The Tools

• Adobe Photoshop Week one we’ll be looking at what the latest version of Photoshop has to offer. I haven’t uses Photoshop since version 5.5 and, over the past decade or so, I have primarily used Gimp for my image editing. What I am particularly excited about is it’s generative AI and how that can be used to enhance some of her pieces when preparing them for social media and product shots. We’ll see how the features fare against the free alternatives and other web-based programs like Canva. 
• Adobe Illustrator Week two we’ll be familiarizing ourselves with Illustrator. A big part of what we do is working with vector graphics and we have adopted a wide range of tools for this workflow. Hopefully, Illustrator offers us the ability to streamline this workflow and reduce some of the other tools we have rigged together with rubber bands and paperclips. In the past we’ve used Inkscape for a lot of our vector work and, hopefully, this is a more intuitive / stable tool.
• Adobe Premier Pro This one I am excited about. We don’t really have a great free / cheap video editing tool that we can use for our social media videos. We’ve used iMovie but that isn’t very flexible. Most of the online tools don’t have enough robust options. Fortunately we have a friend who specializes in video editing so we’ll probably be phoning a friend if we get stuck. 

The Extras

• Adobe Stock The membership came with a 30 day trial of Adobe Stock. We’ll definitely be taking a look at what assets are available and how they compare to some of the other asset libraries that we are using. Since this doesn’t come as part of CC we don’t expect we’ll be paying the added monthly fee unless it is head and shoulders over some of the cheaper options available.
• iPhone / iPad apps We’ll definitely take a look at these. I primarily use the computer for any of my editing but I am sure Zona will be giving some pros/cons on the mobile companion apps.

We’re really excited to share the experience of learning these tools with you. Do you have something specific you would like us to focus on while we are learning these tools. Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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1. Price point: The biggest driver of how your product will be seen is how much it costs. You want to set a price point that will cover your costs and ensure you are compensated adequately. At the same time, you need to make sure that your prices are palatable to your customers. Do some recon; go to markets in the area before your market and see what comparable work is selling for. If similar works are selling for less than what you are charging you need to consider a few things.  Can you afford to lower your price? Are there less expensive pieces that you can make that would better suit this clientele? If neither then maybe this isn’t the right market for you.  Listen to what people say as they browse your booth. If they are commenting on the price (too high / too low) take note of that and see if you can adjust your prices accordingly in the future
2. Display: How you present your work is going to play a major role in how it is perceived to your customer. How do you want people to see your work? Are you going for a craft show, small business, or fine art? If you are trying to appeal to the craft show crowd think of lots of simple, cute, low-price pieces. Display is important but not as important as matching the price point of your customers. Small businesses you should appeal to customers who are looking for quality and value. Having a good variety of products along with some high-ticket items is a good balance. Offer “deals” such as two for one or buy one get one half off. Cross-promote your products and try to upsell.  If you are going to fine art think about fewer, expensive pieces.  Leave the low and medium prices back at the studio and present only your big-ticket items. Invest in good quality displays (pedestals, acroterion). This crowd is looking for quality and isn’t generally thinking about price. So your display should reflect that.
3. Style: When you start out you may have a very specific style of your own. This could be subject matter, technique, color palettes, or detail. It is good to stick to your style as that is what will eventually set you apart from other artists. At the same time think carefully about what customers ask for. Are a lot of your customers asking for pet portraits? Try your hand at them. It may not be your passion but being able to give people what they want can pay the bills while you spend the bulk of your time working on the things you want to work on. As you work on these pieces you may gain new skills as well that you can then incorporate into your pieces. Try not to be too stubborn in what you are willing to create if it means that you are alienating yourself from your customers.
4. Marketing: this is something that is going to change constantly throughout the life of your business.  You may find that your social media posts aren’t getting much traction.  Look at what other people are doing, read up on what the people are saying is trending, and adapt your strategy accordingly.  Maybe Facebook is prioritizing lives or Instagram is promoting reels. Use this to your advantage. If you have money to invest in marketing spend some money on a campaign. Run a contest or a giveaway to increase engagement and gain followers.  The important thing is to try new things until you find something that works. Then, when that thing doesn’t work anymore, try other things until you find something new that works.  Rinse and repeat.

Learn to adapt your business to best suit your customer and you are on your way to being a successful small business. Remember, this doesn’t mean you change your style every time someone suggests something to you. You don’t need to chase trends or try to make everyone happy to be successful. But look for indicators of what is selling, what is working of others, and what you read online, and make adaptations as you go along to better meet people’s needs and wants. Have your own tips? Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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1. Think about transportation: When heading off to a market you have a lot of valuable cargo. You must protect your work.  Think about how you are going to wrap/store your items. We use cardboard for some items, and moving blankets for others. Also, think about how it’ll fit in your vehicle. Do you have a minivan that you can load up with merchandise or a sedan where you’ll need to pick and choose carefully what to bring? Make sure, whatever vehicle you choose, you pack carefully. You don’t want things so cramped that they end up breaking due to pressure but you also don’t want them so spaced out that accelerating and breaking causes items to jolt and jostle around the back of your car.
2. Ask about themes: Some themes are obvious (for example, the holidays) while others may not be so obvious. Many organizers do, however, like to theme their markets. They will sometimes go as far as to invite special guests that align with the theme. Think about this before you decide what product to bring. Try to bring items that will cater to the individual market and convert those into sales.
3. Presentation is key: Make sure you have packed displays to properly showcase your items. These can be stands, grids with hooks, easels, shelves, or any combination. Try to be consistent. If you can pack some decorations to accent your tent. Think about the theme or bring seasonal decorations to create a more welcoming environment. Make sure you have signage, price tags, QR codes for customers to scan, and anything else that may help draw customers into your booth.
4. Resting your weary head: Is the show you are doing a good deal further than you usually travel? Is it going to be two or more days? If so you may want to consider lodging. Doing a market can be exhausting and a long trip there and back can make an already tiring ordeal all that much more so. Think about booking a hotel stay if you don’t think you’ll be up to the return trip. Book early so you can get a good rate and consider how much the hotel is going to cost when you are thinking about how much you’ll need to sell and still make a profit.
5. Self-care: We spend so much time thinking about our product, but we can’t forget to think about ourselves. Get yourself a cooler and pack some water, some snacks (maybe some fruits and veggies), some caffeinated beverages, and more water. Make sure you have essentials like sunscreen, a first-aid kit, medicines you take (even if you think you’ll be home in time to take them, it’s good to have them on hand), and backup chargers. The last thing you want to do while you’re at a market is stressing about your well-being and personal care so make sure you have everything you need with you.
6. Keep it clean: If you are doing markets every weekend things are bound to show a little wear and tear. Remember that your booth is a reflection of your business.  If your tablecloths are dirty or your tent canvas is ripped that will be reflected in how people perceive your business. Repair or replace things when they break, regularly wash any of your linens, and bring cleaning supplies with you to clean up messes when they happen.

Life is busy and time can easily escape you when you are preparing for a market. Just remember that having a tight, clean, welcoming environment for your customers is going to encourage them to come inside, stay longer, and buy things. What do you think is the most important part of prepping for your markets? Tag us with your ideas @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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The Tools

• Table Saw: More often than not when I get a slab from a lumber mill it can be upwards of 12 feet long. Generally, the mill will be happy to cut it down to size for you but, if you don’t know immediately what you are going to be using the piece for you may not know how long you are going to need it to be.  Getting familiar with a table saw is going to be key to cutting these larger pieces down to size. Table saws use large circular blades to cut through wood and can be raised and lowered to cut through multiple depths. They can also be tilted to cut at angles. Warning: These are some of the more dangerous tools in the workshop and you should take a safety class before operating one. In the MakerSpace they have a SawStop which can detect skin contact and come to an immediate halt. This will destroy the saw, but will also likely save your skin.
• Jointer: One thing that you’ll notice about unprocessed wood is that you aren’t going to have those smooth edges that you get from a piece of processed wood. They’ll usually be rigid and uneven. The jointer is a great tool for smoothing out those edges. You can run the edge of your wood over the jointer and it will create a flat, square, smooth edge to your lumber. Remember: When you are using a jointer you are shaving the edge off the wood so, if you are trying to conform to a particular length/width make sure you don’t have the planer set to a huge depth (should be 1/8” at most) and make sure you mark your desired measurements so you don’t shave off too much.
• Planer: These are one of the most important tools for a pyro. You want to be working on a smooth, level piece of wood. Often times wood is cut unevenly at the mill, or it warps over time. You can pass your wood through a planer, however, and get yourself a nice smooth, even slab. A neat trick to making sure your wood is level, after it comes out of the planer, is to scribble pencil markings on the wood. When it comes out the other end, if it is level, you should see no pencil markings.  Another useful trick: If you have a smaller piece you can use a sled to compensate for the length and make sure it passes through completely. Make sure that when you are doing multiple passes through the planer you adjust it lower in small increments so that the wood doesn’t get wedged in, especially on the first several passes.
• Drum Sander: A planner will level your wood but it won’t give you that smooth finish. In order to get that you need to sand your wood down. At home, I use an orbital sander for my wood, but that can be exhausting (not to mention hard on your arms, and waste supplies) so, whenever possible, I like to use a drum sander.  A drum sander will let you pass a piece of wood through and sand it uniformly.  This is great for larger pieces of wood that would take hours to sand with an orbital. Just make sure you know how to properly clean it and that you are running your wood through evenly so that you don’t completely wear the sandpaper down on one side and not the other.

Where to go from here

There are plenty of other tools you should be familiar with as well but these four will get you through most of the basics. You should also be familiar with T-squares, tape measure, levels, and the other standard woodshop tools. Do you have some tips on how to process your own wood? We’d love to hear them. Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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This month we took a a look at our website, bzfurfur.com, with a critical eye and had to make some decisions about what works and what doesn’t.   Two years ago, when we moved off Etsy and decided to launch our own website, we made a lot of decisions about the organization of the site. Not all of those decisions played out the way we had hoped. So we decided it was time for a tune-up. Just like you take your car to the mechanic to make sure everything is operating efficiently and you go to the doctors to get an annual checkup: if you don’t spend the necessary time to keep your website well maintained it is going, at best, be an inconvenience to your customers and, at worst, drive customers away from your products.  So here are the top five things that we recommend you do to keep your website healthy:

Spruce up your site with these five tips

1. Performance: A poor-performing site is going to be a strain on any user. Hi-res pictures are a wonderful way to showcase your products but they tend to be large. Remember that there are still a lot of potential customers who don’t have high-speed internet connections or who might be accessing your website on a mobile device. Are you using plugins on your site? Take a look at how those might be impacting performance. Go one by one and disable plugins from your site to determine if certain ones are consuming more memory/bandwidth and slowing down your site. Use tools like Google Lighthouse (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview) to get metrics around how quickly your site renders and try to boost those stats.
2. Inventory: If you have been running your site for a long time it is very likely that your inventory is out of date. Whether that is old products that you no longer have in stock, incorrect amounts, or incomplete details. Often times we are heading to a market and we put a product up “just to get it in the POS system” without a decent quality product photo or limited product details.  Now is a good time to go through your inventory and make sure everything is as up-to-date and accurate as possible.
3. Search Engine Optimization: You want your site to show up on all the major search engines.  Even if you took the time to optimize your site for search engines when you initially stood it up, the requirements for search engines change all the time.  Make sure you have key words in the titles of all your pages, add meta descriptions, make sure you follow the guidelines for getting your pages indexed for google, getting your products listed on social platforms, and you are that you are reviewing best practices such as Google’s SEO Starter Guide https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
4. Information Architecture: A website is only as good as the people who are using it. If your menus are cluttered, if items don’t show up in your search, or if the layout makes it difficult to navigate users are going to take one look at the site and head off elsewhere. Take the time to use your site: pretend you are a customer and search for something.  Go through the checkout process. Ask friends/family to do the same and provide you with candid feedback. Take the feedback from your own experience as well as that of others and put together a strategy for how to improve the overall user experience to optimize it for connecting your customers and your product.
5. Branding: If your site has undergone many changes your overall branding strategy may have gotten muddied over the years. Fonts, color schemes, logos, and styles could vary wildly across your site. Take this time to determine what those styles are and apply them consistently across all your pages. Make sure that font sizes for paragraphs, headings, navigation, etc are cohesive across all your pages. Think about this in terms of your verbiage as well. Does one page sound fun and quirky whereas another page sounds like something out of a corporate brochure. Use this time to give your website a consistent voice.

What’s next?

These are just a few tips. Maintaining your website is an ongoing process and you are never really done so come back to it frequently and make sure you are giving your users the best experience possible. Have your own suggestions for how to make your site great? Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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The beauty of grants

The art community thrives, not just because people love art, but because our local governments and business want to see artists thrive as well. That is why many companies issue grants to local artists to help them create beautiful pieces that will be shared by the community. These can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. The question is: how can you and your business benefit from these grants.  First things first, you need to seek them out. Depending on where you are the number of grants available to you may vary.  Cities, especially cities that are epicenters for art and culture, are going to have more of these opportunities than rural communities. That doesn’t mean that rural communities don’t have grants available to them, and, since the pool of artists in rural communities is lower there is less competition for being accepted.

You can search for grants through a number of different sources. Art councils for your area will likely have a running list of current and future grants that are available.  Pay attention to what district they are available in. Often times these grants will be available to multiple counties or regions so you may be eligible for a grant in a neighboring area if you are within the applicable district. Check your city’s website as well as they will often list the government funded grants that are available to you. Put in for as many as you can but read the rules: sometimes there are limitations to when, and how frequently, you can apply for them.

Sell yourself

Be prepared: when you submit a proposal for a grant they are going to want to know about you, your art, and how you are going to use the grant money. Think about this and be prepared to answer in a way that shows you are community focused. Remember, the purpose of these grants aren’t necessarily for you to grow your business, but are so that you can help grow the community as a whole. Think about how you would use the money to offset the costs of your project: pay for materials, cover registration fees, travel expenses, and, of course, you need to pay yourself for your time.

There are some grants that are offered as “no strings attached” where they will tell you you can do whatever you want with the money but most, especially those that are offering larger sums of money, want to make sure that the money is going to good use. Be honest with your costs, think about what is a fair rate to pay yourself for your time, and plan to use the money to fund projects that are reflective of the money you are being offered. This doesn’t just mean not to oversell your work, but also not to undersell the work. If the grant is for $1,000 don’t use that to fund a month long endeavor that is going to cost a thousand dollars in materials alone.

Learn how to market yourself. If you are part of an underrepresented community make sure to highlight that. Speak to your experience, you passion, and your efforts to work with the community.  Think about the organizations you are a part of, fundraisers or non-profit organizations you have done work for, and people in the community you have helped or supported.  The organizations that are sponsoring these programs aren’t just investing in your artwork, they are investing in you.

Your destiny awaits

Good luck in applying for grants. This is a great way to supplement the income of your small business and to get your name out there.  Do you have a success story of applying for grants? Share it with us and tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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Finding the product that sells

As much as I love my floral patterns and my mandalas, that isn’t always the products that sell. Some of my biggest sellers are pop-culture inspired pieces based on board games, books, movies, television shows, and the like. I couldn’t tell you how many coasters I created for the board game Carcassone. When Brian asked me, however, if I wanted to take it off the shop my answer was a resounding “No! Why would I want to remove my best selling product!”. We don’t always get to make the things we want to make but, rather we make the things that folks want us to make.

The custom conundrum

Let’s face it: custom orders are not always fun. It is much more enjoyable to make pieces that are purely your own vision. When I am doing a market, however, people will often look around at the products I have on display and love them but, then that light bulb moments happens, and they ask me “but could you do this?” and a custom order is born. So, with that, I am no working with them on creating their vision. Personally, I enjoy this, but not everyone does because it means you may have to compromise your own artistic choices. In my case, though, it would also mean turning away anywhere between 25 – 50% of my income. So, instead of turning them away, I embrace them. I look for ways to create their vision but, also, to incorporate in my own design desicisions so that it remains uniquely me.

Expanding your range

Last year I wanted to pivot my business to more fine art. I wanted to make sure I was able to charge prices that allowed me to pay myself what I was worth. I encourage you all to do this, but, at the same time you still need to make sales and not everyone has hundreds or, possibly thousands, of dollars to spend on art. To solve this I tried to diversify the products I sell. The focal point of my website and my booth is my high-end pieces. These are the ones that are going to draw people in. Then I have my mid-range pieces. These are the smaller, less detailed pieces, that I can create much more quickly and sell at a lower price point (think $25-100).

The third category is my small pieces. These are earrings, bookmarks, and other smaller items. These pieces are nice because I can sell them for $20 or less, I can offer discounts when people buy two or more, and they allow me to offer my hand-crafted art but without the fine art prices. The final category are the impulse items. Keyrings, magnets, pop-sockets, and other low-cost products that can be priced below $5. I keep these up near where we check people out so that they might just add one in for a few extra bucks. These also make great options for kids coming through looking for cost-conscience gifts for their parents.

Have you had to pivot your business to adapt to customers. What are some of the things you did to make sure you were able to meet the needs of your customers while staying true to your goals? Share your stories with us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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Finding the right markets

We’ve done a lot of markets in the past several years. Sometimes doing two markets in a weekend every weekend of the month. The intent is to get our product in front of as many people as possible. Although this may seem like the best course of action when trying to sell your product, remember, quantity is not a substitute for quality. Instead of trying to get into every available market, prioritize which markets cater best to your audiences. Do you sell a lot of low-cost, small items? Look for farmers markets and shows with lower entry fees. Are you looking to sell your work as fine art. Look for markets that cater to people who can afford fine-art prices. Remember, in addition to the entry fees for each market, you also have gas, food, and other expenses that come with doing these shows. If you are not making that money back it doesn’t pay to invest in them.

Price Point

I always say: as an artist you should charge what you are worth. If you are creating pieces and selling them for razor-thin margins think about how much it translates to what you are paying yourself. For instance: That piece you created on a $20 wood blank that you spend 5 hours on which you just sold for $30. That netted you a $10 profit or, in other words, $2 / hour. And that isn’t even taking into consideration the overhead costs of being at the market. Keep tabs on how much your raw materials cost, how long the piece took to create, and set an hourly rate for yourself. That $30 pieces, if you are paying yourself $10 / hour, should have been priced at $70 instead. If you can’t sell your pieces at that price then you need to consider if you are at the right venue.

Passive Income

Find local shops that are willing to carry some of your products. Look for craft stores, art stores, book stores, restaurants, anyone who strives to support other small businesses. Consider the fees they charge and make sure that you are earning enough net-profit from those locations with your monthly sales. Consider places that offer month-to-month leases so that you aren’t bound to an annual contract in case the locations doesn’t work out. Remember, also, some months are generally slower than others. The money you make around the holidays could very well compensate for those summer dog-days.

How are you weathering these tough economic times? Do you have some suggestions for how to keep your business out of the red? Share them with us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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The Shape of Wood

I am a big fan of creating wall art on beautiful, reclaimed slabs of wood or artisan cutting boards. Unfortunately, the cost of materials and time drives the cost of my products up significantly. Don’t get me wrong, there is a market for these high-end products and I make sure that at every market I go to I have plenty of these gorgeous pieces on display.  These are the pieces that drive customers into my booth, these are the pieces that, one sale, can make your total profit for the day.  That being said: I run a business and I cannot limit myself to just these big sales. Posting up at my local farmers market or putting items up in my local boutique shop I am not getting customers who have hundreds of dollars burning a hole in their pocket.

So, how do you market your beautiful, hand-burned products to these folks? Well, sometimes you have to make compromises. I have started using my laser engraver as a tool to cut thin pieces of wood into earrings, bookmarks, dog tags, and other “tchotchkes” so that I can make some smaller items at lower price points. By using higher quality blanks at a cheaper price point, hand-burning original images, and using quality paints to adorn them I am able to create something that has the same look and quality as my larger pieces at a more affordable price point.

Tricks of the Trade

One of the other clever little shortcuts that I like to do to help keep costs low without compromising quality is to do a light etching of the imagery to use as a starting point when I burn. I often like to create my designs digitally using an image manipulation tool such as Procreate and then transfer that onto the wood as a sort of jumping-off point for my burn. I’ll usually do this with heat transfer but, given I am already using the engraver to cut out the designs, I can add the digital design and have the laser engraver “draw” my pattern as an outline to work with.

There are a lot of ways to use tools to our advantage and still make beautiful, hand-burned artwork. It doesn’t need to be us versus them. If we can learn to use tools and talent together we can learn to make a range of products to suit everyone’s style and budget. Do you use laser engravers to assist in your workflow? Let us know and tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

The post Using a laser engraving machine to assist in pyrography  appeared first on Burning with Purpose.

Getting to Know You

During my first couple of years working on products for BZ FurFur I did work mostly independently. My husband, Brian, would help with the business, the marketing, and the markets but, the process of creating was me, my Razortip, and a blank piece of wood. That was, until, I met a few of my now dear friends. Renee and David of It’s David and Renee and Jessica and Drew of Crowley’s Crafty Creations that I realized how much collaborating on pieces can enrich the things you create.

David and Renee produce wood canvases specifically for pyrographers. They are not the only producers of these. Companies like Walnut Hallow sell blank slabs specifically for artists such as myself. Products from a distributor like WH, however, are standardized and produced in volume. This leaves very little in the way of customization. Having a small, independent shop like It’s David and Renee allows me to discuss with the specific individual who is creating the canvas and explain to them what I am trying to create. We can bounce ideas off each other and come up with truly unique designs.

Jessica, who does Lichtenberg, collaborates with me by creating designs in the wood using high voltage electricity. (warning: Creating fractals using electricity is a dangerous technique. If you do not know how to safely perform this technique I strongly recommend you avoid this and leave it to those who know how to do it safely). By collaborating with Jessica I am able to pitch ideas to her for etching that will blend in with her fractals and she can create designs that integrate seamlessly with my patterns.

Better Together

Over the course of the last several years I have worked extensively with both It’s David and Renee and Crowley’s Crafty Creations. We have created dozens of collaborative pieces. This provides a few unique benefits that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to provide if I simply worked independently on my pieces:

1. Uniqueness: Unlike my earlier pieces that I designed using the standard blanks you would get from Hobby Lobby or Michaels, the foundation of my work are truly one-of-a-kind. Every piece has a specific look to it that can only come from a hand-made canvas.
2. Intrigue: Nothing draws a customer into my booth at a market better than a piece that is on a hand-crafted cherry wood slab or an etching that is centered around a Lichtenberg fractal. It starts conversation, people take time to look at all the different pieces, and, as they say, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. The more people in my booth appreciating my work the more people who want to come see what the excitement is
3. Value: Any piece that is created collaboratively with other artists is going to be inherently more valuable. Each individuals contribution to the piece adds something extra that makes the piece more desirable and distinct. As such these pieces can be more profitable to you and the artist you worked with and more valuable to the person buying it.

Next time you are at a market, look around at the other vendors around you. Think about how your work can enhance their work and vice-versa. Consider ways to create things together and make something new that people may never has seen before. What is your favorite story of collaborating with another artist? Tag us with your story @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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