Taking the Plunge into Craft Shows

It was a tough decision to make, but after a lot of deliberation Little Fox Engraving has decided to become craft show people.  I’ve always marveled at the weekend warriors who set up their goods for sale and sit at a booth while crowds systematically stop and stare at their wares.  It’s like setting up a garage sale but instead of items having sentimental meaning they have personal pride attached to them.  It will be interesting to sit and watch people show passion, indifference, or disdain for the items we spend all our free time creating.  It is too late now, we have taken the plunge and are committing our Labor Day weekend to Kettering, Ohio’s very own Holiday at Home Festival.  Table cloths have been ordered, banners have been designed, plans for displays have been drawn up, and babysitters have been arranged, we’re too invested to going back to only being Etsy people.  Barring any setback from the planning committee we are committed to becoming craft show people and to be honest it’s a little exciting.

Relationship with colors.

There is a big difference in the way that my wife and I handle our relationship with colors.  It goes beyond the old joke that men see white and women see eggshell, beige, off white, ect.  After talking I found we had the same education when it came to colors. In elementary school we learned about colors, in middle school we learned the symbolism of colors, and in high school we learned the science behind colors.  She just has a better grasp on the subtleties of colors and their relationship with design.

So at Little Fox Engraving all color decisions are left to her and below is our standard color wheel for any of our engraved items.  If you ever have questions about a color or want something you don’t see let us know at littlefoxengraving@gmail.com.

Great Idea

Yesterday Carowinds Amusement Park in South/North Carolina tweeted this photo as part of a contest to win a piece of a wood roller coaster that will be giving its final ride on July 26th.  I am an avid roller coaster enthusiast and the thought of owning a piece of any roller coaster gave me chills.  While I never have had the chance to go down to Carowinds I know I would have enjoyed Thunder Road because it looks very similar to the Racer at my home park of Kings Island.

Now what I feel is the brilliant thing is how Carowinds has taken pieces of the ride and engraved it with a beautiful design.  They’re basically taking wood that is most likely going to the landfill and turning into a collectors piece.  I’m attracted because it combines what looks like laser engraving with roller coasters, but I’m sure such a showpiece would be a priced showpiece for many a Carowinds faithful.

I think it is such a great idea that I’m going to be on the lookout for classic structures that might be demolished and try to find a way to save some of the wood or brick and turn it into a keepsake by doing something similar what Carowinds has done for Thunder Road.  Maybe that way a small piece of any demolished structure can live on with those who loved it.

Etsy

I remember specifically reading an article in INC Magazine back in roughly 2007 about some top young entrepreneurs and one was about this young kid who had created a commerce website specifically for homemade items.  The idea intrigued me but at that point I was only a sophomore in college and really didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to today and Etsy is the lifeline of our business.  We don’t really have any interest in a brick and mortar location and really aren’t ready for our own website.  Etsy offers us a great platform to offer our items for sale with considerable ease.

Visit our site at www.etsy.com/shop/littlefoxengraving and give us something to talk about at night as we go over how many views our shop got throughout the day.

Why Little Fox?

The toughest, most agonizing decision we’ve faced in a long time was what to name our business after we found our first choice was taken.  We run a laser engraving business, but it’s not like we wanted a generic name like Laser USA.  We thought we were so clever with the name Red Door Laser because all the doors to our house are red.  It was unique to us, but a fine business out of Flint, Texas already had that name.  So we scrambled and realized we both have an affinity for foxes.  Mine comes from my favorite Disney movie, Robin Hood and my wife grew up in the country and just always admired their beauty.  Then we decided that we needed an adjective somewhere in the title so after several options that just didn’t fit our style we decided nothing is cuter than a little fox.  So after going through all the legal hoops Little Fox Engraving was formed with no working knowledge of how to run a laser engraving machine or how to use design software.  This blog is dedicated to our adventure of how we are creating our dream of running a successful engraving business into a reality.