Commissions and Commission Requests are Currently OPEN.

​

HOWEVER, I will only be accepting medium to small size commissions. 

​

I have not been able to complete these exceptionally large commissions in a reasonable amount of time and they tend to get me burnt out. 

I would much prefer to do smaller commissions so that more people can have a chance to get a custom tail from me. 



All the information you need to make a commission request can be found on my website Ziakiyarntails.com

If you have any questions please feel free to post on this journal, note me, or email me at ziakiyt[at]gmail.com

Just thought I owed my followers and update and an explanation on my absence.

Long story short, I spread myself REALLY thin this summer. Knowing that the restaurant I work at gets really slow in the summer I picked up a second job working at a horse stable in the mornings.

And as some of you may already know I do suffer from depression which makes it very hard sometimes to get motivated to complete projects. I've had a very large commission sitting on my work table for far longer than is acceptable.

BUT I've recently quit the second job. A lot of the owner's horses were down right dangerous to handle and she refused to acknowledge the issue and in fact blamed me for their shitty behavior. She wasn't paying me enough for the work I was doing for her and I really couldn't afford to get hurt. Luckily fall is coming and it's picking back up at the restaurant.

But I still need some extra money to set aside for my property taxes and all of my dogs are overdue for shots.

So with that said, I will be reopening for commissions very soon. If you are considering commissioning me please be reasonable with the size of the project. I've been taking on VERY large tails lately that are just really hard for me to stay motivated to finish because they take 40+ hours.

I'm going to be looking for smaller to medium sized projects under 24 inches and thick width or smaller.

I will post again when I'm ready to start taking a new wait list.

I'm getting the urge to do some drawing. I have very limited free time so after I finish my current yarn tail queue I'm probably going to take a week or two off to work on my realism artwork (not sure of the subject yet).

Point being I probably won't be opening for yarn tail commissions again until mid July and I'll probably only do 1 or 2 slots depending on size.

I'll also probably be taking the entirety of August off as I have a lot of stuff going on that month.

Also a reminder that I have several premade yarn tails available for purchase for much cheaper than my commission rates. You'll find those in my Yarn Tails for Sale folder. Please note me if you are interested in any of those tails.

All of my current orders are incredibly large. I do not anticipate finishing my current queue until the end of June at the EARLIEST.

I'd like to enjoy some of my summer so commissions are currently closed until further notice.

Just wanted to let any of you who ship their product that USPS has recently increased their rates significantly.

I just found this out while getting a quote for a yarn tail client.

Please double check your shipping prices before giving any of your customers a quote. You may want to increase your shipping charges to accommodate the increase.

I will be updating my website to reflect the changes as well.

I am still alive. I've put off my current tail commission WAY too long due to mental health issues and I'm currently making it my top priority in my free time.

I have one more large commission after this current one that I anticipate finished before the end of May.

I am still accepting commission request forms and taking names for the wait list as long as you don't mind the wait.

At the moment I would very much prefer smaller to medium sized tails as these larger tails take weeks and I keep finding myself getting burnt out on them and not wanting to finish them. So if you have a tail in mind that's 24 inches or less, and thick width or less you'll probably get priority on my wait list.

For full information please visit my website at Ziakiyarntails.com

If you have any questions please email me at ziakiyt[at]gmail.com

I much prefer email to notes as it is easier to keep organized.

So I posted this on facebook to share with the handful of friends I know that are also suffering from mental illness. Unfortunately it was met with a wave of "GET HELP" messages that were not warranted or asked for.

So I'm going to share it here with you folks and hope that it helps at least one person.

_____________________________________________________

I want to share something with all of my friends that are suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental illness. It's something I've been trying to do since I moved and I'm making it my official new years resolution. I won't promise it will work for you. We're all different, but it has helped me.

Every day pick one productive thing to get done. Just ONE. Even if it's something insignificant. Especially on the days you just want to stay in bed and wish for death and you can't find any motivation to do anything else.

Even something as simple as washing your hair. Wash that one pan you've been letting 'soak' in the sink for the last three days. Do one load of laundry and actually fold it and put it away. Sweep your kitchen floor. Vacuum your living room. Wipe your kitchen counters. Just one thing, even if it only takes 5 minutes.

Sometimes you may even find that overcoming that initial inertia gives you enough energy and motivation to do more. Maybe you clean the whole kitchen instead of just doing that one dish. But don't worry if it doesn't. As long as you do the one thing.

Just doing one productive thing each day can make you hate yourself a little less and feel a little less worthless. And maybe when you come home from work and walk into a slightly cleaner kitchen you'll have a little feeling of satisfaction that is often elusive to those of us suffering with mental illness.

It's not a cure or anything. It might not even work for you. I don't know. I just wanted to share something that has helped me a little. Maybe it can help you too.

_____________________________________________________

That's what I posted on facebook but I want to lay down some rules for this exercise.

1. **Don't** make a 'to do' list. Writing down everything you need / want to get done and having a big list to look at can be incredibly overwhelming and may cause you to recede further into your illness and retreat. We don't want that. Pick the one thing you want to get done either the night before or that morning and just do it.

2. Your basic responsibilities such as going to work and feeding your children / pets does not count. Most of us have already learned to go through the motions of doing these things without reaching out of our comfort zone. Pick something you would normally procrastinate on or not do at all.

3. Do it every day no matter what. No matter how shitty you feel or how badly you want to stay in bed. Staying in bed and doing nothing only feeds into our sense of worthlessness and self hatred. Get your ass up and at least do the one thing, even if you go right back to bed afterwards. If you are having an extraordinarily bad day pick the easiest thing you can possibly think of to get done and do it. Even if it only takes 30 seconds.

_____________________________________________________

Please feel free to share / discuss any other rules for this exercise that should be added.

And of course PLEASE share with us how / if it's working for you. Tell us the things you accomplished today and in the future.

For me today I cleaned my critter cages and took one of them that is no longer in use out to my garage and vacuumed the room I keep them in.

My size chart is REALLY dated and over the last few years my 'Normal' size has varied widely.

So as long as I don't have any commissions to work on I'm going to to be working on some tails that are all the relative same length (18" is what I'll be shooting for) but each will represent the 4 different widths that I offer.

From now on I will have a set amount of yarn / weight of yarn that I will be using for each size. Hopefully this will help reduce the variation. There will still be some variation as the tightness of the braid also affects width. I've been experimenting with different braid tightness and what I now prefer is to have it be tighter and the top and bottom and looser in the middle to give my tails more shape. This will make my tails slightly more stiff but I haven't really noticed any major loss in sway and flow of my tails.


All of these tails will be for sale in my etsy shop AFTER I have completed all four of them and gotten pictures of them together for my new size chart. I will be making them with yarn I already have in stock.

I am currently working the the normal width one and will have a preview within the next couple of days.

Ideas for what you'd like to see for the Thin, Thick, and Extra thick tails are very welcome (keeping in mind the 18" length). In the end though I have to go with what I can make from my current yarn stock as my husband won't let me buy anymore yarn unless it's specifically for a commission.

And of course commissions are still open.
Information can be found on my website at ziakiyarntails.com
Email me with any questions at ziakiyt[at]gmail.com

I am still open for custom yarn tail commissions.

I am looking for some small to medium sized projects that I can knock out in a week or two.

For full information please visit my website at Ziakiyarntails.com

If you have any questions please email me at ziakiyt[at]gmail.com

I much prefer email to notes as it is easier to keep organized.

Commissions Opening soon.

First I have a couple premades I'd like to finish and an experiment I want to try than I should be opening for commissions. ETA some time in May.
I will be taking 1 or 2 a month time permitting. I'm no longer on Midnights but my schedule is still kind of all over the place. So we will see.

Stay tuned.

My hiatus will be ending soon but I'm getting back in the game just a little bit at a time.

I currently do not have the funds to renew my domain for my website so if you would like to access my website the free domain is http://ziakiyt.wixsite.com/ziakiyarntails

Commission Order forms are currently disabled. COMMISSIONS ARE STILL CLOSED.

However if you send a note I would be happy to answer any questions about pricing and possible future orders.

I currently have one commission and a few half finished premades that I would like to finish THEN I will possibly be opening a few slots for commissions. I'm estimating early may.

If you want a tail RIGHT NOW I have a few tails ready to ship in my Etsy Shop.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ZiakiYarnTails

As many of you know I've been pretty much non existent for a long time now. The stress of working midnight shift and other odd hours just did not mesh well with trying to keep up with doing custom commissions.

But I've finally managed to find a house and our offer has been accepted. If everything goes well I should be moving / finding a new (hopefully more normal) job within the next two months.

Upon moving and getting settled in I intend on making myself a crafting space somewhere in my house where I don't have to worry about my husband moving / losing my projects / parts of my projects. So hopefully I will be back on the scene by the end of this year. Hopefully moving forward with the Master's Tail and Chain project that I announced 9 months ago and ended up giving up on for lack of time / money / space.

Hopefully I'm not getting to far ahead of myself. But we shall see.

I'm writing this journal in order to clarify one of my policies, specifically first come first serve.

I do my orders in the order that I receive the commission request form linked on my site. These forms are very important for my records and you will not be placed on the wait list until you have submitted a form.

I DO NOT make promises on completion time. I can give you a general estimate of when I think I might have it done but I have a very busy schedule and this is not my job, Yarn Tails do not pay my bills. If you want a tail in time for a certain event I highly suggest you place your order in advance as well as checking my wait list which is available on the Commission Info page on my website Ziakiyarntails.com

I DO NOT do rush orders for any reason, not even for an up charge on the commission price. In order for me to continue enjoying crafting yarn tails for the community I need to keep it as stress free as possible. I work on tails in my own time, at my own pace. I will not sacrifice my mental health or the quality of the product I put out to rush your order. Nor will I place your order ahead of anyone else's.

If I quote you on a price and time of completion but you wait a long period of time to actually submit your order form and confirm your order the original time of completion quote is VOID. You will receive a new completion time estimate based on the time at which your order form is submitted.

As always If you have any questions please feel free to send me a Note or email me at Ziakity[at]gmail.com

I am currrently saving up all the revenue from making yarn tails to expand into chain mail. Essentially Ziaki Yarn Tails will expand into Masters Tail and Chain. I am planning on changing my business name to reflect the expansion into chain mail and also to reflect that I will be partnering with my husband for this venture and being that our last name is Masters. It also sounds wicked cool right?

What will Masters Tail and Chain offer?
We will still be offering custom and premade yarn tails. But we will hopefully also be offering the following.

- Premade and Custom Chain mail jewelry and accessories
-Chain mail supplies (mostly jump rings) in galvanized steel, stainless steel and plain aluminum to start off. Once we have money and room I hope to build and anodizing station so that we can offer colored jump rings.
- Chain mail accessories and addons for the yarn tails.

What we need to get started.
There are a few things we need before we can make the transition and get started.

- Jump Ring Cutting Setup and Blades - 550$
- Materials to make samples for a portfolio and build stock - 500$

When we will be making the transition?

Essentially as soon as we have the money and get the supplies we need to get started. I will mostly be funding this through revenue from Ziaki Yarn Tails. However if you would like to make a donation to help me a long please send your donation via paypal to ziakiyt[at]gmail.com marked as a gift.

If you donate please be sure to include your FA user name or an email for me to contact you and you will receive a gift from us once we get up and running.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

I am going to take a few yarn tail commissions at a 15% discount in order to clear out some of my stock.

In order to be eligible for the discount.
- You must choose from the yarns I already have in stock (shown in the picture)
- I must have enough of the colors you choose to complete your tail without having to buy more of those colors
- No posable tails. Sorry huskys.

If you are not sure if you qualify you may send me a note or an email to ziakiyt[at]gmail.com with the following information.
- Colors you want (from the list only)
- A reference or description of your tail
- Thickness (Thin or Normal) I will do thick or extra thick only if I think I have enough yarn for your tail.
- Length in inches

LIST OF COLORS - For a more accurate depiction of what the colors look like see the chart on my site.
http://www.ziakiyarntails.com/#!options/cjg9

The number after the color name denotes how many skeins I have.

1. Black 2 1/2
2. Cranberry 1
3. Terra Cotta 2
4. Red 1
5. Burnt Pumpkin 1
6. Fire Red 1 (This is more like a reddish orange)
7. Dark Brown 1/4
8. Taupe 1/2
9. Orange 1
10. Neon Orange 1/2 (This is slightly lighter and brighter than the regular orange)
11. Neon Yellow 3/4
12. Cream 1
13. Pistache 1 1/4 (This is a light yellow / green)
14. Mid Green 1/2 (This is a light olive green)
15. Lime Light 1/4
16. Neon Green 1/2
17. Jelly Bean 1 (This is pretty much your standard green)
18. Royal Blue 1/2
19. Turquoise 2
20. Neon Blue 1/4
21. Soft Blue 1
22. Amethyst 1
23. Periwinkle 1/2
24. Graphite 1
25. Greybeard 2
26. Light Grey 1
27. White 1

PREBLENDED YARNS
28. Secrets 1 1/2 - Looks like this http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9437623/
29. Denims Ombre 1 1/2 - Looks like the middle section of this tail http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12011562/
30. Pink Stripe 2 (I honestly have no idea how this will turn out. I've never tried it before.)



I WILL BE TAKING 3 ORDERS AT A TIME - If they fill by the end of march I will be attempting to have them all completed by the end of April.

1. AnnieKitty - Has claimed the lime light, neon green, and some of the black (Complete)
2. OPEN
3. OPEN

I'm not working on tails a whole lot any more and I'd like to clear out what I have as far as premades go.

I am NOT offering any discounts on custom orders. But if you'd like a tail from my etsy shop you can use the promo code ZYT20 when cashing out.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ZiakiYarnTails

I'm taking a hiatus from doing commissions on yarn tails. The pressure to get a project done in a certain amount of time is just WAY too much for me to handle with my current mood down swing. I've been suffering from a pretty rough bout of depression and just getting out of bed is a challenge and getting anything productive done is damn near impossible.



On a lighter note I'd like to share my new hobby with everybody. It's the one thing I still get excited about each week.

My puppy Samus and I have started taking agility classes and even more recently we started taking our oldest dog Dr. Zoidberg with us to our practices. I just wanted to share some highlights from our most recent practice.

https://youtu.be/k9MLkpKBAzM

I really love doing agility with my dogs and I wish we could practice every day. It's great exercise that I actually like.

Lou and I are flying out to Seattle tomorrow for Pax Prime! I'm so excited.

As soon as I get back I'm going to knock out the three tail orders I have and I will probably be ready to take some more in October.

How awesome is that?!

http://thenewsherald.com/articles/2.....d966567784.txt

First I am FINALLY married after 9 LONG years. HUZZAH!


As for the Honey Moon, Lou and I are headed to PAX Prime! We will be staying at the Seattle Sheraton Wed 26th till Saturday 29th and the Pensione Nichols B&B Sunday and Monday. If you are attending and happen to see us please feel free to come and say HI! I won't have any tails to sell since it's too much to pack. We won't be in costume and Lou will be in a wheelchair so keep an eye out for us.

I have 1 tail order to finish before I go on my honeymoon. (At least that is the plan.)
AFTER the honeymoon I will begin taking yarn tail orders on a more regular basis. I am saving up for a jump ring cutting machine so that Lou and I can get working on some Chainmail products. Which leads to my next announcement.

IF we decide to go ahead with our plan to offer chainmaille products Ziaki Yarn Tails will become Masters Tail and Chain as my husband will be helping with the chainmaille portion and our last name is Masters. We are hoping to make this transition by the middle to end of 2016. This is HIGHLY tentative as we are planning on trying for our first baby on the Honeymoon which means I might have a mini me by the end of May 2016.

Also, Lou and I DID get season passes for Michigan Ren Fest and will be trying to attend at least once per weekend. I will have tails for sale for a 15% discount if you buy them from me AT Ren Fest. If you order a custom tail from me and will be attending Ren Fest on the same day as me you may meet me there to pick up your tail and I will waive the delivery charge. You must let me know ahead of time if you plan on picking up your order at Ren Fest so I can make sure to bring it and make arrangements to meet you.

As always if you have any questions feel free to comment or send me a note.

Alrighty. So I am 99% sure I've gone over this whole thing before but I feel it bears repeating. This week I was contacted by an individual who will not be named for a quote on a yarn tail. When I replied with the quote this was the response I received.

"That price is incredibly high. maybe if it was fake fur or something like it, then it would be justifiable. but youre just brushing out yarn to make it soft. so no thankyou, i dont think i'll be purchasing anything from you now."

I have already replied to said individual with a polite explanation of why my prices are the way they are and a reminder that it is very disrespectful to tell an artist that their time is not worth what they are asking for it. But, I will be going over the whole thing in this public journal that will be left up indefinitely so that in the future I can simply direct people here when they feel the need to tell me that my prices are unreasonable.

---

So let's begin.

Point 1 - Time is Valuable
For starters this individual compared yarn tails to faux fur tails. This is almost exactly comparing apples and oranges. Faux Fur tails take expensive materials and a relatively short time to make where as yarn tails are the exact opposite where the materials are fairly cheap but take a very large amount of time to make. To say "youre just brushing out yarn to make it soft" is for one completely untrue and second completely irrelevant. The process it'self does not matter. The fact that it takes any where from 15 - 60 hours of manual labor is what matters.

Let's do a breakdown of my prices vs. the amount of hours I spend on a tail.

This individual requested a quote for a 32 inch long standard width tail. I charge 3$ per inch for standard width tails. This means that this tail would be 96$.

A tail requested had at least 3 colors in it that I was aware of so that would be a minimum of three skeins of yarn, but because of the length of the tail I would with confidence estimate I'd need at least 4 skeins but I would probably purchase and extra of the main color just to be safe, so 5 skeins. The yarn I buy is not super expensive but it's not cheap crap either. It is generally 3.99 unless I catch it on sale I can get it for a few cent cheaper. So lets do the math.

96$ - 20$ for materials (not even counting the heavy duty thread or carbiner clip that comes with every tail) = 76$

Now how many hours would it take me to complete this tail. If it was just solid colors with no special blending or pattern probably 20 hours. But when you get into hand blending colors, adding stripes or spots or any special patterns that time goes up a bit we'll say to 35 hours at the very minimum 25 hours.

That means for this tail I could expect to make 2.17$ to 3.04$ per hour.

I would not only say that that this in and of it'self makes my prices reasonable but down right FANTASTIC. Even if I just charged minimum wage in my state (8.10 an hour) for this tail it would make this tail about 222.50$

Thankfully for both myself and my customers I have no intention of living off the money I make from yarn tails. I do it because I LIKE doing it and it's nice to have a little extra money for a rainy day, and emergency, a vet bill etc. So the 3$ an hour I potentially make is o.k. with me.

Point 2 - My Experience is Valuable
This point is often looked over in the business of arts and crafts. You CAN pay somebody that just started making yarn tails two thirds or half the price I'd charge but you get what you pay for. I won't say that all newbies to the craft are terrible, in fact I've seen some really nice tails from people on their first few attempts. BUT when you commission someone with more experience you are paying for the insurance that they know EXACTLY what they are doing and know how to deliver what you want exactly the way you want it.

I have been doing yarn tails for almost 4 years now. I have DOZENS of tails under my belt evidenced by my gallery and the fact that not every tail I made is even in my gallery. I try new things all the time with my tails. You are paying for the things I learn from experimentation that other yarn tail crafters might not have discovered for themselves yet.

I'll go back to the point about "youre just brushing out yarn to make it soft" is a complete and utter fallacy. Making a yarn tail look the way my tails look takes technique and practice. Yes anybody can brush out yarn but most people don't understand the technique or they skip steps or take short cuts and end up with a ratty, gnarly, matted mess. I'd love to post examples but it would be rude and unprofessional to point to someone else's work to say "look how bad it is".

And lastly for this section I would like to point out that I know two yarn tail crafters personally who have more experience than I do and we all have very similar prices.

Point 3 - If my prices were unreasonable people wouldn't pay them

In 2013 I booked and completed 1 - 3 yarn tails for every single month. I charged exactly what I charge now. Not a single one of those people had a complaint about the price. A few of them have even come back and ordered more tails from me.

I sell premade tails in my etsy shop. I'll admit that sales are slower from my online store but I DO make sales and just like with commissions I do get quite a bit of repeat business.

---

So let's recap eh.

On a typical sized commission I make 2$ - 3$ an hour.
I have years of experience. Experience is worth $$
The proof is in the pudding. If my prices were unreasonable people wouldn't pay them.


So if after reading this you still see something wrong with my asking price I HIGHLY suggest attempting to make your own yarn tail (there are several guides out there) or looking for a newbie that will make you one on the cheap because they don't have the portfolio / experience to ask for more money.