BBEST-Boomers and Beyond Etsy Street Team: May 2008

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Meet The BOOMERS!

One by One! We're running 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. Next in our series is ZudaGay

1.What is the name of your shop/s?
I am so imaginative when it comes to names. Ha! I've tried for years to come up with a name for my business and all I could ever come up with is my own name. So, the name of my shop is ZudaGay

2. What kind of items do you sell?
Although I do work in different mediums, I primarily work with polymer clay. So far all the items I've listed in my shop are made of polymer clay. I make pendants, focal beads, brooches and recently I've been making ACEOs. I also recycle glass objects and tins by covering them with clay.

3. How did you find Etsy and Boomers also?
I read about Etsy on Polymer Clay Central several years ago but didn't decide that I wanted my own shop until May 24, 2007. I found the Boomers group in the Forum when they were talking about starting a group for the older Etsy-iers. I liked the idea of a group of my peers to share the Etsy experience with.

4. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
I've been playing with clay since I was old enough to know not to eat play dough. I've always loved to make things out any type of clay. For years I made Christmas ornaments out of salt dough. I found polymer clay about 13 years ago or so.

5. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?
Hummm....I'm leaning toward professional craftsperson.

6. What inspires you?
All of creation!! I love flowers and the majority of my work involves flowers. I love trees and leaves and animals. I used to make a lot of animals, but I've been stuck on flowers for quite some time now. Colors, I LOVE colors!

7. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?
My studio is in our second bedroom. I get up in the morning and sit down at my computer to check out my shop. Make tea. Check the Boomers forum thread and spend way too much time there. List something. Eat breakfast and make more tea. I go in my studio and work a while then have to stretch my legs and go back to my computer. I go back and forth for the rest of the day. I need a 12 step program, I think. Hello, my name is Zuda and I'm a Boomerholic...

8. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?
My cat Rusty lays up on the top shelf of my work bench next to the window so he can supervise and keep track of any cats that happen to venture into the yard. I always have some sort of music playing. My grandson Eli worked with me some during the school year, but he starts kindergarten in the fall.

9. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
My favorite thing is mixing colors and making blends. Playing with different color combinations. And making flowers. Sometimes my favorite thing is just smooshing clay.

10. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
Waiting. Thankfully the longest I have to wait for something to cure is about an hour or so. I don't know what I would do if I were a potter and had to wait a whole day or more!!

11. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or
crafters?
Just do something. Don't be afraid to start. Enjoy the process of learning. Find what you are passionate about and do it. Work at it until you do it well. Find your own style. It is okay to be inspired by another artist, but take what you learn from them and change it into something that is your own. Smoosh some clay, open some paint and dip in your brush, cut some paper or fabric -just do it!

Please leave a comment for these great artists. I'm sure they'd love to read some feedback about their interview. What did you learn about the artists that you didn't know before? Do you agree with some of their philosophies?

Monday, May 19, 2008

Meet The BOOMERS!

One by One! We're running 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. Next in our series is gimmebeads.etsy.com

1. What is the name of your shop/s?
Our shop is named Gimmebeads. It was almost BeadsTerrific! You know like Tom Terrific only it's about beads. Cooler heads prevailed.

2. What kind of items do you sell?
The jury is still out on what kind of items we sell. We make glass beads (both of us) and Madeline assembles some of them into jewelry. I make the odd vase/bowl/bottle and some even odder objects d'art. I make a few pendants, which I love making.

3. How did you find Etsy and Boomers also?
I found Etsy when my son, who is a professional web designer, suggested that rather than building a website for us, it would be better if we just put a shop up on Etsy. Etsy? we ask....now look where we are? I found BBEST when I saw a posting somewhere about Boomers and I said...Hey, I'm a Boomer and I bet they can help an old man out and tell me what's going on.

4. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
We started playing with glass ourselves about 3 years ago. My uncle, Orville Hamon and cousin, Robert Hamon, are sort of famous glass blowers. Orville started his shop in Scott Depot, W.Va in 1931. That shop ran until the late 90's.

5. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?
This is the most difficult question, but since we can't live off what we make, we obviously can't be professionals. We're ummm...dedicated hobbyist. When we retire, we want to make this a part of our retirement plan.

6. What inspires you?
We put on music, click on the torches, pick up glass and let the glass reach its snakey little tenacles out and draw us in. Glass is all the inspiration we need. And then there's the whole universe out there cheering us on. An Joni singing to us. The sun smiling down. How could we not be inspired?

7. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?
I usually crank the torch up around 5 a.m. before the heat of the day takes hold. Madeline usually works on jewelry until later in the day before she comes out. I mix up something cold to drink and I'll stay out there until it gets just too warm for me. I don't have a set routine. What I make depends on what we need to make, what people have asked for or just what I feel like that day.

8. What keeps you company while you are working on a project?
Music, Music, Music.

9. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
OOOOooooh favorite task. I love pulling points. It's mindless drudge work. But in order to do almost anything with glass you have to take tubing and pull the tubing down on both ends of a section of it so that you have a sort of handle you can blow in to to inflate the section you've left the original size. I think Madeline's favorite task is sorting through the beads to find the ones she wants to make into something. She has them arranged in boxes according to some scheme that is apparent only to her.

10. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
My least favorite task it putting glass back so that it doesn't get mixed up on my table. Every different kind of glass has different expansion and contraction characteristics, sooooo...if you mix them up and put them in the same bead...you get an interesting shattered effect. So you have to put stuff back up...yes you do, I try, I really do. Madeline's least favorite task is putting clasps on finished necklaces and of course letting go of anything we make!

11.Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or
crafters?
I wish I had some words of wisdom, but I'm just a tired old Boomer. I do know that it's better to be right behind than left behind!

Please leave a comment for these great artists. I'm sure they'd love to read some feedback about their interview. What did you learn about the artists that you didn't know before? Do you agree with some of their philosophies?

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Meet The BOOMERS!

One by One! We're running 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. Next in our series is sewbee.etsy.com
Here are her answers to our questions:

1. What is the name of your shop?
SEWBEE PRODUCTIONS and MORE is an outlet for my eclectic crafting addictions.

2. What kind of items do you sell?
Currently my shop has a variety if items from Vintage to handcrafted earrings to sewn purses, totes and doggie bags to mosaic supplies. The variety of arts/crafts that I make coincides with my various mood swings!My main claim to fame is that of a seamstress.

3.How did you find Etsy and Boomers?
As a seller on another E site, I met a woman with an odd ID that I curiously asked about; we had a lot in common from chihuahuas to crafts. She has an Etsy shop called Citypretties and inspired me to sign up! Several months later as I was milling around the site, I saw the Boomers chat line and asked to join...here I am! I am fairly new to the technology of computers and have some unreasonable fears associated with navigating the same! So sometimes I need an extra push.

4.How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
I have never needed so much as a nudge to create something from another object...I have been sewing since the age of 4 (MY earliest recollections!)...as a late child of a farm wife, I had no close siblings and Mom was too busy so she'd sit me down with a project: clay, fabric & thread, scissors & paper, building blocks, crayons. I spent hours making things...when other girls played with dolls, I made them clothing!

5.Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional crafts person?
As the years passed I started 4-H and began to sew clothing for myself. Family income was always slim so sewing my own clothing gave me a nicer wardrobe as well as a unique one. I enjoyed sewing, so it was definitely a hobby, but in H.S. I began sewing for others who were willing to pay...thus began the 'profession'. This was only supplemental income throughout college and early married life when I worked part time as a waitress or cook. After a back injury in 1982, I worked toward developing a clothing alterations business where I could manage my own time & energy...I've had a public sewing shop since 1990. Needing a break from sewing on occasion, I perfected some of the hobby crafts I had done over the years to include in my shop: earrings, mosaic pieces and various toys, stuffed animals, fabric brooches...whatever pleases me at any given moment as a diversion from the more technical aspects of alterations! I learned to click a computer in 2007! Now, I sell on-line too!

6. What inspires you?
I am inspired to create by everything and everyone around me...it is hard to put a finger on any one thing. I want to earn a level of recognition and creating arts/crafts is my best chance, I guess! Putting food on the table inspires me to do my craft well!

7.Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?
My sewing shop has regular public hours and I start most days sewing what ever needs to be done for the next day...When that is finished, I start on longer term projects that clients have ordered OR the more fun things like making a purse or a doggie bag. I usually have parts & pieces cut out ahead of time that wait for a rainy day to sew or assemble. In Minnesota, the weather sets the pace for the day and if it is a nice, sunny afternoon, I grab the opportunity to sit outside and cut china for mosaic projects.

8.What keeps you company while working on a project?
Winter is long & boring here also, so when in my shop, the TV is on and tuned to CNN news. I have a Criminal Justice/Sociology B.S. degree with an emphasis on government and Constitutional Law so keeping in touch with current events is the perfect 'background' for anyone working with their hands and it all interests me greatly...also, since my shop is in my home I have dogs & cats that keep me company. A couple of chihuahuas spend the day in their doggie bags ON MY CUTTING TABLE! Spoiled!

9. What is your favorite "task" related to your art/craft?
The BEST part of any project is the anticipation: planning & gathering materials. I 'collect' How-To books and when I need to 'relax' I sit down with a stack and look for a new project idea. Even when I am too tired to work or even if I'm ill, looking through books for ideas keeps the creative juices flowing!

10.What is your least favorite "task" related to your art/craft?
My least favorite task is 'trouble shooting' which is an inevitable part of creating. Often times things don't work out perfectly or automatically and one must try a number of techniques to get a satisfactory product. This results in the final product being of best quality, tho, so it is worth the displeasure!

11. Would you care to share any "words of wisdom" with other aspiring artists or crafters?
"Rewards in life need not always be monetary" If you can take an aspect of your life that you enjoy and find a way to make a modest income from of it, you will eliminate unnecessary stress,enjoy better health, prolong your life and appreciate rewards other than the green back! NOTHING is perfect, but getting close is good enough for me!

What did you learn about her that you didn't know? Any surprises? Any comments about her work? Please don't forget to leave comments on the blog for our teammate!