Tapping into my deeply hidden crafty side...

Okay so the antiques business has really slowed over the past two months. The only major sellers I have had in the past month have been the 11x14 historical prints I have in my shop, which is better than nothing but when I initially started out with hopes and dreams of primarily being an antique glassware dealer that has drifted away from my intentions. I love old glassware, new glassware, any glassware. I think it is beautiful, functional,and I just love it. However we are in a horrendous recession, and what little money people are spending seems to be on low priced historical documents and primitive decor. Everyone in the shop that deals in primitives are making a tremendous amount of sales, no matter how high priced the item. I used to work with my grandfather in his wood shop as a child. He could make any type of furniture, with the tiniest decorative details. I can remember he let me cut figures out of wood blocks at his band saw. (Probably not the best job to give a ten year old but...) I used to love doing that. So I thought perhaps I could resurrect this long forgotten crafty side and start making primitive signs (or MY version of a primitive sign) that people would want to buy. As I looked more into it I saw that most true primitive signs have been painted, varnished, then sanded within an inch of their life to make them look really old. I felt that I could accomplish a satisfactory weathered effect with crackle paint. Yes you can tell it's crackle paint and not just really old but number one, I don't really like the excessively sanded look and knowing that I am rather heavy handed I would have produced too heavily sanded a product and number two I wanted my signs to be affordable for everyone. I can make my crackle primitives in a shorter amount of time thus passing that savings down to my customers. I have been at places in my life where I have been very short on cash and could not afford to purchase a decorative item I fell in love with because of the price. If someone sees something they really love that I have made, I do not want them to have to walk away because it is too expensive. Sometimes being able to look at home decor you just love makes you feel great and proud of your home, and everyone deserves that. Or perhaps I just put way to much self validation into my own home decor but either way, I try to give my customers the most affordable price possible. Those who have seen them have really liked them, I have already made a few sales so I guess I'm doing something right. I love making them and I think they are pretty, so if I end up with some non sellers I will love looking at them on my own wall. I have them in my antique booth. I am thinking of listing some on Etsy, I am boycotting right now Ebay because of a bad experience with a sell to someone in another country. Plus the fees. Ebay went crazy with their fees. That's a story for another day though.