Milestones, VD, and Baskets
Q: What is this, another blog update? So soon? What is wrong with you?
A: Many things, but this is not the time to discuss all of that. First thing: I hit a pair of big milestones on my Etsy store:
2000th sale
$10k in revenue.
The vast bulk of both have been over the past 2 years. About 2.5 years ago, I started selling design files rather than finished goods. At first the sales were few in far between but they picked up in 2021 and continued steady in 2022. So, a bit more than beer money but not FU money. I plan to keep that machine running as it is a goodly revenue stream with minimal additional work required from my end (answering a few questions a week). Some questions are requests for variants on the designs. I typically do those and then post the resulting version as a new SKU.
My etsy dashboard. I hit $10k revenue and 2k sales on Tuesday.
Q: What are people on Etsy buying from you?
A: Design files in SVG format which is what most laser CNC machines take as input. The biggest seller is one of my earliest designs, the round spiral basket. The customer buys this and then cut their own on their own laser.
Round spiral basket in cherry wood.
Q: Is that it?
A: Nope, I also came up with a new heart shaped word clock. I am learning a new design software package called cuttle. It does a lot of things that I like/need so it seems worth learning. They pushed out a new example design of a heart shaped box. I had made word clocks in heart shape before but have never liked how they went together and struggled with scaling issues. It ends up, putting a square clock face in the middle of a heart shape, requires a bigger heart shape that you think. Cuttle gave me the ability to quickly determine the minimum sized heart that would work to hold my “ medium” sized clock face and be easy to cut on my laser (all cuts much be less than 19 inches wide. Easy cuts cannot exceed 11 inches in height. Difficult cuts can be as tall as they need to be but are a PITA. Getting the clock guts inside this heart is a bit of a squeeze but it works. I finished these with mirrored or metallic acrylic which I been digging lately. I made 3 of these this week. So, limited supply available at Track Park Gallery or Compound Contemporary. Perfect gift for Feb 14th or any other romantic holiday you care to celebrate.
Three of a kind: burgundy, violet mirror, rose gold mirror
Q: Anything else?
A: Yes, I updated my small oval basket design and included it in more combo packs. I originally made the small oval basket well over a year ago but had only cut one of them out of some cruddy material, took photos, posted the design on Etsy, and then promptly forgot about it. I dusted it off this week and cleaned up a few details on the design. I cut a few out of better materials (finished walnut and cherry plywood, aka medium proofgrade). Wow! this sucker works really well. I like it as much as the larger round one that has been my favorite for all these years. This guy is 8.5 x 6 x 4.2 inches while the larger round one is 9 inches x 4.2 inches. They make a cute couple. So, the design has been given a bit more visibility on etsy. If you want to buy one of these baskets, you can find them at Creo or Malibu BUngalows ( I try to keep them in stock).
Oval spiral basket in cherry
As I mentioned in my last post, I also have been working to add more laser design files to my Etsy shop. This week, I added a new stacked basket design. I like the cutouts on the rim. These require some glue to assemble.
5 point stacked basket in Baltic birch. We demand more glue.