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Seller Interview: Mike Joos- Linedraw

27 May
This week I had the chance to interview the owner of one of my favorite Etsy shops, Mike Joos the creator of Linedraw. Selling prints of his drawings of well loved characters riding bikes made out of materials related to them.. Superman riding a bike made from his heat ray, Han Solo riding on his own bike with Millennium Falcon wheels and Spirderman on his bike made of webbing.. are just a few! Okay, maybe you have to see a few to be officially sold. Enjoy the gallery below as well as an interview from this fun artist.

In awe? Read on..

Holly: When did you start to take to drawing?
Mike: I did drawings as a kid but so did every other kid so I don’t think that was special. I started painting as a hobby when I was 23 that’s when I started putting in long hours towards art. I moved from painting to drawing digitally with a Wacom tablet When I moved to a tiny 10×10 back room for the friends house. I am crammed in there with the washer and dryer. I don’t have space to paint so drawing digitally is my strategy to still get my art fix without the space.

H: I think your ideas for the different wheels, or the different materials the bikes are made from ( spidermans webbing, supermans heat ray vision ) are so funny! What made you think to one day just start drawing random celebs and geeky characters on .. bikes? 
M: I try to come up with ideas that I feel are clever to keep the my pieces fun to make and interesting to look at
H: Why Bikes?
M: My brother worked up by shop during the early to mid 90s the same era that mountain biking was the fastest-growing sport.  Between my brothers influence and the social influence I really got into biking.
H: How did you find yourself selling on Etsy?
M: Before Esty I sold my work on eBay. I am not sure where I heard about Esty or who told me about it. I prefer Esty because it feels like a close nit community and the stuff being sold there is seems more original.
H: What was your first sale? How long did it take you to make it and what were your thoughts when you saw the payment confirmation in your inbox?
M: The first piece I sold online was about 4 or 5 years ago on eBay. It happened immediately with the fist item I listed. But back then I was only selling original work that in retrospect was underpriced.  It made me feel valued to sell my art and it continues to make me feel valued.

H: What would you say your most popular character/item is? 
M: Unicorn riding a bike is a pretty popular one. I think it is because most of the shoppers on Esty are woman.  I have a theory that every woman is either a unicorn lover or a dolphin lover.  I’ve been trying to come up with a way to draw a dolphin riding a bike too but the no legs thing is really making it difficult.

H: Do you take custom orders? Any funky/crazy requests?
M: The custom orders you saw were probably large orders that I gave a discounted custom price.
I don’t do commissions it feels too much like work (I try to keep this fun for myself) but I take recommendation. If it’s a idea I like I will add it to my list and send the person who recommended it a message when I make it with a link to the item in my shop (no  obligation to buy it). Almost all of the requests I get don’t seem very crazy… mostly customers ask for me to make pretty main stream characters like batman or superman or a famous athlete on a bike.

H: We are a geeks for geeks site, Would you consider yourself a geek? Why or Why not? 
M: I feel I’m a geek to some degree for sure. The things that interest me and content of my artwork consist of a good amount of sci-fi, fantasy and comic related stuff.  Those are stereotypically geeky things to be interested in.

H: What is your biggest geeky obsession?  
M: I’ve been racing mountain bikes professionally for the past 5 years so in the past I have spent a ton of hours in bike geek mode purring through catalogs, company websites and forums creating diagrams comparing frame geometries and comparing weights of parts… I have pretty much stopped doing this but in its place I’ve become more obsessive about creating art.

H: I see you have some Star Wars items in your shop ( These are my FAV! ) Would you say you are Star Wars vs. the Trek?
M: There are so many star trek television series and so many different episodes that it feels like its been spread a little too thin. I like Star trek but you need to sort through some stinker movies and TV episodes to get to the good ones. Not like star wars where they all seem to be at least pretty good in my opinion.
H: Given the chance would you.. Go to the dark side? 
M: Yea sure, chicks love the troubled badboy dressed in black (almost as much as they love dolphins or unicorns)
Alright guys, now you know more about the man behind the pen. Check out his store for an insured giggle or two. His items are decently priced, and would bring a little geekiness to any room they get displayed in.

 Wonder Woman on bike, 5…

$15.00
Boba Fett pulling Han s…

$15.00
Optimus Prime, roll out…

$15.00

Dr Doom riding bike pow…

$15.00
Batgirl riding bike wit…

$15.00
Superman riding heat vi…

$15.00

Admiral Ackbar riding b…

$15.00
Spider Man on bike, 5×5…

$15.00
Mr. T riding bike with …

$15.00

Thor on bike with hamme…

$15.00
Boba Fett riding a bike…

$15.00
Han Solo riding bike wi…

$15.00

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Seller Interview ~ MadAristocrat

31 Mar

PvZ Kernelpelt by MadAristocrat

Hey lovely readers, Deb here! This week, Mom’s Basement brings you an awesome interview with Emi (MadAristocrat) of Cat Bear Express. She creates geek themed polymer clay figures and jewelry. She’s been super successful so far and is very generous in imparting a ton of knowledge!

Super Mario Enemies Charm Bracelet

Custom Origami Boxes with purchases!

Deb: Where did the name Cat Bear Express come from?
Emi: My beloved Cat Bear Express! It came from a conversation about pandas and orange chicken. Panda in Chinese is literally bear cat, but ‘cat bear’ flows so much better and the ‘express’ comes from Panda Express.

D: You’ve been on Etsy since 2007. How long did it take for your sales to pick up to a regular pace?
E: Truthfully my sales didn’t pick up until a little less than half a year ago. Etsy is seriously like a job. When I work, I make sales. When I don’t, then things slow down. Some tips:

  • Try and list at least one item every day. I’m on the East Coast of the US and have found that my personal peak hours for listing are between 6pm-11pm, although visits shoot up at 4 pm.
  • If you don’t have a google analytics account set up, do it! It plays a HUGE part in researching peak hours, where your visits are coming from, etc.
  • Make sure to fill in all of your tags and write interesting descriptions.
  • Set a personal goal. Last summer vacation I set a goal of having 100 items in my shop. Once I reached that goal I noticed sales started going up, and I set a new goal of 200 items.
  • Take a deep breath and relax. Don’t sit in front of the computer and obsess about when your next sale will be. *raises hand* I was guilty of that and it does nothing but stress you out and block off creativity. When you feel burnt out go and play some games or whatever helps you relax and completely forget about everything.

D: Do you find certain times of the year to be more profitable?
E: I can’t say for sure, but I think Christmas time is the most busy. I wasn’t prepared for the rush this past December and got overwhelmed. I was literally just sitting in a daze @_@ I also noticed that strangely, Christmas themed items didn’t sell AT ALL, so I quit the whole holiday themed stuff.

Purple Dragon Holding Rose Charm

 

D: Everything seems to be made with such care! How long does the entire crafting process take you?

E: The actual sculpting time takes anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, which excludes baking, painting and glazing time. Each piece is formed out of clay, then baked for about 20-30 minutes, faces and details are painted on, dried, glazed, dried, sometimes glazed again, then put together on earrings, etc. I think the reason my pieces turn out so well is because I love each and every thing I make!

D: Do you have a photo link so we can check out your mad skills?
E: I have a deviantArt here. There’s an Amaterasu and Makar sculpture there. I’ve really been into sculpture lately and am already planning my next big project! Terra from FFVI, probably the Dissidia version with green hair.

Wind Waker Makar Sculpture

Bobomb Amigurumi

 

D: There’s a couple stray amigurumi items amidst all the clay items. Are you getting ready to launch a whole amigurumi line?

E: Actually, my mom is the one who makes all the amigurumi items! I design them and she makes them. :3 I love my mommy! We have been planning to make a whole amigurumi line and also some more plushies.

D: The Japan Disaster Relief Bunny Cell Phone Charm is an amazing item. How much have you collected so far?
E: So far I’ve collected and donated $190! I really hope that this contribution will be able to help the people in Japan, especially since I am greatly influenced by Japanese culture.

Japan Relief Bunny Charm

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Seller Interview ~ KupoCraft

24 Mar

Hey all, Debra here! I had the pleasure of speaking with a MomsBasement member: Jeni of KupoCraft. She has been on Etsy since May of 2009 selling an assortment of cosplay accessories, novelty t-shirts, beadsprites, plushes and bags. She has made a lot of sales on Etsy and through conventions and has a lot of great pearls of wisdom to share!

Rikku's Scarf from Final Fantasy X-2

You have such a variety of geeky goodness in your shop. What sells the best?
It changes depending on the time of year. During con season and at Halloween, cosplay stuff does really well. Around Christmas, beadsprites and plushes do well because people want to give them as unique gifts. T-shirts are actually something new for my shop, so I really haven’t seen what they can do yet, but as far as an all-around successful item I would have to say my scarves do very well because they can be worn for cosplay in the summer and for warmth in the winter.

How often do you design new items for your store?

I am constantly designing new things for the store.. I’ve been sewing and crafting for a really long time, and I’ve built up a great collection of inspiring fabrics and materials that just beg to be used. The designing is happening in my brain everyday.. I rarely get a chance to make anything new, though, because I have a three month old baby who is not entertained by my sewing, crafting, or screen-printing.

Hello Moogle Tee

I really like your original plushes: Coffee Cupperson, Cloudy Clyde, Popsicle Petey. Do you find that your original stuff sells as well as your fan-made items?

Coffee Cupperson

Cloudy Clyde

Wow, the original plushes- you noticed them! In my experience, the original plushes do not do as well as the recognizable, existing characters. The one exception to this is when I sell in person at conventions. I think the reason is that when people are shopping online, maybe they have a specific idea of what they are looking for, versus when someone is walking around browsing at a convention and it’s more of an impulse buy.

Have you ever had any unruley customer interactions? Maybe about shipping, custom order policies, refunds, damages, etc?

Cammy BeadSprite

You know, I’ve never really had any bad experiences that can be blamed on a customer, or anything like that. A couple of bumps in the road have come when shipping took longer than expected (FYI- shipping to Canada takes longer than shipping to Ireland.. don’t expect it to be faster just because it’s closer..) I also recently had an incident where there were some problems getting an item to the UK because the postal service over there claimed that the proper amount of postage had not been paid, though my USPS transaction had gone smoothly. That was kind of a hassle, and I ended up having to paypal transfer some of my money to the customer just so he could pick up his item and get his post office to stop holding it hostage. Sometimes you just have to take a small loss to make a customer happy. That being said, I believe that shipping is the place where you need to be most careful. Get delivery confirmation EVERY time, and keep it handy and organized, or things get confusing.

SubZero Plush

Have you been to / sold at any conventions? Were you successful?
I have been to several conventions, recently as a seller. I opened my Etsy shop after going to a con in late 2008 where lots of people kept asking me where I got the pieces for my costume. That really showed me that there was a market for these things. For about the last year, I have been going to conventions and setting up as a seller along with my husband, who has been promoting his new comic book. It’s been such a blast, and definitely a help financially too. I’ve got a few scheduled this year: Bits And Pieces Classic Gaming Expo (June 24-26, Cincinnati Ohio), Cincinnati Comic Expo (Septmeber 17th, Cincinnati), and probably Sugoicon (November 4-6th, Cincinnati) and I’m really looking forward to them.

Do you take advantage of any advertising? Is there anything in particular that works well for you?

Advertising is really something I’d like to push myself to do more of. So far, I haven’t really done much. The most successful advertising I have done to date has just been putting out business cards at conventions. That being said, it seems like with teams and circles and coupon codes and stuff, Etsy is really making an effort lately to help out, and I think that’s terrific.

Indeed, thank you Melvin for the gift of teams. Mom’s Basement would never have existed without you. Go Team Melvin!

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Seller Interview – Lucyravenscar!

16 Mar

Wassup! Debra here! It’s Thursday and you know what that means! Time for a geektastic seller with lots and lots of sales to impart their stories and pearls of wisdom for your benefit.

This week, you will fall in love with some amazingly adorable Star Wars and fantasy amigurumi created by Lucyravenscar!

 

Star Wars Amigurumi by lucyravenscar

Debra: How long have you been crocheting? How long have you been creating your adorable amigurumi creatures?

Lucy: I learned to crochet when I was little – my grandmother taught me – but didn’t use it much until a Christmas Bazaar in 2005.  Luckily, it seems that crocheting is like riding a bike! I found a few amigurumi patterns on the internet, but I very soon found myself altering them and then making up my own patterns. I also found Craftster, which was great for giving me ideas and encouragement. I made all sorts of things on a whim for a long running swap on Craftster, including my first Yoda and Princess Leia, and it was useful to see what people liked.

Young ObiWan Kenobi

 

D: There’s so much Star Wars goodness in your shop. I see one new trilogy character on your blog (young ObiWan)…any plans to design new characters? How about other sci fi or fantasy characters?

L: Unlike a lot of fans, I actually like the new trilogy – not as much as the original maybe, but I do have two little boys who watch all the films quite a lot, so I do get it all ingrained in my brain. I especially liked the design of all the unusual creatures in the new films, so I’d like to do Jar-Jar Jedi Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura. I would probably try to do them, after I’ve done a few more characters from the original trilogy, like Admiral Ackbar, the Jawas, Lando, the Wampa and Jabba. I’d like to make more generic fantasy creatures, like griffins and goblins, or come up with my own creatures. I am very inspired by the work of Brian Froud, and I just loved all the amazing creatures in The Dark Crystal.

D: All but one of your listings are for the patterns. When you started your shop, did you actually sell the final products or did you always just sell the patterns?

L: I did start off selling various one-of-a-kind creatures, which I love making, but I’m quite slow. I spend a lot of time deciding on the right yarns, then experimenting with shapes, which makes it difficult to charge enough for them to be economically viable. When people started asking for patterns I realised there was a market for them, and it suits the way I work. I like inventing and developing ideas, I don’t like doing the same thing over and over again, so writing patterns is perfect for me. The only problem is that I have too many ideas in my head of what I want to do!

Your advertising plan has obviously worked well for you. I see on your blog that your products can be seen on TV and in magazines. Any advice to other crafters on how to get recognition?

Plan, what plan? I’ve come at all this as an amateur and just enjoyed sharing the things I’ve made on sites like Craftster and Flickr. I go to these sites all the time to look at other people’s work, and shared quite a few free patterns. Now, I’m selling patterns. I try not to be too pushy about it (I think that can be off-putting), but I do use my blog and Facebook page to share information with anyone who’s interested.  At the moment I feel that I want to build up a bigger stock of patterns, and then I might consider investing in some proper advertising.

Check out some of Lucy’s free patterns here!!!


Are you a member of any Etsy teams or any other online communities?

I’m not really, and I think I probably should be. It’s that constant battle between the time you spend creating and the time you spend selling, and I’m focussing on creating right now. I would like to be more involved on Etsy, now that I’m a bit more comfortable with what I’m doing, and hopefully I’ll be able to pick up ideas to improve my shop.

Well, that sounds like someone needs to join the Mom’s Basement team and spread the Star Wars love to Melvin! Even the most popular sellers are just trying to find their place in this big Craft world. We all start somewhere…the point is to just be persistent and continue to produce quality work-you will be recognized and the next thing you know, you will have lots of sales!

Seller Interview – OnlyDucks

10 Mar

QUACK! Debra here! I was so excited to get this interview in my inbox from Holly because I have an affinity for rubber ducks…yes, it may seem odd, but I had my share of vampire rubber duckys in high school (a little army in my bathroom actually). Today, we’re interviewing Michelle Gonzalez of OnlyDucks, who has now mad a living out of rubber duckys!

Mom’s Basement: Okay, the world wants to know.. Why ducks? How did you first get started doing these?

OnlyDucks: I first got started about 3-4 years ago when I first ran across some duckies at a store and for some reason a light when off in my head “That looks like Rock Lee from Naruto”. It occurred to me that people at conventions would probably think it cute and funny to have rubber duckies of their favorite characters.

MB: You have been on Etsy for a while, and you have a LOT of sales. How long did it take for you to get your first sale and how do you advertise your shop to get so much traffic?

OD: My first sale was actually at a convention: Megacon. Then I heard about Etsy and started up a site and posted a few little Hogwart-scarved mini-ducks along with other stuff I make. Then I moved my ducks over to my joint site with my business partner and after realizing that most of the sales were from my ducks, I knew I had to give the duck buyers a specific place to find them. I sold my first ducky there in 2009.
As for advertising, the majority of my sales have come from mouth-to-mouth referral, business cards or character searches through Etsy.

MB: How did you decide which characters to make? Was it trial and error on the characters?

OD: When I first started, I went with what was popular at that time in Florida, which was Naruto. I made a bunch of Naruto characters, then Sailor Moon, and then came the special orders. Every time someone special ordered a new character, that was a new picture and a new listing I could put up and I figured if one person wanted it, then others probably would too. I do think that some of the ducks were trial and error but in the end, I have at least sold one of each of the ducks I’ve ever made (probably close to 1000 or so).

MB: What is your most popular duck?

OD: My most popular duck is probably Batduck and currently the Dr. Who ducks.

MB: Do you have a day job (other then Etsy)?

OD: I used to work for Hard Rock Cafe but I was fired 2 years ago and had basically no other option than to up the ante on my Etsy shops. Once I started putting 100% attention on the shops, they blossomed and sales just started pouring in.

MB: Tell me a little about yourself!

OD: I was born in North Miami, FL, I come from Cuban/Spanish parents and have lived in FL my whole life. I moved to Orlando about 6 years ago and I absolutely love it here. I started crafting with my mom when I was little and it’s carried through to my adult life. I’m 28 now and though making rubber ducks was not what I envisioned in my future life when I was a kid, I am happy where I am now and have fun doing what I do.

There you have it! A hardcore Etsian who had an awesome idea evolve out of persistent creativity and has truly become successful with it! Now, we just need to convince her to make a Melvin duck!! :)

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Seller Interview – PeriwinkleDyzns

1 Mar

New writer for the basement, Debra here! Very excited to be part of this amazing community but even more excited to be given my first writing assignment!

PerwinkleDyzns, aka Ruth, has an amazing geekery Etsy store where she features handmade jewelry created from circuit board pieces as well as vintage custom buttons with dictionary sayings. The hardware is so imaginative and etsy buyers have really noticed and can’t get enough – she has over 250 sales! I was lucky enough to be able to interview her and get the scoop on her success.

Deb: Hi! Nice to meet you. Tell us a little about you!

Ruth: Hi Mom’s basement team! I’m Ruth, owner of the Etsy shop PeriwinkleDzyns. On Etsy I sell mostly computer part jewelery and dictionary buttons. I’m coming up on my 3 year anniversary on Etsy! I live way up in Winnipeg Manitoba and craft away the long cold winter in a studio at the back of a house I share with my hubs, 2 teenagers and a big tan dog. During the day I work in a Project Management Office in the Gaming Industry.

D – You have so many sales! Congratulations! Do you have one item that is a repeat seller?

R-Thanks! I’ve put a lot of work into my shop and I’m proud to say I have shipped across the world! My best sellers change from month to month but I have definitely sold more earrings than anything else.

D – You have so many items listed. How many of your items are already made in inventory or is everything made to order?

R – I really believe that having over 100 items in your shops helps to drive traffic, people love choice! Most of my items listed are already made and in inventory, especially the more complex necklaces. This allows me to almost always ship within 3 business days of an order. Continue reading →

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