03.16.08
Posted in Uncategorized, jewelry, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews, crochet, knitting, Stained Glass at 3:29 pm by KellyM
Please meet D’arcy, Owner of www.littlesalem.com
Where are you located? St. Paul, MN.
What do you design? Stained glass (panels, lamps, pendants, jewelry boxes). Various knitted and crocheted items (chokers, halfmits, soap satchels)
Where/How did you learn this? I returned to college when I was 42, and spent most of my time in the Fine Arts Dept. There, I learned sculpture, watercolor, graphic design, but mostly fell in love with all aspects of glass, from stained glass and fusing to glass blowing. I learned how to crochet from my grandma when I was very little.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Oh, there are so many! I love John Waterhouse. There are so many people in my life who are artistic though, and they inspire me.
Where does your inspiration come from? Life and dreams. Sometimes I can see art in the mundane, and I dream so much when I sleep it’s like I’m just visiting another, more colorful place. That’s given me a lot of ideas in my waking hours.
What do you do to combat creative block? I have so many different things I like to do that I don’t even have the time to get to all the ideas I have now.
Where do you design your creations? I have a workspace in my basement that I use for doing my glass. Soon, I will be setting up space to include pewter casting and silver metal clay. (I just got a new torch and I can’t wait to fire it up!)
Upstairs I have a little room where I do my sewing and beading, and I crochet and knit when I’m watching tv at night.
What does your work space look like right now? Very cluttered! I’m always working on at least a couple of things at the same time!
How does your family feel about what you do? My whole family is very supportive! My partner in life is a very talented artist, so he is not only supportive, but he “gets it”. My kids are following a creative path also, so there’s always plenty of creative energy in this house!
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? For any method, follow what drives you. Learn what you can, and get your hands dirty and try it. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll succeed.
Favorite part of owning your own business? The hours. I can work around family, appointments, etc. I just need to remember to stop sometimes.
Least favorite? The actual business end. I’m still learning that, and I feel like it takes so much time away from what I love to do.
How do you realx? A bonfire in the back yard after my guy BBQs a great steak!
Favortie color? Hmmmm. Lately, I’m liking reds. Overall, black and purple.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Oh yes, lots of black.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Learning to play my harp, and playing my guitar more.If there were more hours in the day, what would you
A sample of Little Salem products. For all products, please visit Darcy’s website.
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03.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized, jewelry, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews at 6:54 pm by KellyM
Please meet Kelly Warren, Owner of www.happyshackdesigns.com
Where are you located? Jacksonville, FL.
What do you design? Jewelry and accessories.
Where/How did you learn this? I’m self taught!
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Oh my… too many to count…currently, it’s my good friend Wyanne Thompson.
Where does your inspiration come from? Color, color and more color…and my children.
What do you do to combat creative block? Read an art magazine and then TRY to go to sleep…Most of my designs come to me when I’m laying in bed at night trying to go to sleep.
Where do you design your creations? My hubby built me a wonderful little studio on the ground floor of our home.
What does your work space look like right now? Today, it’s actually clean. Yesterday morning it was a disaster because I just finished preparing and returning from an arts festival in Bartow. When I’m in the week prior to a show, I tend to make quite a mess because I’m just constantly creating and not really cleaning up. I took the day off yesterday to recover from the weekend and clean up.
How does your family feel about what you do? Very supportive. Couldn’t do it without my husband who graciously takes care of our girls when I’m traveling to festivals. And my girls are learning to create right next to me so I think that’s a wonderful thing.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Don’t be afraid to just try something new. I’m fairly skilled in jewelry design but I’ve been trying new things in other art forms. Best advice I ever got (from Wyanne) was just to do it. I had the “Oh, I just need one more little bit of supplies” syndrome. But I just had to realize that I had everything I needed right there. I just needed to quit coming up with excuses and just play. I think “playing” is the key. That way you have to let go of being too hard on yourself.
Best advice you received when starting your business venture? Price your items correctly! Which I’m still not following very well. I think my larger pieces are probably a bit under priced (so snag them while you can! 
)
Favorite part of owning your own business? Being able to send a little piece of me out there into the world for someone else to enjoy.
Least favorite? Photographing my work! I love taking pictures in general, but dislike photographing my work simply because jewelry is so hard to capture well on camera.
How do you relax? A good magazine and a big bubble bath.
Favorite color? Blue
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Yes, yes, and yes.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Creating more. I work full time in addition to my Happy Shack and also have twin 4 1/2 year old girls, so my days are jam packed. In a perfect world, I would win the lottery so I could stay home with my girls and create new things all the time.
A sample of Happy Shack Designs products. For all products, please visit Kelly’s website.
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03.12.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, paper crafts, Art Deco, Calligraphy at 7:15 pm by KellyM
Please meet Cara Buchalter, Owner of www.octavineillustration.blogspot.com and http://octavineillustration.etsy.com .
Where are you located? Beautiful Portland, Oregon.
What do you design? Art Deco inspired wares; calligraphy, custom invitations, posters, logos and labels.
Where/How did you learn this? I began by creating a marriage contract in Hebrew calligraphy for a friend about 10 years ago. As word spread, I began to receive commissions for calligraphy and then illustration work. Over the years the business has grown and I have calligraphed and illustrated numerous marriage contracts, invitations, public murals, logos, tattoos, concert posters and even a wine label.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Henri Toulouse Latrec
Where does your inspiration come from? Research. Before I begin a project, I look through my designs library. Garning inspiration from photographers, illustrators, advertisements and magazines infuses me with creativity and barrages me with ideas. I order boxes upon boxes of ephemera from estate sales on ebay and simply pour through them when in need of new images, fonts or layout ideas. I have a rather methodical (some may say anal) process in which I must first conceive of the painting or alphabet completely in my head.
Where do you design your creations? I have a studio which recently became home to the cast from the Secret of NIMH. Lately I work on my dining room table. I like to be in the center of things rather than relegated to a basement studio. And my mastiff Belle does not like to go down in the basement and I enjoy hanging out with her whilst I work.
What does your work space look like right now? Well, I recently cleaned out the basement studio but have yet to go down there for any amount of time. Thus, the dining room table is usually piled with books, sketches, gocco supplies, calligraphy inks, rulers and paints. It drives my husband batty.
How does your family feel about what you do? Usually very supportive (see above). My dad’s an artist as well so he understands the life I lead quite well. My mother’s a bit more practical and forces me to look at the business side of it all. My sister, a local music booker networks me in with that crowd and my husband is happy as long as the house isn’t one big art studio.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? I do all my work by hand, including font-design and calligraphy. My only advice is to figure out your niche, promote yourself and make sure that you have a comfortable working environment.
Best advice you received when starting your own business venture? Have one big goal in mind. Visualize acheiving it. Everything you do should be a means towards that.
Favorite part of owning your own business? Only I can tell myself what to do.
Least favorite? Only I can tell myself what to do.
How do you relax? Reading mystery novels, watching reruns of Law & Order, walking my dog.
Favorite color? Tangerine
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Oh, yes it does.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Promoting, promoting, promoting.
A sample of Octavine Illustration products. For all products, please visit Cara’s website.
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03.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized, jewelry, fun, hand crafted jewelry, shopping, site promotion, interviews at 3:35 pm by KellyM
Please meet Jodie, Owner of www.blinkingmouse.etsy.com
Where are you located? In the West Midlands in England
What do you design? I mostly make jewellery for women where I use buttons, beads, Fimo, etc. I’m obsessed with buttons at the moment and everyone seems to love the results. I really like to use materials that people say can’t be used to create sophisticated “grown up” pieces and use them to create jewellery any adult woman would feel beautiful wearing. This weekend I went on an earring spree so I might turn my attention to a different form soon. I also have lots of paper craft stuff lying around waiting to be busted out and I’d quite like to start making cards again soon. I also love to customise t-shirts.
Where/How did you learn this? I started by making elastic bracelets with plastic beads when I was 16 and in my angry creative girl phase, which thankfully I’ve never fully shaken off. As I got more interested in “proper” jewellery making, I started buying bead magazines and hanging out at Craftster (www.craftster.org) for tips. I’m a pretty DIY kind of learner, but I do love part-works and I think they’re great for learning specific techniques.
Favorite Artist who inspires you? I wouldn’t say artists inspire my crafting but I do have a couple of favourite artists. I’m pretty mainstream and like Dali and Picasso but I’m not so much into names when it comes to painters. If I see something and I like it I might explore that painters work, but so much of my love of art is made up of glimpses of isolated painting in galleries. I also recently met a great artist who sells on etsy called Paula Koran, and you can see an interview with her at my blog http://prettylittleloveobjects.blogspot.com
What do you do to combat creative block? I try to leave it alone. If you try to force inspiration to work for you it will run away, but inspiration is clever-it doesn’t want you to come looking for it so it leaves a crude animated dummy in its place. You think you’re still cooking with inspiration, drawing with inspiration, laughing at a dumb joke with inspiration but really, it’s hackery you’re joshing with. In a few days when you look back at a project you’ve created by trying to push inspriation on you’ll realise that.
Inspriation sometimes just needs a little space-stop crowding it and it will come back.
Where do you design your creations? I moved back to my parents house after university. When I wasn’t working full time I used to create downstairs while they were out and then tidy up quickly, but now I work during the day so I create everything in my room. It’s a bit cramped and super messy but I have a box for storing finished crafts in so it’s not too hazardous. Sometimes I do get wire stuck in my foot though.
What does your work space look like right now? There’s a ton of earrings and a button necklace lying over a Lakeland catalogue and all my projects in process are laid out beside that. The new craft supplies I bought last week are sitting in their jiffy envelopes to the right of this space and behind all this are the two space saver boxes I store my finished crafts in.
Best advice you received when starting your own business venture? Promote everywhere but do it for free! Everyday is full of opportunities to get your face out there for nothing and you need to make sure you’re not missing them.
Favorite part of owning your own business? I love that Etsy lets me feel like I’m running my own little shop, standing behind my own counter chatting with cutsomers.
Least favorite? Having people constantly ask you how your shop is doing and then trying to be sympathetic if you haven’t made hundreds of sales that day. Rome-built in a day-I think not.
How do you relax? I like to read and this year I’m concetrating on the classics, although I still have a massive love of contemporary fiction. When I have money, I love to shop. I’m also a drinker like any good British lass should be and I like to pretend that I can both dance and sing when I’ve had a few. I used to find pilates really relaxing but had to give up my regular class because of work commitments. I would love to be able to start that up again. Finally, I like to go to my weights class to burn off any extra tension and re-energise myself.
Favorite color? Green-I look so good in it and it has hundreds of shades.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? A fair bit as you can see from my button necklace. One of my favourite colour combinations is green and pink, which I think works really well together in a range of shades.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? So many things! I’d be writing the many book ideas crowding my head, learning how to make shoes, bead stitch properly and bind books, learning to ride, taking foreign language classes, completing my first knitted project (a two colour scarf), scrapbooking, more crafting for sale, reading tons and tons of books, exercising more, actually working on my marketing project for evening classes (yeah right), promoting even more, writing columns for Estellas Revenge (http://estellasbooks.blogspot.com) and other places-the list literally is endless. Of course watching less TV might help.
A sample of Blinking Mouse products. For all products, please visit Jodie’s website.
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03.10.08
Posted in Uncategorized, fun, shopping, site promotion, interviews, fiber art, knitting at 7:35 am by KellyM
Meet Shellee, Owner of www.etsy,com/shop.php?user_id=5165141
Where are you located? Minnesota, USA
What do you design? I make recycled yarn and sometimes hand knitted items.
Where/How did you learn this? I first learned (self taught) how to knit about three years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter. I was addicted form the start, but didn’t have enough room in my budget to support my habit, so I started using recycled yarns. I wasn’t happy just doing that, and since I was well versed in dyeing plant fibers (thanks to my love of tie dye) I started dyeing the yarns to my liking, still not perfect, I started respinning the yarn. My yarn can now compete with any new yarn and I love it!
Favorite Artist who inspires you? Honestly, I don’t have a favorite artist, I take inspiration from several fiber artists as well as friends who are very creative. I’ve got 3 little girls at home so I incorporate their likes into my designs a lot.
Where does your inspiration come from? Besides my daughters, it really just comes from inside of myself. I don’t play by the color rules very often, so sometimes my inspiration is simply what yarn on my wall is ready to be spun together. Often times I haphazardly grab two skeins and start spinning away with little thought of how the final product will look.
What do you do to combat creative block? Luckily, I’ve got several facets to my work that can be done at any time, so if I’ve grown sick of dyeing, I deconstruct, when I get sick of deconstructing, I spin, when sick of spinning, I knit etc…I’m always thinking of my next project while I’m working on something else.
Where do you design your creations? I do the original designs in my brain, then I move on to the physical realm and that may be in my living room, kitchen, art room, or several other places I often find myself, like the mall play areas and local family coffee shops.
What does your work space look like right now? Well, I don’t have one specific place I work since I really do so many different things. I store my yarn on a pegboard wall in my family art room and other various knitting/dyeing supplies on a shelf in the art room, or in baskets throughout the house.
How does your family feel about what you do? Well, I’m sure my kids would like it if I did less fiber art, but being a mother of three young homeschoolers, I need to do this to get myself out of my otherwise preschool world and save my sanity. My husband had is reservations at first, but seeing my success and happiness has opened his eyes and he’s now my biggest supporter. He’s also my DIY yarn tool man making me several yarn tools including a spinning wheel!
Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own creations using this method? Yes, just dive right in and find your own groove, don’t worry about who does what this way or that way, there is not one right way to take a part a sweater, or dye yarn, or knit it up.
Best advice you received when starting your business venture? Stick with it for 6 months before getting discouraged or quitting.
Favorite part of owning your own business? I can work when and where I want, or not at all if I don’t want to work one particular day. Also, as we homeschool our children, owning a business will be an integral part of their education.
Least favorite? Networking and marketing, anyone wanna do it for me? LOL
How do you realx? I play with yarn or daydream about yarn, or, once in a blue moon, I go out and have drinks with my husband.
Favorite color? This is always such a tough question for me to answer. I truly love all the colors, just in different seasons of my life. Seeing as Spring is on it’s way, I find myself gravitating to bright greens, blues and purples.
Does this color show up in a lot of your work? Again, my favorites come and go with the seasons.
If there were more hours in the day, what would you be doing? Playing with yarn.
A sample of Soulful Hues Knits products. For all products, please visit Shellee’s website.
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