Sunday, December 4, 2011

Dazzled by Zazzle

Pending design: Sturgeon Bay Stompers

I've been designing things as long as I can remember. Over the last 25 years, I've designed books, book covers, awards, business cards, pins, athletic wear, swimming caps, postcards, posters, T-shirts, banners, calendars, logos, etc., etc., etc. Most of the time, if a design comes to fruition, I've gone through individual vendors to purchase the goods, and then either used or resold them.

Willy Wonky iPad case
The print-on-demand craze of the last decade has been mostly about books for me, and I've used Blurb and iPhoto to produce my items. I never knew about Zazzle until this week, when a lovely lady named Cathleen Savage who runs a Zazzle business called QuiltedPhones contacted me asking about quilt images. We discussed some ideas, but as soon as I discovered Zazzle, I wanted to create my own products.

Blue Shade Shoes
For anyone who isn't familiar with Zazzle, it's like print-on-demand gone wild. There are mugs, mousepads, iPhone cases, cards, posters, ornaments, stickers, laptop sleeves, T-shirts and even Keds sneakers! That's what really got me going - the idea that I could design sneakers. After poking around on Zazzle for an afternoon, designing some products and ordering a few Christmas gifts, I realized I needed my own Zazzle shop.

Cathleen was very gracious when I told her of my plans to start my own shop, even though it meant I would be holding on to my images. And I'm thankful to her for leading me to Zazzle. To visit my Zazzle shop, click here.

7 comments:

  1. a friend of mine has a Zazzle shop and she always encourages me to open one too! I love your stuff! You will do great there! Good luck with the new venture!
    Your denim quilt is fabulous and shoes are crazy good!

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  2. It's fun for me, especially since I've designed things in every other way I've found possible for so long. The shoes go through an approval process, and if approved they will be posted to the shop. I hope they are approved because I could totally see quilters enjoying them.

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  3. Oh yes, shoes are really what grabbed my attention this morning on the blogroll. I hope they approve them too! I think it will be fun to spot quilters wearing them at the quilt shows.

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  4. Just gotta LOVE groovy out-there shoes!

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  5. Absolutely awesome, Bill! But I'm curious are people allowed to use images of quilts and such that they didn't make and design? Also, are you in on the bidding for the Andrea Balosky quilt at AAQI this month;) Love your blog, always fun to visit even if I don't leave a comment.

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  6. Hi Michele, The only applicable copyrights are on the photos of the quilts and the one denim top I made myself. I will not try to copyright the quilt block designs, though. I think it's kind of a fallacy to copyright block designs when most of them are borrowed and adapted from pre-existing designs that were never copyrighted or even officially named. Thank you for the reminder on the AAQI auction. I wish it was being run through eBay, but if I remember I will bid. :)

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  7. I've done a few things through Zazzle...very fun! Got some sneakers for my niece that match the quilt I gave her. Also I've used them for business cards...

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