For several years now, I have been using a great online tool to catalog my artwork. I don’t remember how I found this particular site, but it really was great and did all that I needed and more. When I started showing and selling my work, I quickly realised that I needed a reliable and easy way to record the information on each piece. I started by writing things in a notebook, but it didn’t take me long to figure out that that just wouldn’t do. Of course, having a computer background, I knew that what I needed was a database, not just a spreadsheet. Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely love spreadsheets, but they would not give me the features and flexibility of a database. Now those of you who have been following me for a while know that I strive to keep my costs down (I am basically cheap). So the solution I was looking for had to be inexpensive. You can’t get much more inexpensive than free, and the site that I found, in addition to being designed by artists who knew what they needed (a lot more than I did at the time!), had a free option that I couldn’t resist! Like everything else in life, it wasn’t perfect, but it was the closest thing for the price! So I happily used it for years and was pleased when they announced about a year ago that they would be rewriting the whole site, hoping they would use the opportunity to add the features that I (and surely others) found missing, which in my case was the ability to produce customized printouts, including, for example, price lists, show lists, or certificates of authenticity. I also wanted to create a printed catalog, and I still had not figured out how to easily do this with the present tools. Because of the value I was finding in the tool, I had even planned to start paying for it, but when they announced the rewrite, they also cut off the option to pay for a subscription. You probably can see where this is going. So for the last year, I have had the task to “Start paying for xxxxx” on my “to do” list, pushing it down month over month as I eagerly await news of the rewrite. Well, the news came this week, and it wasn’t good. Unfortunately, the developers have decided to throw in the towel, and will be shutting down the service completely in 6 months. Ouch! I can’t help but feel a bit guilty because if I (and many others) had been paying even a few dollars every month, maybe this would not have happened. Maybe some bigger company will step in and buy their operation, as it really is a good product, and it deserves to survive. But I can’t wait and see. I have to come up with an alternative. Rather than let this get me down, I am seeing it as an opportunity. I was already having to deal with the issue of having the information about my art stored in 3 different locations (my catalog, my website and my Square account). The fact that the original information was in this catalog and not easy to access or synchronize to other apps meant that it was easier for me to just repeat it (not the best way, I know, but the simplest in this case). This of course caused some inconsistencies, especially when I did my annual price adjustments. I turned to my artist community on Facebook and asked what tools, if any, they were using to catalog their work. The very first (and only, it turns out) person that answered said she used Airtable. I too use Airtable, but probably because I already had a solution for my catalog, never even thought of using it for that! But I use it for keeping track of just about everything else, so I am already familiar with many of its features. So although it will be quite a bit of work, I will be using Airtable to rebuild my catalog and to design the reports and printouts that I need, I will be able to import all the actual data from the existing catalog, and having started the designing part yesterday, I am reminded of why I loved databases when I was teaching them! Hopefully, my excitement will turn into usable tools! At worst, I will be no worse off than I am now! Wish me luck!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
March 2023
Categories
All
|