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k-times-two — Joy
Published: 2012-11-18 05:16:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 8717; Favourites: 663; Downloads: 70
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So this will round out my mini-dump of art. Cool thing is, the same place that has the glass shop, also has other artisan-crafty things, like sewing machines, so I was actually able to get this done at college instead of over winter break.Like my Hylian Shield Backpack, this was a result of me wanting a cool purse, and not finding one on the market. Even if I had, it probably wouldn't be as cool as this one nor would I have had the money for it. So!
Her name is Joy, and she is a Companion Cube purse. Very useful, actually. At 5 inches cubed, she's got enough space to hold my cell phone, wallet, keys... and that's all I need, so I'm good. ouo
People keep telling me I should sell these on Etsy. I asked a question about it before so there are a lot of comments relating to pricing and stuff.
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Comments: 145
That is awesome! BTW Etsy has a lot of small charges to each thing, but overall pricing for listing there isn't too bad.
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I have honestly no idea from which anime or game this comes from but i would so buy it if had money! the shear awesome is worth it!! how coo is that! a functional box 
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I am pretty sure it's from Portal. :3
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I was actually thinking about doing something similar about 2 months ago. Too bad I have no sewing skills to speak of... about time to learn a thing or two
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Oh, and I forgot to add: If you work in large numbers, you may be able to buy your materials in bulk for cheaper. (Actually, depending on where you buy them, you might be able to find a cheaper source?)
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Consider that if you do things in multiples, it may decrease your production time by a lot. Especially cutting pattern--if you can cut multiple layers of fabric at once, that halves your cutting time. Also, because you've done the process once, doing it a second time should go faster because you have it all worked out. Plus, assemblyline'ing it saves time you may spend re-purposing your workspace from one task to another.
Just a thought!
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I would buy one if I had a practical use! Unfortunately 5" is a little small for my uses, and it would probably be too blocky anyway. Still super cute though!
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This is super adorable!
Though it's obviously worth more because of the labor involved I doubt many people would want to pay much more than $100 maybe $150 for this, though there might be some who would pay more. If you do want to sell them I would figure out a price that is fair to you, which would probably be at least $200-$250 given what you have said about the time and materials cost and then offer them on commission for that price rather than pre-making and selling them on etsy where you might have it sitting for a while and not selling.
How much more would it cost in materials to make a larger one? People might balk less at the price if it were a larger purse. It shouldn't take much more time labor-wise to make a bigger one, and might actually be easier on some of the detailed areas
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Hmmm, thank you very much for your thoughts.
There are two reasons I kept it smaller. First, I personally don't need or want much space, and second, a full cube can become really large relatively quickly.
But I think offering them on commission will probably be the best option if I do decide to do this. If people would enjoy this as a two-panel messenger-bag type thing, that will not only be a lot easier to make but less expensive for them.
Thank you very much!
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Yeah I can see a larger cube getting awkward pretty quickly. I just know that I would want something larger myself if I were to buy one. I carry a ton of stuff in my bag!
While a two panel tote/messenger bag wouldn't be quite as awesome as the actual cube, it would still be really cute and seems like a good option for people who like the look of this but cant afford to drop a couple hundred dollars on a bag.
If you decide to do commissions you can easily offer up both types of bags and even different size options so that definitely seems like the best way to go if you are going to sell them
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:\ Why is it when I make fan art to sell people are all like "You shouldn't sell fan art you're going to jail! I'm reporting you!" Someone even came onto my storeenvy shop and tried to get storenvy to shut me down. But whenever someone else wants to sell fan art people are all like "We'll help you do it! ;D" I just don't understand it.
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Well, your art seems more specifically aimed towards marketing? This is only how I see it, but many of your things seem to be printed and thus are easily reproducible in that respect. Copyright law itself is less favorable to things that can be easily reproduced and sold. Whether this is fair or not is not my place to say; however, it's probably a lot harder to make one of your plush pokemon hats-- or to make money off of them-- than to sell easily reproducible things for a small price.
It also could be because of the audience, or perhaps that the market is flooded with lots of similar things-- whether they're licensed or not.
Something that looks or is otherwise obviously hand-crafted is not only less likely to be targeted by litigation but also I think less likely to be targeted by the "white knights".
I love the Oregon Trail button, by the way.
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I really don't understand the difference. Fan art is fan art. :\ Companies don't care about the medium. Trust me.
Here's some advice for selling on Etsy. Don't do ANYTHING by Fox, NBC, CBS, Disney, EA, or Bethesda. They comb through Etsy regularly to get ALL fan art removed. Doesn't matter if it's the legal kind (comedic parody etc) You get three copyright strikes with Etsy and then they automatically shut your store down. Don't even try to argue, their lawyer is a prick who will treat you like something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe. Your name and IP is black listed, you're done on Etsy.
Don't advertise. People who want to buy fan art will find you. If you broadcast yourself to the general public you'll catch the attention of the mentioned "white knights". To that end, keep your shop small. White Knights get butt hurt if it looks like you're doing too well for their liking.
CBS got our shop shut down because of our "That's What She Said" button. It was to our understanding you couldn't trade mark a commonly used phrase. We should have realized money and lawyers make laws more like strong suggestions and looked it up on the trademark directory to make sure. Right after that is when a deviant art member went after our storenvy, thankfully storenvy is run by anti-corperate hipsters. Never been happy for hipsters before that time lol. We took down a few times and they let the rest of it slide.
The whole thing has killed my desire to craft. Without that Etsy income I'm on welfare now and I'm just too bitter and depressed to make anything anymore.
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It definitely helps to do fanart of companies that feel that fanart and fan products are a good thing. 
Moreover it seems that objects like clothing and very 'utilitarian' items are largely exempt from copyright law; although not from trademarks. I suppose because this is an object immediately recognizable from the game, if I tried to sell it, Valve could litigate on the basis of an unregistered trademark.
Honestly, most of what I do is more for me than for others. While I'd like to make money crafting, most of why I craft is because I like cool things but I don't have the money to pay for really cool things. And I can make them, so... y'know.
Ideally if I were to sell things as crafts, it would be crafts of my 'original' creation. If there is such a thing.
Call it the optimism of a naive youth, for that is what it is, but it isn't impossible to make a living on original products. Yes, it is harder, and when you don't have practice that makes it even harder on top of the harder... Then again, crafting was never something I have wanted to pursue for a living, so... I dunno, really. Thank you for the advice.
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I think this seems like a fun craft ;u; would you have a pattern that I myself could make this wonderful cube? if not its completely fine <3
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Ah, I do technically have parts of a pattern, but they're all cut up and not very clear...? Most sewing things are made with seams on the inside, but this particular piece requires a lot of seams on the outside in specific patterns and some of them are faux seams and then you have to handsew stuff and uguuu.
If I gave you a pattern, it wouldn't be enough to figure the piece out, is the thing, and I simply don't have the time to stitch together instructions.
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Oh thanks anyways ;u; I can just try to figure it out myself. it shouldnt be that hard... right? but thanks anyways <3
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A simplified version of the pattern would be very simple. Since mine has the ridges, basically, that's what makes it fairly difficult.
Good luck!
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thanks <3 you too with your awesome crafting skills
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...is it bad I was expecting a little puppy to come out? DO YOU HAVE AN ETSY? I agree you should sell these. It's not enough to live off of...but it is a small suppliment.
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I do have an Etsy! Not a well-stocked one, however. =w=; I find that I make things for myself, but then it's really hard to make time to make extras for other people. I really should work on that more.
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That's understandable. Not to mention if you make it for other people then it loses the original personal value.
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$20 an hour x 20 hours is $400 + $50 for supplies. $450 is perfectly reasonable for a handcrafted designer purse, and $20 an hour is a reasonable rate for craftsmanship work.
My suggestion would be to make really good cutting templates and find someone with excellent bulk cutting tools so you can pump out enough pieces for 20 purses in one hour, then blast through the sewing as fast as possible so each only takes 2 hours. Then you can reasonably sell them for $60-$70 each.
Though "mass" producing unlicensed products of intellectual property involves other problems... But Valve is one of the most chill companies I know of, so you'd probably be fine.
On these notes, I'd trade you some of my original paintings ($50-$500 range) so I could get this for my fiancee.
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I'm not particularly interested in mass production-- since it is more detrimental to the company involved, and I like Valve-- although, yes, that would be the easiest way to make money. Though, even if I had access to bulk cutting tools, there's simply no way this particular design could be sewn in 2 hours, based on the level of detail and difficult precision necessary.
While occasionally an art trade can tempt me, I couldn't even take a commission right now, let alone an art trade. And even after that, I like doing art so much all I want to do is sell things so I can go and make more things. As much as I appreciate art, I guess, I appreciate making art more. Thank you very much for the offer, however.
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I know the feeling. I'm currently interviewing for jobs while trying to survive on print/original sales. Not fun, but better than working fast food.
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If this were a lunch box i would be all over it XD
I personally don't see the companion cube being very practical as a purse but the design is great and you did a wonderful job creating it into what YOU wanted!
Good Luck!
:3
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How does the thing stay shut? Buttons? Magnets?
As far as pricing goes, it's very simple. Price it at what you think is fair and if someone wants to buy it that's great. If not, then it's not worth your time to create.
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It's not immediately obvious, but there is a zipper.
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I never seed the zipper.
You are awesome
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...do you not see le zipper?
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Offering anything lower than a $100 is straightforward offensive, but you could definitely ask more than that. Don't sell yourself short.
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Thank you very much! Maybe I'm wrong, but this is exactly what I think I needed to hear. >w>;; It's all too easy to sell yourself short when everything around you seems to tell you you should, so you can 'compete'.
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I wish I could make one myself , so cool, oh so cool ;3;
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