Laying out the products

I am still looking to see what items we want to make for the Mermaid's Chest. For those of you who haven't heard the back story, this is a fledgling enterprise. We have been slowly buying the needed equipment and converting a very old garage into a viable workspace.

The overall goal is to open a shop, but first we want to sharpen our skills with some events and flea market visits. I have in mind the bi-yearly Renaissance Faires held at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds. Mind you, we have great interest in fantasy art so that genre should suit us. The products we want for those venues will be graphic intensive.

tee shirts jewelry
laptop cases cellphone cases
puzzles throw blankets
mousepads tote bags
plaques

The other concentration will be on selling items in the beach community where we live. A good friend has a tourist shop and we are collaborating with her to place items on consignment. Those items will be more photographic and personalized in nature. We hope to supply items for beach weddings as well.

flip flops tiled boxes water bottles
sports towels bbq aprons car flags
golf club covers backpacks huggers

And, as my husband is a plumber and tile installer, emphasis will be placed on marketing tile murals for kitchens and showers. There are also a lot of kitchen and household items we can image:

light switch covers cutting boards wine boxes
pillows coasters framed artwork/plaques
serving trays backsplash murals clocks
mugs glassware plates

And, this is only a partial list of product ideas. I'll bet right now you think we are spreading ourselves a little thin with such a large range, but that is the beauty of dye sublimation transfer. We can buy the items as few or as many as we need, thanks to our great supplier, Conde Systems (www.conde.com). And our imprinting setup allows us to print one at a time or in production mode to fill large orders.

Plus, Conde offers customisable flyers and catalogs in which we can insert our logo (when we decide on it). We can use their artwork and product photos, too. As good as any franchise without the surrender of control.

Well, I really must see what kind of logo I can create. Next blog will be about working with graphics. Toodle-oo.