Most of you have probably heard me talk about jewelry shop on Shapeways. Originally I started learning about 3D design and discovered Shapeways as part of a process to recreate a ring, precious to me, that I lost on my 53rd birthday due to my illness. Later I started to design other Wiccan and pagan jewelry and set up a public shop.
There was no purpose to the shop other than making a little extra money. My medical bills at the time I was sick and from other problems since then have added up. I can handle it (and I’m grateful for the privilege), but a little extra cash can’t hurt.
I’ve played around with giveaways on Facebook and Instagram pages and so on, trying to build up the business. It hasn’t been successful, partly because I’m not experienced at marketing, partly because marketing is hard, and partly because there’s only so much effort I’m willing to put into a hobby that I’m only so-so at doing. When I compare my designs with others on Shapeways and Etsy, I feel like an amateur trying to pass myself off as an expert.
I was about to give up the shop. I had the skills I needed to design jewelry for myself and my friends. Maybe that was enough.
Then I heard from one of my customers. They’d seen my pendants and orderd a couple. They even asked for custom designs. I made what they asked for. Here’s one of them, as shown on Instagram:
Frankly, I don’t think this is one of my better designs. I’ve seen other pentacles elsewhere which have a more organic and artistic feel to them.
The customer thought differently. They wrote to me and explained that they were returning to Wicca after wandering away for a few years. To them, the pendants from my shop were part of their inspiration and commitment towards returning to the Craft.
This floored me. I thought of my jewelry as simplistic and my designs fairly sterile. I never considered that they might inspire someone spiritually. Obviously, I was wrong!
I don’t know how much more effort I’m going to make towards marketing Kickin’ Wiccan (nor exactly how to do it), but I’m not going to take the shop’s sites down. If there’s any chance that I might inspire someone else, then it’s my obligation as a High Priest of the Wicca to leave that path open.