I was making t-shirts for myself long before I ever thought I would try to sell them. An example of this is that hand-painted Lando Calrissian shirt I wrote about back in September. These were days when I was a poor art student. At the same time that I was making t-shirts for myself to wear, I was making custom greeting cards for friends and family, since I couldn’t afford gifts for them on holidays and birthdays. I guess I could have made t-shirts for THEM, too, but then you have to know everyone’s size, etc. I would put a lot of energy into the cards, and they were basically little mini paintings. Eventually, I had so many card designs that I decided to try to sell them. The original paintings were all given away, so I either worked with digital scans, or re-made the designs. I had too many designs to be able to afford printing them all in bulk, so I was printing them from my home inkjet printer as each order was placed. I knew that if things really took off, it would be impossible to fill these orders individually by myself. For that reason, I never really tried to expand the business too much beyond a hobby. At some point I realized it would make much more sense to sell t-shirts. Orders would be more expensive, but I wouldn’t need to start with as many designs, and filling orders would be at least a little easier. I made a few t-shirts and sold them alongside the cards for a while. What was making it difficult to fully commit to selling t-shirts was that I just didn’t have room to store a bunch of shirts in my house. A few years later, I discovered Printmojo, and the solution to most of my business obstacles. With them I had a printer, and a warehouse and someone to fill my orders for me. Suddenly, I was able to really get things in gear! I love making t-shirts. I design them for myself, then try to find people with similar tastes who might also want to wear them. This is my approach that has thus far been pretty successful. But then, I started to miss the greeting cards, too, and tried to figure out a way to incorporate them into the Donkeyshines world. There are still some logistics that limit the way I can sell them. For instance, I really need to sell them in 10-packs. People tend not to buy birthday cards and such in bulk, so that is why I have started with holiday cards. In another year, I might add Valentine’s Day cards to the mix, and then we’ll se what happens from there. T-shirts are going to still be my major focus, since they’re just so much fun to make! Anyway, here are a couple of examples of my old greeting cards. Guess what occasion each card was for…
