Funny Stories from Handmade Sellers - April 2020

“Having recently come out of a long term relationship I decided it was about time to get back in the game and my curiosity had somehow got the better of me. So, I signed up on Tinder not knowing what it was like. After chatting with a few men, none of them sparked my interest. However, I hadn't been able to resist using photos of my art as part of my bio with the hope that it would at least spark some conversation. Little did I know, I would end up getting a sale form it! Now my main concern is how a new partner would feel if I have to explain that I need to keep Tinder because its a great selling platform. I continue to get interest in my work via the site and it helps me build a following online too! I think this just proves you need to take every opportunity to get yourself out there even if it seems odd to others.”

“At our first-ever Business-to- Business exhibition, we had a stand designed with our own product FabriStick®. We also sold several other exhibitors our re-usable fabric wall sticker for their own displays. After we set up our display and stood back to take some photos, we headed off in search of coffee until the event opened. When we returned later, we found our FabriStick® all in a crumpled mess on the floor. Ditto for our customers. Eeek. Our product is tested constantly on all surfaces and we’ve only found one silicon-based paint that it doesn’t like, so we stretched it out and stuck it up again. In 5 minutes it started peeling off again. It turns out, the stands had been fireproofed the week previous and FabriStick® wouldn't adhere to it. Cue frantic drive to the nearest stationery shop for a load of drawing pins. Fortunately, our customers saw the funny side of it. Not the best way to find a new surface that our ‘sticks to all surfaces’ product doesn’t stick to!”