Necessary Tools

  I'm not talking about the typical tools used in felting here.  I'm talking about this very lovely dress form that is helping to display my beautiful nuno scarf.  This one belongs to a friend, Sam, who lets me borrow her for photos.  Recently I've moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sam isn't so close any more.  When you're in love with making felt you need to have an outlet, so to say, for all these lovely things your making.  A girl can only have so many scarves or bags and you don't want to overload your family with felt so you do the next logical thing, you sell your work.  I had my things in a few shops locally and sales were so so, then people started telling me I should open an Etsy shop.....I was probably one of the few people in California who had never heard of Etsy!  I checked it out and after that I was hooked.  There are so many wonderful artisans in one place, what a brilliant idea. (Sam has an Etsy shop too~Inklore http://www.etsy.com/shop/inklore?ref=ss_profile)   It can also be a bit dangerous, so many original works to tempt you! Well, I was impressed with what I saw so I decided to open a shop.  They made it so easy to get up and running, they also have a great support system and advice to get your shop noticed, which can equal sales.  That is the one drawback with Etsy, there are so very many shops and goods being sold.  Search for felt purses and there are over a thousand pics!  How do you stand out, how do you attract buyers?  There are lots of strategies but one of the most obvious to me is have a good picture.  This brings me back to the necessary tools.  I think the scarf is shown off beautifully on the dress form, your eye goes straight to the scarf, not someones face.  I've already sold two scarves since opening my shop in April of 2011, not bad.  Recently I made three more scarves and I need to photograph them, Sam and I haven't been able to hook up so I just did the next most logical thing~I purchased a dress form just like the one Sam has!  She's coming Fed Ex all the way from Tennessee, I can't wait for her to arrive.  If I'm going to have those great photos I'll need the right tool, a dress form!  Where did I find one just like Sam's.....on Etsy of course!  If you want to check out my etsy shop go to:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/terrysifeltlikeit?ref=si_shop 
Tell me what you think, I love constructive feed back.