Branding my business

I've been going to Madonna University for 4 years now, after my graphic design degree and we are always talking about branding. What is branding?

The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

• Reflect the character of the brand

• Describe the brand’s offering

• Create an association with the brand’s promise

• Be easy and pleasant to say

• Be unique and memorable

So how does one brand a business that delivers a message of cute and whimsical clay ornaments and cake toppers?

I think I've been fighting with myself about what my "brand" should be, so I gave in today and worked on new business cards, banners, signs, etc.

My clay is cute, my graphics are cute, and my artwork is cute...so I need to accept it and move on.

How did I come up with this new branding.

1. I looked for a clay baby that really portrays my style. This monkey says it all!
   
2. I picked three colors that I reproduce the most in my designs.
3. I chose a font that is whimsical and one that I could fill with color.
4. I chose some graphic elements which make me think of celebrating!
5. I kept the name Debbie's Clay Babies because it has followed me for years and it is in loving memory of my grandmother, who used to say, "are you making your clay babies again?"

I think the new look sums up my business. It's fun, cute, whimsical, adorable, loving, and pulls at the heartstrings of my customers. The fact that they are my "babies" offers the idea that I care about them (which I do) and they are a part of me, (which they are).

I'm very excited to do my next show, where I can wear my tee shirt and buttons, drink coffee out of my mug and walk in carrying my tote bag. I also made the above banners to string along the front of the table and maybe along the back. I printed about 10 and will laminate them and tie pink, teal and blue ribbons between each banner. I also made signage. I have a light blue table covering and might get a pale pink too..Once I do a show, I'll take pictures. I wonder if it will make a difference to be branded? I sure hope so. What do you think?

Craft show update

I did a craft show last Saturday at a local elementary school. I did about average for a school like that. I had a lot of snowmen and angels and people seemed to enjoy looking at them. Due to the economic nightmare in my area, I lowered my prices to $5 and $6 for a 3 inch clay baby.
This is the same price I was charging $20 years ago!! However, three older women commented that they didn't think they were worth $5.00 each. (true, people are that ignorant and rude)..99% of those that said anything were complimentary and nice.



I'm working on a few new things this week. Mostly pins to wear on jackets and coats. I also am trying out a new idea for personalized posters. I'll be posting those pictures soon. In the meantime, here are some things I've made recently and a picture of my display.

Book Mark Tutorial

Here's another quick tutorial using similar supplies as the votive candle.

1 block of Sculpey Studio
Metallic powders of your choice (I use PearlEx)
Rubber stamps

Fuzzy Yarn


I slice the Studio Clay down the middle to make it easier to roll through my pasta machine.
This is how I condition it. I roll it through several times.




The picture above shows how it looks after one roll through the pasta machine.




This picture shows how it looks after 12 times through the pasta machine. It's ready to work with now.


I use a rubber stamp of birds to make my impressions. Wet the stamp with water first.



I then slice the clay to make neat, crisp edges.


Using a brush, I then "paint" metallic powders all over my designs.


See how pretty it looks.


I poke a hole at the top and then bake at 265 degrees for 30 minutes.



I finish it up with some fuzzy yarn that I attach to the hole. Tie a few knots and it's ready to save your place in a book.

These make really nice gifts. They look especially beautiful if they are made with black clay and then "painted" with the metallic powders. Make several and place in a pretty dish at your next craft show. They are so elegant that you can charge $4 or $5. Add beads and wire to add to the embellishment.

Auctions

If you'd like to see some of my ebay auctions, here's a link. Debbie

Craft Show Planning

After contemplating it for a few days, I've decided that I will try to get into a few of the best craft shows that Michigan has to offer this year.

A few posts ago, I agonized over what it was I wanted to do this year: Trade Shows or Craft Shows.

In my heart, I know that I'm just not ambitious enough at this time in my life to do a trade show. I did two in my lifetime, one in 1992 and one in 2000. One was a success, the other a horrible disappointment. Both took a lot of my energy, time and money. So, I think I'll stick with craft shows. Plus, I have to leave my schedule open enough so that I can attend to my studies.

So, for the past few days I've been gathering up lists of craft shows that I'm interested in attending. I thought I would share with you some ideas on how to find great shows in your area without paying for the information. Some of you probably already do this, but for anyone who is thinking about doing shows, this information might come in handy.

The first think I did was do a search on "Top Craft Shows In Michigan". There were several sites that had information, but the one I like is a site that sells a book with all the information in it. I've purchased that book in the past, but after spending $20 every year for three or four years, I noticed that the information was pretty much the same. It's been years since I purchased this guide, but on the website it lists all the craft shows and the dates. That is the only information he gives, there is no contact information. This book can be a valuable tool to a novice and I would recommend it your first time out, but afterward, you may want to use some of my ideas to find good shows. Michigan Craft Shows Book.

I looked at the list on the website, recognized several good shows and did an individual search on each one. Almost every single show had a web page with the pertinent information. They all have their applications on-line in a PDF format, so I printed them out and am ready to fill them out.

At some of these sites they list the crafters who are in the shows and have links to their sites.. I went to a few of the links and checked out their schedule from this year (or last year if it hadn't been updated). I could tell, by the type of crafts they did and the type of shows they get into, whether or not the show has any potential.

For instance, Art in the Park, in Plymouth is probably the second best Art show in Michigan (Ann Arbor being the first). I looked at some of the artists on their site, found their homepages and looked at their schedules. I picked up a lot of leads this way. I know that if these crafters/artists were doing certain shows, they had to be quality exhibitions.

I don't think crafters mind if I use their schedule to find good shows. At a show I did in November, the woman next to me, who does 42 shows a year, actually gave me her schedule, crossed out the bad venues and highlighted the best.

I promised myself that I would stay away from little craft shows that allowed manufactured buy and sell (that's when the vendor orders something from a wholesale company and sells it as their own). I'll stay away from a show whose promoter doesn't do much advertising. Sometimes those shows can be really successful for some crafters, but I don't do well there. I also need to go to areas where this horrible recession hasn't hurt the area too much.

Now all I need to do is prepare some great prints to send with my applications. I'm going to purchase some photograph paper for my printer, take superb photos and start writing checks.

Next post, planning the display.

Trade Shows Versus Craft Shows

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about whether or not I should do a trade show or sign up for craft shows.

I really drive myself crazy with this.

I was going to make a list of pros and cons of doing a trade show and the same for doing craft shows, but I thought it would be better to blog about it, and maybe get some feedback.

Trade Show

Here is a site that lists all of the trade shows that I would be interested in.

This site does not even list all of the available shows out there, but it's a start for me.

Pros

• Serious buyers come to these shows to buy inventory for their shops.
• Minimum orders are $75 to $100 per customer.
• One good show can give me business for the rest of the year.
• I would be networking with other business owners and artists.
• I would be surrounded by the latest in gift shopping trends.
• I can introduce my product to 1000s of buyers in only a few days.
  
• My product looks so much better in person so it's sure to draw attention.
• Cash and carry show can generate a lot of money!
• I can take orders for my product and give my customers a time line to expect it.
  

Cons

• Doing a trade show is expensive.
• I would have to find someone to help me and possibly rely on their vehicle or rent a car.
• It's risky in these economic times (but so is everything I guess).
• I could be next to someone who has an even better product and display (meaning I might be ignored).
• If it is a successful show, I might get over my head in orders causing customers to be angry with me if their orders are late.
• Most business want 30 day net, which is costly to a home based business.
  
• The trade show days are long and I might not be able to stand all day with my knee.
  
• I have to be outgoing and personable, which I am, but I get kind of loopy after talking all day long. It's hard to stay fresh when you are busy talking up your product for 8 or 10 hours.
• Displays need to be professional looking and attractive ($$$$$).

Unforeseen circumstances can make or break a trade show. There are usually no refunds!

Now, here are the pros and cons of doing Craft Shows.

Pros

• Usually the shows are within an hour away.
• They are set up and taken down in one day.
• They are fun.
• Customers are loyal and return to buy a new item or just to chat.
• Craft shows are fairly inexpensive (however signing up for several can be more costly than doing a trade show).
• I receive cash in hand, no waiting for payments.
• I can network with other crafters.

Cons

• I live in Michigan and we are getting hit HARD with layoffs, so money is tight.
• Craft shows have been down the last few years.
• The more successful shows are outside and I'm not going back to those days when I traveled all over the state with my van and my tent. There is nothing more frightening than seeing a storm approach, hanging on to your tent in a wind storm, or sweating to death in 98 degree heat.
• Some shows are just awful. They haven't advertised and there are no customers.
• Sometimes people can be rude or ignorant, and there are times when I just don't want to hear another comment on how expensive my things are (NOT) or how they can make it at home. (go home then)..

So, as you can see I have a lot of thinking to do. Craft show applications are starting to roll in and trade shows are starting to fill.

Another choice I have is to continually build up my etsy store, my website and ebay. It takes a little work to network and market online, but I guess it's not as much work as driving to Pennsylvania to do a show. Plus, I do enjoy working from home and it doesn't cost much. (I also enjoy my lazy summers relaxing on the beach, working in the yard and taking mini vacations around Michigan.)

Just that thought alone moves me in the direction of continuing the online approach.

I love the idea of blogging about this because it makes it more concrete for me now. It's given me a chance to write it all down, share it and ponder about my choices. I started this post off by saying "I drive myself crazy", but now I feel a little more calm about it. Funny how a few little lists can help!

Hello Again

It's been two weeks since I posted and for that, I feel really bad. As I explained before, I'm taking three classes at Madonna University. Two of the classes are Graphic classes and, for me, pretty easy. I went into these classes having a lot of information and experience under my belt. But the third class, Web Fundamentals, is another story. It involves building websites from scratch, using HTML coding. Although, I'm getting it in bits and pieces, there are a few things that have stumped me. I've spent hours and hours a day working on homework. When this class is finished, (in a few weeks), I'll know more about HTML than I ever thought I would. When winter semester starts, I'm taking two classes, Graphic Arts 2 and Lithography, so my world should calm down.

I do have good news. My last show was a great success. Last Saturday I did a show in Shelby Township at Eisenhower school. What fun! I almost sold out of my product. I wished I would have taken more, but, too late for that. My other shows were so bad, I wasn't very motivated to load up on tons of stock. Big Mistake! There were times that there were 5 to 8 customers with clay in their hands. It was the shot in the arm I needed, both emotionally and financially.


What sold?

My biggest sellers were snowmen families and snowmen. I personalized a lot of ornaments. I sold a lot of baby's first Christmas ornaments too. Penguins were a hit too.




I thought it was great that so many people have a lot of Christmas trees in their homes. For instance, one woman had a Christmas tree in her daughter's room. It was completed decorated in pink, so she purchased a pink sock monkey ornament. Another customer had a sock monkey tree at work and one had a tree in her kitchen. (I'm so busy, I am looking for a ceramic table tree to put in front of the window! Easy up, easy down, easy storage!)

I'm so happy and grateful to everyone who purchased ornaments from me. I learned a few things (again), after doing a good show.

• Always have a lot of stock on hand
• Always have a lot of change on hand
• Only get into the best shows!!

When January rolls around, I'm going to try really hard to get onto mailing lists of the top shows in Michigan. I already have done some of these shows in the past, so I know which shows those are. I'll have to have a special account just for the shows, since one that I'd like to do is $250 but, I bet I could make 10 times that if I am prepared.

It's a bit difficult to do big shows by oneself, and that's the problem I have. But, if all goes well next year, I'm sure I can find someone to help me out at those shows. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

For now, I promise I'll be back on a regular basis. I still have a lot of homework to do, but I think the worst is over. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tales from the darkside...

iIn other words, I did another craft show yesterday and it was bad.

I hate to be negative, because I did enjoy myself, chatting with other crafters, catching up with old friends, but as for sales, it was bad.

Most of the people I spoke to were in the same boat as me. They were struggling to get their table money back. I think I made about $38.00 over the cost of the table. I used to think that I would be happy if I made around 10 times to 20 times the cost of my space. For instance, if I paid $50.00 for a table, I expected to make $500 to $1000 that day. That was an achievable goal in the past. Those days are gone, at least for me. I haven't seen that return in awhile. I hope some of you are making that much.

As for customers, the "lookers" were friendly, gave compliments freely, chatted about the weather and inquired about my product. Two little girls came to my booth 7 times to admire my little pink sock monkey.

One of the girls really wanted the sock monkey and she held it in her hands, looked at her money, whispered to her friend, looked at me, and then would put the monkey down and walk away . This happened all afternoon. I really wanted her to buy it. Not because I needed the $4.00 but because she had fallen in love with it. But, as nice as I am, I wasn't going to give it to her.
With every purchase, I was giving my customers a free bag. The little girl who loved my monkey was just as in love with the bags, and would pick out a bag and hold it up to the monkey to find the right match. In the end, her mother told her she couldn't buy it. I was a little sad to see them leave!




Here are the bags I bought off of ebay. They looked nice with the clay, and people really appreciated the gesture. I paid $5.50 for 100 of them. Not bad!


I met a few crafters/artists and we shared ideas about Etsy., finding good items at garage sales that sell well on ebay, wholesale places to buy supplies, new craft ideas, and marketing suggestions.

As bad as the craft show was, I came away with some inspirations. For instance, I saw someone wearing polymer clay buttons on her jacket. I've been making buttons myself, and I think mine were much better, so that verified my idea that buttons might work for me.


I think I'm going to try and make stickers for my next show, to sell alongside the clay. I have been working a lot with graphics, so a lot of the work is done. I just have to get a new ink cartridge and labels, and I'll be set to go. I have a lot of ideas in regard to stickers and labels, and I think images of cute clay babies might look great on stickers. I have three weeks before my next show to put together a cute collection. I think I can work it nicely into my display.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Sometimes I think we artists/crafters are a little insane. I've done three shows in a month with horrible results, yet I still expect that the next show will have different results. Or so I'm hoping. To create, to make things, to do art is so important in my life that the
financial outcome, as horrible as it sometimes is, does not make me throw my hands up in the air and scream, "I quit!" I just keep creating. My friend Mary Ann, always says to me, "You just keep on keeping on, Debbie."

Albert Einstein also said, "True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist."

Spoken as the true genius he was.

The traveling museum

I think I've mentioned that I go to Madonna University where I'm studying Graphics. Well, my homework this week really was time consuming, in fact, although I've spent about 8 hours in the last three days on it, I'm still hours away from completing the assignments by Wednesday.

So, that means I let 5 days go by without posting in my blog, and for this I apologize. I feel bad when I see my visitors who return each day, and there's nothing new to read.

I did do a craft show on Saturday and the news wasn't good. I seriously think now, that craft shows are the biggest waste of my time. I set up my display and sat and smiled at people who wandered by. One person commented that she didn't bring any money with her. I heard comment after comment about how cute my things are (as usual, the dog might eat them, the kid might choke...who's in charge in those households???)

Sometimes I feel like I'm a traveling museum. I set up my art/craft, people file by and ohh, and ahhh. They touch and smile. They tell me how patient I am, how talented I am, how cute my things are, and then they move on to the next booth, where they repeat themselves. From 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. I did have about 9 or 10 people actually reach into their pockets and pull out some cash. Thank you!

Can you tell that I'm still a bit crabby from Saturday? I just can't figure people out anymore. I must have heard 100 times that my prices were great and my clay babies were adorable, but...no purchase.

I was supposed to sign up for two more shows in the next two weeks, but I am declining. My next show is November 15th. Until then I'll just rely on etsy and ebay for sales.

I think I'm going to concentrate on snowmen and penguin families. Personalized things seem to sell the best.


I have some other clay things that I've been working on. I made a bunch of embellishments and some buttons. If I can't sell them, I'll put them in collages. They are pretty interesting looking.



This is a scroll that has chinese letting on it. I made several scrolls, layered them on top of each other and glued them to a painted canvas.

Finally, I'm going to take a leap of faith and start painting on a regular basis. I'm going to set up a table that will hold my easel, paints, and brushes. That way I will be more inclined to paint if there is an area that's always available. I love to paint and find that it's one of the most relaxing activities I do. Here is a painting I did today. It's a 8 by 10 canvas with my favorite color combination, green and pink.
It can never be said that I didn't pursue my love of art. I just hope one day it will start to pay off. Even though some of the set backs irritate me a little, I'll try harder to enjoy the journey!

Tales from the Pumpkin Fest

November 2004: I did a craft show where I broke even...

December 2004: I vowed to never do craft shows again.....

October 2008: I do another craft show....

South Lyon Pumpkin Fest

I had high hopes for this show. The booth cost me $150.00 for two days. It was with a lot of trepidation that I signed the check and contract.But I really thought it would be worth it. I had done this show in the past and did pretty well, the citizens of South Lyon really support their community events, and my quality of my clay had improved a lot since the last time I'd been there.

So it was with a lot of excitement and hope that I and Mary Ann headed off to South Lyon on Friday night to set up for the Sat. and Sun. show.

Beginning to set up the booth...


I found these fireplace screens on sale for $2.50 at Kmart last year. I bought 4 of them and they fit perfectly on my tables.


We hung pins and ornaments on the screens.

We left the booth at 8:30 Friday night looking like this. The next day the rest of the gym was full of crafters.

I brought a lot of Halloween ghosts and pumpkins.
Saturday

The show started at 11 am on Saturday. I arrived at 10:00 and had to park my car about 1/2 mile away from the school. There was shuttle bus service for us, which was great, because my legs wouldn't have made it, my knees hurt so bad.

During the day, people meandered through the show, making comments about the crafts as they ate popcorn and cotton candy. I had a few too many sticky fingers touching my clay babies as parents don't seem to think it's rude to have their children touch everything in sight. Within the first hour I heard enough comments to last me the rest of the season. "Remember when these were popular?" "I can do this" "Why should I buy this when I can make it" and, my favorite,"These break"

If it weren't for the many positive comments I heard, I might have been in a bad mood. But for every negative, there are about 100 positives. People smiled at my clay, remarked on how cute it was and loved the prices. My favorite moment was when a Down Syndrome child kept saying, "ahhh" "Ohhh" as she looked at the fatty fairies with their glistening wings.




I had a lot of pre-teen girls bought little ghosts and pigs. I gave them all a $1.00 off the prices and they were thrilled. I thought it was interesting that three teen boys were fascinated with how I made my dragons and bears. They were into pottery and asked me a lot of questions.

I interacted with a lot of different characters during the show. One woman pointed to my clay pigs and told me it brought back bad memories for her to see a pig since someone called her that 20 years ago!?! Another woman started talking about her boyfriend then suddenly asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I was polite and said yes. She whipped open her purse and proudly show me her "kid Rock" lookalike boyfriend.

At the end of the day, I had made my money back from the cost of the booth. This was so discouraging as the point is to make money, not break even. But, I had hope for Sunday.


Sunday

They say

hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment.

I was full of hope.

However, Sunday was horrible. No one came shopping. The aisles were void of shoppers. Crafters stood around talking, comparing notes. Thank goodness Mary Ann came with me because I had someone to talk to. The show ran from 11:00 to 5:00 and I barely made $50.00.

At 4:30, we started to slowly take things apart. Mary Ann watched the booth while I went to catch the shuttle bus. A few of us waited for about 15 minutes before he arrived. No one complained though, because he was such a nice guy. I headed back in my car to the school. I had to maneuver my car past a petting zoo, a giant lemon and crafters who were running back and forth to their cars. Mary Ann had already started to bring the boxes out to the parking lot and I loaded up the car. The show ended at 5:00 and by 5:23 we were on our way home.

There are many good points to doing a craft show. I now have a lot of stock. I got to network with other crafters. I passed out a lot of business cards. I received a lot of great feedback from the public.

Hopefully, at my next show, I'll actually make some money!

Melted snowman tutorial

I thought I'd show you how to make a cute and super easy melted snowman. It's a great little clay baby to give as a little gift. It's also very easy for kids to make.


Flatten a piece of white clay. I use Polyform products, Sculpey III for this project.
The piece is approx. 1 1/5 inches wide.



Roll a ball of white, approx. 3/4 inch. Place on top of flattened piece.

Flatten a piece of black clay, about the size of a quarter (25 cents)..place firmly on top of head.




Roll a tube of black clay, about 3/4 inch, and place on top of head, push gently.



Use a toothpick to pick up a seed bead and place onto face.




Now you should have two eyes on your snowman face.



Next, roll three 1/16 inch black balls and press onto base. Those are the buttons.




Roll two 1/8 ovals of red. Place one on each side of the snowman's head and press.
Roll two 1/16 ovals of red. Attach and press to the 1/8 red. These are his mittens.



Roll two 1/8 inch green ovals and press onto the hat. Take a toothpick or exacto knife and score a line down the middle, then the sides. That is the holly leaf. Add two or three tiny red balls for the berries.




I use a straw to make the smile. Cut away 1/2 of the tip and insert it into the clay. Makes a clean perfect smile every time. Panera Bread has the best straws. (for their frozen coffees)..

I actually turned the straw upside down to make a frown. You'd be sad too if you were melting!



Opps, I almost forgot the carrot. Roll out a 1/4 inch tube of orange and taper it at the end. Use the knife to make impressions like a carrot. Make impressions over the eyes too. Remember, up to the center of the face is sad or surprised, down towards the center of the face is mean!

I use an eye pin or cut wire to push into the top. That way you can hang it from the tree.

Bake at 275 for twenty minutes. Let cool. Use pastels to add colors to cheeks.