Cross-stitch is a kind of hand-crafted embroidery. Strands of string are hand-stitched in small X patterns on a larger piece of fabric. The kind of stuff your grandmother has hanging on the wall. The patterns are laid out on a basic grid pattern, and typically try and use a minimal number of colors. It's also easier to stitch in small clumps, dare I say clusters, of color rather than widely scattered individual spots. Does this sound familiar?
Images linked from
www.artecy.com which sells the patterns pictured, among others.. There are several sites which sell these patterns, at a typical price of $5-10 US per copy, depending on size, subject, complexity, and so forth. Most of these sites either have public domain artwork converted to pixels, er, patterns, or some crummy pixel-ish art. I don't know how large this market is, but I think there may an opportunity for talented pixel artists to make a few bucks.
Or one could just turn their pixel art into some embroidered Xmas gifts.
Edit: Holy crud, I found something else too.
PixelHobby looks like small plastic bits that get mounted on a plastic baseboard. 10 dpi if I'm doing my math correct, and they claim 312 colors. They actually call their plastic bits 'pixels' as if this is some new thing. Customers buy a pattern and plastic build and assemble the artwork themselves. Looks like patterns sell for about $10 for each 40x50 tile + pixels. The link goes to an Australian site but there are links to distributors in Europe and the US. This .. this is actually a thing.
No obvious links for selling your own patterns but you could always buy the materials and set up your own site. I imagine the cross-stitch is a larger market though since it can be applied to clothing and pillows and whatnot.
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