Comstock's magazine 1019 - October 2019 | Page 125

SIGNS OF THE TIMES
When Simon and Kelly Holland launched
the Etsy shop for their business, Sassy
Squirrel Ink, in March 2015, they had about
a half-dozen sign designs available to print
photos on slate. They made a sale on their
first day. To expand their product line, the
husband-and-wife team, who live in Gold
River, introduced home address number
signs, welcome messages and other person-
alized plaques on slate. “I’m originally from
the UK, and in Wales especially, putting slate
plaques on your house is very common,” Si-
mon says. This new product line quickly took
over. “Obviously, when you’re running a busi-
ness, you go where the sales are.” They have
150 different designs and sell about 200
slates a week (at $48.95 to $77.95 each),
he says. The process starts with cleaning the
slates — which come precut from Brazil —
drilling holes and then applying two coats of
white paint. Next, the personalized design
is printed on the flat stone using a $30,000
flatbed printer with two UV-LED lamps for
fast curing and ink designed for the outdoors.
The Hollands have three part-time employ-
ees who mainly help with production (Kelly
has shifted her focus to the fitness studio the
couple co-owns; Simon, left, also works as a
musician on Broadway Sacramento shows).
They do about 60 percent of their business
through Amazon, with the rest split among
Etsy, Wayfair and their own website. “I love
that there are so many bits to running a busi-
ness,” Simon says. “There are always new
designs. People say, ‘Could you do this de-
sign,’ ‘Could you do that?’ I love that.” n
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