What a beautiful piece! I have been drawing and painting animals for years now in watercolors, oils, and colored pencils. I tried pastel once and absolutely FAILED..your work has inspired me to try again. Thanks for the tutorial...thanks for the inspiration! 

Thank you for responding...I am going to talk to an accountant and figure out some of the tax stuff and then take some time to think it over...

To start out I want to say that this is my first time trying craftster (any message board actually) and I hope I am doing it right.

I've been making artwork for years and everyone I know keeps telling me to sell it. I want to dip my toe in the waters of selling my work (quilting and portraiture), but I don't know if I have to file a bunch of paperwork and set up an official "small business" first. I am terrified and just want to see if my stuff is going to sell and I don't want to file taxes and be all official to just make the attempt. Is there a way to try selling stuff and then file the official legal stuff later if I find that my work does in fact sell? Can I "test the waters", or do I have to just jump in? I've been looking at Etsy as my staring point. Is this the right way to go. Can Etsy be an effective place to test my selling abilities?

I've taken a few small business classes at my college and all of them agree that the customer isn't always right. Being a good business person means that you stand by your product and support your customer. It sounds like someone was trying to take advantage of you and a smart business person knows that there is a line that you don't let the customer cross. A handmade object is a piece of art. She needs to respect the work and love that goes into that. Since she didn't. It sounds like you correctly and respectfully declined to let her take advantage of you. GOOD JOB!!!