I'm really excited at the moment, because I've done some things I've wanted to do/to make myself do! But, let me start properly or you'll be lost in rumble from the beginning of this post!
- New Etsy banner!
Well, my old banner had a great idea behind it. I made magnets and wanted my banner to reflect that they're an Etsy special, they're perfect for gift-giving and that sharing is an essential part of having a magnet (you do share fridges, right?). I'm still a banner newbie and will probably be one forever, but compared to my older creations, this one ruled! Let me just walk you through:
From the artificial tea stains to the murder-tiny shop name, this banner is... strange.
Here I've had it difficult cutting the picture from its original background. No shop name, just some strange "Strange Bears" in the middle. The red sticks? No idea.
Compared to the previous two, this one had some story, some colors, an actual mentioning of my shop's name. Well, I was absolutely happy with it!
Then, however, something in Etsy messed with the banner (and, as it turned out, not only with mine). The bad quality pissed me off, but no matter the change, it still was worse than the original I viewed on my monitor. I decided to live with it as I had nothing better or new.
However, once I started designing the new magnets, the banner was no longer functional. It didn't show my current products, didn't fit the color scheme, was just a remnant of my old idea. So today, finally!, I made myself a new one! It's nothing fancy, just the banner for me at the moment as it's simple and says all I could want it to. I'm more of a fan of clean subtle reminders than of rich and eye-popping once (although they have their benefits) and this is what I ended with:
Won't say more, because the excitement is draining my work-energy! I've reached the 51.8 kilos when hungry! And that was totally random! But adds up to the explanation of why I feel so happy recently! Although I while occasionally, in general this has been and still is the happiest time of 2010 up until now! There aren't many things that could outgrow it, probably just a home to move into with my partner and my own working space in it! Anyway.
- New designs!
I've been trying to design a new collection of five magnets for the past three days and without much success. I felt creatively empty and it was quite irritating. However, as the size and type of magnet creates some limitations to my brainstorming process, I decided to stick to the old way that brought me so far - be inspired by what is! The main concept came from a totally random mentioning of fridge monsters and ever since I've wanted to create a whole group with a story revolving around the customer's fridge! Won't explain more, will comment under the drafts:
The monster that always drinks the orange juice was one of the easier ones. I thought that drinking monsters ought to have a mosquito-like mouths and fat orange bellies, but as you can see the initial drawing sucked. Oh, by the way, ignore the abbreviations, I use them to express my own dismay at what is born from my head. So, instead of and insect monster, I decided to make it fly, because juice bottles are kept high on the door. It also has all those teeth so that it can hold onto the bottle and drink without spilling (a clean monster that is). Surprisingly, it's orange.
The second monster was the meat-monster. A list of failings! A thought teeth are a must, but didn't really add anything else and the results were kind of lame. Oh, and see the pig-monster? If a monster became what it ate, then you'd have a really ugly magnet! The hot-dog monster?! Ahem, let's proceed!
Okay, I don't know why Blogger hates me that much! Every time I write a post something goes wrong! Can you, please, rotate your monitor? I think this is more of a beta design than it is finished because I'd probably have some difficulties in the positioning on the tile. No nose won.
Then followed the vegetable-fruit-monster. You can see all sorts of messed-up creatures, most noticeably the right one on the first row. The single on from the second row is a guest design by my partner's little cousin! Said it was a pumpkin monster! The final design, as you can see, is inspired by peacocks. It will be green and leafy, as all vegetables... are?
I think that at this point I was a bit despaired and that's why they came quickly to me. The sweets-monster is the big-nosed sugar-producing dog-like thing, that snuffs and rejects everything that has no sugar in it! It's not quite a monster, but I've grown fond of it, because it's kind of sad, so I'm keeping it! The last one is the garbage-monster. Yes, we all leave stuff and forget about them and then comes the garbage-monster! Eats everything straight away! Kind of reminds me of my partner!
We'll see what happens next with these! I'll probably get to draw them on magnets today and will start listing them shortly after! I'll be finishing this post, because a) it's way too long and b) my lunch is already cold and c) if I don't, I'll have to tell you about way more things that you'd have the wish or time to hear about. I'll end it with the remark that magnets seem not to be a self-sufficient category for a shop. I've went through many Etsy shops with magnets and even one of the top 10 Housewares selling shop has less than 15 views on magnets. I've started thinking about wider/deeper product line (still haven't grasped the difference), but more about that and the other stuff, new Monday! On Wednesday I'll be looking for fancy wristlets as my once-in-a-while Etsy shopping time has come! Join me and enjoy the pure beauties Etsians create!
Have a nice lunch/dinner/breakfast and hope you've felt some of the happiness to keep you alive till Wednesday,
Bilyana
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