Meet Cat Halbeisen | Artist & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cat Halbeisen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cat, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Of course I can’t speak for everyone (though I think this is relatable!) but I will spend hours and hours mulling over and tweaking every detail, no matter how simple the finished product ends up being. Every illustration that turns into a sticker was obsessed over, or put aside for weeks—more likely months—before I deemed it “ready.” Art can have these details that seem so small but feel so necessary and important to making something feel finished. A little dot here, a little blending there. It all matters to me!

There’s also that internal battle of drawing what you think people want to see/what you think will sell, vs. drawing solely what *you* want. I’m still figuring out this balance. It messes with my head sometimes because frog art, for example, is really popular, but the market has become pretty oversaturated on Etsy and your art can get lost in the abyss–so you try to offer something unique to draw people to your work, but if it’s too niche…

There’s a sticker in my first collection, a simple red rose, that was partly me trying to find my style and partly thinking about broad appeal—and it’s the lowest-performing item in my shop! My weirdest sticker, a happy ball of dryer lint named Linty, is also a low performer. One of my top sellers? A frog wearing cargo pants and a fanny pack. There’s probably a formula here, right? When illustrating a popular subject, add your own special touches to make it stand out!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My one-floor elevator pitch for Plum Press is that it’s an art project born out of grief, healing, and friendship. The idea had been sloshing around my brain for a little while, but the catalyst for starting the shop was suddenly losing my por por (Cantonese for maternal grandmother) and my job of 8 years in the span of a week—without opportunity to say goodbye to either one.

I started Plum Press as way of coping with the grief from the loss of my grandmother. The “Plum” in Plum Press stems from my maternal family names, which translate to plum tree/plum flower. Plum Press is dedicated to Por Por, and to anyone who has ever experienced profound loss. I hope my illustrations can bring people joy even in grief, like they have for me.

Right now I focus on vinyl stickers but hope to expand into more stationery products like greeting + post cards, small prints, etc. I love vinyl stickers because they’re an accessible way of enjoying art, expressing yourself, embracing your inner kid. Plum Press is for collectors, lovers of little creatures and cute things, snail mailers, connecting and sharing with friends, and anyone who wants to inject a morsel of happiness into their everyday life. These stickers are printed on thick, durable vinyl and are UV-protected, fade resistant, waterproof, weatherproof, and dishwasher safe. You can even put them on your car!

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Getting started: I’ve always loved stationery products, especially stickers. I’d started drawing again, something I’ve done on and off throughout my life. To make my friends laugh, I was drawing frogs as various pop culture figures (like Jack and Rose from the Titanic freezing on that door, Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya from The White Lotus), and frogs doing un-frog-like things like running kissing booths and stacking themselves in a trench coat to get into an R-rated movie. Friends said they would make funny stickers and I thought, you know what? They would! But while that idea came about on a whim, I took my time in making it happen because I wanted to do it right.

At this point I was drawing with pencil and paper and colored pencils, but I wanted to learn digital illustration. I spent hours and hours teaching myself how to wield my digital pen. So much trial and error and frustration! When I became more confident with it, I illustrated what would become the first ever Plum Press product and one of my best-selling stickers: Poppy & Mops, a jorts-wearing raccoon and her little frog pal. I researched sticker vendors, ordered samples. When I decided on a vendor (a process in itself!) and finished my first collection of drawings, I ordered a big ol’ batch of stickers and finally opened my store.

Challenges in starting: There are always risks and challenges in starting even the smallest business. I knew I’d have to spend money but I definitely spent more than I expected to. And there are many little decisions I had to make. At first I thought a sticker business would be, in a way, “easy.” And while stickers are relatively low-lift products, it depends on some factors, one being: are you printing them at home or through a vendor? Printing stickers at home is a whole other process; it requires a lot of learning/trial and error, time, energy, and money (depending on how fancy a printer you need for the quality you want). I just want to focus on designing and drawing, so I leave the production and quality assurance to the pros! As for current challenges, it’s always bummer when a product I love and thought would be more popular just isn’t, like the previously mentioned lint sticker! I’ll probably be retiring that one even though I think it’s funny. It also stinks when I’m vending at a market but the customers aren’t really my target audience, or when the weather is bad and people don’t show up. It’s pretty disheartening and it can feel like my time and effort have gone to waste. I have to decide which opportunities are worth hustling for and accept that the outcome very well may not be in my favor. It’s all par for the course, which is why it’s so exciting when things do work out!

What excites me: One of my favorite parts of the whole process, other than drawing, is writing lore/backstories for each illustration. It’s a great way to hone my creative writing and copywriting skills, and because I don’t work for anyone else, I can be absolutely silly with it. I also love decorating the envelopes in which I send people’s orders. As soon as I get a purchase notification, I stop what I’m doing and get out my little craft box which is filled with colorful pens, markers, washi tape, and lovely stamps. I doodle on every envelope because I want customers to feel like they’re getting a piece of snail mail from a friend, and it’s my way of showing gratitude to everyone who makes an order. I have so much fun with it! Using my metallic markers puts me on an unmatched level of mirth.

I’m proud of myself for starting Plum Press at all, for just going for it. (Trying real hard not to quote a sports slogan here.) I struggle with ADHD and it can be profoundly difficult for me to motivate myself through the self doubt—to take initial steps toward a personal project or goal and stick with it through the challenges. It’s kind of like when you don’t feel like working out; just putting on your workout clothes first can help you feel ready to muster the energy. Or how traveling is stressful but once you get to the airport and past the check-in point, some of that stress melts away. Once I made the decision to sell art and had a semblance of an idea of how to do it, the process became fun and invigorating. I may not keep doing Plum Press forever, but right now I’m having fun with it and I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished so far.

Final thoughts: I’ll sign off with a fact about me you didn’t ask for: I have ranidaphobia, i.e. a phobia of frogs. Love to draw them, absolutely do not love to be in the vicinity of them. I do not trust frogs or their volatile movements, and their weird little track & field thighs are deeply unsettling. Kermit is nice, though.

Lastly, if you could tell your rich friends about my art, that would be really cool and nice.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One of my dearest friends lives in LA and she’s introduced me to all the things I love about the city. We’d start the day at a cafe like Commissary for a latte (they also have cute souvenir mugs), then do the Wisdom Tree hike. I’m not much of a hiker but I like this one because it’s relatively short but it has a steep incline to keep me engaged. And, forgive me if this is too touristy (I’m not a local!), but I adore a leisurely walk around the Venice Canals. They’re as pretty and romantic as they seem in the movies! Just be respectful; people actually live there! Can you imagine that being your front yard? Walking around Venice in general is so lovely. At some point, we need to go to Leo’s Taco Truck for no-fuss tacos. LA has a great food truck scene. Some of the best meals are the ones I can house in a parking lot. If we’re feeling extravagant, we’ll get some pretty desserts or lunch at Bottega Louie. My favorite bakery, however, is my friend’s place; when I stay with her, she wakes me up with freshly-brewed coffee and a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family and friends and everyone else who’s supported me! Every time someone shares Plum Press on social media, buys stickers and shows them off, tells their friends, shows up to my markets, all the good chemicals rush right to my core. I also want to shout out one of my favorite organizations, Heart of Dinner: their care for their community and the way they use art and food to do so always inspires me. And of course, Plum Press is dedicated to my por por. I miss her so very much. She was always so proud of me and I am beyond proud to have been loved by her.

Website: https://byplumpress.etsy.com

Instagram: @plumpress.co

Image Credits
Portrait by Rachel Long of Saros Creative