Handmade Tales: Artists, Etsy, and E-Commerce

Contributed Pictures

Kaitlyn Web page (left), Katie Levan, and Heather Money

 Seaside glass and purses. Pottery and pet portraits. Windshield decals and woodwork. Earrings and urns. These are only a sampling of the objects obtainable from Erie-based Etsy sellers. As eclectic as these inventories could seem, their merchandise do promote — generally by the hundreds.

Nonetheless regarded by many because the stronghold of Web arts and crafts (and facemasks in 2020), Etsy has lured in over 138 million distinctive consumers over its 15-year lifespan, with practically 70 million lively as of final quarter. Fueled predominantly by unbiased artists, artisans, and craftspeople, it has change into the sixth-highest grossing e-commerce web site in the USA (over $6 billion in gross sales by three quarters this yr) and nineteenth largest on the planet.

Should you’re trying to store small with out leaving the home this vacation season, Etsy is an effective place to begin. Companies do not get smaller than most Etsy Outlets, that are typically owned and operated by one or two individuals (often ladies) who deal with all points of selling, manufacturing, and distribution. Outlets value nothing by any means to arrange — to generate income, Etsy expenses a small itemizing payment for every merchandise and skims a share off the highest of every sale (at present 5 %).

Regardless of Etsy’s reputation, accessibility, and selection, certainly not is it the be-all, end-all of artistry and e-commerce. In 2020, the avenues for getting or promoting distinctive, personalised, custom-made, selfmade, and/or handmade items (all sought-after by Google Search customers this time of yr) on-line are many. In line with three native ladies who’ve both partially or absolutely graduated from Etsy to operating their very own skilled web sites, the bottom line is not portray your self right into a nook.

Three artists, three tales

Katie LeVan, Kaitlyn Page, and Heather Cash are all full-time artists and Erie residents who’ve efficiently discovered markets for his or her work on-line. Their creative types and journeys, nevertheless, are as particular person as the ladies themselves. LeVan’s work showcase flora, fauna, and sweeping and majestic landscapes (and has supplied cover art for the Erie Reader as properly). Web page, who received the 2019 Best of Erie Award for Finest Nice Artist, specializes within the stunningly and psychedelically surreal. Money, a 2016 40 Under 40 alumna, instructions a forged of cute critters which have charmed their manner into the hearts of kids and adults alike.

Here’s what they needed to say about how they made their desires actuality, and how one can too (or a minimum of the way you would possibly uncover different actually cool, authentic items from creators domestically and all over the world. Psst … social media, curiosity teams, and on-line communities).

Matt Swanseger: When did you first understand you have been creating one thing that individuals needed to purchase? Had you all the time had the intent to promote or have been you inspired to do it?

KatieLevan.com

Katie LeVan: I’ve been portray most of my life and pursued a level in studio artwork from Mercyhurst College. As a graduating senior, I used to be a part of a gaggle present the place I painted a bunch of birds. I’ve all the time felt that artwork can imply one thing, or it could actually imply nothing. It could possibly merely be a press release of “that is what I need to paint on this second, and that is sufficient of a motive to do it.” To my shock, I offered most of these birds that opening day. From that second on, my paintings generated a small following that I’ve labored tirelessly to develop as I’ve grown.

Kaitlyn Web page: Once I initially started my journey as an artist, I had no actual intent to promote my work. I used to be portray strictly for the enjoyment I obtained from it and I did not see myself as working professionally on this area. It wasn’t till my late teenagers (2014-ish), that I spotted individuals have been really considering buying what I used to be creating, whether or not that be an authentic portray, a fee, prints, and many others.

Heather Money: I used to be dwelling in California, working as a programmer [for Google], and began portray only for the enjoyable of it. I put some work up on Etsy simply to see what would occur, they usually offered inside every week. It was so thrilling that somebody needed to purchase one thing that I made myself! From then on, I used to be hooked. I could not cease creating and itemizing [items] on the market.

MS: What channels or strategies have you ever used to advertise your work? Which approaches have labored for you, and which not a lot?

KL: I opened up my very own on-line store exterior of Etsy by Shopify at first of 2020, which additionally marked the start of me turning into a full-time artist. Up till this yr, I’ve offered domestically at numerous markets, in addition to a number of out of city occasions, such because the Three Rivers Arts Competition in Pittsburgh. Alongside my years of doing in individual artwork reveals, I’ve centered on rising my social media following. I give out enterprise playing cards to everybody, and attempt to direct as many individuals as potential to my Instagram or Fb pages.

Instagram particularly has been a sport changer for my paintings, particularly after I began to be extra acutely aware in regards to the aesthetic and congruency of what I am posting. It’s so straightforward to type strong relationships and work together with each artists and people who take an curiosity in my work by that platform. I do my promoting virtually solely by Instagram, which generates most of my gross sales on my on-line retailer.

KP: In recent times, the most effective methods I’ve discovered to advertise my work on-line is by way of Fb teams. Most of my site visitors comes from these teams and I tailor my posts to get the perfect publicity potential. A brief put up with a single picture captures consideration significantly better than an extended put up with a number of pictures. It is all about hanging whereas the iron’s scorching, which is why after I end a brand new piece, I put up it to as many locations as potential with hyperlinks to pre-order prints.

A lot of my authentic publicity was natural as a result of individuals shared my work and others noticed it, together with individuals with a lot bigger followings than myself. I pushed my work on as many Fb teams as potential, which continues to be what I do to today. Instagram got here into play later, after doing extra analysis into algorithms and learn how to use hashtags. Right now I take advantage of my Fb Enterprise web page and Instagram as fundamental channels to advertise my work and merchandise.

HeatherCash.com

HC: I discover that word-of-mouth is the perfect promotion. Working with native companies and nonprofits leads to the perfect referrals for me. Fb and Instagram are useful, however I believe each artist ought to have their very own skilled portfolio web site. I do know many individuals have discovered me by my web site and it really works out very properly as a result of they will simply flick through my full portfolio of labor, in addition to simply discover contact info.

MS: Roughly what share of your gross sales are on-line? Has COVID had any impact?

KL: I’d say a minimum of 90 % of my gross sales are on-line, particularly because the starting of 2020 after I began doing artwork full-time. I attempt to drop a brand new assortment of paintings each month or two, producing curiosity in every assortment with progress photographs. When COVID hit, I needed the area I take up on the Web to be one which could possibly be helpful to others. I are typically a really anxious one that has discovered quite a lot of coping mechanisms over my years of overthinking. A kind of was to look at course of or time lapse movies of paintings being made, so I started to document and put up all the pieces I used to be making. Since doing this, I’ve been in a position to absolutely promote out collections in a single weekend.

KP: At the moment second, over 90 % of my gross sales are on-line. Final yr I started merchandising at music festivals, and whereas that confirmed quite a lot of potential, it was sadly lower quick by the emergence of COVID. I wasn’t in a position to discover the world of merchandising once more this yr and I’ve already confronted the truth that I won’t have the ability to subsequent yr both. My on-line gross sales soared when quarantine went into impact and have roughly stayed the identical since.

HC: Earlier than COVID, a couple of quarter of the cash I made was from on-line gross sales by Etsy. The opposite three-quarters was from educating courses and commissioned work. Since COVID hit, nevertheless, my on-line gross sales have skyrocketed. Now I make all my cash by Etsy. I’ve additionally been increasing my on-line gross sales to a couple completely different different websites, like Academics Pay Academics (classroom assets) and RedBubble (print-on-demand).

MS: Roughly what share of your consumers are native? Have you ever been in a position to stand out to a broader viewers?

KL: It tends to alter with the seasons. Throughout a lot of the yr, possibly 5 to 10 % of my consumers are native. This share jumps as we get nearer to the vacation season, as I’ve quite a lot of repeat clients shopping for items and people who discover me by phrase of mouth. I do know my paintings is on lots of people’s want lists, which is such a beautiful and humbling feeling. I discover that individuals are actually drawn to my paintings as a result of the supplies I mix are completely different than what most individuals are used to.

kaitlynpage.storenvy.com

KP: I imagine my work stands out to a broad viewers. Lower than 25 % of my on-line gross sales are native, with the bulk coming from out of state. Most of those gross sales come from locations like California, Colorado, and different areas on the West Coast. I additionally make fairly a number of gross sales internationally, with international locations just like the Netherlands, Canada, and the UK being the most important consumers.

HC: A really small share of my consumers are native. I’ve some work on the market at Sparrow Gallery, and earlier than COVID I’d promote at a pair completely different festivals all year long. However I’ve all the time appeared to do higher at promoting my merchandise on-line. I get gross sales from everywhere in the world, even Europe and Australia!

MS: I’ve all the time puzzled how you place a worth on artwork. How do you reconcile creativity as a commodity? Have you ever needed to make any compromises as you have scaled up?

KL: Being an artist, you repeatedly must navigate the challenges of your self-worth being tied to your means to make a dwelling off of each your productiveness and issues deeply linked to your soul. It could possibly change into very exhausting to half with items that you just change into so near. Personally, I’ve discovered that gratitude has helped me to navigate by a few of these troublesome emotions. I’m eternally grateful anytime somebody desires what is basically a bit of my coronary heart to be one thing that turns into part of their residence. This retains me grounded it doesn’t matter what type of gross sales I am bringing in. Even one sale continues to be so significant to the maker. The one compromises I’ve needed to make are with my time. I work extraordinarily exhausting and have little or no free time, however I’m so grateful for the flexibility to create one thing distinctive inside that area.

KP: It is evolving on a regular basis. Costs for my originals have practically doubled inside a yr’s time. This is because of a number of elements, together with provide and demand, others informing me that I ought to cost extra, and easily how a lot somebody pays for one thing. Most of my authentic work now sells earlier than it’s even completed. It is what the market will bear. As extra individuals have taken curiosity in my work, costs have risen to accompany this demand.

Time and element additionally play an element. Once I first began out I primarily based my costs solely on an hourly wage. As issues grew, I began taking the scale of the portray under consideration. Now I base my costs off the quantity of element and time slightly than dimension. A smaller portray does not essentially imply cheaper as a result of I can nonetheless put simply as a lot effort and time right into a smaller piece as a bigger piece. In reality, generally smaller items are much more troublesome as a result of I nonetheless work in the identical detail-oriented style.

HC: It is undoubtedly exhausting to cost my work. I discover it useful to go looking on-line for others promoting comparable merchandise, and attempt to use that as a baseline. Oftentimes I am going to discover that I used to be going to cost my merchandise for lower than I ought to have! One factor I’ve discovered that helps is creating prints of my paintings. To start with, I solely needed to promote authentic, one-of-a-kind artwork, and never create prints. Nevertheless, I’ve discovered it to be way more sensible to scan in my paintings and create prints, playing cards, and bookmarks to promote. It implies that a single piece of artwork can create a lot extra revenue than simply promoting the unique work would make — and also you attain a a lot wider viewers. Additionally, it is so satisfying to promote a print of a bit of artwork you made years in the past — as a result of the work is already completed, and you are still profiting off of it! You simply print out the paintings and mail it out, and also you’re completed!

MS: What recommendation would you give to somebody attempting to make a dwelling as an artist?

KL: Being an artist might be ugly and troublesome, however you are able to do it, no matter “it” is. Discover, study, develop, and for the love of all the pieces please don’t diminish your self for anybody else. You’re gold and I imagine in you. You and solely you’ll be able to decide what your path is, and also you completely do not want all the pieces to be good to begin strolling down that path.

KP: Apply, follow, follow! With the intention to make it as an artist, do not count on success to come back in a single day. You should first refine your strategies and be impressed by your craft. Draw on a regular basis, reside your artwork, make creativity a precedence in your life. Upon getting the fundamentals down and really feel prepared to begin promoting, strive completely different avenues and discover what works finest for you. Deal with the main points and do not get wrapped up in simply attempting to advertise your self. Create new and revolutionary work that captures the creativeness of these round you. Create issues that make individuals really feel one thing, even when that feeling is a lower than desired one. Should you stand out amongst the group, individuals will begin to discover. However in an effort to do that, all of it begins with ardour! Do not lose your self to the thought of selling.

HC: My fundamental recommendation can be to not quit. It took me years to change into absolutely financially depending on my artwork. Do not simply listing 10 objects on Etsy after which resolve nobody is shopping for them and quit — hold creating, continually, and hold including merchandise. I’ve over 500 merchandise in my Etsy Store proper now. You actually need to have quite a lot of merchandise in an effort to get seen amidst all the opposite sellers.

Additionally, do not put all of your eggs in a single basket. Discover different methods to generate income, like creating YouTube movies, creating print-on-demand merchandise, educating … that manner, when one avenue goes south, the opposite ones can decide up the slack. Lastly, do not ever suppose you are not ok. There’ll all the time be individuals higher than you. However, in the event you create sufficient merchandise, you’ll make gross sales. Do not ask me how — there are tons of artists with higher stuff than mine on Etsy — however by some means, individuals nonetheless purchase my merchandise. So simply ignore these different individuals that you just suppose are higher than you — you’ll be able to nonetheless achieve success it doesn’t matter what your talent stage.

Uncover extra

Please do *not ignore our featured artists or their friends — their stuff is fairly cool.

Katie LeVan artist web site: katielevan.com

Katie’s native picks: Caelin McDaniel Pottery mcdanielpottery.com, Hypothetical Horror (typewritten poetry and collages, at present on hiatus)

Kaitlyn Web page artist web site: kaitlynpage.storenvy.com

Kaitlyn’s native picks: Mercy Maclay (watercolors and inks) instagram.com/_mercymaclayart, Nate Gillies (graphic artist and cartoonist) facebook.com/Lawnsters, Leslie Hess (tattoo artist) andromedaerie.com, Douglas Bailey (reclaimed wooden items and cutouts) bailey814.bigcartel.com, Katie LeVan (see above)

Heather Money artist web site: heathercash.com

Heather’s native picks: Leanne Nipps (moody and spooky artwork and images) leannenipps.wixsite.com/darkedgeart, Cathryn Stranahan (Ravenmaid Inventive) cathrynstranahan.com

Matt Swanseger ([email protected]) at present has no artwork on the market, however might be commissioned for absolutely improvised fingerpainting and stick individual drawings on a restricted foundation.