It will surprise none of you to find that my well intentioned promise of writing more frequently didn't happen. I thought quitting my job would free up a lot of my time. Oh how wrong I was!
In the 3 months since my last post I am happy to announce that I haven't given up on start up life- although I've definitely considered it more than once! I'm still here plugging away in my colourful little shop(I painted it bright yellow!)
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| Me outside my shop |
I now have a bunch of followers who seem to really like the brand I'm creating and I have to keep reminding myself that quality outweighs quantity, both in products and in social media following. I am a little impatient for the future when I have a larger audience which, hopefully, brings in more sales, but until then I'm enjoying getting to know my customers and being able to reply to all of the comments and feedback I get.
I'm slowly learning which products people like the most and am starting to experiment with a few new design ideas, including some more delicate pieces. I've been trying to gauge what my target audience likes the most and having some more simple/minimal pieces is a popular request. So here is a little snapshot of some of the pieces in the new collection!
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| The minimalist, contemporary recycled glass earrings. |
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| The minimalist, contemporary recycled glass necklaces. |
All of these, and many more, can be bought on my brand new website!!! You might have seen it to get to this page- if not you should definitely check it out: www.textilecandy.com . I've done it with shopify so that people can buy online, as much as I've tried to be a web designing genius(and i really have) my brain is just not wired that way. One of the great things about shopify is that it automatically optimises your website for mobile viewing which, lets be honest, nowadays is how the majority of people view a website. It makes my life a lot easier too as my website connects to my facebook shop and automatically updates itself instead of me having to list items on multiple platforms, if only Etsy were as simple. I've also listed a few items on ebay to see how that compares, but I'm not too convinced that ebay is the right platform for handmade mid-price products. It would be great if all you blog readers/followers could let me know which they use the most? Etsy, Ebay, Amazon or others?
Alongside the recycled glass jewellery I've also been working with some local seamstresses to start a collection of soft accessories; cushions, hairbands and fabric storage baskets, hopefully this will expand as time goes on.
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| Locally handmade African wax print cushions and handmade fabric stacking storage baskets. |
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| Bohemian style locally made fabric turban headbands. |
When I first opened the shop I only had a really small collection of jewellery that I'd made while living in Switzerland and just a few artworks to sell. I had to find some stock pretty quickly and, to avoid burning myself out by trying to make everything, I decided to start selling the work of other local makers. I now stock local photography, driftwood houses, chemical free soaps, hand knitted stuffed animals, handpainted cards, printed scarves, ceramic ornaments, glass stud earrings and fused glass coasters. Here are a few of the locally made things I have in the shop at the moment- you can also buy all of these online through my website/facebook/etsy/instagram!
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| Local makers currently in stock. |
Oh and I have a new stockist!!!!!You can now pick up your own Textile Candy jewellery at Arteria in Lancaster and KittyBrown boutique in Carnforth.
So that is a concise version of the last 3 months :) I think doing smaller blog posts might be the way forward for me!
Thanks for reading! x
