Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Farmer.
Hi Kris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My business started on accident actually. I have always been a creative. I’ve been jumping from hobby to hobby most of my life. Drawing, photography, web design, guitar anything creative… but this one hobby hit different. Resin. Specifically making custom tumblers with resin. It was expensive to get into and after a couple months I went looking for supplies wholesale just for myself and I may have overestimated exactly how much a kilo of glitter was… so I started selling off the excess and that eventually turned into The Cult Glitter Co. It went pretty smoothly too considering my background in photography and web design made product photos and web building easy. I was using Photoshop for about 10 years at the time so making graphics for advertising was easy too and I enjoyed all of it so everything sort of fell into place.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part it was pretty smooth. I had hiccups here and there. The holiday season is slow which is expected because my customers are buying from me for themselves. Also everyone is saving for Black Friday so that’s a thing to keep in mind each year. Also you can’t really take a vacation when you’re a one woman show, so it has its moments. Especially now because my dad can’t live alone anymore and I am trying to prepare for him to move in here which takes a lot of my time and the business suffers. Overall though, I love what I do. I married the love of my life a year ago and he helps too. He builds shelves and such when I need something specific or helps with restocks and inventory. He’s a huge help and so are the kids. They each have their favorite thing to do and will jump in once in a while. It’s nice that we have that to help them prepare for the working world.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Mostly I am a supplier to tumbler and resin artists. I started off selling primarily glitter and have since expanded to sell templates, micas, brushes, template tape, alcohol inks, and silicone mats. Even more recently I bought a giant printer so I can print patterned vinyl in house and I can also make custom crafting mats for my customers with their logo on them so they have something fancy to show their brand when they go live. I also go live on Tiktok making tumblers, teaching techniques, answering questions, showing product, and building a community of fellow tumbler makers of all experience levels. I upload those loves both to YouTube, and also to my website, CultGlitter.com where I link all the supplies I used as well so it’s easy to recreate the design yourself.
The thing I am really proud of when it comes to the business is the community I’ve built. I have such a fantastic group of women (and a few men) who are loyal customers and many are now close friends. They are so kind to each other and helpful and uplifting. It’s so nice to have this little bubble of happy in the midst of the chaos of life. The way the share and communicate with each other in the Facebook group chat is such a family vibe and I love it so much.
If you asked them what I specialize in they would say glitter ombres. They have dubbed me the Ombre Queen. There is a technique I use for ombres that involves using a brush instead of dumping glitter and hoping for the best. It’s more granular and gives you more control so you can get that perfect seamless blend between different glitters.
I am known for my library templates. Templates are files I create or draw that my customers can cut on template tape and glitter section by section. Sort of like a sticky coloring book. My libraries are all drawn by hand and I love coming up with new designs and themes. A lot of my customers are big readers and they enjoy all the different options we come up with. Some come from me, others are their suggestions. They are such great people. I can’t stress that enough. They make all of this more enjoyable.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success to me has to do with peace and community. I love what I do and I’ve never had that before. There are times the job feels like a job but even in those moments I still take pride in the fact that I’m working towards the growth of something that I built from nothing. It fuels me. I love brainstorming how to bring a new idea to life. It’s so exciting and to have the ability to follow the passion as deep as you want to go for as long as you need to is one of the biggest feelings of success for me. Then you factor in the community too… you see the passion they all have towards what they do and for each other. To have relationships with people who relate to such niche things and get that level of excited with you… it’s hard to beat that. That’s the icing on top. It fuels me.
Pricing:
- Glitter $6-$10
- Patterned Vinyl $5-$6
- Template Tape $26.74
- Alcohol Inks $3.99
- Custom Tumblers $65-$85
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cultglitter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultglitterco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cultglitter
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CultGlitterCo
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cultglitterco
