Gussy up that man cave with the Glass Crocodile

Welcome to the third season of our podcast.  Help- I started a business, now what?  At the beginning, there are so many decisions to make and so many things to do.  It can feel like everyone else has their business figured out. It’s also really easy to compare your brand new starter business to others that are well established. In this podcast, we will talk about all those hairy first big steps that come with starting a business.  For this episode, we’ve brought on Emma from the Glass Crocodile. 

Check out the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or read the transcript below. We’ve even included timestamps in case you want to zero in on one part of the show.

00:02.31 Handmade Seller:Amber

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Now What Show. I'm your host, Amber Christian, editor of Handmade Seller Magazine. Today, it is my privilege to welcome Emma from The Glass Crocodile. Now, this one's a treat. She doesn't normally put her face on camera. And so I've been able to get her to actually record on camera. So we're very excited about this today. So welcome to the show, Emma. And can you please tell us about your business?

00:28.75 Emma

Well, thank you, Amber. I'm Emma and I am the glass crocodile. There's no no sort of business people hidden behind me. It's just me. um And yeah, I design and make stained glass here in Somerset in the UK.

Would you like to know a little bit about how I started the business?

00:48.45 Handmade Seller:Amber

Yes, please.

00:49.62 Emma Wow. Okay. Well, this all started during lockdown. So when everybody was out queuing for the toilet roll, going into supermarkets, pushing and shoving, I went to visit my father-in-law.

Now, my father-in-law lives in the North of England, and I'm a Southern girl. And when I got there, he was he was very excited to see me, because I hadn't been in 10 years, which which made me a terrible, terrible person.

But my father-in-law had a box for me. And in this box, I know.

It could have been anything, but it wasn't. It was a box full of stained glass equipment. Now, I had never looked at stained glass before, never thought about stained glass, didn't really know what what you know what was involved in stained glass, but he got very excited and he's like, Emma, take this box away with you and see if you can do anything with it. And I thought, do you know what? I reckon I could, I reckon I could. And so what I did was I, researched online, like we all did, we were all going a bit loopy. I'm sure many people learnt to knit and crochet, but no, I learnt to make stained glass. And what happened was I taught myself how to cut glass, how to solder glass, how to lead glass. I am slightly obsessed with glass, Amber, you may have noticed by this point. And at the time, I was I was working for a DIY store here in the UK.

And the very first thing I created um in because in this box was some green glass. So I decided I was going to make a crocodile because it was green textured glass. And I thought this crocodile was magnificent. I mean, it's big. It has teeth. And I took pictures in to my fellow workers who laughed at said crocodile.

I know, I know. Some people thought it was a snake. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to show you. So I became the glass crocodile and I've embraced the crocodile and I now take my stained glass out and I trade regularly at comic cons and craft fairs and people love it. Love my work. That's how I started.

03:27.23 Handmade Seller:Amber

Isn't it funny how you can go from, you know, whenever any of us start a craft, none of us are particularly good at it when we first start, or we may think we're better than we are.

So here you've gotten the green glass and so you've made your crocodile and nobody knows what it is. Now, how did you make that decision to go from, we don't know what it is to, oh, maybe I should give up to, well, nope, I'm just going to keep going and refine it. Because a lot of people that first showing people of the thing they've created is a little bit of a fragile time and then they look at it and they laugh. And so what in you was like, nope, I'm going to keep going.

Can you talk about that?

04:07.70 Emma

Well, people that know me, people that know me will know that I'm not a quitter, but you're right, I could have easily just given up.

But I didn't want to, I loved it. When I first cut that glass, I knew, I knew it was the hobby for me. I mean, I'm quite artistic and you know I draw and I paint and whatever, but there was something about glass and the qualities of it and the fact that every piece of glass is different, you know I don't paint on the glass, the glass comes with colors and bubbles and flecks within it and I look at a piece of glass and it's not like weird like the glass doesn't talk to me or anything like that but I'll see something where I think my goodness that specific fleck running through it would look just beautiful as for example in Cinderella's carriage or something like that. But I'm not a quitter Amber and I started making kind of geeky things. I make things I love. So Star Wars and and and Doctor Who were my first sort of first loves. And I created things from those sort of shows, were inspired by those shows. I mean, I'm not pretending that that they're the real thing, but get inspired by those shows.

And, you know, those people at that hardware store, they they they soon sort of started to take notice when I was making things that they could relate to and that they could recognize.

05:29.50 Handmade Seller:Amber

And so for you, a traditional craft fair is not where you would sell. You know, at what point did you realize that your style was starting to shift and that traditional craft fairs weren't really the place for you to sell?

05:46.18 Emma Well, people were telling me, people were telling me, and I'd never never.

And actually, people think that you can just go and trade easily at a Comic-Con. You would think that you just apply like everybody else and you pay your money and you get your table, but no, it's the strict process.

When you apply, you have to be accepted. So trying to get people or or organizers to think, hang on a minute, this is stained glass. Why are we going to want this? So I, ah you know, I fire them pictures and and whatever of my stall now, but at the beginning it was hard. Nobody wanted to take me. And the very, very first Comic Con I did was was here in my own town. It was by a group run by Stars of Time and they have embraced me now and the very first people I met were people dressed up as Daleks and they took me under their wing. I know I've become I've become like a little Dalek follower and they've all gone on then in time and had their individual Daleks made in stained glass. So they've so it's it's it's growing and expanding and it's really exciting, really exciting, Amber.

07:04.13 Handmade Seller:Amber

And when you're first and when you're early and you have such a unique product, it is hard to get people's attentions. And so even, you know, a lot of what you will see at cons is this lower priced, a lot of plastic, maybe some artists that draw, but there isn't really, unless you go to the really large cons, there isn't really sort of this artistic element. And so so you it's something super unique that you're able to bring to it. So what happened at that first con and tell us a little more about how your relationship with them has developed?

07:42.81 Emma

Well, the very first con I did very well. I mean, I did really well because people saw it and they couldn't believe it. And also as well, though, it was just after lockdown when we were allowed out. So we all were slightly wanting to spend our money at that point. But I did really, really well. And I knew at that point I had to set up a Facebook and an Instagram. And I had no idea how to do any of this.

And luckily at the the the hardware store was full of sort of 18 year old boys who all sort of showed me how to set this up and sort of set it all up for me. And then first of all, like, I mean, you have to try and get sort of a hundred followers. And I thought, I can't do that. How on earth do you do that? But it's all about the image and sort of playing the game and joining groups. And I now have a following of about, I don't know, about 3000 people, I think now. I mean, yes, a lot of them are middle aged men who love the work and this is this is where I found my main my main customer at the Comic Cons tend to be a man of a certain age who quite like something to hang in their man cave and they might not always buy at the Comic Con they might sort of be too embarrassed perhaps to be seen buying the glass.

But I'll get home and there'll be an email from them, you know, Emma, can you make this or Emma, can you make that? And it's like, yeah, don't worry, your secret's safe with me. All become very tongue in cheek. But I love that. But the comic cons have caught on and once you get into one, it's easier to move on and others are more accepting because they realize that actually I'm capable of my products like any other project, I'm capable of if it's going to be at a Star Trek convention to to sort of make more Star Trek-y pieces. You know, it doesn't have to be that it's, I don't make flowers and butterflies and and and animals. I can cater towards what's going to be there.

09:39.82 Handmade Seller:Amber

Mm-hmm. And also the reality for you as well, because you are early into making stained glass for some of these unique things in sort of the comic, sci-fi, that kind of world, I suspect when a lot of people first see your product that have never come across you, it probably blows their mind a little like, oh, I'd never thought about it. And they take your card and they go home and they realize, oh, I should have bought that.

So they're they're following up, well, could you make this?

Or could you make it a little bit like this? Because they're gussying up the man cave a little. And I have this theory that, you know, men with their man cave, it doesn't mean they don't want nice things in their man cave.

It just, who has put something in front of them that fits the aesthetic of the man cave is really the thing.

10:31.75 Emma That's correct. Yes. Yes.

10:33.45 Handmade Seller:Amber And and particularly for some of these different genres and sci-fi and other things they are very dedicated, sometimes almost rapid, fandoms. People love their characters and things inspired by it. So I can definitely see, especially once someone's of a certain age, then that's really your market, is you're really looking for middle-aged folks. you're You're not looking for people that are maybe brand new to a con and they

They can't really afford anything. So it's not really a Gen Z market. It's a little more of a probably older millennial Gen X type market for you, which means then you market to them differently. And that means your aesthetic is different. And so talk a little bit about what that meant you did with the design of your craft fair display, because I think that's an important piece to your overall aesthetic.

11:31.07 Emma Well, ah my my design um for my actual stand and my stall, I try and and not to make it look too plasticky and too cheap. I feel it has to be has to match the product. I mean, i sell I'm not going to pretend my project isn't a cheap product, and I don't think the stall should look cheap. So I've had my stands, handmade wooden stands, and I think the wood goes nicely with the glass.

When I do a craft or not craft fair a comic on or something a big event um I have a big banner that hangs above me that has sort of the glass crocodile on it So people they can see me they know where I am I always dress in a certain way because I think although I wouldn't necessarily dress like this um You know every day when I'm working um I think people people like they like to associate it and they remember it. You know, they remember the crocodile Dundee hat and they associate it. And I think all those little things are important. And they didn't all just come all at once, all at the beginning. I mean, the very first show I did was just a little white table with a couple of pieces on it, but they sold. um And I suspect they still would sell, but it wouldn't be me. And I have to remain true to who I am. And and and I've done that all the way through. And I think it's so, so important.

12:53.12 Handmade Seller:Amber And I think another thing that was really interesting about how, as you've narrowed in on, you've figured out kind of your target market, that you're doing a variety of these cons.

So speak a little bit about the Stargate one that you did and how you approached it.

13:07.53 Emma

Oh, the Stargate line, yes. So so I've done it two years in a row, but the very first the first year I did it, what happened was that the the actual event was in April, but the organizer didn't actually contact me till February. So people don't realize that my product takes time to make. So I didn't have time to make any Stargate stuff the first year. I just took what I could And luckily David Tennant was at that very first Stargate event, even though he's not Stargate-y, but so he's Doctor Who. So I did sell an awful lot of Doctor Who bits. But then for last for for this year, sorry, it was in April this year, I was ready. I was ready. I was full on. I know what I need to do. And I spent four months over the winter and I made Stargate after Stargate after Stargate. And they were all handmade and they were all different and they were all beautiful.

And the event ran from Friday to Sunday, but the people from America caught wind that I was was there. And on day one, on the Friday, they stood in a big long line and bought every Stargate I had, every Stargate I had. And it was wonderful. It's wonderful to think that my work is going off just all over the place. It's incredible. And that they they saw it and they they knew that it would travel. It goes in a box and that they could take it away. but Yeah, so fantastic. But yeah, you have to cater a little bit to your to your events. so But I have had a couple, actually I didn't speak to you about this, Amber, but I have had a couple of um famous customers.

14:46.72 Handmade Seller:Amber

Oh, elaborate, who have been a few of your famous customers, if you're willing to share.

14:51.88 Emma

Well, you may not have heard of them. One of them you will have heard of. So at least at the Comic Con events that I do, there are obviously a lot of guests who are who are famous. So Peter Ross was one of them.

He bought, he was in Star Wars and he bought a Yoda piece for his son, but wait for this. Brian Blessed from Flash Gordon.

Gordon's alive, bought a canine. He is a fan and he spoke to me about glass crocodile and he even interacted with the glass, with the crocodile puppet.

He was a trooper. He was like a trooper, Brian Blessed.

15:34.99 Handmade Seller:Amber

And what was your reaction when he comes up to your table?

Did you know who he was when he came up?

15:41.70 Emma Of course, of course, of course.

Yes. that but No, I'm very much, I mean, I go to a lot of these events now and these, to me, these people are just, are just people.

15:45.91 Handmade Seller:Amber

How did you, how did you react? I mean, did you like freak out on the spot? Did you have a main comp like talk about that?

15:58.79 Emma

But, and I did say to him, you know, I'm not surprised he came up because he's a middle aged man. What can I say?

16:06.49 Handmade Seller:Amber

Is your target market?

16:07.56 Emma He is, he is.

16:13.76 Handmade Seller:Amber

But it has to be gratifying to see that so many people have looked at what you've done and they've just understood it immediately and been purchasers of it. And, you know, whenever you kind of narrow in on a market, you're always trying to figure out what gets people to buy and so you're experimenting and will my aesthetic appeal to people. So it has to be gratifying to see that so many people, this is really appealing and that They line up like your own little fandom now at these events because now they start to know who you are. So that has got to feel good. So speak a little bit more about just even your emotional journey from that first part to where you're at right now, because those first few years in business are really hard.

17:03.04 Emma

Yeah. Well, this is, this is me entering my third year and I mean, it's, it's been tough. I'm not, I'm not going to pretend to anybody that it's been easy because it has been tough. And I've stood at events and sold very little and you know, people around me are selling plastic and and people are just loving it. And, and I'm there thinking, you know, what am I doing wrong? But the people that do buy from me and get it, they're, they're the people that matter. I mean, they just, people that buy from me buy again and again and again because they love it and I can't believe I still can't believe that people buy something that I made and it's like I made it and you're buying it it's just mad it's madness but I love it and but I love it and I wouldn't want to do anything else

17:50.72 Handmade Seller:Amber

So this has been super fun, hearing about your journey, having you come on camera, given that normally you don't show yourself and it's it's all the work. So it's been really fun getting to talk with you. I am sure there are some people following this that are like, okay, how do I follow her? I need to see all of this stuff that she makes. How do people follow you on the socials?

18:10.51 Emma

Well, Amber, I do have a website, which is glasscrocodile.co.uk, but I'm also on Facebook and Instagram, again, just at the Glass Crocodile. And normally I am hiding behind an emoji. So today, here I am. But it'd be lovely to see anybody who wants to follow or contact or message me.

18:32.03 Handmade Seller:Amber

Wonderful. Well, this has been great. I have loved hearing your story and how you're applying your your skills and how it grew out of the lockdown and you've embraced this next chapter of life. So thank you so much for joining us today, Emma. And thank you to everyone else that has listened and tuned in and we'll see you next time.

18:54.28 Emma

Bye!