Meet The BOOMERS!

One by One! We're going to run a series of mini interviews, based on questions that we think were originally posed by Gerry of Gerry's Jewel Box as a basis for getting to know each other (thanks, Gerry). We will go in no particular order, but will do our BBEST to get everyone posted.
The fourth interview in our series is with jnoriginals.etsy.com Here are her answers to the questions:

1. What is the name of your shop/s?
The name of my shop is JN Originals.

2. What kind of items do you sell?
My shop features one-of-a-kind textile accessories. Right now I focus mainly on crocheted wool items that are felted (“fulled”), such as flower brooches, needle books, java jackets, coasters, napkin rings, clutches and tote bags. In the future, I plan to add fabric accessories.

3. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
Sewing and needlework have been a part of my life since I was in junior high. My first sewing machine projects were a not-very-attractive gingham half-apron with rick-rack trim, and a gray kettle cloth jumper. Young people today would label these items retro! My mother, who couldn’t sew, asked me to hem my brother’s shorts and darn the holes in my father’s socks with a darning egg as soon as she learned I could handle a needle. I didn’t learn how to crochet until I finished college. For the most part, I am self-taught. I like to read how-to books and magazines, but I also like to experiment, so that is how I continue to grow as an artist.

4. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?
If you had asked me this question a year ago, I would have told you that I was a serious hobbyist. Until this past year, in fact, I gave away most of my handmade items as gifts. Though others (especially my husband) encouraged me to begin selling, my biggest fear was that I would no longer enjoy the process of creating--and to me process means everything! To my surprise, selling has turned out to be a liberating experience, since it frees me to put one project behind me and to move on to the next, without having to worry about whether it will fit my brother, match my sister’s home decor or replace my father’s worn-out pajamas. Every new project is a welcome surprise–-even the custom work, since it offers new challenges and learning opportunities. While I have learned a great deal about marketing, photography and selling in the last year, I know there will always be more to learn. I guess that means I’m somewhere between being a hobbyist and a professional craftsperson.

5. What inspires you?
I love color and texture, contrasts and blends. You’ll find floral touches in much of what I do, which in some ways is amusing, since I forget to water plants and they don’t survive long under my care! Buttons, which I collect, often are the inspiration for a project, rather than being the final touch. I get most of my design ideas when I’m performing mundane tasks such as ironing or folding clothes, but especially when I’m in the shower. For that reason, I always keep a notebook and pen nearby to jot down or sketch ideas.

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your
workshop or studio?
I’m not sure that I have a typical day or even a typical week, but there certainly is a breakout of tasks that need to be completed, from beginning to end of any project. My time is split between creating, photography, writing, pricing and packaging, and often there are several of these tasks taking place simultaneously. While the covers of several needle books are air drying, for example, I may be photographing a felted bag and writing a product description. While coasters and java jackets are being fulled in the washing machine, I may be updating a blog or assembling the layers of a felted flower brooch.

When it comes to the wool accessories I crochet, there is a typical process. As I’m crocheting, I frequently stop to measure the piece, to pull out stitches, to try different stitches, and then to measure again. Afterward, I “full” the item in the washing machine, which means agitating the yarn product in a hot washing machine with a little bit of detergent. This process causes the wool fibers to interlock, or shrink. Sometimes I have to full two or three times before I get the size I need. I always shape items by hand, and air dry them. Afterward, I work on embellishments, which are frequently felted flowers which must also be fulled. Assembly follows, which usually involves hand sewing.

7. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?
I like to listen to music or watch a movie at the same time that I crochet or sew things by hand. Celtic or Renaissance-style melodies provide the perfect backdrop.

8. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
Without a doubt, making the individual components of a project, such as crocheting the covers of a needle book or the layers of a flower, are the most enjoyable. Assembly is fun, too. With each step your project takes shape, and what you imagine in your head comes together and emerges–-sometimes in unexpected ways.

9. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
The most difficult and also the least favorite task, for me, is assigning a price to what I create. You have to balance the cost of your time and materials with what the market will bear, without having any real sense of what the demand might be. You throw in a pinch of common sense and you hope for the best.

10. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or
crafters?
Feed your Muse by exposing yourself to a montage of different materials and methods. Be open to experimentation, and embrace learning.

Please leave a comment for Judy in the comments section of this blog. What did you learn about our Boomer?

Meet The Boomers!

One by One! We're going to run a series of mini interviews, based on questions that we think were originally posed by Gerry of Gerry's Jewel Box as a basis for getting to know each other (thanks, Gerry). We will go in no particular order, but will do our BBEST to get everyone posted.

The third interview in our series is with BethPeardonProds.
Here are her answers to the questions:

1. What is the name of your shop/s?

I have one shop, Beth Peardon Productions

2. What kind of items do you sell?

My shop is Photography. They are all my original prints. My prints can be put on note cards and I have expanded into magnets and ACEO's.

3. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?

When I was 13 years old my father gave me my first camera for my birthday. I was thrown into the world of photography and have loved every minute of it.

4. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?

I've always considered this a hobby but now that I have totally immersed myself into my photography and selling on Etsy and at shows, I feel I'm somewhere in the middle between a hobbyist and a professional craftsperson.

5. What inspires you?

Nature is my biggest inspiration. I can be cleaning my house and all I have to do is hear a bird tweeting and out I go to grab a photograph of it. Living in the Northeast part of the country I have the joys of all 4 seasons which I enjoy shooting.

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?

I don't have a studio unless you call a studio a little corner of my basement, but most of my time is in front of the computer. Once I download my photographs I look at each one, delete ones I don't feel are worth saving and actually let the others sit a day or two while I think. Once I know what I want to do I can spend hours on my pictures. I do a lot of staring and looking and trying new techniques. Now that I'm doing ACEO's, it’s brought a whole new area for me to show off my photography and that’s been a lot of fun for me.

7. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?

I either play some music but mostly my TV...I work full time all day and most nights I'm in front of the computer with my nightly TV shows on in the background. A lot of times I'm not even watching, but the sound keeps me company. Sometimes I get so immersed in my work I don't even hear the phone ringing.

8. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

Being outside taking my photographs with a solid idea and a plan done up in my head, I love it, especially in the warm weather.

9. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

Least is fixing a photograph that needs tweeking. I try my best to set my camera and the less I have to do in my programs the better I feel.

10. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or
crafters?

Have confidence in what you do. Feel good about your creations. You can't please everyone but as long as you love what you do and feel good about your creations, that’s all that matters.

Please leave a comment about the featured artist. Did you learn anything about Beth that you hadn't known before? What can you relate to?

Meet The BOOMERS!

One by One! We're going to run a series of mini interviews, based on questions that we think were originally posed by Gerry of Gerry's Jewel Box as a basis for getting to know each other (thanks, Gerry). We will go in no particular order, but will do our BBEST to get everyone posted.
This is the second interview of many more to come. Pat of preciousquilts/onawhimsey has graciously accepted the challenge of answering the questions.

Here are her answers to the questions:

1. What is/are the name of your shop/s?

My first shop is called 'Precious Quilts' whilst my newest venture is called 'On a Whimsey'.

2. What kind of items do you sell?

"PQ" preciousquilts- sells fabric items which began as cot quilts, baby crochet blankets and then evolved through to ACEOs and quilties. I am mainly trying to follow the market to see what will sell best on Etsy.

"OAW" onawhimsey - an adventure into textile art began with just that, fabric art, but I soon discovered encaustic art and that is where my true love is. I am still learning more about the medium creating ACEOs as well as larger paintings.

3. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?

Believe it or not, I disliked sewing of any sort as a child, mainly because my mother was very talented and made all her own clothes along with mine. She was a very determined person who wanted everything to be just so and became very insular in her concentration making it hard to communicate with her at those times. When things were not going so well, my Dad and I soon understood to keep our heads down. Hopefully, I have not inherited that trait too much! I now love quilting and have done for the last 30 odd years. In contrast, my new found vocation in the art world is very very new - only a matter of a couple of months!

4. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional crafts person?

Neither really. I am not a hobbyist and certainly not a professional so somewhere in between, I guess.

5. What inspires you?

The world around me. I have been very fortunate in having had the chance to live and work abroad from UK to Europe to Middle East to the Far East. Also visiting as a tourist many countries including USA. Traveling has been a way of life for so many years since I was a little girl moving around with my parents to living and working overseas in many different countries, doing a variety of jobs!

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?

No two days are the same even though there will always be certain things that get done every day. Once I have completed what I have to do around the house I check my computer, email, Etsy forum, BBEST postings, action memberships and answer any queries. Then I decide whether I want to play with fabric or paint. This is crucial to the days' events since my room/workspace is limited. It really is an either/or situation. Whichever I decide upon, the space gets cleared and organised for that particular medium. The painting takes less time and once completed I will upload the info onto Etsy and inform everyone that this has been done. Although I do have a small space I enjoy the fact that I can leave it at the end of the day.... return next day and the mess is still mine, all mine!

7. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?

My DH works from home. His office is next door so it is nice to know he is there although when we are both busy, not a word is spoken. Every now and again one of us will pop our heads around the door to see how things are going.

8. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

Creating. Getting the space ready for creating and then seeing what evolves!

9. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

Tidying up when I have to, in order to make space. Also, packaging up an item I created and have sold. Although I love the fact that I have sold something, it will have become a part of me in its creation. So it is like having to say farewell to a good friend.

10. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or

crafters?

Always believe in yourself! Self doubt is so damaging and demoralising; it can creep in when we're unaware and destroy. No matter what, have faith! That is why the BBEST group is so wonderful in that there will always be someone to praise you or just pick you up, dust you down and let you go on with renewed hope.

Meet The Boomers!

One by one! We're going to run a series of mini interviews, based on questions that I think were originally posed by Gerry of Gerry's Jewel Box as a basis for getting to know each other (thanks, Gerry). Brett of Van Fleet Street Design has offered to put these onto the blog, for which our thanks! She did, however, say that I had to go first, so here goes!

1. What is the name of your shop(s)?
I have two shops, artmixter and purelypainting And just for the record, my name is marion barnett.

2. What kind of items do you sell?
In artmixter, I sell mainly textile art, hand dyed cloth, some altered art and a selection of textile and mixed media ACEOs. In Purely Painting, though, I sell just that, purely paintings; mainly oils and acrylics. And of course, painted ACEOs.

3. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?
Neither, to be honest. I consider myself to be a practising artist.

4. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
Oh... I've been working with textiles for 25 years; painting is a relative newcomer, I've been painting for eight years.

5. What inspires you?
Everything! I focus on certain themes, though. I'm interested in mark making, the way that our brains try to make sense of even random marks, on stones, for instance, or in the landscape. I also make art about myself, the way I interact with the world, and my ongoing relationship with the demon depression, without whom I'd still be a personnel manager!

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio.
Mmm. I don't think there is one. I start the day slowly, read my email, catch up with BBEST in the Etsy forums, prepare any packages that have to be sent, take photographs if the light is good, and then go to work on what I feel I want to do that day. I'm profoundly fortunate in that I have good working spaces, and am about to get into a new painting studio, so everything sits out waiting for me to pick it up where I left off the day, week or month before! Later on in the day, I'll spend some time on the computer, talking to people, updating my blogs, generally keeping up to date with my online world.

7. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?
Sometimes I listen to music, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, T Rex, Paul Simon...depends on how I feel that day. I have some specific things I listen to to lift my mood, like T Rex, for instance, or Paul Simons' Gracelands. I also have four cats, and Mollie sometimes comes up to keep me company in the cloth room...really just an excuse for going to sleep on a pile of fabric! Or Advo might come up and announce he is there. Otherwise, I get on with it, I much prefer time on my own.

8. What is your favourite 'task' relating to your art/craft?
I love painting and dyeing, but I rarely do anything that I don't like, as I make one of a kind (OOAK) pieces, I never repeat myself.

9. What is your least favourite task relating to your art/craft?
Oh, tidying up afterwards!

10. Whereabouts are you based?
I live and work in a tiny village in Norfolk, UK, though originally I come from Scotland.


Three pictures of my work... the first is a mixed media ACEO, the second, a detail of a piece of hand dyed cloth (both available from artmixter), and the third, an acrylic painting entitled 'White Goddess' (available from Purely Painting)