New Generation of Makers

Recently I've been corresponding with a very talented 11 year old girl in London, Ellie, who's just getting into the crafting world. She's off to an amazing start with her Etsy shop called Befuzzled. I was glad to share some words of wisdom with her on her blog about making a living with your hands, inspiration, and lots of other stuff too: http://befuzzledlondon.tumblr.com/

I ordered one of her cute little plushy toys a few weeks ago. The s'more with the curious face is on it's way to me! Can't wait to put it in my studio so it can smile at me while I craft away. I'm so glad to see a new generation of makers at work, younger than ever, and I look forward to watching how Ellie's creations and brand progress in the future. Be sure to visit her shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/befuzzled

Photo credit: Befuzzled

The Bunny Project

There’s something about bunnies. Sure, they’re utterly adorable and their skittishness is sweet, but they’re also quite clever, and perhaps a little bit spooky at times. Their secret lives make me awfully curious. Bunnies are my most beloved muse, and after months and months of holiday craft shows, holiday orders, and the holiday rush in general, I finally took a little time to make something just for fun. This collection was purely for my own enjoyment, but since several of my handmade pieces sold within hours of being posted, it would seem I’m not alone in my obsession with bunnies. Bunny lovers unite!

“The Bunny Project” had been stewing in my mind since early October, but during that time of year I simply don’t have the luxury of working on anything ol’ thing I feel like. I’m swamped keeping up with orders and preparing for craft shows, and getting ahead or developing new product ideas is just not possible in those busy months. As a reward for getting through a record breaking fall season, I treated myself to some time off after Christmas and finally made the bunnies I’d been imagining for so long. Some of them, at least. I have a list of about 30 cotton-tailed characters and was only able to produce 9 of them so far.

Will there be more bunnies in the future? YES!!! I don’t know when exactly, but I promise to add to #thebunnyproject as soon as I can. After all, bunnies are my favorite thing in the world to create.

So how are these creatures made anyway? Each bunny is needle felted with dyed wool fiber - no glue, no sewing, no hot water is involved. Just a bundle of roving (sheep’s wool that’s been cleaned and carded), a barbed felting needle, and lots of patience. These pieces took anywhere from 2 to 7 hours to make by hand. It’s a very time consuming craft, but I enjoy it!

Here’s a peek at what goes into making a small bunny. This time lapse video documents the 2 ½ hours it took me to needle felt a fairly simple rabbit, so you can see how it all comes together from start to finish.

Click Below to watch me make, or CLICK HERE to watch on my YouTube channel:

My material list is short:

-Polyfill wrapped in yarn (to create the form for the body & head)

-Pipe cleaners (to give the legs and arms rigidity)

-About 3-4 oz. of roving

-Flat sheet of felt (which I cut then covered in wool to make the ears)

-A set of plastic eyeballs

The Little Business That Could

Six years ago, on January 8th 2009, I opened an Etsy shop and called it Once Again Sam. I listed a few upcycled leather earrings, plus some other jewelry I'd made, then obsessively refreshed my shop stats. By the end of day one, I had a grand total of 11 pageviews. It was something, at least. Little victories was how it all started.

My first sale came from my ever supportive and always-thoughtful cousin, Vivian. My second sale didn’t come for months after that (from my mother-in-law), right around the time I was about to give up and close the shop. Those first few months were incredibly disheartening, but I figured it really didn’t cost me much to keep going a little longer, aside from my pride. I reminded myself of why I opened the shop in the first place: to have a creative outlet to earn money for more craft supplies, but mostly to have fun. That was it. That was my whole business plan.

By the end of my first year operating as Once Again Sam, I was surprised to have 100 Etsy sales under my belt. 100 people bought something I made, and 98 of them weren’t related to me. Exciting stuff! I stopped worrying about numbers after that, and more about what I was working on and what I wanted to learn. Sales were going to happen or not happen all on their own, and it wasn’t worth stressing over. Besides, what’s the point of having a creative outlet when it’s causing stress?      

With a lot of hard work, the business grew. It didn't happen overnight, not even close. It was a slow but steady thing. More slow than steady, if I'm honest. I improved my skills, learned the ins and outs of using Etsy, and experimented with new products to see what worked and what didn’t. It was well beyond just a little side hobby by the end of year two. By year three, I was making more through my creative outlet than I was at my full time job. How did that happen? I didn’t plan it that way. I went to school to be an interior designer and enjoyed the work, but I certainly was enjoying working with my hands too. By year four, I was able to go full time with Once Again Sam and cutback to doing interior design on the side, flip-flopping my career with my hobby, because I really do enjoy design work and didn’t want to give it up completely. Having the opportunity to do that was a huge blessing, one that still hasn't sunk in all the way, even now.  

Having never planned on being a small business owner / working artist, I had to learn as I went. I fumbled, I failed. I still fumble and fail. There’s nothing easy about running a handmade business, especially if you’re the one responsible for design, research, stocking supplies, customer service, marketing, shipping, and oh yeah … you have to actually make every single item with your own two hands. Oh, the pressure! I’ve never worked as hard as I do now, but it’s incredibly gratifying. I may be an accidental entrepreneur, and I still have pretty much everything to learn, but here I am. I make a living making things. It can be done!

Although I have in no way “made it” (whatever that means), I’m in the process of making it every day. I’ve learned an awful lot in six short years, but there’s so much more ahead. Any success I’ve had so far is all thanks to God’s provision, my husband’s support and encouragement (and for telling me about Etsy in the first place!), and a whole lot of trial and error. For anyone thinking about using their creativity as more than just an outlet, I want to encourage you to give it a shot and see what happens. You might be surprised at where you are in six years.

Get 20% off your entire purchase in my Etsy shop with this coupon code!

Top ten things I wish I knew six years ago:

10-Numbers aren’t everything. They’re fun to track and can be very informative, but they can also become a problem if you obsess over them. Shop stats, profit margins, Facebook likes, etc., they don’t determine your worth or your talent. They only give a snap shot of any given day.  

9-Charging too little for your work when you first start out will at some point catch up with you. Be realistic but fair about your prices early on, and don’t give in to the temptation to undercharge just to get a sale. It devalues you, your work, your future work, and other people’s work too. I’m scolding myself on this one, believe me. There was a time when I was pretty much giving things away.

8-Being organized goes a long way. Keep good records, track your progress in metrics, find a system that works for you, and learn from past mistakes.

7-People may eventually try to copy your work. It’s not fair. And it SUCKS. Get mad (or sue, if you have the energy), and then come up with something even better. Make it hard for those copycats to keep up with you. Copycats are inherently lacking in creativity, so use that to your advantage and let them eat your dust.  

6-Find other working creatives and ask them a heck of a lot of questions. Share what you know, find out what they know, and you’ll all be better off for it.

5-Know that some people aren’t going to like your work. It’s inevitable, and it’s perfectly okay. I’ve even had a few people claim my work is offensive (the felted bunny heads, no less, but I won’t get into that here). Don’t take it personally and don’t change what you’re doing just to please a few folks. It’s art, for goodness sake!

4-Celebrate milestones, even the smallest ones, and don’t beat yourself up too much when you screw up. 

3-It’s hard to explain this kind of creative job to the average person. They’ll ask, “But what do you really do?” as if you couldn’t possibly sell handmade items to pay your mortgage. Try not to get bent out of shape or overly defensive - they most likely don’t mean to offend you. If they’re open to having a conversation about it, kindly share that creating with your hands is a real job for some. The alternative is to get really good at faking a smile. Your choice.

2-Have fun. Okay, that sounds dumb, but it’s true. Sometimes, when I’ve made 30 of the same thing in one day, I start to feel like I’m turning into a factory so I take time to make something silly, something I doubt anyone will ever buy, because I want to make it purely for the sake of making it.

1-Create things you love and always be inspired. If you ever lose that, do whatever you have to do to get it back, even if it means taking a creativity break. Staying passionate is the single most important part of this journey.  

2014 was a record breaking year in every way. Thank you to those who were a part of it! Here's a little geeky peek at some of my stats from the past year. Looking forward to 2015 and all it brings. 

Collaboration is Key

When it comes to my writing, design, and generally most things in life, I tend to work alone. But my desire for independence can sometimes leave me in a rut, which is the worst possible thing for anyone trying to use their creativity. Thankfully, I've found a few key people I work well with, and those people both inspire me and challenge me to try new things.

One of the people I love to collaborate with is Teresa Roche, an artist and gallery owner in Greenville, SC. A few years ago, she started carrying some of my fiber art pieces and handmade jewelry in her gallery, Art & Light. It was a good partnership from the start, but things really started to go places when we began collaborating. If two heads are better than one, two artists working together are unstoppable! 

Teresa had the idea to incorporate some of my needle felted animal heads and birds into her assemblage pieces, and I was so pleased with how our combined efforts turned out. My fiber art had always been a stand-a-lone type of thing, but it really shined when paired with Teresa's eye for texture, form, and balance.

I felted the bunny head, Teresa did the rest!

This video explains a bit more about our process, and how our different backgrounds mesh well together. 

Recently, we started collaborating on something completely different. I had been wanting to add some painted pendants to my Curious Cameo line for awhile, and had done some trial pieces that just weren't looking very good (but I kept trying, and was good and stuck in that rut for a few weeks). I'm not a painter. I've never been a painter. So why did I think I'd be able to paint these glorious pendants I was envisioning? It dawned on me Teresa Roche would be the perfect person to collaborate with - she's an amazing painter, her color sense and brushwork is so unique - and by incorporating her original work into this new jewelry line, it became something truly special that showcases her art in a way anyone can enjoy, even if they don't have much wall space or the budget for a larger original painting. Each pendant is one-of-a-kind, capturing a tiny work of art in a 1"x1" or 2"x1" frame. The pendants in the image below are the latest edition to this blossoming collection, (my favorite ones yet, I might add!). They're available exclusively at Art & Light Gallery in Greenville, and are launching this weekend in conjunction with Open Studios. 

Hands off! I already claimed the one on the far left ;-)

Alpaca Dreams

One day, maybe five years from now, or perhaps twenty five years, I would love to live on a small farm and raise alpacas. They are by far the sweetest animal I've ever encountered. They're fairly small, the tallest ones are about eye level with me, they hum, have long long eyelashes for flirting, and they each have their own unique hairstyle, it seems. But, the real reason I want alpacas in my life is because they are the source of one of the many materials I use in my fiber art. I spend a few hundred hours each year needle felting, and truly enjoy this tedious but highly rewarding form of fiber sculpture. It would be a joy to raise the creature that provides what I need to make more "felted curiosities", so I hope one day my alpaca farm dreams really do come true.

Sweet alpaca face

For now, I live in the burbs and sadly cannot keep an alpaca in the garage, so I get to visit the animals and buy their fiber from local farms at events like the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Asheville, NC. I've attended the festival for the last four years, and always come home with a couple of pounds of raw material, felting tools, and sometimes other things too. This year was no different! I scooped up several ounces of my favorite wool: corriedale, finn, and romney. I also got some alpaca fiber, which is a lot softer than sheep's wool, but is wonderful for felting and spinning. My big investment was a 24 needle holder, which looks dangerous (and it is, if you're not paying attention when felting!), a single needle holder, and a few fun things like a handmade ceramic alpaca magnet, alpaca socks, and a sweet ram sculpture made by an artist local to Asheville. It was a pretty good loot, a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, and I got to indulge my dreams of one day having a farm of my own, sourcing the fiber I need from my own backyard. 

Click through the gallery below to see photos from SAFF, my loot, and some more alpaca pics (okay, there's quite a few llamas in there too!)