Attack of the Magnetic Doll Bookmarks!

I think my title says it all...  I just finished a fun custom order for a friend of my sister of 40 magnetic doll bookmarks for a wedding shower!  Every single one of them has a small wedding message in Japanese inside.  It gave me a great chance to use up some smaller quantities of paper I had lying around for some beautiful color combinations!  For about a week, my apartment was covered in these little colorful things!

While I was making them, I started thinking about my shop (always a dangerous thing)!  My magnetic bookmark dolls are usually the first thing my friends and family want me to make.  They are small, cute, have a definite function, and make fast and easy gifts.  However, for some reason when it comes to selling them online, my origami dolls always sell so much faster.  I'm not sure if it is my photography or the fact that it is harder to convey their concept online, but it really brings up the difference between marketing a physical concept that people can tangibly see before their eyes and a virtual product that they need to see through photographs.

Do any of you have that one object that sells so quickly in person, but struggles online?  I'm not sure what I can do to fix the problem!  I'm thinking of designing a cute graphic "how to use" for my shop so people get the concept better.

I am working on a huge batch for this week so we will see if I can't turn it around a bit!  I'm also going to start selling them in "grab bag" fashion (i.e. 5 random bookmark dolls for a fixed, reduced price, but you do not get to choose specific patterns).  I have so much paper that I need to use up!!

Custom Order Madness

So as a few of you may have noticed from my twitter, I am down with some kind of nasty cold/flu-like bug.  Usually I am the last person to get sick, but when I do it ends up being a doozy!  J. has been wonderful about taking care of me and Ame the cat is currently at the foot of the bed.  Needless to say, I am pretty much confined to my bed which is not really conducive to getting any sort of work done.  So I am writing this blog with my head propped up by a billion pillows and the lingering taste of Robitussin in my mouth (eew). 

Earlier this week I finished another custom order!  I absolutely love doing them because it gives me a chance to experiment with something new.  This time, the order was for 10 origami dolls from urssika.  (Check out her shop -- her jewelry is to die for!  Also please read this wonderful feature on urssika by Sassmowth Designs)  She plans on using the dolls as tags on some of her jewelry!  I think it is a wonderful idea and I am absolutely thrilled to see them travel to a new international location where other people will be able to see my work.  I was able to use some of the paper that I only had one or two sheets of, so many of these dolls are unique and cannot be receated.  It was a fun project and I am looking forward to working with her in the future!

Since this order, however, I have been contacted by several people about setting up their own custom creations!  It looks like I am going to be one busy bee after I get rid of this cold once and for all.