that would be a successful experiment!
The objective here is to be able to continue to fund our in-person show fees (which have to be paid in advance) where we do sell a lot of stones. Hopefully it will work out!
Thanks for visiting! Feel free to leave a comment, if you feel so inspired... engagement is part of what makes Hive such a cool venue!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal
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Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!
Thank you for supporting independent art!
2023.07.26 AS-TXT-165/133
