My Views on Custom Orders and Unicorns

I love doing custom orders.  I. Love. Custom. Orders. I feel like making things by hand is such an intimate process. You are involved in each step of the process. You pick the materials. You design the product. You make it. You pack it. You ship it.

You...get the idea.

The intimacy of making something by hand is increased at least a hundredfold when the customer is a part of the design and creation process. When the communication is good between both parties, it is a blissful experience. Now, I cannot do all customs all the time; it takes longer, because you need to talk to the buyer and finalize designs and fees and whatnot. But, doing custom orders every now and then is refreshing.

Most often, the buyer wants a color combo I had not thought to offer before. Sometimes, the buyer wants something altogether new. Something I never thought of. Something totally unique. I love that. It pushes my boundaries, increases my repertoire, and ultimately makes the customer super-duper happy. It's a glorious situation all around. I get street cred for making a crazy-odd design, and the customer gets to tell everybody that their one of a kind hat was their own idea, and it was made by a glittery fun girl who is game for most things.

Last week a lovely lady messaged me on Etsy asking if I would be willing to do a custom unicorn hat for her to give to someone for Christmas. Of course the answer was yes! She had seen my 'normal' Unicorn Hat in my shop and was unsure if the recipient of the hat would really wear such an attention-grabbing creation. The person was hip and fun and would probably think the hat was neat, but needed a more low-key chapeau for erryday thuggin'. 

Which, honestly, worked out really well that the lady wanted a custom, because less than 3 hours after she messaged me, the Unicorn Hat I had listed in the shop sold to someone else.

'Normal' Unicorn Hat. Yeah, it's pretty cray.

She decided that she wanted a shorter, white mane for the hat. I was excited, because I had some floofy FunFur on hand that worked poifectly. I think it turned out very cute! I was a little worried at first that a shorter mane would make the "unicorn aesthetic" a little less obvious, but I mean, come on. The thing has a horn coming outta it's head!! Unicorn to the max.

I love these labels so much. I cannot tell you. Well, I can. And I'll say it again: LAHVE DEM.

Another successful custom order!! Well, I think it was successful. The hat should be arriving to it's happy new home any day now, so I'll know soon enough if it was an all-over success.

Happy Saturday!!
-Carolyn