Arts&Crafts and crowdfunding ...

[trompevenlo]

This may be a little unusual, but I am trying to run one of my latest designs through one of the major crowdfunding sites:

• »You & Me« on Indiegogo

I was pretty proud of the video and thought it would foster some reaction.

We have managed to get some blog coverage, mostly from technology people, but a lot less from an arts&crafts interested audience. I would like to promote this a little further, but find it very difficult to get the right response via Facebook & Co.

If anybody has an opinion about the campaign or would care to give some advice, I would certainly appreciate it.

[Chris in VT]

Where else have you sold your work?

What "traditional channels of exhibiting and selling art" have you done? You have a very unusual product and it should sell quite well at the right shows.

[CraftyChef]

I disagree that you need to connect with the arts & crafts market. You need to connect with the love market. These would make fine engagement or wedding gifts, along with birthday and anniversary gifts, plus add-ons for children, as you say. Think of ways to get in with that set instead.

[Alexus1325]

I would tend to agree with CraftyChef! Those are definitely unique and interesting potential-wedding-cake-toppers. You'll need a shtick that appeals to brides and wedding planners, stressing your creative process, your innovative technique, and the permanence of these pieces, all couched in terms of how fantabulous and cutting-edge these pieces are, conferring said qualities to the person who buys them. Hand-crafted and artisan goods are all the rage for weddings these days, from what I can tell. Your current page reads more like "I'm selling you a technological marvel," as opposed to "I'm selling you a technological marvel you absolutely MUST HAVE."

I think one place you can get exposure is on Instructables. LOTS of technologically inclined folk contribute who will be intrigued, and the more hits you have, the more your slideshow/tutorial would climb up the relevance charts. Keywords including cake topper, wedding, anniversary, etc, will also get you views from people looking for artsy wedding ideas.

Beyond that, contacting wedding blogs, especially ones that feature artisan products, and seeing if you can write a guest post would help your exposure levels quite a bit.

BTW, 3D printing is bloody awesome, and I'm so excited for you and your metal powder process

[trompevenlo]

Thanks for your comments and advice. I have little experience in either space, neither crafts markets nor the gift/wedding space.

From what I saw over here, items at craft markets sell at +-$20 or less and there is absolutely no way to get my works into that range. So I am not overly optimistic for that route.

I can very well believe that the wedding theme is a more promising approach and I will try to concentrate on that path. I had already tried a few with limited success.

Thanks a lot for the "Instructables" idea. That should be easy enough to begin with.

[trompevenlo]

I think one place you can get exposure is on Instructables. LOTS of technologically inclined folk ...

Thanks for the golden tip. They are now even featuring me on their home page and the view count is climbing:

http://www.instructables.com/id/You-Me-bronze-statuettes/

[Chris in VT]

Thanks for your comments and advice. I have little experience in either space, neither crafts markets nor the gift/wedding space.

From what I saw over here, items at craft markets sell at +-$20 or less and there is absolutely no way to get my works into that range. So I am not overly optimistic for that route.

I don't know what shows you've seen, but the shows I do have items ranging from yes, $20+/- up to literally thousands of dollars.

I was at one show here in Vermont and a fellow exhibitor had a handcrafted one of a kind 4 piece bedroom suite. He wanted $8,750 for it. One woman walked into his booth and asked: "Who do I make the check out to?"

If each piece you make is an individual piece and no two are alike, you can enter any number of art fairs throughout the country. There's an artist who takes hardware like you do and makes frogs. He's been supporting himself just by doing shows for well over 25 years now and his prices start at $35 and go up to $200.

But as is the case in all ventures, you must spend money to make money. Most of the shows we do can start at $250 for a 10x10 space and go up to well over $700-$1,000 for a weekend. These shows are put on by professional show promoters who will not balk at spending $40,000 in advertising alone.

There's a magazine I suggest you subscribe to. It's called "Sunshine Artist"

www.sunshineartist. com

It'll open your eyes to a completely different world of art and crafts. A world where people are serious about what they do. This is a world where exhibitors are upset if they don't make thousands of dollars on any given weekend.

[Alexus1325]

I think one place you can get exposure is on Instructables. LOTS of technologically inclined folk ...

Thanks for the golden tip. They are now even featuring me on their home page and the view count is climbing:

http://www.instructables.com/id/You-Me-bronze-statuettes/

Congratulations! I'm so glad that it worked for you!

*EDIT* It has also occurred to me that you could post the video to YouTube. Don't forget lots of relevant keywords!