How receptive have you found the etsy customer to a bit of science along with the art?

[Former_Member]

First I would love to say that when I found this team I knew I belonged here. I am studying biology with a focus on spiders. I spent a year working in an invert lab and my etsy shop is truly a way to express the overwhelming inspiration I feel.

On to my question-

In the making of beaded/wire spiders I am often torn when it comes to how accurate to be. For example I always add palps and try to keep the legs as accurate as possible. A spider leg has 7 parts and I try to reflect that by using larger beads to separate areas. Its not perfect and I still haven't figured out how to work with space constraints when showing areas near the carapace. Do you think the average customer wants to know why I did that? Or do they just wonder why it looks like the spider has extra tiny legs (palps)?

I am also working on an elaborate tarantula model that may or may not have real tarantula fangs added to the chelicerae (from a molt of one of my Ts). I want to add details such as eye placement and book lungs or the large palps that signify a mature male.

Do you think I should add my reasoning in the listings? Or for example some of my body designs are based on crab spiders (exaggerated front legs and short back ones) . I was super stoked when I was able to get a picture of the item right near a bee on a flower (natural prey of that variety of spider). But I hesitated to explain that in the listing.

Thank you in advance. I hope I am not being too forward by posting this question.

[Former_Member]

There are two kinds of Etsy shoppers, I think. The first just use Etsy as a clearinghouse for whatever; they want party favors or wedding invitations or a last-minute gift at the lowest possible price in addition to the warm fuzzies of "handmade" or just the prestige of something unique you can't just buy in a store.

The other are more selective but get really caught up in a shop's passion and expertise. The more information and description in the listing, the better (as long as you put all of your SEO terms at the beginning so they can find you!). The two people who are going to buy your TOTALLY ADORABLE spiders are:

1) people who know about and love spiders and who will want to know everything about the process

2) people who know people who love spiders; the paying customer might not want to know EVERYTHING but the person they're buying for will, so it's good to have your process somewhere where everyone can see it (IMO)

Since most of my jewelry is based on numbers, I wrote up an explanatory page at my blog (instead of retyping or copying and pasting for every number-related listing). It's by far the most-visited page there, so I assume that comes from people following the link when they land on an item in my shop. If you find yourself repeating the same information a lot, you might want to do the same (just to save you time).

[FluffysBeads]

I think more detail is better, I also make bead animals (sadly not many spiders though) and I love making things as accurate as possible, so I think it's good to explain how you have tried to make them as accurate as possible :)

Also I love your crab spiders, they look great next lurking on the dandelions.

[MiniMasterpiecesAZ]

I too have been considering adding something with my displays. My main reasoning is that I think a lot of people actually enjoy learning little tidbits along the way at a minimum. If you can give more without making it dull then it will also cover the hobbyist, collector, or young person.

[LMOartTextiles]

I agree with all the above comments and suggestions. In addition someone may not know enough to wonder or think about it. But after reading the details it may increase their appreciation of the piece as well as the artist that created it.