My name is Christopher
I’m new to selling on Folksy so I’d thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself and hopefully engage with other crafters.
I’m a horror artist based in Ashbourne, Derbyshire where I lived for the past 10 years.
Unfortunately since Covid many of my local craft markets and shops have never really recovered so it’s been a very hard slog trying to make any money from selling my artwork.
Having just opened a new shop on Folksy called The Horror Crafter I’d love some tips on how I can best promote my horror themed creations to the wider public and maybe with time have a successful business platform to promote my work.
My main specialty is in painted rocks and stone work. Each of my pieces are hand painted then sculpted over in layers with a quick drying craft resin that makes them appear 3 dimensional. All my work is unique and I never replicate the same designs offering my customers a truly one of a kind gift item.
I also like to create mini canvas paintings, clay models and pyrography on wooden coasters and Key-rings etc
I would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer a new seller such as myself and I loved your feedback on what I could do to improve my reach and start making sales.
Hi Christopher and welcome to Folksy, I love your painted horror stones and I am sure many others will love them too.
can I suggest you post on social media especially in the Folksy shop group on Facebook as well as Instagram and Pinterest to get yourself known by a wider audience.
Folksy have lots of helpful information on their blog and if you are a plus account holder they have lots of events / webinars which you might fine helpful.
Hi Christopher welcome to Folksy and good luck with your shop. It might take a while to build up momentum but with Halloween round the corner its perhaps a good time for your target audience. There is so much information on Folksy on how to get seen in searches, photo tips etc. Ive taken a quick look at your tags and you could vary them a little more. Gifts for goths, Dark arts, Macabre gifts, think what the customer would search for. It is really important to get the most relevent words in the title. There is a Dark Arts Market coming up soon in Long Eaton that you might be interested in checking out.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to look at my work and give me your advice, that’s so helpful of you and I really appreciate it.
I’ll be sure to check out the Folksy Shop group on Facebook. Sounds great!
I have an established Instagram account showcasing my work but I was unsure how to link it to my Folksy account like you can on Etsy, do you know if it’s possible?
I was hoping with Halloween on the horizon it might be a good time to reach an audience. Fingers crossed
Thank you so much for taking the time to offer your guidance and I shall certainly make sure that I vary my tags more. That’s actually really helpful advice!
The Dark Arts Craft Market in Long Eaton sounds amazing and it’s not too far from where I live. I’ll be sure to check it out!
I really appreciate your help
Hi Christopher, welcome to Folksy! I’m quite a new seller too, trying to build momentum, so I’ll be watching the tips coming in with interest!
One tip I can offer (it took me a while to find it for myself!) is to look in your dashboard for the Improve Your Shop menu > Themes of the day. There you can find a list of tags you can use to get any relevant items on the front page in the month ahead.
Welcome to Folksy, your items look great, and the 3D bits make them really stand out!
I’d just have a quick read through this blog post -How to write a listing that gets found in search results
as some of your titles/descriptions look a little short, and getting more keywords in there could make it easier for people to find your items. Like your pumpkin could have ‘halloween gift’ or ‘halloween decor’ at the end of the title, as it’s something people are likely to be searching at this time of year. Nosferatu could have ‘vampire’ in the title as more people might search that, and some could have something like ‘horror gift’ or ‘horror art’ in the title (the title is the most important part to search, so that’s why you want the words people are most likely to search by there).
Also, although buyers can guess at the approximate size from the photos, it might be good to add a size to the description, so it’s really clear whether the stone is 5cm tall or 15cm tall.
Hi Christopher,
Welcome to Folksy! Love the shop! That pumpkin is amazing
One way to engage with other Folksy shops is through the creation of Folksy Friday boards - especially as there will be a lot of halloween themes cropping up soon!
I have managed to find and follow you on IG, (thanks for following me back!) and wonder if you could add a link to your Folksy shop from your IG account? The purpose of the Folksy Friday boards is to to try to drive people to the Folksy site.
There is also the ‘daily listing challenge’ - there’s a link on the forum, and ‘rules’ are at the top of the page. This is a little more work, so you might want to settle in first, but most of us find it useful.
Good luck!
Obviously you couldn’t use stone for this, but when I looked at your pieces I was struch at how fab they’d be as belt buckles. They’d also look cool mounted in a shadow box with a theme appropriate background setting of some sort.
Thanks so much for your advice. I’m so pleased you like my Werewolf
I have some special 3D frames for my stones but so far only for small stones. I’ll look into those shadow boxes, they sound really good.
Much appreciated
Hi,
Thanks so much for the warm welcome!
The Folksy Friday boards sounds great, I’ll definitely check that out.
Thank you so much for following on IG, I really appreciate your support. I’ll make sure I get a link sorted to IG so it’s easier to find.
Thanks again for the great advice.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give me your guidance it’s greatly appreciated.
Improves my titles sounds like a really good idea. I’ll be sure to go over them and make them more detailed in their descriptions.
I’ll look at measurements too! I’ve added pictures with the stones in my hand but as you say it might not be too clear for customers to see exactly how big the item is so it’s definitely worth added more exact measurements.
Thank you so much for you help and guidance
welcome Christopher, your items are brilliant, horrid but brilliant…lol…( I mean that in the nicest possible way.) You are a brilliant artist and something different is always good.
You are doing the right thing by coming onto the forums and chatting. Everyone on Folksy is brilliant and there is always someone willing to help…
We have a challenge thread where you can join in and it helps to get you sales .
It takes a lot of hard work…( There are rules for joining in) We would all welcome you to join us…You have to list an item a day for the whole month and go and like everyone’s items that have been listed.( in their shop and not just on the thread)
In return, everyone visits YOUR shop to return the favour.
It helps you to get seen and to meet your fellow artists…
It sometimes takes time to get noticed on Folksy, so don’t give up…
Again…welcome x
Thank you so much Brenda for making me feel so welcome. You’ve really made my day saying that. The folksy community is already proving itself to be really helpful and understanding.
I would love to take part in the challenge thread it sounds like a lot of fun and I’d love to see and share other people’s work.
I’m in the process of sorting out what items to put in my shop at the moment but I’ll shall definitely start listening them asap.
Thanks again for your advice and I really appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me.
Christopher
Hi Christopher, welcome to Folksy. I really like your work especially Little Red Riding Hood.
As Kim said, your titles and descriptions are a little short so could do with being a little longer. Also, you’ve told us here about your background and processes but I can’t see anything about that in your shop so a potential seller visiting you wouldn’t know how talented you are or that each piece is one of a kind. You could include ‘work in progress’ photos or clips on your instagram account to link in with that too.
I’ve ‘favourited’ your shop to show my daughter as her boyfriend loves the weird and wonderful and she’s always on the look out for gifts for him.
Louise x
Love the shop! That pumpkin is amazing 
