The Great Come Back.
original regretsy.com
Though my primary medium is oil paint, handycraftmanship has a special place in my heart. -I can weave, lampwork, and work in stained glass – Also in my spare time I appreciate the illusive prey of genius.
This afternoon I happen to check out regretsy.com to see that one of the creators listed on there rebranded an item after the original critique. The item is a beaded brooch in the form of a butterfly, or at least attempting to be a butterfly in the opinion of Helen Killer, writer of regretsy.com.
valentinefiberarts not only is a skilled crafter but also a brilliant marketer with a good sense of humor. She took the time to reshoot the brooch and write a branded story of the item. (posted in full below)
Brilliant Brand Moment
Unlike a large corporation, who tries hard to respond quickly, the lightweight of staffing in an operation like this and many on esty.com allows a great marketing comeback and capitalization of this extra attention.
valentinefiberarts had this to say about the situation, “I had fun …the original pictures were a fright, and each day in my head I was going to retake them. Thanks to regretsy I was able to have some fun.”
Even recently I have seen large companies buckle under the weight of extra attention. Spending large sums on touting accolades with ambiguous results that sometimes, at best, look like ego stroking.
In a not so surprising turn of events the item has now been purchased. Someone must identify with being “young at heart and quite different,” and needed “not just your ordinary brooch.” -Sounds like a few people I know.-
Delicate and Sensitive
Take a moment and visit valentinefiberarts who is currently selling beautiful ornament pincushions. You can see that she has great sense of style and skill at her craft.
Poor Butterfly Brooch description
“HANDCRAFTED This little creature has lost and antenni, and seems to have alot going on. He was spotted almost being squashed by a car and then again riding on the windshield. He has quite a personality, eventhough his looks are a bit out of the ordinary…cartoonish character adds a touch of whimsy when you look at him. He loves to travel.
Measures about 1 2/2″ square not counting the antenni and arms. I call it a puff pin, as it has some polyester fiber fill tucked between the front and back. I find the clasp closures to be too bulky for this type of pin, so I use a safety pin. This will be easier to pin on as well.
Great gift for someone young at heart and quite different, not just your ordinary brooch.”
Laugh out loud, right?
PS. Yes, I know handycraftmanship is not a word. It is an idea, a grand idea, that all creators should strive towards.
Helen Killer said,
November 4, 2009 @ 3:25 PM
I saw your tweet about this and had to check out the story. I’m so glad I did.
I don’t know this seller, but I’m so impressed with the way she responded. It always disappoints me when sellers respond to being featured by yanking the item from their shop. The reader is directed to an error page that way, and they can’t even find the seller afterward.
And anyway, taking something out of your shop because a handful of people may not have liked it is ridiculous. Stand by your work. There’s a buyer for everything. Who cares how they find you?
I hope Valentine Fiber Arts sells many more items in the weeks to come. They certainly have a lot of new fans today, myself included.
Valentine Fiber Arts said,
April 20, 2010 @ 5:21 PM
I am the creator of the “poor butterfly”, it began on a Sunday afternoon, and I was truly set to create a beautiful beaded butterfly. After 3 hours, it was obvious that there was nothing beautiful about the piece…so rather throw a piece of my life in the trash can, I continued to create, but from a different view…thinking ninja turtles and space aliens, I thought I would make this quite different than what it began to be. It has one antenna, because two pins would not fit into the bead used for the head.
Then it came to the pictures…I am bad to begin with, but I wanted to get this listed, and thought, as usual, I can re-do them later. I used pink felt as a background and the kitchen light as my light source. At the time, when I did the listing title, I did not know that I could use a slash, so I used xxx. Sometimes I would use ZZZ. It was quite awhile later that I discovered the / could be used. DUH>>>>
I found myself on Regretsy…mortified at first, then decided to change things around. I read and re-read all the comments…took the camera and butterfly outside and the rest is Regretsy history.
Helen Killer perhaps was surprised to see someone with a comeback, but truly, I just wanted to fix something that was bad and mostly make people have a good laugh…I sure did!
I still make these butterflys, just for fun. I sent one to the Killer for her birthday.
That is the story of the “poor butterfly”. The End