Buy a Print, Win an Original!

A new idea for offering my work to the world

Nov 04, 2022

First things first, it’s mushroom day! All the new goodies I spoke about in my last newsletter, including my two new knitting patterns, are now live in my Etsy shop. Hooray!

I also made a video chatting about them all, and the process of bringing a launch like this into the world. You can watch it on YouTube now:

In this newsletter I wanted to talk in depth about prints, original artwork and a new idea I’ve had.

I don’t usually sell my originals. I never know how to price it, and as a result my original pieces end up stacked in my cupboard. This doesn’t feel right either, so I want to try something different for sending them out into the world - giving them away to lovely customers who support my shop!

Image description: Katie, a white human with glasses and dark hair sits a the kitchen table signing art prints. The table is covered in natural brown tissue paper, and Katie has a stack of prints in black with white borders, depicting a selection of mushroom species, moths and moons. Katie is wearing a brown knitted jumper and corduroy dungarees.

I’m trying this as an experiment with these two new limited edition prints. There are two designs (shown below), 100 of each, printed on 230gsm matte archival quality paper, signed and numbered by me. I’m working with a new printer and I have to say I’m absolutely thrilled with the quality of these - they look like velvet.

Image description: Katie's hand holding a Mushrooms and Moths art print in front of a bank of moss. The print has a white border, but the image is on a background of the deepest and most delivious black. It shows an array of brown, grey and white mushrooms interspersed with moths, moons and stars all in similar mued shades. — Mushrooms and Moths - Limited Edition Art Print

Image description: Katie's hand holding a Pride of Mushrooms art print against a bank of green moss. The print has a white border, but the image is on a background of deepest and richest velvety black. A rainbow of different mushroom species pop forward against this background, from pink waxcaps through yellow chanterelles to the purple amethyst deceiver. — A Pride of Mushrooms - Limited Edition Art Print

At random, I’ve inserted the original painting into the box of prints and when that comes up, the lucky person whose order I’m packing will receive the original instead.

I’m curious to see how folks respond to this idea. If it’s popular, I think I could do it more often…I’m certainly uncovering some originals squirreled away in corners all over the studio as I box things up to move house. It would be wonderful to get them into the world where they can been seen and loved, instead of hiding away in boxes because I don’t know what to do with them.

Image description: A photo from above of Katie's original artwork for A Pride of Mushrooms, next to a limited edition art print. On the left, the original is slightly larger, and the perforated top of the page shows where it has been torn from a sketchbook. On the right, the print is slightly smaller and has a white border. Both images show an array of delightful musrooms arranged in rainbow order from red and pink at the top to blue and purple at the bottom. — A Pride of Mushrooms - Original on the left, limited edition print on the right

Let me know what you think! And if you decide to enter…good luck! I look forward to rehoming these originals, maybe with you :)

Jan Hendry

Nov 4, 2022

I think it is a lovely idea Katie. It’s such a shame to think of your beautiful art work stacked up in a cupboard. I was at a yarn show on Saturday. One seller had knitted an exquisite shawl to show off the stitch definition of her yarns. We were chatting about her work and she said, if she paid herself minimum wage for the time it took her to produce the yarn and knit the shawl, the price tag would have been £800+ . That’s the difficulty with original art/craft work.

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Bee Rommens

Wonderful idea! How lovely to open a parcel and find your original 🍄🍄

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The Green Bean

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