Drawn to the Wild: Tailbone Designs

“Just make the art.” – Heidi Franke, Tailbone Designs

Skeletons doing snow sports. Bunnies with backstories. Dreamy and otherworldly birds. Those are some of the main characters in Heidi Franke’s art, and what you’ll find when you discover her art business, Tailbone Designs.

Someone who starts an art business may think of themselves as an artist first, and an entrepreneur out of necessity. Others have the entrepreneurial spirit, and their creativity follows along as a value that they can offer the world. Heidi balances both mindsets with ease, offering approachable and collectible art in the form of stickers, prints, and cards, as well as larger one-of-a-kind paintings for a lucky wall.

A Return to Art

In 2019, she realized that her day-to-day wasn’t bringing her joy anymore, so she started to focus on a balance of more creative work. This coincided with moving to Valdez, Alaska, from Arizona. She thought back to what HAD brought her joy in the past: art. She’d shied away from art for the public for years, since some bad experiences she had in school. But she couldn’t get totally away from it, and when she started to create small skeleton paintings, a local business, Valdez Adventure Alliance, took notice.

“I just started painting these tiny square skeletons just for the sake of doing them, and Valdez Adventure Alliance got their eyes on them. They said, “We love these. Can we use them for our bike festival and our ice climbing festival?” And I said, “Sure.” That’s how Tailbone Designs came into life. It all started with these little skeletons that I drew doing sporty things.”

Heidi’s work up to this point had been in service-based jobs: advocacy, EMT work, and an advisor at a college. She likes to help people, she explains, so “it felt almost selfish to want to pull back and do something that was more about focusing on myself. But at the same time, I feel like you just can’t fight those things. If it’s what you want to do, it’s what you want to do.”

Shortly after Tailbone Designs was born, Heidi’s first retail customer was Prospector Outfitters. “My husband, who is a buyer, said I should make stickers and see how they sell.”  And I brought them to his shop and they flew off the shelf.

Now, Heidi’s stickers, prints, and other products are available at several locations and through her website. Many times, she creates a new piece and debuts it as a sticker, then if it proves popular, she offers prints, journals, cards, or other items. “I learned to sample my artwork and get it out there,” she explains.

Learning and Listening to Customers

Sometimes her customers still take her by surprise, but she easily finds connections with her fans. “Oddly enough, kids love my bunnies. They are charmed by the bunnies and birds. That makes me so happy.” Other collectors of her stickers include Valdez tourists, especially the outdoors adventure types.

“When people see something of mine and it moves them somehow, I love it. I did a painting of my dog once … and hung it up on the wall for myself. Someone came into the co-op, and they saw it and just got teary and said, “That looks exactly like my dog that passed away.” We talked about dogs for like an hour, and that meant so much to me. I had no idea that would happen. And you know, it’s those exchanges that are one of the most fascinating things about art.”

The Support of Business Impact NW 

Creativity and a business mind are both building blocks that have helped start and grow Tailbone Designs. Heidi credits her work with Business Impact NW with helping her see how important it is for her to keep a community of others around her, helping each other move forward and learn.

She’s pushing herself to learn more about social media, and about selling her products beyond her home of Valdez. “Carrie Jean and Business Impact NW have taught me that I have value outside of my little circle and outside of my little town. It feels like a big world that you might not be able to put a dent in. But when you have someone who takes an interest in what you do, it’s a little moment of validation.”

Next Steps

Heidi was named Artist in Residence at the Valdez Theater Conference. She also participates as a writer, and as an Artist in Residence, she works on creating the sets. In the future, Heidi hopes to be able to show more of her work in a gallery setting. “I’d like to work on some larger pieces that are expressions of things in my life that I want to put out that may not be right for selling, but are still worth showing.”

For now, she’s following her own advice:

“I was really worried about making things I was putting out. If I’m making this for sale, I’d want it to be perfect. You just have to say paint it and put it out there. Just paint it and put it out.

But sometimes you have to just walk away if it’s not your thing and start something else, and then come back to it when it’s time. That’s something I’m always trying to tell myself to do. Just paint. Just make the art.”

You can also  find Tailbone Designs at:

• Valdez Art Co-op
• Valdez Brewing
• Anadyr Adventures
• Captain Joe’s
• The Gift Shop
• Powder Hound
• McKinley Creekside Cabins
• Fairbanks Prospector Outfitters
• Valdez Prospector Outfitters
• Maris Farms, Buckley Washington
• Casa De La Arte, Glennallen

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