New Glassware

I'm always looking for new ways to expand on my existing lines. I feel that you don't have the recreate the wheel when adding new items to your shop. Looking at your existing lines can be just as beneficial. I recently added 3 new glassware items to my Wedding Section.

These Vegas Shot Glasses were a special request and I just love how they turned out! What a fun way to make your Vegas wedding, vacation or other celebration even more special!

These Personalized Mason Jars were also a special request. The bride had ordered wine glasses for the bridal party and wanted something special (and appropriate) for the flower girls and ring bearers. The mason jars are perfect!

 

My Personalized Beer Mugs have done really well for groomsman gifts. I recently had a groom with a special request for a more formal design. This fun design and monogram came together nicely and the groom couldn't have been happier.

I still have a couple new designs for flutes and more shot glasses that I hope to have listed soon as well. Keep your eyes open for more new designs!

New Glassware

Last week I mentioned that I've been working on more wedding items including some new glass items. And I recently added 3 new glass items to my shop!

The first two go along with the trendy mustache theme that I love so much :) I added a Personalized Shot Glass as well as a set of Pilsner Glasses. I think they'll both make great groomsman gifts!

I also just added a Scratch & Dent listing for my shot glasses. I'm really picky about which glasses I use in my regular listings, so there are always a few that don't pass my inspection. Over time I've accumulated quite a few of these "imperfect" glasses and they need to be put to good use. They're all still fully functional, they just have air bubbles or scratches. I thought a discounted listing for these would be a great idea. Often times when you're giving shot glasses as a wedding gift, they don't always make it through the night...lol :) So little imperfections aren't a problem at all...and you even get a discount for them!

Question:

What do you do with your "imperfect" items? Do you listing them at a discount?

 I have to admit, it was really hard for me to list an imperfect item in my shop!

2, 4, 6, 8? Listing Sets

Something I see asked a lot in the forums on Etsy, and that I have trouble with from time to time as well, is listing items in sets.

*Will this item sell as a set?

*How many should I list in each set?

*Should I offer multiple sets?

When I first started listing my wine glass sets, I had them listed as sets of four. To me this just seemed like a common glass set number. I sold a few, but my other glass items seemed to do better than the wine glasses.

I recently had a request for a set of two wine glasses. After the custom listing sold, I went ahead and relisted it as an option for my shop. I tend to do this a lot with my shot glass, beer mug and flute sets too. It gives buyers more options. Just since listing the newly made set, I've sold three more sets of the two glass listing!

Sometimes it's just trial and error that leads to the right answer. After I got to thinking about it, a set of two does make more sense for gift-giving. If you're going to put a couples' names or monogram on a glass, they probably don't need their name on more than one glass :) It's always a good idea to revisit our listings and see what changes we can make.

Photography - A Work In Progress

Photography is one thing I've struggled with since opening my Etsy shop over 4 years ago. My photos have definitely gotten better since the first ones I uploaded! But with each new product comes new struggles it seems.

Photo courtesy of Wake Photography

Since I started selling glass items, I've run into a whole new territory for photography. My friend Melanie at Wake Photography was nice enough to come take photos for me to upload my first glass items to Etsy. She did an awesome job and I wish I had her here all the time to take more pictures! But I like to take photos as I make items and sometimes I'll take photos of custom orders before I ship them, so I don't have the option to wait for the photos to be taken. So it's time I started learning on my own!

My backdrop was the first thing that had to change. I usually take my photos on a white background, but that's just not an option with glass. I found that black worked about the best and all I had on hand at the time was a black table cloth. It worked, but it wasn't the greatest. (Of course Melanie made it look awesome!) So the other day I purchased sheets of black poster paper to lay inside my light box. After I finally got it cut to size, it worked pretty well!

I had tons of glasses that needed photographed, so away I went. Lighting and reflections are still something I'm working on, but I'm really happy with the way these new photos turned out. I know I'll never be as good as Mel, but I'm hoping to get photos good enough to put in my shop.

What do you think of my new glass photos? Please be honest and tell me if you think these are good enough to go in my shop and what your reaction would be if you saw them on Etsy. I've already added a few and I hope they'll get some views :)