The October Rush

Ash again. So far, the October/Halloween season seems to be doing us well. We've sold 5 masks in the last 3 weeks or so, and expect more soon. I'm half wondering if the whole 5 week custom mask thing is going to hurt our sales in the end, so some Etsy descriptions might have to be rewritten. Especially since we've been getting faster ;)

Yesterday, Aurelius came back into town and we had a group mask day for the first time in a few months. He designed an AWESOME logo! So we ordered new business cards, came up with a fantastic care sheet to include with shipped masks, and updated our banner/icon on Etsy. Things are coming together!

Vending wise, it looks like a lot of art fairs are happening in the area soon. However, what the junk, vending canopies (10x10 pop ups) sell for close to $300?! Whyyy. I found one used on craigslist but it sold before we could even take a look. And it was $65 and greeen! Sighz. If anyone is following this and has a canopy they want to sell TELL MEEEE. Us. Somehow. We're poor mask makers, haha.

Oh wait, ebay!

Okay hope is not lost.

In any case, we're taking things up a notch. Initially, FaerieWorlds 2011 was going to be our big vending adventure (haha that sounds cool, vending adventure... *dork*), but the more interest seems to be spiking, the more we want to get out there and vend as much as possible.

Next we just have to figure out how to get in touch with these local art shows, get a pop up table, and kick this business into overdrive.

HELL YEAH.

...I'm not funny.

haha ♥

Post numero uno!

Man, I can't believe we haven't been blogging.
SO much has happened since we started making masks last December (2009).

I suppose I'll start by outlining some of the highlights of our kick off year:

• Reserved the name Oak Myth (a combination of both my and Eve's usernames, "FeatherMyth" and "OakWitch") on sites like Etsy, Gmail, Blogger, DeviantArt, and Twitter.
• First mask prototype completed December 19th
• Aurelius joins the team moments after the mask is uploaded to Facebook, as Product Photographer and co-designer.
• Realizing that the eyes are too close together and making a successful new template/pattern.
• Apollo mask sells for $75 to Diane Arms, a producer for theater company "Poison Apple." First mask sale! April 2010
• Business cards arrive May 6th.
• Crashed the Pagan Festival in Berkeley, May 8th. Sold our second mask, a remake of our first prototype for $40.
• May 10th, Launched our Etsy store full of beautifully photographed masks! Launched our Facebook fan page as well.
• First Etsy sale, May 26th. 
• Aurelius moves to Oregon, June 3rd. Contemplation follows about how the business will run.
• The masks make a trip to the FaerieWorlds festival in Oregon with Ashley (still not vending officially). Total of 4 sales! The Sun & Moon pair went to a dear friend for $60, the Dragon sold to a wonderful woman we met there for $130, and our very first prototype (pictured above) went to a new friend for $25. 
• September: After returning from a trip to see Aurelius in Oregon, Ashley decides to move up to the Portland area this winter. Moments later, Eve announced on Facebook that she too will be moving up to Portland as soon as possible. The team will be united again!
• September 17th our two most expensive masks sell on Etsy to the same person. The Dragon and The Forest masks. By far, the biggest sale yet ($280).

To date, we've sold a total of 13 masks! Our facebook fan page has 171 followers and is growing all the time. We have plans to vend at the Saturday Market in downtown Portland, as well as FaerieWorlds 2011.

While all of us had good feelings about going into this, I don't think any of us really realized how quickly this would take off and become something we could all potentially live off of. Excluding the festivals, we haven't been putting too much energy into advertising ourselves. Everyone on Etsy just found us; they're all strangers!

It's amazing and thrilling and exciting. I love this craft and I know my partners in crime do as well :]

-Ashley