Pony jewellery - advice/opinions - pic heavy!

[SquarePeg]

Hi pony peoples, long time no see!  I'm currently ill and very tired, this might be a bit disjointed and scrambled so apologies in advance 

I'm looking for some feedback/advice.  Feedback on some pony jewellery I've made and advice on how to go about selling it; I've never sold crafty stuff before and I'm not sure where to start!  I have some specific questions, but first there's splashy pictures and some exposition.

I'm making jewellery based on the wings of the G1 and G4 pegasi.  At the moment I have two styles of G1 adult wings, G1 baby wings, G1 newborn wings and G4 adult wings, so five styles altogether.

The style 1 G1 adult size wings, here shown as two pins (they look great on either side of a shirt or coat collar):

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Style 1 G1 adult wings as a pendant on the left, and on the right is the G4 wings:

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G4 adult wings as a pendant and the back of the pendant, all the pendants have silver plated findings sealed onto the wings with more resin, so they're very sturdy:

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And some more G4 wings, the ones on the left look a little wonky as I was looking for an angle that shows off the gold sparkles in the clear blue resin:

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Semi-transparent shimmery G4 wings filled with 'bubbles' and the G1 newborn wings inset with silver stars (that you can't really see in this pic, darn) made into dangly earrings:

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G1 newborn pendants:

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A G1 baby pendant and a detail shot of a glittery G1 newborn pendant:

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G1 two-tone baby pendant:

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Style 2 G1 adult wings with butterfly embeds:

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And finally a couple more style 2 G1 pendants:

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These were all actually made four years ago and they look as good now as then, they're pretty solid.  Since then my resin casting skills have improved and when/if I start making these again I'd be able to achieve a lot more different effects and colours.  I also would like to make miniaturised versions of the wings to make earring studs out of.

I've worn versions of these wing pendants out and about and received lots of compliments on how cute they are, all from people who had no idea that they were My Little Pony wings.

That's probably enough exposition now!  On to questions:

What would be the best platform to sell these?  The pony boards/Etsy/other?

I have sterling silver chains that the pendants look great on, but this obviously pushes the price up.  They can also be worn with an existing necklace, but this doesn't look quite as nice as a fitted chain.  Should I offer them with chains/without or have a cheaper option such as cord?

How much of a pain is it to offer custom pieces?  I can make pretty much any colour, with or without inserts, matte or glossy etc.  Are commissions more of a hassle than they're worth?

And finally, any ideas on how to price these would be very, VERY appreciated!

Any and all questions and feedback welcome

[ponyqueen]

I love these- I thought I'd seen something similar on Etsy in the past- guess that wasn't you?

Etsy, Arena, and Ebay could all be good places to sell. They all have pros and cons... I think they'd do well on Etsy. You could also do local craft fairs (since people like them just as wings) and sell them at pony meets/fairs. I love the pieces you've made- I can also see these as keychains and just decorative dangles.

For necklaces- I'd have a few options for buyers to start out. A chain might push the price up, but maybe you'd be surprised that folks don't mind the price for a nice piece. Not crazy about a cord for a cheaper option- don't want to cheapen the overall necklace, y'know?

Pricewise, it's nice to have a range. Perhaps your most economical piece is $5 (for a single wing pin) to $15 (for adult wings pendant, no chain/cord). These prices are just an example. You know what you material costs are, what your time is worth, plus consider fees for selling in different venues. Price yourself fairly- don't undercharge. These are cute and good quality. That said, I love trading my art for ponies and LPS I collect!


Good luck!

pq

[Griffin]

They are adorable! I also think it's wonderful how they can be appreciated by MLP fans and non-pony people alike, I'm sure they'd sell well in cons or craft fairs like ponyqueen suggested.

I don't know enough about selling on Etsy or similar sites to give you any good advice but if it's possible/easy to do, I think it would be a good idea to offer the pendants both with and without chains. Keychains sound like a cute idea, too!

[pickwick_pirate]

I can't really give advise on how to sell, but etsy does seem like the 'it' platform for bespoke crafts like this. I more wanted to say I think these are beautiful and I would definitely buy them!

[hathorcat]

Beautiful! These are lovely and will certainly apply to lots of people not just pony collectors of course.

I agree, etsy is very much the go to place for selling hand made products - I would give that a go initially

[NoPonySpecial]

Do you think you'd be able to make stud earrings with these? I have no idea if that'd be harder or not, but I would love a pair of pony-wing studs. (Probably would have to be Newborn wings, of course!)

These are so cool, they're cute and simple. I actually don't like the ones with the butterfly embeds, because my eye is so drawn to the butterfly that I might not even notice it's a pegasus wing. But then, maybe that's the idea. Or, wait! Maybe you could embed smaller items/images. For example, you could make a pair of pink wings and have little blue lightning bolts embedded in the wingpit to make a Firefly-themed piece.

I anticipate you'll end up using a lot of white, because these might make wonderful angel wings as well.

I look forward to when you get the details hashed out and you get to selling these!

[ZennaBug]

I love the idea of the wings as pins (you could wear one on each side of a collared shirt or together) and I also really like the pendants with the two wings together.  I look for stuff like this on Easy all the time, so that might be your best platform to sell them.  Maybe put different versions of each up with different prices, see which ones sell the best, and focus on those. 

[Purpleglasses]

Oooh, could you make collar pins with chains? That would be really ellegant. I especially like the first g1 style, the Firefly looking ones!

As to cost, please remember to factor in your time and materials, or you'll come up at a loss and have to stop making them. $5 for your smallest piece sounds nice, but resin is pricey, making molds and casts takes time, and the materials for molds are not cheap. To be efficient, you probably need multiple molds of each shape, and to replace molds as they get warped by repeated use. Its hard to imagine it could be produced for so little.

Here is an article on how people price their crafts. It includes a formula. Don't undersell yourself! You don't have access to mass production facilities, and creative people often undervalue their work.

http://www.craftprofessional.com/craft-pricing-formula.html

Etsy has a similar article: https://blog.etsy.com/en/2012/a-simple-formula-for-pricing-your-work/

They both cite the same formula. Good luck! Etsy seems like a good place to sell, and if I saw these at a pony or brony convention I would certainly walk away with a pair.

[Tilas]

Etsy is probably your best bet, but word your products carefully. I know there's countless MLP stuff on etsy, but Hasbro's legal eagles do routine swoops and shut down products all the time for copyright. With these you could easily get away with simple keywords like "angel wings" or "bird wings" and be just fine, as you mentioned, many still thought they were cute and didn't realize they were pony. You don't wanna get a warning from etsy (once is warning, twice is banning). Otherwise, it is the best place to sell crafts. Just do your research, make sure you figure out shipping before you list, cause shipping is the #1 thing to mess you up.