Back in the early 2000s, when e-commerce was still a new thing, there launched a site called CafePress.com - it allowed burgeoning graphic designers to add their creations to merchandise like t-shirts, mousepads, mugs, and so forth, and sell them to customers via a print-on-demand service. It obviated the need for inventory, and let people try their hands at selling goods where they never had before.

Among other goods; including merchandise for a blog I wrote for several years, and a webcomic I created with a friend, I designed an apron and called it "The Original Pig Eater's Chart" - patterned after the old timey butcher's map diagrams of various cuts, but put a whimsical spin on it. I also put the chart on other things, like postcards and stickers, just for kicks.

It didn't sell. Maybe one person bought a pack of the stickers.

Something like 12 years went by, and I forgot about my CafePress store. But one day I started receiving notices about spikes in web traffic, totally out of the blue. As it turned out, my little apron was featured in a Buzzfeed listicle, entitled "16 Hilarious Aprons for Courageous Cooks" - and for maybe the first time ever, my work was seen by maybe dozens. 

I have no idea what the web traffic for that article actually looked like, but how gratifying to know that people were seeing my work, that someone even liked it enough to feature it.

It still didn't sell.

Another 10 years passed. I got married. And my wife and I had other fun ideas for things that we thought would be entertaining on shirts and things. And at my in-laws' urging, we put together a small business, and launched the BL Product Studio. I moved my designs off the CafePress store, and onto Printful and Etsy where there's a little more autopilot, because I'm not quitting my day job here, but the humble Pig Eater's Chart is near and dear to my heart, and I'll carry it with me for as long as I can.