I spend my days on Kintage and design. Hours and hours on the computer, everyday, working away. These days, though, I’ve started to miss having a handmade business. Design is lovely because I can create digitally and there’s no messy studio involved. Kintage is great because I can put my time into marketing and shopping, rather than trying to create product. But I really miss selling items I made with my own two hands.
For two years I ran a handmade shop for small pets. What does that even mean? Basically if you had a small pet in a cage like a rat or a ferret, you would buy washable liners and hammocks from me. They would be customized to the size of your cage and your fabric of choice. It was eco-friendly because it was reusable and it looked a lot nicer than wood shavings, but it was expensive and if you’ve ever had a small pet, you know that more often than not, it’d get chewed up. So while I had orders at times that were scheduled a month out, it was hard to make money because I couldn’t charge what I would to make a real living off of. I basically made minimum wage, sometimes less, sometimes more, but I loved creating everyday. Some days were grueling. Sitting at the sewing machine fighting with quilt batting for hours, trying to get a big order done, but I loved it. At the end of the day I could look around me and be proud of the items that have come together from my own two hands. I eventually stopped because it just got to be too much work with too little income. I hate to say that money is the only reason, but it really was.
And then there’s here and now. My mind has shifted lately and I’m doing my best to prevent myself from starting another business when the two I have need so much of my time and attention. But it’s been hard. I was put on this earth to run a business, that’s true, and I’ve known it since I was a kid, but I was also made to create with my own two hands. So for now I’ll try to focus on creating for fun, for myself, but it’s just the way I was made to turn everything into a business and whether I should feel ashamed of that or not, I’m not sure.
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