Our Interview with RagRugs

Rag rug 215, RagRugs

Who are you?
Ron and Donna Bell. We have two married daughters and 5 beautiful grandchildren.
Where are you located? We live in Central Texas – Buda is about 15 miles South of Austin.
What do you create? We make rag rugs, table runners, place mats, totes, and purses out of previously use fabrics. Ron likes to make the denim rugs and Donna works with the other fabrics.

Where do you sell your creations? www.ragrugs.etsy.com and at craft shows around Central Texas. We always take one of the floor looms to the shows and demonstrate rug weaving. We enjoy doing shows in historical settings and always love talking to the people, many of whom tell us of their memories of someone they knew weaving.Country Denim Woven Rag Rug

Where do you create? We have our looms in our home. Since we use two floor looms and two table looms all the time, it takes up a couple of rooms of the house..

What inspires you? We love taking something which is worn or no longer of use in its original state and giving it new life as something beautiful and useful.

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby? It is combination hobby and part-time job.

What type of marketing is the most effective for you? ETSY and the team have been a great help.

What are your goals? We would like to grow our business to the point where it can be a good part-time job after retirement.Americana Woven Rug 719

How do you envision your creations being used by your customers? We want to think that our customers take our rugs and other items home and really use and enjoy them in their homes. They are made to be used and loved.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? One of the floor looms we use is about 100 years old, and the other was handmade by Ron’s dad. Since both of his parents weave, it is really a family affair.

Online store: www.ragrugs.etsy.com

Our Interview with Nonnie's Treasures

"Four Seasons Stained Glass ACEOS"

Who are you? I am a wife and mother of two grown children, working full time at my “day job,” counting the days to retirement.

Where are you located? My husband and I live in Danville, PA, which is about two hours north of the state capitol, Harrisburg.

What do you create? I create all kinds of stained glass. I am fascinated by color and light, and I love designing and making lamps, lanterns, panels, ACEOs, boxes, windows, and just about anything that you can imagine. Just like painting, it’s another medium of expression to me.

Where do you sell your creations? I sell exclusively through my etsy shop, which is http://nonnie60.etsy.com

"Sophisticated Lady Stained Glass Panel"

Where do you create? I am always creating in my mind, every minute of the day. Ideas come to me when I’m at work, when I’m working on a piece, and even when I’m sleeping! My husband built me a wonderful workshop in our basement with lots of room for building the stained glass pieces, and lots of storage space for my glass sheets.

What inspires you? I am inspired by nature – flowers, the beach, birds, animals. Music inspires me a lot of the time, as does classical paintings. I recreated “Girl With a Pearl Earring” in an 18” x 22” panel for my daughter, as that is her favorite painting.

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby? Since I am still working full-time, my etsy shop has to be part-time for now.

What type of marketing is the most effective for you? I leave business cards in restaurants, salons, and wherever I happen to be that other people will visit. I promote my business to antique dealers, gift shops, and friends. The most effective marketing happens to be appearing in a Treasury, so I try to promote our group as much as possible. I also have posted photos of my work on flickr, which surprisingly reaches a lot of people.

"Butterfly Stained Glass Box"

What are your goals? My goal is to retire from work in a year, do stained glass pieces full-time, and take examples of my work “on the road” at higher end craft and art shows.

How do you envision your creations being used by your customers? I envision someone asking me to create a custom piece which has a significance in their life, and enjoying it for the rest of their life.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Yes. You have no idea what you can do until you try. I always wanted to excel at one thing, but I never thought I was very good at anything in the field of art. When I took a course three years ago in basic stained glass, I was hooked, and now I can’t NOT do stained glass. I am driven to do it because I love it and it gives me personal satisfaction, plus, I'm learning more all the time.

Online store: http://nonnie60.etsy.com

Website: This links directly to my shop, and it is easier to remember; hence it is on my business card: http://www.stainedglassbynonnie.com

Our Interview with Asian Expressions

"Kimono - Yucata"

Who are you?
My name is Uyen, I have an Etsy shop www.asianexpresions.etsy.com

Where are you located?
I'm in Helena, Montana USA
What do you create?
I make anything I can get my hands on!  I knit, crochet, sew, make jewelery, paint, I love crating!

Where do you sell your creations?
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5653104
Where do you create? 
I have a sewing/craft room where I spend most of my time.  It is clutered with al kind of craft supplies, books, magazines, quilts, ' photograps, sewing machines, serger machine..... I'm a self confessed hoarder!  I love fabric. I've joint FAA -- Fabric Addiction Anomynous not Federal Aviation Admistration LOL!

"Big Fabric Oragami Peace Crane"

What inspires you?
I love to create.  I love art and craft.  I can not imagine life without art.

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby?
My Etsy shop stared out as a hobby but it seem to take a life of it own,  now I'm so busy I barely have time to breath, but I enjoy it and still see it as a hobby.

What type of marketing is the most effective for you?

I don't know yet.  I'm new at online marketting.  I joint many goups such as Indiepublic, Workspace, Flickr...I'm a proud member of The Etsy Design Style team, Japanmaniac Etsy team, Boomers and Beyond Etsy team and Big Sky Montana Etsay team.

What do you do when you are not creating?
I can't think of any time that I'm not creating, either making something or sketching or thinking about what I'm going to make.

What role does creativity play in your marketing methods?
I hope people see that my products are quality handmade, unique, one of the kind, and aside from their practical use; they are artful.
What are your goals?
Make many, many friends, sales are an added bonus. 

"Kimono - Yucata"

How do you envision your creations being used by your customers?
I hope my customers enjoy,love, and treasure them.


Etsy:  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5653104


Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/asianexpressions/

Our Interview with Jackies Art

"Mirror of Miro" Jackie's Art

About this featured Item: This fantastic, incomparable, one of a kind table features primary colors and has ceramic, stoneware legs, with clay figure cut outs in the style of artist Juan Miro. The plexiglass table top is cut out to allow the stem of the giant gourd centerpiece to extend past it.

The dry, giant, hardshelled gourd is gessoed and painted with oils. The shapes and figures on the gourd are beaded with brightly colored, tiny glass beads.

The table is 18" in height, not including the stem of the gourd. The table top is softly triangular, each of the three sides measures about 25". This one of a kind table is listed at $700.

Who are you? I am an artist, a teacher, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a grandma, a reader, a writer, a walker – my name is Jackie Uthus.

Where are you located? We live in Grand Forks, North Dakota – white and freezing in the winter, sunny and hot in the summer and ALWAYS windy!

"Bloomin' Lamp" Jackie's Art

What do you create? I love making lots of different kinds of art, both functional and sculptural pieces. I especially love working with fibers, felting and creating tapestries, and I love working with clay. I have recently started combining the two by making pottery frames and then weaving and/or felting landscapes and madonnas inside the frame. Combining several media is really fun for me, For example, I have a piece, called Under the Sea, with cotton tapestry, brass and beads embellishing a giant stained, sculptural gourd. My featured art work has a ceramic table base, a giant gourd embellished with oil paint and glass beads, with a plexiglass top that I call Mirror of Miro. I create ceramic families and mothers with their children, functional pottery like dipping bowls and butter dishes, prairie items like grain bin piggy banks and bison and fun things like personalized fire hydrants for dogs and wedding ring depositories (ceramic outhouses) for divorced people. I try to follow where my imagination leads – sometimes serious art and sometimes fun! I love word play, too, so I developed a series of reversible ceramic plaques – some serious and some fun, like Friend/Family, Flip/Flop, Welcome/Hit the Road.

Where do you sell your creations? Besides my etsy shop (www.jackiesart.etsy.com) I have art for sale at the Canad Inn gift shop, the Dakota Harvest Bakery and Meadowbrook Gifts – all local shops. I participate in a few art/craft shows during the summer and in our city’s monthly Art and Wine Walks in our downtown area. I have good luck selling off my dining room table, too, after I open a kiln!

"Beneath the Sea" Jackie's Art

Where do you create? I have two studios – one for general art making and one for pottery, but I also make creative messes in my living room, kitchen, balcony and garage.

What inspires you? I am so inspired by my family and our love for each other, by the prairie landscape that has surrounded me my entire life, by our small town, nearly-rural atmosphere and by the little kids that I teach –their creative juices are always flowing!

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby? I consider my Etsy shop a part-time job. I was an art teacher for our local school district for 12 years. Three years ago I decided it was time to start my own studio and I struck out on my own. What a blessing that has been! I teach Mondays and Tuesdays – homeschool kids and afterschool kids. The rest of the week I am able to pursue my own creative interests – after I have my planning done for the following week’s teaching. I was nervous about leaving the secure environment of the school system, but also frustrated by the system, too…taking matters into my own hands put the responsibility for success or failure squarely on my shoulders. It’s been hard but rewarding work and Etsy is a slice of the whole wonderful pie!

What type of marketing is the most effective for you? I really struggle with the whole marketing issue. I’ve found that it is much easier for me to sell other people’s art than it is for me to sell my own. I shudder and shake when I go into a shop to show my work – and have a really difficult time even making the phone call to set up the showing. So I don’t really feel like I’ve mastered any of the marketing business. I’ve gone to the Etsy forums for advice and followed through this week with setting up a blog (www.jackiesart-jackie.blogspot.com). Now I’m trying to figure out how to use the blog advantageously.

What do you do when you are not creating? I love to walk outside for an hour or so every day – weather permitting. I go outside if it is warmer than 15 below F…that is my ‘breaking point’ in the winter months. Reading is an important part of my life, too, but spending time with family is my #1 priority. If I had tons of money, I’d travel lots and bring many family members along for the trips! I’ve been fortunate to travel to Japan, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Australia, Mexico, Europe and Alaska. I think traveling provides great education!

What role does creativity play in your marketing methods? Oh, I am so bad at marketing – my creativity is six feet under when it comes to marketing!

What are your goals? I would LOVE to be able to sell everything I make so I can just keep making more and more and more…I feel a thrill when I finish something new and it would be so awesome not to have to worry about what to do with the things I finish. Is that a goal or a pipe dream???

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? I would encourage all artists who are debating whether or not to take the plunge and quit a regular job to open their own studios to do it! Life is short, hard work is usually rewarded and it is so fulfilling to know that you are in charge of your own destiny!

Online store: www.jackiesart.etsy.com

Website: www.jackiesart.com

Blog: www.jackiesart-jackie.blogspot.com

Our Interview with Laurie Beggin

Who are you?

Laurie Beggin, Stained glass artist for The Looking Glass

Where are you located?

Warrensburg, Illinois

What do you create?

Stained glass panels, free formed pieces, mosaics and glass applique' antique windows.

Where do you sell your creations?

Etsy at http://www.27lauriebethbeggin.etsy.com

Where do you create?

In my studios at The Olde Farmhouse (our farmette)

What inspires you?

Nature that surrounds me, beautiful stained glass windows in churchs, stained glass windows in turn-of-the-century homes

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby?

Full FULL time!

What type of marketing is the most effective for you?

My blog
Marmalade Pink
Wickedly Chic
Merchant Circle
Project Wonderful!

I also cannot stress enough how vital it is for members of this group to go to each members website, copy their URL and link it to their blog site if they have one. It takes a lot of time, and it's boring to do but if this collective group does it, it will raise our internet rating, increase each members pages viewed and by doing that increase our sales. It is so important and it is one thing that I've noticed very few members are doing.

What do you do when you are not creating?

I am a master gardener and I love taking pictures and share them on my blog.

What role does creativity play in your marketing methods?

So far I'm bare-bones with my marketing. I need to immerse myself in the strategies, demographics and internet options but it's been hard for me to "enjoy" that aspect of my business. Pam at PassItOnPlates has been a huge help!

What are your goals?

I would like to make a steady income that matches the salary I made when I worked as a Realtor and a "Legal Assistant" at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Okay, to be honest, I'd like to make MORE money than that!!!

How do you envision your creations being used by your customers?

I want my creations to be treasured and cared for in their new homes. I hope that the pieces are handed down through the family members. That is one of the wonderful features of Stained Glass. If taken care of property, it is timeless!

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Sure, I'll share my quotes that inspire me...here yah go!

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand.

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious...the fundemental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science." Albert Einstein Philosophy
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. – Albert Einstein

Online store: http://www.27lauriebethbeggin.etsy.com

Blog: http://www.lauriebethbeggin.blogspot.com