Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

September 3, 2010

New Website and Coupon!

Hey, remember back in June and July when I was super stressed out about having to learn all new programming languages to recreate my entire website as fast as possible because of a broken computer? No? Well good, because it was really stressful. Anyway, I did, and now I have a brand new website! I also own breadandbadger.net now, so it's almost like my website is in two places at the same time. Okay, not really.

One of the cool things about my new site is that it's powered by Wordpress, so it has its own blog built into the main page. I'll be updating that blog (which you can subscribe to) with all the latest news and updates for the business side of Bread and Badger. Y'know, like shops that carry our work, events we'll be at, new products, custom work I want to show off, sales and promotions, press features about us, etc. It's going to be great. You can also subscribe to our product feed if you'd like to know about our newest products the second they're released (this feed is different from the news feed above).

You've probably already noticed that I don't update this blog very often anyway, but I'll try to post something every now and then when I discover a really cool band or product or artist. Mostly, I post those things on Twitter when I find them, so I encourage you to follow me there if you're interested in my interests and personal goings-on.

Since I love my blog readers more than vanilla pudding, I'm also giving you a 20% off coupon which is good on your whole order from our website until next Friday, September 10th. Just put the code "phoenix" into the coupon field of the shopping cart, and it'll calculate your discount for you. (This coupon isn't applicable in our Etsy shop--sorry!) Let me know what you think of the new site, and thanks for reading!

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July 4, 2010

Recap of Awesomeness


Super Quick Recap of the past few weeks:
  1. I taught a class and a workshop at the Summit of Awesome, and attended lots of super-awesome classes and workshops in turn. I got really inspired! Susan Beal is doing a bang up job detailing the Summit week on the Craftzine blog here, here and here (I was quoted a lot in the second link). There are hundreds of photos from the event on Flickr too.
  2. I've been creating a whole new ecommerce site using Wordpress, but it's kind of tedious and there's a lot for me to learn. The good news is that it should go live within the next week. Yay!
  3. Sean and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with some fabulous baked brie (and more!) at The Farm Cafe. It's amazing to look back and reflect on all the great things we've done together in the past 7 years.
  4. We've been clearing out old wood piles, killing blackberries and English ivy, and re-roofing our shed on sunny days. We also planned out our bathroom remodel when the medicine cabinet started dismantling itself, and we've been to every furniture store 3 times since then. We've already started re-planning our kitchen remodel, which won't happen until next spring.
  5. Custom orders! We've had tons of custom designs to work on recently, from wedding favors, to baptism candles, and some collaborative work with other artists thrown in.
  6. I finally got my badger tattoo! The blurry photo above doesn't really do it justice, but that's the best I could do while trying to click the shutter button with my left hand.
  7. A new webcomic is in the works! We're still in the planning stages, but the amazing Kim Werker and I are putting together a fun crafty webcomic based on a concept that she's been carrying around for awhile. Despite being so busy with everything else, this is one of the most exciting things for me right now, and I can't wait to get it together.
[Tattoo by Lew Hess at Atlas Tattoo in Portland, OR

I love this so much, I can't even describe it. Just for reference, I asked Lew to base his design on this old Sailor Jerry tattoo of a panther with a snake.

I shouldn't have to say this, and I know it's weird, but I'd really appreciate it if you're considering getting a badger tattoo like this to have your tattoo artist redraw the design themselves and not just duplicate mine. Someone else found one of my original tattoos on the internet and got the exact same thing (same colors and everything) and it kinda weirds me out. Thanks.]

    Read more...

    July 2, 2010

    Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show

    We'll be vending at Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle next weekend, July 10th & 11th! This is a perfect time to pick up birthday gifts, wedding presents, and a little something unique for yourself.

    We'll have our newest dinosaur designs, plus cute little juice glasses and some one-of-a-kind ceramic mugs and teacups for you to purchase. There's also a diy craft area, so you can make something fun to bring home with you, and the first 100 shoppers in line each day will get a sweet swag bag!

    Read more...

    June 10, 2010

    Sad iMac on a Happy Birthday


    It was my birthday on Monday. Lots of amazing friends came over for a barbecue on a rare sunny day. It devolved into a late-night dance party thanks to our Xbox, and inspiration from Leslie and the Lys. I am now older, wiser, and on my way to a less-stressful lifestyle... right after I get over a few more hurdles.

    My very insightful and loving husband noticed that I was spending a gluttonous amount of hours every day, waiting for things to happen on my computer. My iMac is old. So old, that I haven't been able to watch videos on it since before YouTube became popular. So old, that there's often 5 seconds of delay while typing.


    Running an online business means spending a lot of time in front of a computer, and my time was just wasting away. So he bought me a brand new, very speedy new PC. Just shut up for a second if you're about to say something snarky about Macs vs. PCs.  This new computer is is so fast, progress bars don't even have time to show up on the screen before they've been dismissed. The screen is like sitting in a movie theater. And it was affordable on our tiny home business budget.

    This, of course, starts out as a mixed blessing because I have to transfer all my files over (about 30 gigs of product photos, mostly), and my iMac decided on that day to commit suicide. It won't start up, no matter how much coaxing we've tried. Even the forceful kind.

    Luckily, I have a backup hard-drive that only took about 4 days to successfully copy my files over without corrupting them. It's taken 5 days to get the printer to speak the same language as my new image editing program (GIMP, by the way, which I'm trying very hard not to assume is anything like Photoshop but it's hard.), and there was a bit of a learning curve when I had to switch to the PC version of my shipping software (which I spent an entire evening screaming violent threats at when it charged me 3 times for a $20 international label and still wouldn't print the correct date).


    Things are finally beginning to settle down. The iMac won't even pretend to boot up, so it's just a very large paper weight until we can figure out how to erase the hard drive and donate it to "science". I'm proud that we've been able to pretend it was business as usual, even as we struggled to ship labels and create custom glassware designs in time for Father's Day. It's been hectic, but we haven't completely lost our minds yet.

    The last big challenge is now the website. I don't have Dreamweaver anymore, and I'd like to switch to a fancier shopping cart anyway, so I don't have to code all my webpages individually. I'm researching software like a mad-woman, so that I can hopefully reinvent the site as quickly, cheaply, and seamlessly as possible. If you've got any suggestions, I would love to hear them (I'm considering WP eCommerce and Zen Cart).

    Oh, and I'm teaching a class and a craft workshop for Hello Craft in less than a week, and haven't really started working on either project yet. Yikes. Good thing my sister sent me some awesome mead to help me drown my sorrows like a hero. (It's called Viking Blod, and it's super awesome! Sweet, but not as syrupy as most commercial meads that I've had. Also, a good amount of spice and flavor from added hops. Highly recommended!)

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    May 20, 2010

    Hello Craft: Summit of Awesome

    I'm going to be a guest speaker at the Summit of Awesome event put on by the lovely people of Hello Craft! This is a huge crafty learning event, held at the Kennedy School McMenamins for 3 days next month. Crafty celebrities from across the county will be there to speak and inspire.

    My class is called "Finding Your Niche", and I'll be sharing my experiences and insights at 2pm on Wednesday, June 16th. I'll also be teaching a workshop on glass etching at 1pm on Thursday, and selling my wares at the Show of Awesome from 10am-3pm at the Doug Fir Lounge on Saturday (the day before Father's Day). Whether you have your own small business and want to learn ways to improve it, or you've been thinking of selling your crafts, you should register for the Summit of Awesome now!

    Get the full event schedule here. Quote from the Hello Craft website:
    The Summit of Awesome is three days of business and technical education seminars as well as hands-on workshops produced by the non-profit Hello Craft. Taking place in the Alberta Arts District of Portland, OR, from June 16 to 18, this year’s Summit is co-produced by Hello Craft’s event partners and PDX craft superstars, Crafty Wonderland and DIY Lounge. Summit seminar topics range from how to organize craft fairs and develop successful product lines to teaching crafters how to prepare taxes and form LLC’s. At the 2nd annual Summit, Craftnote speakers are crafty renaissance man Mark Montano and BuyOlympia founders Pat Castaldo and Aaron Tuller. Full speaker list can be found here. A special addition to this year’s event is the “Show of Awesome,” a 40-vendor craft show on Saturday, June 19, at Doug Fir Lounge.

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    May 13, 2010

    New Juice Glasses

    We've been getting requests for small, everyday juice glasses for a while, and we decided to finally make some. These 5oz glasses are so cute, I just want to carry them around and use them for everything!

    3.5" (9cm) tall, 2" (5cm) across the mouth, holds 5 oz (148ml) of liquid goodness

    They're sandblasted by my husband and myself in our home studio. The stencils are handmade, created from my original artwork (and Mary Kelly's original Robo-Dino artwork), and applied by hand. The etched designs are permanent, and the glasses are sturdy and dishwasher-safe, initialed on the bottoms.

    They're only $12 each, available in any quantity on our website and Etsy shop, with discounts for buying them in sets. Enjoy!

    Read more...

    May 11, 2010

    Scottish Bagpiper Glasses

    I've been working hard to get the new dinosaur designs into production (in case you missed the poll, we're going to be making T-Rex and Brontosaurus glasses very soon!), but there are a lot of custom projects that have been keeping me busy as well.

    A lot of personalized wedding glasses have just been mailed out, and I just finished a Father's Day request for a set of Scottish bagpiper pint glasses. This isn't a design I would have come up with on my own, but it was really fun to turn this concept into my own creation. I also had the pleasure to work with a fabulous customer who really gave me the freedom to work in my own style. It's one of those things that make this the best job ever!

    I also got to use my new Wacom drawing tablet (another early birthday present from my dad--thanks, Dad!!). I don't know how I ever worked without it. I used to sketch on paper, using tracing paper, filling things in with markers or calligraphy pens, and then scanning it into Photoshop to spend hours "fixing" and smoothing all the lines. Now, I can create my artwork directly in Illustrator, with my left hand, no less! Excellent.

    We charge custom design orders by the hour now, and this has significantly sped up the process for me, which makes everyone happy. I still went over the initial estimate I gave the customer (by about half), but I didn't charge her for it, and I feel really good about the results.

    Custom orders are the soul of our business, and this new tablet just makes it so much more enjoyable for me. I still like drawing with "real" tools, but I'm all about embracing technology like this. If you're an artist who works digitally a lot, you should consider getting a drawing tablet. They take a little getting used to, but it's so much faster!

    Read more...

    May 6, 2010

    Super Secret Scott Pilgrim Party!

    Sometimes, I have the opportunity to work on super secret projects that I'm not allowed to talk about. My friends at New England Comics in Allston, MA (which, incidentally, is the home of The Tick, and where I used to sell my original little comic book series) have been organizing a big launch party for the release of the final volume of the Scott Pilgrim comics by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

    Volume 6, "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour" comes out July 20th, and the film based on the comics (starring Michael Cera--which will be awesome) comes out August 13th, so there's quite a bit to celebrate. Watch the trailer for the movie here. Oh, and there's also going to be an 8-bit style video game.

    You can't tell, but I've been essentially bouncing with excitement over all this magical SP-goodness since I got asked to work on this project! The event seems to be getting bigger and bigger as things come together and the ever-amazing Michelle wrangles it all together.

    I still can't talk details, but I can say that I'll be designing something rad based on the Scott Pilgrim comics (which you should totally read), and that I'll be wanting very badly to be in Boston this summer when the party happens. I'll post more info when I'm allowed to release it, and the NEC website will also share news when it gets closer to the date. Read some comics!

    Read more...

    April 27, 2010

    Crafty Wonderland's Spring Sale

    Crafty Wonderland's Super Colossal Spring Sale!
    Saturday, May 1st + Sunday, May 2nd
     at The Oregon Convention Center, Hall D 
    (777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR) 
    from 11am-5pm
    FREE * All Ages


    Our first event of the year is coming up this weekend! We'll be at booth #89, between Crafty and Knotpile. We'll be debuting our newest juice glasses, plus we'll have an assortment of fused glass jewelry, all our most popular tumblers, soap dispensers, oil & vinegar bottles, and super discounted less-than-perfect items.

    Check out the other reasons to come to the Super Colossal Spring Sale:

    * 200 goodie bags stuffed with fantastic treats from local and national crafty businesses that will go to the first 200 shoppers through the doors - EACH DAY! That's right...200 bags on Saturday morning and 200 bags on Sunday morning!
     
    * Local craft supply super store, Collage, doing free workshops both days in the DIY area.
      (a complete schedule is below)

    * The lovely folks from Hello Craft running their Make Something Awesome area to help spread the word about the upcoming Summit of Awesome.
     
    * Crafty super star Mark Montano will be signing books and leading a craft project in our DIY area!

    * A fancy event program featuring a fun craft project, an interview with a local crafty superstar, and a full vendor list + map of the room!
     
    * Lots of food options - including vegan and vegetarian options.

    * Space to sit and relax between shopping and crafting!

    Read more...

    April 20, 2010

    Zombie Apocalypse Teacups

    I've been pretty excited about these zombie teacups ever since I found them at the thrift store! I've been trying to do photoshoots with fake blood to get the flesh-eating zombie vibe down, but it's been harder than I expected. I thought our backyard would make a good backdrop for a zombiepocalypse wasteland, but it turned out looking like a teaparty in a slightly neglected garden.

    I might try to redo these photos another day with some props or something, but for now I'm pretty satisfied with this photo. What do you think?

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    April 15, 2010

    Dinosaurs Rule the Earth

    Back when Sean and I went on vacation, I finally had some time to sketch out some new design ideas. One of them is going to have a steampunk theme, one is going to be a kitten, and one is going to be a dinosaur.

    The only problem with the dinosaur is choosing which one. I'm pretty sure everyone has a favorite from when they were a kid, or from reading a variety of current webcomics.

    In an effort to make some of the people happy all of the time, I decided to put a poll up to find out what most people's favorite dino species is. If there isn't a clear winner when I decide to tally up the results, then I'll just have to make an assortment to sell as a set.

    Vote for your favorite now, in the poll at the top of the right-hand column!

    Read more...

    April 8, 2010

    2,000 Sales Celebration Giveaways!

    We've almost reached 2,000 items sold in our Etsy shop! As of my typing this, we've had 1993 sales, which is the year that my favorite album of all time came out: Siamese Dream. If you consider that most of the "items" that we sell are actually sets of 2 or more glasses, then we've probably sold around 4,000 products on Etsy since opening shop on July 5th, 2007. Wow!

    To celebrate this big milestone, I've decided to give away some extra special fused glass jewelry and brand-spanking new BADGER shot glasses for each sale up to our 2,000th. None of these products have been available for sale online before, so you'll be the coolest kid on your block (and possibly your whole state) if you get one.

    Purchase something now to get one of these free gifts! Thanks for helping us get this far!

    [Fine print: I'll choose the gift that you receive, and the gifts are subject to availability, but I'm open to suggestions if there's something you'd prefer. Fused glass jewelry incorporates an assortment of my original designs, includes pendants, rings and hair clips, and comes in red, turquoise and olive green. Badger shot glasses come in round cobalt blue or clear square shapes. Also, the retail value of your gift will be of equal or lesser value than your purchase, but I'll throw in some extras if you spend over $50 or buy more than one item. Mmmkay?]

    Read more...

    April 5, 2010

    Not Amused

    Right now, we're working on a custom order of shot glasses for a memorial party that's happening this Friday, so we're rushing them out! Sean drew guidelines on the glasses with a gold paint marker so he can line up the text properly when applying the stencils.

    After he'd drawn all the lines, he said, "I'm sitting in front of a table full of shot glasses that are clearly not amused with me." I had to sit down to see what he was talking about, but he was right!

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    March 1, 2010

    I Heart Art PDX + My Day with Visitors from Etsy.com

    This past Friday was the first I Heart Art gathering here in Portland, set up as a meet 'n greet networking event for locals to meet each other and learn more about the group. There was quite a bit of networking going on between the 500+ attendees!

    If you're unfamiliar with I Heart Art, it's basically a big collaboration between Etsy.com, PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art), the PDX Etsy team (sellers on Etsy), and other local groups that want to offer resources and business opportunities to students, Etsy sellers, and the general public. There will be FREE monthly professional development workshops, one of which I'll be teaching in August!
      
    The day after the meet 'n greet event, Vanessa and Morgan (from Etsy.com headquarters in New York) met with Christine Claringbold and me at the Trillium Artisan store to discuss a potential partnership with the Trillium Artisans Etsy team. I'm super excited about the prospects of this collaboration! Christine outlined some great goals that will help our team enormously.
     
    After our meeting, I brought Morgan and Vanessa over to Sword + Fern, which is a rad brick & mortar boutique run by fellow-Trillium member, Emily Baker. I couldn't stop photographing the rainbow-colored origami decorations she has around her shop! Emily has tons of stunning artifacts in every nook and cranny of her store, but I kept being drawn back to the bright colored paper.
    For lunch, I brought the ladies over to the food carts on 12th and Hawthorne for some crepes. Really, what trip to Portland would be complete without eating at food carts? They're all over our city, and everyone has a favorite. My crepe had figs, prosciutto, chevre and honey. So good!
    Spending the day with Morgan and Vanessa was such a great opportunity to learn more about Etsy's goals with I Heart Art, and to share some of my personal feelings on things. I feel like my voice was heard, which is sometimes hard in a group of over 4 million Etsy.com users. Since the majority of my business income comes from my Etsy shop, it's extra important to stay in touch with their company. I can't wait to see what else is on the horizon!

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    January 29, 2010

    Valentine Giveaway!

    From now until Feb. 14th, any purchase of $25 or more (not including shipping) will receive a FREE "I Heart Music" Recycled Glass Corked Bottle, while supplies last.

    It's a roly poly bud vase! Or a perfect gift, if you fill it with candy. Or a keepsake bottle, great for displaying colored sand, glitter, or your favorite spice mix. You could use it as a scented oil diffuser... There are so many possibilities!

    We have lots of offbeat Valentine's Day gifts, especially if you're searching for the ever-elusive "guy gift".

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    January 28, 2010

    Kittehs



    It's Thursday. That means you need kittehs! Triana is turning into a teenager with lots of attitude, so I've been taking lots of photos.



    Oh, and if you feel like browsing, I created a clearance section in my Etsy shop for all the sale stuff. And I marked down the retired pint glasses and soap dispensers to 40-50% off. In case you need something non-fuzzy to peruse.



    These are my favorite cat photos that I've taken recently, but I have more on Flickr.



    Triana got into our chalk line, and wound up with red chalk on her face and paws for about a week.

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    January 25, 2010

    Rediscovering the Drill


    My friend, Leah, makes beautiful fused glass mobiles as indoor and outdoor kinetic art. A while ago, we collaborated on a couple of mobiles with my hand-engraved artwork on them. One of these sold almost immediately (it was all different shades of green, and had trees drawn on each glass piece), but the ocean critter mobile has been sitting around for awhile without love.

    This one-of-a-kind project has finally found it's home! The customer wanted to swap out the shark and turtle designs that I'd already made, with an orca whale and starfish. Last weekend, I dusted off the trusty dental drill and got to drawing.

    It's been a really long time since I hand-engraved something, and it was really fun to get back to my etching roots. Using the drill is definitely not efficient for production work, but it's incredibly satisfying to draw something right onto the glass.

    Leah and I have decided to sell the shark and turtle pieces as suncatchers, on their own. I don't know what our next collaboration might be, but I'm kind of excited about doing more one-of-a-kind items by hand. What do you think about a new line of glass suncatchers?

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    January 19, 2010

    Zombies and Pirates and Robo-Dinos, oh my!


    We've had a whirlwind of a month so far, making tons of new things, and also trying not to overwork ourselves. We took our first day off since New Year's, and spent it hanging gutters (our house and garage came without them) and chopping down the overgrown lawn. Now it's back to photo shoots and updating our wholesale order form!


    The Robo-Dino design is our first artist collaboration! Our friend, Mary, of Lollytots, is letting us use one of her most popular images for our new collection. If you're a fan of the Robo-Dino then please check out her shop. It's chock full of cuteness, bright colors and fuzzy hats that are perfect for ladies, gents and wee ones!



    We've already added Zombie Apocalypse and Jolly Roger pints, double-old-fashioned glasses and soap dispensers to our Etsy shop, with shot glasses and new oil and vinegar bottles being listed throughout the week. (Shoot me an email or convo if you want something that isn't listed yet, and I'll get it online for you asap!)

    If you're a current wholesale customer of ours, I'll be emailing our latest order form and line sheet to you really soon. If you'd like to become a wholesale customer of ours, please let me know you'd like to be added to the list.

    Read more...

    January 8, 2010

    Custom Etching from Photos



    We just started accepting custom orders again, after a long break that allowed us to make it through the holidays. The first project I got to work on was this set of pint glasses, based on a bunch of adorable photos. See how they're all wearing white t-shirts and black glasses?

     Most of the custom work I've done has been logos, or drawings and digital art that I've created from scratch. I don't think I've worked from photos since I was hand-engraving glass, but sandblasting creates an interesting new challenge. In order to create a workable stencil, I have to turn a photograph into a high-contrast black and white image, without losing the "soul" of the image. I like the way these look like they were taken from a gritty comic book, and I hope other people like them too!

    If you'd like to order your own custom designs, contact me to get a price quote. All the ordering info is below.

    We're working on releasing new products next week, like the Zombie Apocalypse design we showed off recently, and a new Jolly Roger pirate skull, plus rectangular bottles for oil and vinegar. The oil bottles were a huge hit at holiday events, and we love that they're made from recycled glass!



    Our New Rates for Custom Etching:

    $40 per hour of design work, with a $20 minimum for each order.

    Hours are charged in 15 min. increments.


    Design work includes research, original sketches, color conversion to solid black & white, digital retouching, tracing, vectorizing and any revisions you request.

    Extra fees will apply if you'd like etching over an area larger than 3 inches wide by 4 inches tall, or on both sides of an item.

    Prices of actual products and shipping are not included in the custom design fee. The number of items you'd like with your custom artwork on them will have no effect on the custom design fee.

    Design work fees don't include the time it takes to make the actual sandblasting stencil we'll use, or masking the items, or the sandblasting itself, or any washing, packaging or otherwise handling of your awesome customized stuff. That's all covered in the product price, so nothing else unexpected will get tacked on, we promise.

    We do not manufacture glassware items ourselves, so availability of colors and quantities is limited to what we can find.

    Custom Ordering FAQ's

    Q. What can I get for the $20 minimum fee?

    A. 1) A line or two of text added to a glass, even if I have to download a new font for you. (I recommend dafont.com if you want to browse through there in advance. Script fonts or ones with fine lines or small details may not work well, but I can help you find alternatives once I know what style you're looking for.)

    2) A logo or image already in b&w vector format.

    3) A b&w logo or image in another format, which doesn't have too many details or fine lines. Some color photos can work well too, if you don't mind letting me convert them to line art for you. I'll let you know how simple your image will be to work with once I see it.

    Q. What if I don't have any artwork, but I have a really great idea?

    A. Then the time it takes could be anywhere from one hour to 3 hours, or longer. The more information you can give me from the beginning, the faster it will be to create your perfect design.

    I can usually create something from scratch within an hour or two, but it can be time-consuming to create something that's outside of my artistic style. Describe your idea as clearly as you can, and please send any sketches or images you can find online that help illustrate your concept. I'll give you an estimate before I begin, and keep you updated if it looks like I'm going to go out of your budget.

    Q. How do I pay for my custom order?

    A. Once I know what you want, and we've agreed on an estimate, I'll send you a Paypal invoice which will include the price of the items you'd like etched, plus shipping, and the custom order charge. I won't be able to start working on your artwork until I've received this payment. (You can use any credit or debit card to pay through Paypal, or I can send an invoice through another credit card processor if you prefer. We no longer accept checks.)

    If you'd prefer to pay a 50% deposit instead of all at once, I'll send you another invoice for the balance when your order is completed. Your order will be shipped after your full payment is received.

    Q. How long will all of this take?

    A. Most custom projects take about 1-3 weeks from concept to shipping date, depending on how quickly you respond to emails, send payments, and how complicated the design process is.

    Shipping times are usually 2-3 business days for up to 4 pint glasses. We ship Fedex Ground for larger orders, which usually takes 3-10 business days.

    Q. What's the deadline for placing my order?

    A. We're expecting to have plenty of time through the spring to work on your custom projects, but we may have to stop taking requests as business picks up in the summer and fall. Custom work has been a huge part of our business, but our focus may change as our original designs and collaborative projects take off.

    Read more...

    December 31, 2009

    Do you love books?

    How about an action-packed crime story about books? In comic format? What could possibly be better?


    My friend, Liana, shared Shiga's first webcomic with me a long time ago, which I highly recommend for it's pure comics genius: FLEEP.

    I don't really do the whole New Year's Resolution Thing, but I do always wish I had more time to read. I read all kinds of things, even cookbooks (the Best Recipes books have entire chapters on each recipe, so it's easy to get lost in there).

    *    *    *

    Since I'm still in business mode right now, (Sean and I have been making our 2010 projections and analyzing our sales and things today,) I thought I'd share some of our top sellers from the last year with you (my data is based on the last quarter, but it should be pretty accurate for the whole year):

    Top Selling Pint Glass Designs:
    1. Mustache
    2. Bicycle
    3. Robot
    4. Guitar
    5. Yarn

    Top Selling Products That Aren't Pint Glasses:
    1. Mustache Mugs & Teacups (assorted styles and colors)
    2. Mustache Rocks Glasses
    3. Mustache Double-Old-Fashioned Glasses
    4. Robot Double-Old-Fashioned Glasses
    5. Shot Glasses (the Robot is the top seller here, but we sold a good assortment)

    So, Mustaches are still in vogue, as it were. And we will continue to put them on glassware. I think we may have sold about 1,000 mustache pint glasses this year. That's pretty crazy to think about. As far as our income goes, Sean and I earned a little more than we would have at minimum wage jobs. Which is sad, but we were still able to buy a house this year, and we didn't have to do any work on the side. We're still going strong, so this year should be even better.

    Our more masculine designs seem to do well on all our products, so we'll be sticking with that theme for the future. If a guy would like it, and it's funny, or geeky, or kinda cute, then we'll be putting it on drinkware for you.

    If you've got a great idea for the next big design, send it our way! We're in the exciting brainstorming and development stages right now, and we love hearing what you think. Thanks for reading the boring stuff I have to say, and above all, have a safe and joyful new year!

    [http://shigabooks.com/indeces/bookhunter.html]

    Read more...

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