Turning art into other things

December 30, 2016 8:46 AM

What are some websites where artists/photographers can have their work turned into nifty products, aside from the usual cards/calendars/mugs stuff? I'm especially looking to have a painting turned into an umbrella for my Etsy shop, but I'm eager to see what's out there beside the usual consumer sites. If you have customer service experiences, please share those too.
posted by mermaidcafe to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

I've used Red Bubble a bit. Not many sales but a pretty clean, usable interface. Doesn't look like they have umbrellas but many variations of clothing, phone cases, pillows, blankets, tote bags, etc.
posted by erebora at 10:01 AM on December 30, 2016

I've bought stuff from Society 6.
posted by adamrice at 10:44 AM on December 30, 2016

The most common are Red Bubble, which was mentioned, and Society6 and Zazzle. I looked at each of those, and couldn't find umbrellas.
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:50 AM on December 30, 2016

Best answer: artscow lets you make all kinds of stuff including umbrellas and watches. I'm not sure if you can sell directly from there. Also, they are in Hong Kong and it takes a couple of weeks to get stuff.
posted by tracer at 1:24 PM on December 30, 2016

Thanks, tracer, for mentioning artscow; I hadn't heard of them. Have you ordered from them much? I'm curious about the quality of their 3-D products and the color accuracy of their reproductions.

Their website (judging from the "featured products" pics on the main page) suggests that their service is oriented towards a "suburban family" type of market rather than a "cosmopolitan artist" one, which is not really surprising, and in my experience such high-volume online services typically use default settings appropriate for pics of family members and pets, but not so much for photoshopped artwork with very vivid and highly saturated colors. Any experience in this department?
posted by tenderly at 5:22 PM on December 30, 2016

CowCow also lets you sell products (including umbrellas) with your artwork on them. When I was researching this topic a few months ago, they generally got better reviews (product quality/customer service) than ArtsCow did. I haven't actually ordered from either company, though.
posted by belladonna at 7:46 AM on December 31, 2016