Good news! My Etsy shop is finally open! Visit my shop for realistic mini bubble tea keychains: thelittleruby.etsy.com

Crafting is something I get from my mom. As a kid, I’d always watch her in the kitchen hot gluing and assembling all sorts of cute small things that she would sell at private invite-only craft shows that were hosted at friends’ (and friends of friends’) houses. I remember wanting to help her glue, but she warned me hot glue guns are too hot for kids to use. Downstairs always smelled of holiday crafts and hot glue when she prepped her inventory. I was exposed to a large variety of crafts during the many home craft shows and I was always mesmerized at how talented the creators were. Well, that creative bug has always been with me, but I’ve never tried selling my art or crafts to the public (private commission artwork aside).  I have always liked trying out new forms of art and crafting and I was fortunate enough to have a mom that nourished that creative side. Fast forward 30+ and I’ve finally become comfortable with my finished pieces to be shared with the public.

I first started up the Etsy store with the intention of selling my crochet cupcakes, but with that ever time-consuming thing called ‘life’ plus the lack of any sort of pressure (i.e. a deadline) it fell through the cracks. Then I fell into my usual groove of house work, cooking, errands, and a million other non-stop projects that came my way. I never had the time nor motivation to finish the dozen half-completed cupcakes.

One of my great (what I would consider) flaws, is that I tend to become obsessed with things. It could be anything, like food, art styles, crafting, objects (like my growing tea cup collection), or anything really. I really wanted a bubble tea keychain, but all the ones I saw on Etsy were not what I was looking for. Somehow, I ended up buying all the supplies to make my own. They turned out really good, so I made a few more. Then my friend offered to check with a local consignment gift shop/art gallery to see if they’d like to sell them and they agreed! They are now (as of Nov 2019) on sale at two locations of KOBO Shop & Gallery in seattle (one on Capital hill and the other in the International District). There is very limited quantity at those locations. As of 1/2020, they are sold out, but they are still available on my Etsy shop.

Lucky for you those that are interested in my work, is that my other flaw is that I’m a perfectionist. Meaning I am unable to sell anything that is sub-par. I have high standards on what is acceptable to be sold in my shop. It can pain me at times, when I spend an hour of my time for 1 bubble tea keychain, only to have something go wrong and becomes unsellable under my standards.

To start, I hand roll every single tiny boba pearls out of polymer clay, then bake them all. It’s tricky transferring them from my table to the oven without them rolling around all over and loosing their space. Then I cast with resin, then sand and apply a top coat to each cup. Curing can take the longest. Then I prepare the straws, eye loops, fill the cups (all in stages), and finally cut, seal, dry, the lids. Creating each one of these beauties is time consuming (estimated about 1 hour per keychain), but it’s worth it after seeing it finished.

Check out my newly opened Etsy shop and collect them all before I run out of stock! 😀 I’ll be making more early December 2019 when my keychain supplies come in, but for now the stock is very limited and they have been selling faster than I expected. Let me know what you think of them!

My Etsy shop: thelittleruby.etsy.com

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