DIY keepsakes that have little flaws are finding new homes!

My girls love reading. They both have at least a couple of books with them at any given moment, “just in case.” Every evening, I like to read a book to them out loud; a book they are not supposed to have read before. We’ve been reading Harry Potter for the last couple of years, and now that we’ve finished the entire series, we’ve been on the hunt for a nice adventure book that’s big enough to last us a while. My daughter finally found a book that sounded mysterious enough to pique all our interest. We recently started reading The Unwanteds.

This post is not about the book, though the book has been quite interesting so far. It’s about the name of the book, which gave me a great idea, about the unwanted DIY keepsake styles that have piled up at the side of my desk.

The journey to making the DIY keepsakes available has been an interesting, non-linear one. Since I’ve started creating the custom keepsakes in 2016, I knew that eventually I will want to expand. So a DIY branch of the keepsakes has been in the back of my mind for years. When I started working on it, the product was nothing like the final product you can shop now. I would work and try for a few weeks and stop for a few months. It took a while, but I needed all the time and my new experience and resources to get to the product you are enjoying now. And if I may say so myself, it came out pretty darn great :)

So, during the experimentation phase of the final DIY stage, I’ve tried and failed several times. Some trials went straight to the recycling bin (and stolen from said recycling bin by my girls), but others were actually quite okay. They aren’t perfect enough for me to sell with a good artist conscience, but they were really great. I kept them aside “until further notice.”

That notice came in the form of the book called The Unwanteds. Because, like the Unwanteds in the book, these DIY keepsakes were unwanted. But also like in the book, the Unwanteds were actually wanted somewhere else that’s not where they came from. Why wouldn’t the DIY unwanteds be wanted by others?

That’s how I thought of making these beautiful DIY kits with little flaws available and deeply discounted, because why waste a great product just because it’s not exactly like the others?

The flaws are so small, nobody would notice them unless they really are closely comparing them to the originals, or what to me, they are “supposed to” look like.

Examples of flaws are a lower resolution print, colors that are a little off, or a cut that’s not exactly sharp or at the exact right spot. I would use these for displays or prototypes, but I thought, like refurbished electronics, these could find a home too, for half the price.

The imperfect DIY illustrations are still printed on the Pokidots signature archival-grade paper with high-quality inks, they also come with the acid-free mat, and include all the material to complete your DIY keepsake.

I loved this idea of no waste so much, I had to look up if other artists do it with things like art prints, and some actually do. I think it’s a great way to reduce waste and support small businesses in their effort to do that.

What do you think?

The imperfect DIYs are listed in a separate shop, and of course, there is only one item in each listing. Each listing mentions what the flaw is, and shows a photo. Good luck trying to notice the actual flaw! ;)

With time and experience with this more recent product, I expect to have fewer and fewer flawed DIYs, but for the time being, there are some that are still available, and more that might be added periodically if you keep checking, especially when new illustrations come out.

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