Etsy Seller Interview with Perlilla of PerlillaPets

How PerlillaPets got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

My shop is called Perlilla Pets. I create cake replica miniatures, and toppers for weddings and other occasions, and I paint pet portraits. Ever since I can remember, I have always loved drawing, painting, and sculpting. Since I was a child, I experimented with everything, painting on wood, fabric, glass, or canvas—with any kind of medium. It might have seemed like a real mess, but everything I've done has helped me become the artist I am now.

I am very grateful for that little girl who is so creative and enthusiastic about art. For all the things she has experienced and learned over the years, it is my most precious heritage. In a period of my life, I fell in love with trompe l'oeil painting, that type of painting that gives the illusion of recreating 3D spaces and objects on a flat surface. I learned to recreate with paint every type of surface (wood, marble, metals, etc.), which is now extremely useful to me when I have to create cake miniatures for my customers.

I must say that bakers are very creative and decorate the layers of the cakes in very original ways, often making them appear to be made of marble, wood, and geodes,... I started selling on Etsy because I loved the idea of being able to send my products from my small town to different parts of the world. It was the "little me" dream; sometimes I can't believe I actually made it happen.

I am so grateful to that little girl who never gave up, even though they told her that when she grew up she should have found a real job because "being an artist is not a real job", and to all my wonderful clients who have made everything possible. I am so grateful to my mother, the only one who always believed in me from the very beginning and always supports me. I love receiving pictures of my customers from different parts of the world showing me my miniatures, cake toppers, and pet portraits displayed in their homes or "in action" at their weddings.

Having so many different passions in the artistic field, I had to choose what to specialize in. But choosing what to sell came very naturally to me; my favorite thing in the world is modeling clay, so I decided to start making custom cake toppers for weddings. I love animals, and I have always created cute animal characters inspired by my imagination and love for nature. That’s how my toppers were born, and they were immediately welcomed with great enthusiasm by my customers.

The second thing is painting, so I decided to add a section of my shop dedicated to my pet portraits. Some people advised me to open a second shop for portraits, but I never wanted to separate the two kinds of items; they are both part of me. This mix works for my shop; many customers discover me for my toppers, then come back to order a portrait, and vice versa. Cake miniatures combine my two passions, sculpture and painting. I have always loved miniatures, and now that I am specialized in creating them, my customers ask me to create not only cakes but also mini bouquets, wedding dresses, shoes, jewelry, etc. A client of mine even asked me to create a miniature of a Christmas cookie that her grandmother always cooked, to keep as a keepsake and pass it on to her children. It was truly a great emotion to make this object so important to her, with such great sentimental value.

I also love my job for all the exciting and moving stories my clients tell me, linked to the objects they love, important events in their lives, and loved ones. I am truly honored to be able to create art objects that can preserve all these memories that are important to them forever. I create my toppers and my miniatures completely by hand, without the use of molds. I paint my portraits by hand with acrylic or oil colors on canvas.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

This is my favorite cake replica listing because it’s the first cake replica I made. I created it for a customer who ordered an owl cake topper from me for her wedding, so I made a miniature replica of her cake and my own cake topper!

My customers love commissioning miniatures of their wedding and birthday cakes to treasure forever or as anniversary, Christmas, and birthday gifts. This is another cake replica that I made out of love because I’m a dog lover and mom of a wonderful fur baby:

Owl cake toppers were the first toppers I listed in my shop. Here is the listing of the owl cake topper I replicated in the above cake miniature:

I like the dinosaur toppers because I can be very creative with them; they can even have galaxy skin!

This is a very original cake topper I made for a fall wedding:

This octopus topper is among my favorites because of the tattoos. I had the idea of painting tattoos inspired by the actual tattoos of my customers on their bride and groom figures:

This cake topper is one of my favorites because Halloween is my favorite holiday:

One pet portrait that is very important to me is:

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

The first sale came early; I still remember it. It was a very cute bull groom and cow bride wedding topper for an Australian client.

I use social media—Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook—even if I'm not very good at it. I must admit that social media are my weak point.

But I love sharing photos of work in progress, some behind the scenes, with my followers; they aren't many, but they support me a lot. Their love and support are very important to me. My customers get excited when they see the videos of the work in progress of their topper or miniature, or the photos they send me of their wedding cakes with my topper, so as soon as I have some time, I try to share them.

I really like creating tutorials to share with my followers, creating decorations for various celebrations, and giving something back to those who always follow me with lots of love. The most important thing for me is customer care. I want my customers to be satisfied not only with the product but also with the complete experience with my shop. I am always available for them, for any doubts or questions they have; they are always amazed at how quick I am to respond to their messages. I follow them in every step of the product creation, and since I make customized products, I always show a photo of the final result to get their approval before shipment.

I always check all my customers' packages every day. I always follow them until they are in their hands and give them all the information they might need.

Taking good photos that attract the customer is very important.

I always spend a lot of time doing SEO, studying how Etsy works, and adapting to every change made to the platform.

Managing PerlillaPets

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I do everything! I create my items, I take pictures, I do SEO, I list them on Etsy, I take care of wrapping and shipping, customer care, I manage social networks...I admit that I often have to work late into the night to get everything done. I use Snapseed to edit photos, Marmalead and/or Etsy Rank for SEO, Canva for graphics, AfterShip to track all of my customers' parcels and obviously, the Etsy apps, especially Sell on Etsy,

The future of PerlillaPets

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

Continue to create new cute toppers to propose new ideas to my customers; expand the shop section dedicated to miniatures. My clients have started asking me for miniatures of their wedding dresses, shoes, bouquets, jewels, and even houses! I would like to add all these new products to my shop soon.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Learn about SEO and keywords.
Improve your photos.
Focus on customer care.
Use social media to show your items, work in progress, and behind-the-scenes videos. Read the Etsy seller's handbook.