>New Year, New Idea

>

Thanks for your comments on my last post. I hope everyone had a fun-filled New Year's celebration. To my surprise, I ended up having a wonderful evening with a friend of mine last night. It was perhaps one of the best New Year's Eves I've ever had=:)

Anyways, the other day, I got an email from a woman who had seen my Flamingo Moon in an old issue of Bead & Button magazine. She asked if I had a pattern for it because she wanted to turn it into a beaded purse. I have never been asked anything like this before. After giving it some thought, I decided that I really don't want to make patterns for my images. Most of my pieces are 3-dimensional, and a loomed version of the image would in no way represent the original design. Furthermore, I don't want to be associated with someone else's shoddy version of my design.

That email really got me thinking, though. If people like my beadwork, maybe it's time to put a few of my beaded images onto items such as t-shirts, tote bags, clocks, or coffee mugs, and make them available for sale. CafePress is a website that many artists use to create their own merchandise. You can see the items they have available to customize HERE. I was told that they carry good quality merchandise, and that their customers have been quite satisfied in the past. So, I thought that I could start with 'Rudy's Dream', put that image on a few different items, and see how they sell.

But, before I decide to set up shop, I need your opinions.

Please answer the following questions by leaving a comment:

First, do you think that anyone might be interested in buying items that feature my beaded images?

If so, which of my images do you think would sell?

Do you think that any of the items could/ should say 'The Lone Beader' or 'Adventures in Bead Embroidery' on them?

And, lastly, which CafePress items would you be interested in purchasing?

Thank you for your help=:)