Software engineer earns thousands making D&D themed books and bags with shark and coyote teeth after ditching tech job

A software engineer who always dreamed of becoming an artist but did not think it was a “viable career” decided to quit her lucrative job after her side-hustle selling “monster rocks” online turned into a full blown business, and she now makes thousands of pounds a month selling her creations, such as books and bags, which are made with real shark and coyote teeth.

Victoria Lawson, 31, from Bolton, left her £40K software development job to make themed leather goods, including books, bags, badges and pens, which she sells online for between £25 and £1,500.

She started her home-business in 2018, under the name suetyfiddle after selling a “sculpted stone” on Etsy for £8 and receiving a volley of 20 orders over the weekend.

Two years later, Victoria’s side-hustle and passion project became a full-time job after she handed in her notice and today, the budding business turns over around £2,400 a month.

Victoria uses glue and stitches to combine glass eyes with real shark teeth, which she purchases by the kilo from Morocco, or coyote teeth from Indonesia, as they are more resistant, to create her quirky range.

Her toothy creations are inspired by Mimics, one of the creatures from the role play game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), often depicted as inanimate objects with big teeth.

“The entire time I was sat at my desk doing code, I was thinking about art,” Victoria, who recently moved to Manchester, told PA Real Life.

“When I started this, it was a new thing for me and I didn’t have all the answers.

“I never, never would have thought that I would end up doing leather work.

“It was a complete accident and it’s been absolutely fantastic.”

Victoria had always loved drawing ever since she could hold a pen, but did not believe it was a viable career option.

“There are always jokes about how arts degrees are useless,” she said.

“I didn’t believe it was a viable career choice, although I still did it for myself, for fun.”

Instead of art, she decided to study cybernetics at the University of Reading, a subject which combines a variety of disciplines including mathematics, engineering, computer science and software development.

After graduating in 2015, Victoria spent five years working in software development for a company called DataSift and then later, Diamond Light Source.

The latter, which she described as “hands down, one of the most amazing jobs in software development”, involved working with a synchrotron, which is a type of particle accelerator used to study the atomic structure of various materials.

In her spare time, Victoria enjoyed playing role player games, including Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), which would ultimately set her on a very different career path.

She was planning a session of D&D in 2018 and decided to design one of the props which features heavily in the storyline, a magical rock with eyes, made out of polymer clay.

After five attempts, Victoria picked her favourite and listed the others on the popular e-commerce platform Etsy.

“I put the spares up on Etsy for sale,” she said.

“Someone bought one for like £8 and posted about it on Reddit and I got like, 20 orders in a weekend.”

Victoria created an Instagram account, started posting pictures of her Mimic designs and applied for flexible working hours so she could pursue her side-hustle and passion.

She pulled together a spreadsheet and calculated that in order to cover her living costs, including rent, utilities, taxes, and the cost of materials, she needed to bring in at least £600 per week.

It did not take long for Victoria to hit her target and having already dropped to three days of work a week, she resigned in February 2020.

But finding the right price point was not easy.

“I was charging way, way less than they were worth,” she said.

“I was charging like £135 for a book, which takes between 16 and 20 hours work [to make] plus the cost of materials.”

Victoria has since adjusted her prices and expanded her collection to include bigger books, bags, badges and chokers.

Her signature Mimic books now cost between £350 and £650, although she recently sold an A4 size tomb for £1,100.

For anyone who does not have that sort of money to spend, Victoria sells Mimic badges for around £25 to £30.

She also offers £200 dice bags for fellow role-playing gamers, as well as tote bags and cross body bags, decorated with an eye surrounded by teeth and hand stitched with heavy gauge French linen thread, which sell for around £1,000.

A Mimic inspired backpack is one of Victoria’s latest creations, which has taken her nine days to make and costs £1,500.

Part of what makes Victoria’s designs so unique are the materials she uses.

“The majority of teeth I use are shark’s teeth which are dug out of the sand in Morocco and sold as a subset of the fossil industry,” she said.

“You can find shark’s teeth in shops for a very high price, but if you’re a cheapskate, you can buy kilo bags of C-grade teeth and I will literally spend two or three days sorting through a bag of teeth to find those which are intact.”

Victoria has saved all the “rejected” shark teeth and is exploring the possibility of combining them with leather scraps to make monster doorstops.

She also buys coyote teeth from Indonesia which are more resistant and therefore better suited to making bags.

“The thing about shark teeth is that they are quite fragile, so I only really use them for static things like the books” she said.

“For things that will see a lot of use, like the bags, the coyote teeth are a lot more durable.”

Victoria’s ultimate goal is to grow her business and earn around £1,000 a week, before material costs.

“This would allow me to pay all my taxes and still have savings at the end of the year,” she said.

Having recently moved to Manchester, in February 2024, Victoria is still finding her feet but already her budding business is turning over around £2,400 a month.

“It’s not what I expected, but it’s been amazing,” she said.

“Now I’m only reliant on myself and it’s scary but freeing in a lot of ways.”

To find out more about Victoria’s products visit: suetyfiddle.co.uk or follow her on Instagram @suetyfiddle.