It's that time of year again when things become especially difficult for the self-employed, School Holidays!! This year, aside from the usual finding it hard to fit everything in, I shall also be considering the future of the business. My daughter goes up to senior school in September, is this the point that I should be saying goodbye to India Grace Designs and finding a job that pays money?
Like all parents I want to set a good example for my child. I have to lead by example and show that hard work brings rewards. The thing is, it doesn't! No matter how hard I work this business doesn't make money. I guess you can't sell what people don't want to buy. It doesn't matter to her if I have pieces published in magazines, she just cringes and accuses me of showing off if I get them out. She just looks at the financial side of things. To be honest I can't blame her, she misses out on things that I could afford if I went to work for an employer. She has had other benefits though in that I am always there for her (she's at an age where she doesn't always see that as a good thing) I wish that I had been able to make a living from what I love. I am still going to keep trying, after all - paid employment doesn't grow on trees, who knows how long it'll take to find a job? I just want her to be proud of me and I admit I'd like to be able to hold my head up high and say that I have succeeded.
Showing posts with label designs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label designs. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Monday, 15 July 2013
What next?
I am trying to work out what to work on next at the moment. I have several very pressing projects on the go but I'm not sure which to go with. My priority has to be to find something that will bring in some money, I can't keep going on the way that I am. I am currently working on a book idea, a piece that I hope to get into a magazine, some fine art pieces, a new work to be sold in chart form and the knot garden pieces.
I feel like I have a really good idea for a book that will fit well with the mood of the time but this has to be a long term project, there's no way that it will bring in any money in the near future as I have a lot of work to do and then there is no guarantee that I can find a publisher.
The magazine piece is a more likely way to make a bit of income but again, there is no guarantee of take up, the pay is very low and it takes quite a long time.
I am really keen on the idea of working on fine art pieces right now, of course I can't guarantee that they'll sell and they can't be cheap given the amount of work that goes into them. I would love to do some commissions. I would love to do an exhibition. It will take a lot of work though and if I am not constantly releasing new works will people stop looking?
I have designed a lovely new piece that I want to sew as my next 'chart release' this would be the quickest thing to work on but chart sales are too low, I need to take some risks and try and find something that does stand a chance of selling. I need to sell 10 charts a day to make a living, I don't sell anywhere near that many.
The Knot Garden series was a very big hit at my recent demo sessions. I have completed 2 of 4 and I am about 1/4 of the way through no.3. My hope is that I can interest English Heritage in them, either as charts, kits, cards, prints or all of the above, again - no guarantees.
So, 5 good ideas, all time consuming, requiring a lot of work and no guarantee of making anything from them. I have tried working with a rotation before, saying on X day I will work on this and on Y I shall work on that, but once I start working on a piece I tend to become absorbed by it. I have a couple of model stitchers helping me out with the book idea but can't afford to pay people to do it. I guess I'll just have to go with what feels right and hope like mad that something works.
I feel like I have a really good idea for a book that will fit well with the mood of the time but this has to be a long term project, there's no way that it will bring in any money in the near future as I have a lot of work to do and then there is no guarantee that I can find a publisher.
The magazine piece is a more likely way to make a bit of income but again, there is no guarantee of take up, the pay is very low and it takes quite a long time.
I am really keen on the idea of working on fine art pieces right now, of course I can't guarantee that they'll sell and they can't be cheap given the amount of work that goes into them. I would love to do some commissions. I would love to do an exhibition. It will take a lot of work though and if I am not constantly releasing new works will people stop looking?
I have designed a lovely new piece that I want to sew as my next 'chart release' this would be the quickest thing to work on but chart sales are too low, I need to take some risks and try and find something that does stand a chance of selling. I need to sell 10 charts a day to make a living, I don't sell anywhere near that many.
The Knot Garden series was a very big hit at my recent demo sessions. I have completed 2 of 4 and I am about 1/4 of the way through no.3. My hope is that I can interest English Heritage in them, either as charts, kits, cards, prints or all of the above, again - no guarantees.
So, 5 good ideas, all time consuming, requiring a lot of work and no guarantee of making anything from them. I have tried working with a rotation before, saying on X day I will work on this and on Y I shall work on that, but once I start working on a piece I tend to become absorbed by it. I have a couple of model stitchers helping me out with the book idea but can't afford to pay people to do it. I guess I'll just have to go with what feels right and hope like mad that something works.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Can I talk to you?
One of the things that has come out of my demo sessions at SewArty (last one on Sat afternoon) is a suggestion that I should consider some speaking gigs. I love what I do and I love talking about it. It appears that people enjoy finding out about it too. I have a particularly distinctive style that draws from many areas and I am able to talk a little about the history of the styles and show their influences on my work. If you belong to a group which employs speakers and would find it interesting to host a talk/demo about embroidery then please get in contact with me.
Monday, 28 January 2013
Coming soon - PDF Chart option
My website is now back up and running thank goodness. Hopefully that's the last time it'll be down. Over the next few days/weeks I shall be adding PDF sales options to the site. I have always resisted doing these as copyright fraud is such a big problem in this industry but postage has got so expensive now that I have to go with new ways of doing things. Each PDF will be clearly identifiable as to who it was sold to so hopefully that will reduce the problem.
The PDF copies will be 10% off the regular price (and of course minus the postage) The speciality stitch ones will be ready quite quickly as they are already formatted for PDFs so all I need to do is edit the website to show the option. The Cross Stitch ones are not done yet so if there is one that anyone is particularly interested in, please let me know and I'll put it to the top of the list. It'll take me a couple of days to edit the website to put the PDF options on for the speciality stitch charts so please bear with me (or ask me to prioritise a particular one)
The PDF copies will be 10% off the regular price (and of course minus the postage) The speciality stitch ones will be ready quite quickly as they are already formatted for PDFs so all I need to do is edit the website to show the option. The Cross Stitch ones are not done yet so if there is one that anyone is particularly interested in, please let me know and I'll put it to the top of the list. It'll take me a couple of days to edit the website to put the PDF options on for the speciality stitch charts so please bear with me (or ask me to prioritise a particular one)
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