Things have slowed quite a bit business-wise recently. Our screen printing company has certainly been affected by Covid. No more trade shows and concerts – and those were our biggest sales for custom T-shirts. Since we have more time on our hands, we have both been in Create-Mode. Gregg has been making art prints in the screenprinting studio, and the serigraphs he’s creating are so cool! While he’s doing that, I’ve been working on new ideas for quilt patterns. We are trying to find ways of creating funds to keep afloat for a few more months.
The art prints Gregg has been making are very exciting to me! I love visual art and color… What do you think:
The best part is that he is having fun in the studio again! Printing T-shirts is great, and usually pays the bills, but creating original pieces is something he’s talked about forever, and finally gets to explore. He’s using found objects and leftover pieces from other projects like up-cycled wood, plexiglass pieces, stone tiles, and other wood bits. I’m really happy for him. Once we get shipping, packing, and hanging materials – we will be offering these in our store for $45 each (with shipping included).
I have also been working on new art. I started piecing my fpp diamond (foundation paper piecing) this week for my current Chakra Quilt.
While I’ve been working on this, I’ve also been thinking of writing a few simple quilt patterns. My daughter has suggested I use Patreon and share my process to generate funds, and then offer free patterns for patrons. I’ve been looking into it, and it seems like it could be a great way to connect with folks and share more content. Have you used Patreon? Do you have any insights? I want to be sure before I start managing another platform.
I have some quilts that I will soon be offering for sale. Figuring out how to price them is so conflicting. I want people to be able to afford my work, but I spend a lot of time on each piece I make. I sew slowly and enjoy my work. I think it shows in the quilts I make, but I’m terrible at marketing. I don’t like flaunting myself or my quilt work. I’ll have to address these feelings and figure out how to price my quilts already. More to come…