I've been in kind of a funk lately - not exactly sure why, can't pinpoint one thing, it's a combination of things, you don't want me to start listing them, but in the end one major issue I have to think about is where I want to go with selling fiber/handwovens. I do want to continue selling my handwovens as I've done for well over 20 years, the roving, maybe, maybe not, I need to strive to get off the roller coaster of feeling like I need to always beat my sales from the year before. I'm not excited about dyeing hundreds of pounds of roving this summer, will start soon but scaling down the production.....if I'm not enjoying it I shouldn't be doing it. And do I really want to do any festivals or just stick with online selling....maybe not after this year, it's fun to meet other fiber folks but it's exhausting and do I really enjoy it? Will continue to give it thought. In the meantime the funk is lifting and I enjoyed my day.
So, today I got back to that warp that's been on the Macomber forever. It's the supplemental scarf warp where after the first scarf the ribbon started shredding. I pulled the ribbon out and replaced it with a space-dyed bamboo. Not totally happy with this warp but they'll be pretty scarves once finished.
Also today I did the dreaded photography work of taking pictures of 5 scarves to get listed in my
etsy shop. It takes a lot of picture taking to get 5 decent pictures of each scarf, and it's not my strong suit. Now comes all the editing, hopefully I'll start getting them listed tomorrow.
stopping to figure out what you truly enjoy and then being ok with focusing on it and giving up other things can be hard -- but that's the best way to avoiding burnout, I think.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel! Etsy takes much more time than I imagined and selling at festivals is an aquired taste, one I'm not sure I like right now. I suggest you just do what feels good and take it easy on yourself.
ReplyDeleteYes, have been working on my mental attitude so that it's ok in my mind to drop certain things from my schedule and just do what I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteSelling on etsy does take time, the roving is easy - Ashland Bay roving needs a picture just once, twice if I spin up a sample, hand-dyed rovings I have at least 2-4 (sometimes more)pounds of a colorway so one or two pix that cover all. But the handwovens/felted items are another thing - one of a kinds, many pictures of each. And then there's trying to promote the shop.....
Have dropped a few craft fairs already from my schedule and am down to one fiber festival which is right in my home town and very lucrative for me.....but after this year's I'll be giving serious thought to whether I want to continue that one.
I know how all of you feel! Etsy is a lot of upkeep, plus there are all the fees that go along with it....and I feel that I put so much work into running my business online and just don't see much reward from it. I have been in a funk too, these last couple of weeks - you are not alone!
ReplyDeleteI hear you loud and clear. I gave up on Etsy a long time ago. It has to constantly fed to keep you in the public eye. I just don't want sales to be the tail that wags the dog. This is first and foremost a hobby and I don't want to lose sight of that.
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