Small business? Yes we are!
We often shop away on Amazon or Shopify without thinking about where the products come from.
Here in the United States, an awful lot of our consumption comes from overseas. Most of what we buy at WalMart has the words "Made in China" on the little tag. And to be completely truthful, some of what I do at Artistic Chaos Ink and my other small business (WildBluYounder) relies on supplies from China.
But the work is all done right here in the good old USA. In fact, it's done in my house in Utah.
I print most of the posters on a 10-foot-long printer in my basement.
I cut and roll and package them in my family room and adjoining work room.
I store the supplies and product in my giant garage. I'm blessed to have that garage! I can't imagine trying to do this without that enormous space.
How did it all start?
The year was 2020. My sister-in-law started the business. A coloring poster business? How cool is that? A couple of years later, she was feeling a little overwhelmed and asked me to partner with her. I already had my hands in two other businesses, but with the post-covid pseudo-recession and rising inflation, those businesses were struggling. So, what the heck? I said YES!
We were contracting with a local printing company to print many of our posters. They came on giant rolls of 50 to 100 posters that then needed to be cut and packaged. My sister-in-law, though, had a large printer that she could use to print many of the posters herself. This is that printer:
It's a dinosaur now, compared to the monster taking up most of the space in my basement!
I loved the creative avenues that opened to me--designing and customizing and searching the internet for ideas and graphics. Just my thing!
Last year, my sister-in-law decided to move on to something new, so the business became solely mine.
So my days are spent as a denizen of the dungeon, printing long rolls of posters which I carry up those steps on the left side of the photo to my family room where I cut them on my giant paper cutter.
That table in front of my couch is where the posters are rolled. We use a 3" PVC pipe to roll them on. We roll them, then wrap them with 3 paper sleeves, then package them in plastic tubing, then ship them out to you!
We store some of the backstock in the house. I keep a giant box in a corner by my back door, as well as a set of shelves. The rest goes on a set of massive shelves in my garage.
Here's the garage, along with my husband's beloved Toyota Tacoma and a big pile of boxes waiting to go the recycler:
This is the reality of small home businesses like mine. We do our best to make happy customers, keep our kids fed, and do something we love every day!
Thanks for your support!