Coo coo ka-choo, how do you do?
Oh, this past week I've been super busy preparing to launch the store. You heard me right, launch. It feels weird to say the store has been private while I've been writing weekly essays in the form of updates. My life, and the (inactive) store by extension, is super boring and making a weekly blog is tough! I'm currently 2 weeks behind! But, yes, I'm setting my very, very hopeful launch date as the first week of January!
I'm still waiting on some supplies to arrive, but the oversized safety eyes look fantastic! I haven't used any yet, but they are exactly what I was looking for for a bunch of the cuter themed plushies. They really remind me of the eyes attached to those massive prize dolls you'd win at an amusement park. One year, my family won a good fifteen of them and they all had these huge, soulless eyes that felt like they could see through time. We gave them the prizes, since they took up so much space, but seeing these eyes again just brings me back to that day. Fingers crossed, the plushies I make won't give off creepy vibes and instead radiate undeniable cuteness!
The topic this week is brought on by the difference between the sets of Galaxy Maker Gloves I've made recently. I finished one set of Outflow (Nova) and, while looking for additional yarn, made a set in Stardust (Aquarius). In the few days between working on them, I had noticed the huge difference in how nice Stardust felt to work with. Both yarns are Mandala Sparkle and I'm pretty sure they're both from the same store. I was talking to a friend and had told her, "Huh, the 'sparkle' in Stardust didn't disconnect and start tangling." Earlier this morning, I played yarn chicken with Outflow out of boredom and the feeling between the two colors is huge. The Stardust gloves slide on and off smoothly, while the Outflow ones are scratchy and bulky. I haven't tried washing any item yet, but these definitely feel like they need to be soaked in softener or something.
Regardless, I've been on a gloves-making kick lately, so look forward to those being as staple as Dewdrop Hats around the time of launch. Plushes are still way more difficult and time consuming to me. I plan to make them, as seen by the majority of my drafted products, but they won't show up in the store in plentiful numbers for a good while. On top of that, I still don't have a solid way to price them. I want to make sure the amount of effort goes into the price, but people won't buy a $200 keychain, would they? I tend to go looking for other crochet stores, which is surprisingly difficult, to look at what they price their plushes as. I don't have permissions to sell from the Eeveelutions patterns I like (Sorry, Pouch Monster Adaption Plushes), but I see others who have similar patterns price theirs what feels like criminally high. Then I attempt to make one? Yeah, those prices are criminally low. But still, that's my view as a fellow crafter rather than a customer's.
I don't want to make my prices at a weird point at launch, and then have people complain when I refine them over time. The chibi adaption plushes have gone from $25 to $50 to $100 and back more times than I can count and I can't even freaking sell those! But after setting my hat prices, they definitely will not be cheaper than a quick, easy hat. Each of those cute little legs is an individual tiny piece I have to sew! One circle (oval? egg?) versus fifteen pieces minimum not even including color changes. No wonder the market for bulky bees is flooded to oblivion!