Much Needed Upgrades
For the past decade, Azalyne and I have worked tirelessly to support ourselves by bringing our art into the world. In this light we are successes. We are known for putting forth metamorphic and unique beauty with our pieces, which are spread worldwide at this point! It is a humbling honor to be received so well and to see our art flourish for a time, single-handedly supporting us, and helping raise three beautiful creative beings into near-adulthood. Astral Chrysalis is a testament to the creativity and love that lies between Azalyne and me.
As with all good endeavors, we are seeking to refine our production processes to be able to create our art more swiftly and responsibly. We have identified a machine that will help us bring more of our art into the world quickly. This machine is called a clicker press. Think of it as a cookie cutter for leather hides. For designs we have dialed in for years, we can purchase dies in those shapes, which will allow us to cut patterns cleanly in seconds (See pictures below)!
When it comes to selling online and in person volume is very important. We are in a position where we have to transition to strong online sales in order to continue supporting our family with art. The in-person gigs and markets we have vended for the past near-decade have sadly changed. The money just isn't there the way it used to be. In this light, we need to be able to reduce the time it takes to cut our patterns before we sew them up and embellish. The bottom line is we need to up our volume to effectively compete online. At this current moment, we are hanging on by a thread. The sooner we can acquire this machine and some dies, the sooner we will re-stabilize our business. Please consider donating or purchasing from our Etsy store.
The beauty of this new process is that it does not in any way hinder the uniqueness or variety of color and style that we bring to our items. This method will, in fact, allow us to complete custom orders much more quickly, as well as offer much more variety and pieces online. This will also help us when we occasionally vend in person at events that are still viable. The list of designs we have not been able to find the time to bring through is tremendous. Our design archive is massive, and this would allow us to bring our full design repertoire to market!
We know that online fundraising is no longer a novelty, everyone is doing it. It's hard to choose who to support. Being a handcrafting working artist in our country is a novelty and is incredibly hard to sustain. If every friend, family member, and customer we have donated between $5 and $10 to our campaign, we would reach our goal easily. It is achievable and possible and we are not asking that much from each of you. This is about a collective effort that would be massively transformative for our business.
Help us reach our full potential as handcrafters and designers and help us purchase our first clicker press. Ideally, to purchase a large clicker press to accommodate all of our patterns, as well as dies to cut them with, we are looking at around $10k. This initial $3500 will help us start the process of leasing the clicker and buying our first dies. Should this campaign do very well, our stretch goals will allow us to afford a press outright and more dies for our many different designs. If you would rather own one of our art pieces rather than donate, consider going to our Etsy Store link below and purchasing from us! Our entire shop is on 20% Off in honor of Spring Equinox until the 31st of March.
Follow the link to our store:
astralchrysalis.etsy.com 
