1: Tell us about yourself and your Etsy shop(s)
I am the CraftyRascal. I am constantly scouring around to find the most interesting material to work with -uniquely imperfect, glamorously beautiful and oh so full of potential. Along with my Mom we are the CraftyRascal. We love to create and grow with our creations. We create unique exquisitely crafted jewelry and fashion for men and women.
2. Tell us about your craft, how did you begin creating and selling.
My Mom is an extraordinarily talented seamstress and designer that makes beautiful woman’s fashion. My wedding was coming up and I scoured magazine after magazine and although I had an image of what I wanted I could not find what I was looking for. She made my wedding dress out of the finest hand beaded material that incorporated sequence and feathers. I mean what else can a girl ask for? It was phenomenal! She also made the dresses for my bridesmaids to mention the most recent. Along with being an atmospheric physicist and a cancer researcher as some of her passed careers, she has always created beautiful fashion from fancy hats for women, to knits for the entire family and has always loved to sew and design.
Coming from a Crafty family I have always loved to draw, sculpt, blow glass, paint, explore, learn… Since I love working with my hands I often can’t find what I am looking for and end up making things myself. Somewhere along this journey, my husband and I went to London and I got absolutely obsessed with cufflinks. Yep, I am a chick and I LOVE cufflinks! I started to create one of a kind cufflinks out of recycled wine cork that has a story. It may be a wine stain from a Malbec that highlights the grain, or a perfectly mismatched knight logo from a piper heidsieck champagne and a star from a bottle of cava.
And so our fledgling store The CrarftyRascal was born.
3. Tell us why you love creating and handmade.
It seemed every time I would get good at a medium I would yearn to learn another one, even if having a furnace for melting glass in my city apartment, was well.. not realistic. The knowledge of these different mediums influenced each other. I started incorporating clay and tiles into my paintings, and gold flake into my cufflinks. I love handmade because it is unique. It is high quality and has the imprint of the dance between the artist and the medium. Every time I start with an idea and a medium, the finished product is a little different then I imagined all because the unique qualities of the material react differently every time, producing something even more addictively intoxicating.
4. Explain why supporting handmade is important
Handmade is diversity. By supporting handmade you support the growth of the artist and the products available. This allows new ideas and creations to be born, that otherwise would not have a chance.
5. Give your best piece of advice for new Etsians on what you feel can make or break a shop.
Etsy is a bit overwhelming so start small and learn as much as you can by reading posts and joining teams. Take really good pictures as that will attract people to click on your items. Learn what “Relevancy” is, and how to make your items relevant because if people cannot find you even the best pictures wont help.
6. Where else can we find you online?
My entire focus is on growing my shop so for now TheCraftyRascal lives only on Etsy
1 comment:
Thanks for the feature :-)
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