7 posts tagged “puzzle balls”
I started a new Mini-Puzzle Ball a couple of days ago (trying to get a lot made before the real Christmas buying season starts). I've had lots of comments from people about how I manage to sew these tiny things, so I thought I'd humble myself and show you what it looks like when it doesn't work.
I sewed this section together just fine, but when I trimmed the seams I apparently trimmed them too much. After turning the section inside out, as I was pushing the corners out, which I do with the pointed end of a small pair of scissors...I had a blow out! There just were enough threads left there at the corner to hold it together anymore! See what I mean?....
Nothing left to do but cut out a couple more pieces and start over. This time it worked!
I started another of my Mini-Puzzle Balls again this week. The trick to these is finding fabrics with a small enough Christmas print so that you can actually see the print in these tiny pieces! Well, that's one of the tricks, anyway. The other one concerns pacing myself when I make them. If I spend too many hours a day stitching these little pieces, my fingers get too stiff!
Well, at least I've never seen one smaller! I finished this one last night:
And here it is in comparison to the other Christmas ornament Puzzle Balls I have listed on my Etsy site:
I don't know if I can make one any smaller, since I still have to leave enough room to turn the pieces inside out and stuff them. I may try to do a size in between these two. It was fun working with this little guy, though, so I'm sure I'll be making more of these. The trick is finding Christmas prints with a small enough pattern!
Any comments...anybody...?
I'm curious to see just how tiny I can make one of my Puzzle Balls. So, with the thought of getting ready for what I hope will be a busy Christmas season for my Etsy shop, I started this one today. I took a picture of the first section as I was stuffing it:
I've been working on a new puzzle ball for a while now, as I found time among other things, and I finally finished it! I decided to try to make one that was a little smaller than my Christmas ornament puzzle balls...not much smaller, but I think it helped to redraw my pattern instead of using the same old templates. I made this one to match a medium-sized ball already listed on my etsy site. I'll probably list it tomorrow.
Here it is in progress:
And here is the finished puzzle ball:
I shipped off my first wholesale etsy order a couple of days ago to a shop owner in Belgium. She's the one who got me thinking about wholesale vs. retail pricing on my etsy site in the first place when she contacted me about carrying my puzzle balls in her shop. We negotiated a good price for a couple of puzzle balls in different sizes and a bunch of my vintage camera button magnets plus a few of my cat magnets, too. She'll get to see the puzzle balls for herself, check the quality of my work, and decide if she thinks they're right for her shop. If she likes what she sees, she says she'll order more, and I'm all for that! Here are the puzzle balls she ordered:
I need to make some decisions about how I'm pricing some of the items on my etsy site. I've been reading some threads in the forums about retail pricing as opposed to wholesale pricing. I was contacted by another etsy dealer who is interested in buying some of my puzzle balls at wholesale to offer in her shop in Belgium. But I know that what I've already got them listed for is too low, considering the formulas I've seen other etsy dealers using for setting their prices.
Here's what I mean....
Today I finished this puzzle ball, pictured below. It took me 8 hours and 20 minutes to complete this project, since every stitch is made by hand. I don't use a sewing machine for these at all. But if I price them so that I'm giving myself minimum wage for my time, would anyone buy them? These are not like a lot of the simple, and quickly made (with a machine) projects I see on etsy. Those are fine for what they are, but these are not like anything else I've seen anywhere. They've been very popular with my family and friends for years. But the last time I was selling them was years ago and I considered those discounted sales to family & friends. I make them in different sizes, but the price should be about the same for each. The larger ones take a little more in terms of materials, but the small ones take more time to make. I'll be making one of the larger ones tomorrow and taking note of my time for comparison. I have three different sizes posted on my etsy site now.
So, how should I price them? It's hard to decide because I can't really compare them to anything else I've seen on etsy. I'd certainly like to make these for the little shop in Belgium, but I need to figure out a more realistic, fair price for them first.
