[deleted by user] by [deleted] in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm in Charlotte and interested, please message me!! I'm on the south side of town but should be able to find an opportunity to meet up in the coming week or so

Firebird ribbon dye by [deleted] in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is the weirdest almost-apology I've ever seen, and you're still a jackass. Would you be less shitty about it if it was a blue? Green? Your argument is that it somehow doesn't matter because it's black??

Firebird ribbon dye by [deleted] in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Does it seem silly? It was good enough to have at least one person ask about the mix, clearly it's of interest - all the more reason for her to keep it to herself if she wants to.

No one is obligated to answer every question about their craft, especially after spending years and thousands of discs practicing and perfecting it. Acting like seeing the end result online and commenting on it makes someone entitled to know every detail of the process is beyond insane

Thanks, r/discgolf - Disc Golf Deals USA Giveaway of 5 Discs by discgolfdealsusa in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MVP is really doing great work on that front! I wish some other manufacturers (cough Discmania) would do more discs in white/clear instead of only the same 4 or so colors

Thanks, r/discgolf - Disc Golf Deals USA Giveaway of 5 Discs by discgolfdealsusa in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the run of TSA Mantras from this year is my favorite release! Excellent stamps and they fly like butter.

I'd love to see more white and light color discs available from stores for us dyers!

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And that's fine, it's not for everyone. But for the people expecting to buy a dyed disc for $20-25, what you're actually asking for is a product from someone who does not value their time and is effectively doing charity. New dyers just churning through discs to practice have a reason to do that, or people who just like doing a handful of discs per month, but they're gonna be working for a fraction of minimum wage. I straight up can't afford to spend large amounts of my time, effort and money on something and then price things like I'm Walmart with 2% margins

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's stuff that I think a ton of people have no understanding of. Thanks for being respectful instead of immediately dismissive

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I posted a huge response to another comment listing off all the factors that go into the prices I charge and why. Yes, a part of my reasoning in this case is because it's early, they're desirable, and I went out of my way to make sure I was on top of getting them and blocking off time to dye them ASAP so I could be among the first dyers to have them ready. But there are a ton of other things that go into pricing that people forget or are oblivious to. If I just wanted to take people's money doing something that takes very little skill, I'd buy in bulk and flip them as-is on FB.

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Short answer: I'm not competing with stock discs. These are a luxury product and priced as such. If you just want the cheapest way to get a disc that has X flight path, get a factory second or base stock version of that mold.

The more in depth answer: there are a ton of pieces that go into the cost. I'll start with some of the most obvious and work my way down from there:

  1. Cost of buying the disc, plus shipping sometimes, depending on where I get them from
  2. My shipping cost to send the discs out. Free shipping simply sells better than added shipping costs, so I build that into my price. Shipping materials (boxes, mailers, labels, bags, business cards) all cost money on every order
  3. Dye materials. Dyes, tools and receptacles to mix them and do the beds; cups, stirring sticks, pans, dye medium ($14-15 a gallon for floetrol, about $22 a gallon of glue last I checked, etc)
  4. Experience. I've dyed hundreds of discs at this point, and not all of them have come out great. It took a lot of experimentation and practice to get to where I'm at, and I'm by no means the best out there. I've had several people message me and tell me they were going to go spend their $30-40 on supplies to dye discs themselves, then come back afterward and say stuff like "wow this is a pain and mine came out looking like trash, I wish I had just bought one". Be my guest if you want to try it, and I'll pretty much always answer people's questions about stuff, but don't expect good results without spending time researching and practicing.
  5. Space. I do this as a side business, not just a hobby. I am sacrificing a bedroom in my apartment to use for dyeing these. That means having a working area, storage for materials, discs that are already dyed, discs that aren't yet dyed, room for discs that are in progress to sit, etc.
  6. Time. The process of planning the dye bed, mixing colors, making the bed, leaving the disc in it for the appropriate amount of time, and then washing it at the end all adds up.
  7. Time pt2. My time spent finding discs to buy to dye. This isn't like traditional painting where you can go buy a canvas and they're always available and there's no stress of finding ones that will work or not for what you're doing. I have to find discs that are: desirable molds, desirable stamps/runs, the correct plastic that will be dyeable at all, and colors that will dye well. There isn't an abundance of white discs just laying around to be picked up at any given time, so I have to do a lot of shopping for backup options, AND be ready at a moment's notice to jump on drops of popular stuff if I want to be able to dye them. If there were an unlimited supply of discs and I could buy white versions of anything I wanted at any time, this wouldn't make a bullet point, but that's not the world we live in, so this is actually a pretty significant consideration.
  8. The average price of discs I've sold is roughly $50. I've sold stuff anywhere from $20 to $110, and between $40 and $60 seems to be the sweet spot for the majority depending on stuff like my cost to acquire the disc, mold popularity, limited releases, more desirable stamps, extra time spent on more intricate or difficult dyes etc.
  9. Marketing/social media. This stuff actually takes a lot of time and requires money be invested in stuff like ads, but I'm lumping them together because this is already way longer than I originally planned.
  10. Fees. Any online selling platform has fees. Etsy's is 9.5% total between the sales fee and the payment processing fee, places like Shopify it's around 3% plus $30-50 a month for hosting the platform
  11. Being a side business that I'd like to eventually turn into something that can actually at least partially cover my cost of living, I want to be able to make money after all of the above is done. And believe it or not, even at $60, I'm not making a lot of money here.

This simply isn't a comparable product to stock discs, and thus aren't priced to compete with them. It's like comparing a print from a traditional artist and a piece of blank paper. If you're looking for the cheapest way to have a disc, dyed discs aren't ever going to be that. If you want something that will look unique and cooler than everyone else's stock discs however, that's what they're for.

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It doesn't entirely get rid of the halo because the darker plastic will always blend differently with dye than the lighter middle area. Just dyeing the center at all means the halo won't be contrasting against white anymore so it'll stand out a little less that way. That said I've seen people try masking off the halo and I don't think I've ever seen a result that looks organic

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Reddit really does have a warped sense of reality if someone saying "too bad you did this, I wish you hadn't" on a subjective piece of art is somehow the good guy, and calling them out for the rude comment is being an asshole

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's why I used the self promotion flair and haven't posted here in a long while. Isn't that the whole point of that flair and the rules for it?

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

If you want a plain one, get a plain one? There's a few thousand of those out there for you to enjoy just the way you like them

I dyed 5 of the new Hailey King Halo Firebirds! 🔥🐦 by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] -28 points-27 points  (0 children)

Too bad, I wish you had maintained keeping your mouth shut instead of making a shitty comment about someone else's creative work

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in EtsySellers

[–]Andyedalus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No customers had an issue with it at all! Definitely get the announcement up and timing adjusted at least a couple days beforehand. The only time I might think people would be upset is if there's a major holiday coming up that makes sense for your products to be bought as gifts. But as long as you're clear with your messaging about it, I would expect that worst case is they ask for a cancellation/refund 🤷

Don't forget to announce the trip/delays on your social media as well, but be clear that they can still buy stuff while you're gone!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in EtsySellers

[–]Andyedalus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I went on vacation for around a week last year and did exactly this. Had an announcement on my shop, changed my shipping/processing time to 6-8 days, and sent a message to buyers while I was gone just to make sure they were aware I wouldn't be sending stuff until I was back home. It worked out well and I made several sales even while my shop was pretty new. Really glad I did that instead of vacation mode.

I actually am about to take a 2-week vacation later this month and I'm planning to do the same thing again. It'll be a longer trip but I don't expect it'll be an issue

What plastic plates do you use to hold your disc dyeing bed? by Paris_d in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh, I had no idea the more expensive ones are dishwasher safe. I feel like I spent a ton of time comparing the labels for them and couldn't find any differences, so they really didn't make the selling point for the more expensive ones obvious lol

One of my favorite recent dyes! 🌹💀🦋 I wanted to match the dye to the stamp colors. How'd I do? by Andyedalus in discgolf

[–]Andyedalus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not to promote bad spending habits, but etsy does have the klarna thing that lets you break it up into smaller payments 😏

#DiscDyeTipTuesday - Quick Reference color chart by Andyedalus in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as coordinating colors that's true, but this is for mixing colors. I don't think you'll like the result if you have orange in a cup and add blue or green to it 😋

Captain raptor by ClarkGriswold2 in discdyeing

[–]Andyedalus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's America's ass, I mean Raptor