Help me target my market

[CamOovas]

I make needlefelted sculptures.  People love them and tell me how wonderful they are, but inevitably the question follows "but what would I do with it?"   To which I must admit, they are completely non-functional.  Put it on a shelf.   I've had people buy my bigger pieces to display in their small businesses or a babies nursery, or on their office desk, but I need to either find and monopolize on the knick-knack collectors or find ways to make my pieces serve a little more of a purpose or fit better into a home. 



So far what I have determined is that I need to make my pieces more artsy... 3-D shadowboxes that can be displayed as somewhat more traditional wall art, or perhaps putting more sculptures behind glass to imply that it is art and not a toy.   Also I've been thinking of things like mobiles for nurseries and turning smaller pieces into christmas tree ornaments. 

Do you guys have any other ideas?  I have other products that sell very well, but the felting is what I really love to do, so I would like to be able to find a way to make some money off of it.   I also offer custom orders of people's pets, and have some luck with that, but it's still not where I want it to be.

[singersullivan]

I don't know much about felting but could you felt things like flat flowers and make them into headbands or a necklace. I'm thinking bib style necklaces.
Just an idea of a flower bib necklace.:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/04/felt_necklace.html
What about much smaller things and making them into bracelet, earring or keychain charms?
Hook shapes to shoes? A girl on another board I visit makes felted clogs and puts felted flowers on them.
Not her shoes but an idea of felted clogs:
http://store.nobleknits.com/feclpabyfitr.html

You could felt soap. I see these in herbal shops all the time:
http://www.mielkesfarm.com/felt_soap.htm

HTH

[erdbeerblau]

do you mean that you want artsy stuff that's useable too?

you could turn something like the scene in the picture into bowls …
like an decorative way to store keys (most homes i know have keys/cell phones on a mat or bowl on the dresser in the hallway)

of you could make wall hangings and frame them or not.

another thing that comes to my mind is advent calendars. they don't have to be kitschy and full of elves or angels.
they can be artsy and detailed and it's eco-friendly and therefore seems to be somewhat "in" to have one that lasts a long time

or maybe felted boxes/bowls in general, a quick google search should give you tons of ideas. but i think that kind of stuff is usually felted wet.

flower vases? -> covers for drinking glasses to put flowers in

i think most of the things can be as artsy (or plain) as you want it to be, and i like the mobile idea.
hope i could give you a few ideas 

[beethechange]

It looks perfect for play.
Are the bear & trees attached? I would want to make a little canoe to go with this particular one.

[singersullivan]

What about theme ones that teachers could use? Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,Three Little Pigs,Little Red Ridinghood etc...

[digital misfit]

Your felting is beautiful.
You could do needle felted designs onto bags, make smaller scale sculptures as pincushions for collectors, mobiles, sell animals separate from the landscape so that customers can build their own collection, make ornaments for holiday or year round display, etc.

[CamOovas]

I don't know much about felting but could you felt things like flat flowers and make them into headbands or a necklace.

I've tried a little bit of jewelry, but it turns out I'm not imaginative in that area.   I've also tried wet felting, but it turns out I suck at that   I might have to suck it up and start turning some of my little creations into pins/brooches, even though I told my mom I would never do that.  I like the storytale/teaching accessory idea.

you could turn something like the scene in the picture into bowls …
like an decorative way to store keys (most homes i know have keys/cell phones on a mat or bowl on the dresser in the hallway)

of you could make wall hangings and frame them or not.

I really like the bowl scenery idea, now my mind is racing thinking how I could make that work.  Bowls would be wet felted though.. maybe I would have to team up with a wet felter.

It looks perfect for play.
Are the bear & trees attached? I would want to make a little canoe to go with this particular one.

The trees are attached, but not the bear.  They are okay for gentle play, but too much will make the wool start to get fuzzy again.

Your felting is beautiful.
You could do needle felted designs onto bags, make smaller scale sculptures as pincushions for collectors, mobiles, sell animals separate from the landscape so that customers can build their own collection, make ornaments for holiday or year round display, etc.

Thanks!  I do make a few christmas ornaments around the holidays, and I've made some dollhouse scale pieces, but I dont think miniaturists are very common around my area. 


Thanks for  all of the ideas!  Keep em comin!

[CraftyChef]

You could hang them on the wall better if they were constructed as vertical picture rather than a horizontal 3-D object. You can get some clock parts and create some interesting clocks that way.

[amandarenee]

I like the idea of making little pretty things like brooches, and functional things like bowls.

And making them more of a play-thing would probably work well too.  They're seem like they'd be very grip-able for little children. 

[erdbeerblau]

you could turn something like the scene in the picture into bowls …
like an decorative way to store keys (most homes i know have keys/cell phones on a mat or bowl on the dresser in the hallway)

of you could make wall hangings and frame them or not.

I really like the bowl scenery idea, now my mind is racing thinking how I could make that work.  Bowls would be wet felted though.. maybe I would have to team up with a wet felter.

mh. as you're a needle felter: did you use yarn that can be wet felted? i know that when i first tried wet felting one of the fibers i used was for needlefelting and dyed too hot, so it wouldn't felt. (of course i didn't think of that before i started )
probably you know that, but maybe you didn't think of it?
it took me four days (and 3 tries) to get my first 3d wet felted thing right. maybe you could just try again, who knows maybe you will love it 

[pancakes67]

If you are selling at a craft fair, selling brooches or hair pieces would be a good idea. Felted bowls for coins or cellphones would be good as well. If the craft fairs are around Christmas time, holiday themed things (ornaments, shaped things to hang on doorknobs) would be good.
If you are selling online, smaller things are are easier to ship would be good so the customer isn't paying too much for shipping.

[Indiana]

I love your stuff, I've looked at your profile before because everything you make is amazing! I think shadowboxes is a great idea as is the nursery mobiles. Also maybe little scenes in glass cloche's or large mason jars? I've seen some of these before and even made a couple (not felted but still). Or do the playmat thing for kids, so that it's all interactive, little scenes with animals like your pic above. My little one would love something like that. I hope that helped.

[CamOovas]

I love your stuff, I've looked at your profile before because everything you make is amazing! I think shadowboxes is a great idea as is the nursery mobiles. Also maybe little scenes in glass cloche's or large mason jars? I've seen some of these before and even made a couple (not felted but still). Or do the playmat thing for kids, so that it's all interactive, little scenes with animals like your pic above. My little one would love something like that. I hope that helped.

I do collect glass jars/fishbowls and such to fill up with felted things, and I think I've finally gotten the hang of shadowboxes, so I will be making more of those for my next sales.  They are so hard to photograph though!

Oh and thanks for the compliment!