Digital
2020
My piece DeadededXOXO was my very first piece minted on the blockchain, ever. It was minted on Makersplace which was also the very first platform that I was in, back in March 2020.
First Mints
The second I got accepted to Makersplace, I immediately minted 5 of my works. Haha! Yeah, "genesis piece" weren't a thing. I just minted them straight away.
I also didn't know about marketing and everything. So no drops, no nothing. Just mint them just to fill the portfolio and gain followers too (since I have no following when I started. I was literally a nobody even in the outside world cos of hiatus etc).
Anyway... I minted them at the same time so that makes these works "genesis pieces" somehow but I consider DeadededXOXO to be the OG since it was the very first upload.
I know about 1 editions being a very valuable asset and editions being not-so. Well of course I was a newb, I didn't know about how genesis is a thing in crypto in general and is very valuable. So the first ones were on editions. This work, it was 10 editions.
Burning
Months passed by, I then realized genesis pieces are actually valuable and 1/1s are very very valuable too. So I decided to burn the rest of the 9 editions on Makersplace to make it a 1/1.
Then I realized Makersplace doesn't publish all the editions at once. So to be able to burn the editions, I had to publish the editions one by one and then also burn them one by one. It's very hassle. Other platforms don't work like this so I was surprised of the process.
The transaction costs about $9 during that time for burning so multiply that by 9 and also minting fee for maybe $20 each, so it will probably cos around $200 just to complete the process. And $200 is not cheap! Hahah. $9 fee wasn't even that cheap that time. So I just left it temporarily and hid it in my store.
Offer on the burned work
Then, I was notified by the collector that he actually bid on the work. I immediately clarified that it was already burned and that I don't own that anymore (so that means I can't accept any offers).
I didn't even know you can do that on Opensea lol.
Then I told the collector if he really want it, I can publish another 1 edition of that work and just burn the rest of the editions to make it a 1/1. The gas fees were so high that time (it was 200+ gwei lol) so it would probably cost $200 on EACH EDITION so I just told him if he trusts me, he can buy that work and I'll just not sell anymore editions of that and burn the rest to make it 1/1.
He was so kind to send me 0.1 ETH for transaction fees to be able to publish and possibly burn some. And he bought my work.
Sold!
The work was bought by him for 0.666 ETH ($1,329) which was also the amount he placed! Lol. The number was funny enough and also a generous one but what's so amazing is that the trust he gave me.
You know, we are doing these NFT thing because we trust the blockchain and smart contracts to do its job. Royalties, transparency, etc... Because trusting people with the process isn't that reliable.
But, he fully trust me in that. You see, I can just easily break my word and just sell the rest of the editions (ofc I won't do that lol) but he still placed that trust.
To me, being trusted like that is so amazing and speaks so much about how we are in the community (in crypto in general).
We'd rather trust the people who understand the principle of being in crypto than the no-coiners, and that's one of the reasons why this community is being valued
Reminiscing the time during the Steem-Hive fork, it was so amazing to be a part of this community and all of us went to fight against the takeover. We even publicized our fight on Twitter and some (outside Hive) also understood what we were doing and even praised us for doing so.
To me, this whole crypto thing (in general) is valuable because of the community behind it. I value Hive and Cryptoart community so much and I will always be grateful for that.
That said, this is me publicizing my statement on the blockchain and I will publish and burn the remaining editions when the gas becomes more affordable. It is possible to do this since Makersplace can't automatically sell my work (just in case it gets published cos low gas) cos I didn't put my price on it.
Also fun to document what had happened just so future art historians will have an easier time you know. ;)
Trust is actually everything when it comes to NFT and all, I had once done a job for someone on fiverr and they went ahead to use my work without actually paying me especially after get complained that it wasn't good enough.
Im happy this person was kind enough. But then look at all that minting fee, its definately crazy hahah. Glad you closed the deal and some eth richer.
Bingo
I've had plenty of people not pay me for my services to the tune of thousands, name of the game! You chalk it off you move on, wasting time chasing up these people isn't worth it. I find focusing on your winners more than your losers is your best bet. We all lose money in life, but also Im like a machine I just keep going unphased lol
Ugh that also makes sense. I bet some clients know that already, so they would risk not paying cos they know some artists won't chase them. We just leave it to karma hahah
I know 2 peoples businesses who didn't pay me and now the're out of business, so I do believe karma comes a knocking and does a far better job than I would ever do. It's a small price to pay to know the character of the person and who you an trust.
Also good work speaks for itself, and if it is good it leads to more work
Haha well I'm glad to hear this. That's what they deserve. You're also very right with focusing on the win and just focus on the work.
Lol I didn't get there overnight I learned the hard way after many calls and emails I got to this point. It wasn't easy for me to accept the first few times now im like meh! Also I realised I am privileged enough to do shit like that, not everyone can afford to let money walk by but I live frugally and save so that I can make the best decisions for myself and avoid depending on others
WTF so sorry to hear that! How did you deal with it when you knew he used your work? That's disgusting >:(
And yeah fees are crazy lol but I'm glad they are gonna do something for it soon
This is a very cool piece, I see why they wanted it!
The trust will go a long way, I bet they will be buying more from you!
Thank you! Indeed! Building relationships with collectors is also a very important thing to do.
Congrats on the sell. That is awesome.
Thanks Wes!
Congrats on your sale! I've yet to get an account approved on MakersPlace. I am guessing that they don't like the work that I've submitted. Either that or it has just become exceedingly difficult for new artists to join since the surge in popularity.
How long that has been? They have a surge of applications so it might take a few weeks.
They are a small team and aside from that, this too for sure.
Your work is cool, I hope they accept you!
It was sometime last week. Perhaps they just haven't had time to look at it. Fingers crossed!