Michelle SaintOnge Business Timeline- Part 4

My Journey to Become an Independent Artist and Craftsperson.

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4

My Time to Give Back

2008- I made plans to visit SURTEX in New York City. It’s one of the largest licensed art trade shows and I had been there before on a fact finding mission about the licensing business two years earlier. But I was late deciding to attend and there was no way I was going to secure a booth to show my work. I decided to attend as a guest and I would make a contact serendipitously. I intended to take my portfolio, attend all the seminars the show offered and somehow a manufacturer would strike up a conversation with me and become my newest fan and want to work with me. You might be laughing a bit now after reading that but I am a HUGE believer in putting out your wishes and intentions into the universe to make them happen. That being said I also believe nothing happens without action. I knew that in order for someone to want to have a conversation with me, amidst the thousands of other attendees and talented artists I was going to have to attract some attention. I thought perhaps if I made an extraordinary handbag with fabric I printed and designed it might be a reason for someone to approach me and start a conversation. I was so busy up to the night before I flew to New York preparing the artwork in my portfolio that the handbag was the last thing on my long to do list. Literally at midnight before I left I decided that since I hadn’t come up with any new great print for the bag I would take some artwork I had already produced and use that. I ended up choosing some artwork from that very first solo show of mine. I used two pieces that were called “Chichilo XOXO Good Dog” and “Chichilo XOXO Bad Dog” which made the inside and the outside of this very simple tote-bag. (Oh, by the way, I should mention I had no idea how to sew anything  more than a straight line but the bag looked passable anyhow).As I had planned the bag got the attention of some now very excited manufacturers who proclaimed my work to be the next big thing and we began to explore licensing opportunities together. My collection of work was in it’s infancy and I can see now that it didn’t have the breadth it needed to cover a large range of products. It would work well on handbags but not as well on kitchenwares. I was also starting to do the math on the royalties paid for the work and they were really low. In the licensing business you need to leverage your artwork and have it on many products to make the royalties pay off. My work just didn’t apply that broadly- yet. So the manufacturer and I decided now wasn’t the right time to work together. 

Nevertheless, the bag I made garnered so much attention everywhere I took it I began to think that I should investigate producing and selling these bags myself. During the summer of 2008 I learned pattern making, sewing and produced a modest number of these bags. It’s one thing to buy a ready made canvas tote and put a one colour silkscreen placement print on it (you can find lots and lots of that in craft markets and on craft websites) but it’s a whole other beast to hand produce a full coverage four colour print with a hand printed lining fabric as well and that’s what my handbags were so they naturally had a higher end price point. The cost and production time are tenfold but that’s what I wanted to produce so I did.

My next step was to develop some marketing and a selling strategy. I knew that since the production cost of the bags was high I wasn’t really going to be able to wholesale them. I decided that I would sell them directly to my customers through my website and keep the cost of them lower. So I rebuilt my website with new branding and layout. I also decided I should incorporate a blog into the mix to keep my clients up to date with the work I am doing. I wasn’t happy with my first blog attempt so I began searching for information on how to make a better blog and I came across some great tutorials and they led me to an e-course on how to blog. I decided that if I was going to spend my time writing a blog I may as well make it worthwhile for me to write and for others to read. I created PrintCutSew! which you are reading right now. I wanted a place where I could share what I have learned over the years with other people already silkscreening and those who are just beginning. And I love to teach but I always dreaded the idea of the classroom set-up. I thought this blog would be the perfect way for me to teach my readers everything I had learned (sometimes the hard way) and pass along my experience to make their growth as a screen print artist and crafter faster and easier. I am always crafting new projects, new designs and exploring new techniques and I would love for lots of people to share in them. This blog is everything I needed when I started and I hope it helps all my readers become a better crafts people and realize their passion for making things.

Happy printing everyone!