sweetharvey

HANDMADE: Pricing

Sweet Harvey — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:32:57 +0000

For those of you who might have missed it, Etsy released a great article on their blog today about pricing — Etsy Article: Simple Formula for Pricing Your Work. The biggest issue I have with pricing is with artists/creators who under-price. Why? Because artists, like me, who are trying to make a living from our work have no chance in competing with Walmart style pricing.

Image Credits: INgrain via Etsy

We do not have companies manufacturing our products. We do not create a million products at once to secure severely discounted supplies. We create every piece by hand which includes sourcing the materials, paying for the materials to be shipped to us, creating the product, photographing the product for sale, listing the product and I am sure I have even skipped a few steps in there.

Anyway, if you are getting ready to start a handmade business or are just interested in how handmade pricing comes about — this article is for you!

Spring is in Full Swing

Sweet Harvey — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:55:40 +0000

So I just listed this amazing tote via Timeless Finds and I am so in love with it. We picked it up at a large Swap Meet last weekend that was full of amazing stuff. While I thought about this tote — I was moved by spring and found a couple of other awesome finds for spring that I thought I would share!

Image Credits: Timeless Finds Vintage

Image Credits: Better Homes & Gardens

Image Credits: Pottery Barn

Image Credits: Between You & Me

Check out MORE of our SPRING FINDS via our PINTEREST BOARD: SPRING GARDEN!

You Are My Sunshine — New Prints

Sweet Harvey — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:16:20 +0000

Image Credits: You Are My Sunshine by Sweet Harvey LLC

I have been doing a lot more drawing lately — simple drawings but super fun. I am working on the line of art prints that we talked about in the last post.

I just finished up with one that is a song my grandpa Harvey used to sing to me. In fact, he actually got me a tiny music box that played the song when I was young.

CHECK EM’ ALL OUT HERE!

Ready for the Big News?

Sweet Harvey — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:30:09 +0000

I was WAY too excited to hang onto this news until Monday so here we are, releasing a big story on Friday like a goofball. So what is the big huge amazing news that just could not wait for Monday?

Sweet Harvey is going DIGITAL!

It has been over a year since we retired our Custom Design line. The decision was made to retire the line for several reasons 1) long runs are very labor and time intensive for the printer 2) it is a difficult process to order custom plates for letterpress 3) product costs were high due to both the labor time and the high cost of letterpress supplies.

Since that time we have received requests for custom designs — almost daily. It was just recently that I finally decided to do something about it, as it is the worst feeling having to turn away customers.

SO WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
We are thrilled to announce that we will now offer a line of designs that are digitally printed or flat printed. Digital printing means that print-ready files are sent directly from the computer to our professional grade Epson printer. This method allows for cost-effective small print runs that are less labor intensive.
So what will we offer?

CUSTOMIZABLE PERSONALIZED DESIGNS

This line will consist of personalized stationery, art prints and in time we will be bringing back our customizable invitation line.

Customizable means that the designs are ready-made but the client will have the option to customize certain aspects of the design such as colors and/or typeface. The customizable options will be dependent on each individual design.

ART PRINTS

We will finally be able to offer new full-color art prints in various sizes — yeah! Without having to invest $200–400 in metal plates for each design, we will now be able to offer more designs MORE often — yeah!

HOLIDAY GOODS
COMING SOON
Our holiday line of paper goods will transition to digital printing. Without having to invest in plates, for goods that can only be sold for a short period of time, we will again be able to offer more designs MORE often!

What if I prefer LETTERPRESS?

No worries — we will continue to offer our line of ready-made letterpress & screen-printed goods, just like we offer now. We are not retiring letterpress — just opening up our shop to a new printing method!

We hope you will enjoy the new designs as much as we do. It has been great fun designing them & looking forward to being able to offer new products regularly!

Thanks so much,
Brandi

SEE THE NEW DESIGNS HERE — ADDING DAILY FOR SEVERAL WEEKS!

We Are Being Published!

Sweet Harvey — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:16:14 +0000

Image Credits: Heather Mitchell

I could not be more excited to announce that Sweet Harvey is being PUBLISHED — YEAH! My shop & work were selected to be part of the book THE VANDERCOOK 100! THE VANDERCOOK 100: Celebrating 100 years of printing on the Vandercook proof press and showcases 100 of today’s most significant letterpress printers using the Vandercook press.

This post would not be complete without a HUGE thank you to the author/designer of the book — Heather — congratulations on your amazing accomplishment and thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this fantastic book.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOOK HERE: thevandercook100.com

PRE-ORDER VIA AMAZON HERE