The Dangerous Mezzo ... Nova Scotia, Canada

Artist: Nina Scott-Stoddart
Business: The Dangerous Mezzo
Web sites: dangerousmezzo.etsy.com, operatic.etsy.com, trunkt.org/dangerousmezzo lunenburgartist.blogspot.com, lunenburgartist.com
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

What do you create?
Original multi-media collages and acrylic paintings. I also make costume jewellery for myself (and sell a few pieces via Etsy, under the name Operatic).


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Usually in the evening, in my office/studio upstairs in my big old house in the historic town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Sometimes I take some of my stuff down into the nice, warm Red Room downstairs (where the t.v. is) and I'll collage while hanging out with my guy. In good weather (or on vacation) I'll take my clobber outside and paint en plein air.


Do you have another "day job"?
I left my last regular "day job" (library technician) about 15 years ago to pursue my principal art, which is classical singing. (I'm a mezzo soprano, hence my user name!) I am now a professional singer, opera producer and opera director and am pretty busy with it. But my husband David and I moved to Nova Scotia five years ago, which has given me more time to do visual art, which was my first love.


Where and what did you study?
I did a two year college diploma course in library techniques, then went to York University in Toronto for Music and Visual Arts. I have a BFA as a result of that excursion into higher education.


Where do you find inspiration?
I love old black and white glamour photography, as exemplified by photos of opera diva Maria Callas. I also have always loved typography, so I enjoy starting a collage with pages from old books or music manuscripts. For my paintings, I'm inspired by the landscape of Nova Scotia – rocks, sea, trees and old houses.


What motivates you?
Selling my work has been fantastically motivating, for which I thank Etsy. Beyond that, I have two modes of operation, artistically. 1. I plan something carefully, with sketches and studies, and execute it (this generally works for paintings). 2. I start to fling things together and something interesting (or disastrous) emerges (this generally works for collages).


When did you start doing this?
I started collaging about a year ago. I picked up painting again (after a long absence) about five years ago.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Oh yeah. My mother self-published her own text books all through my childhood, so we had, literally, reams of paper lying around. My father's father was a professional artist (an engraver and painter), and my mother's father, my mother's uncle, my mum and dad all painted, to one extent or another. I was surrounded by original art, and it was natural that I start creating my own.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I've always been the entrepreneurial type (I've started a few opera companies in my time) so setting up as a freelance artist seemed to make sense. I had been selling some of my work in Nova Scotia, but the principal demand here seemed to be for pretty sea pictures and I was sick to death of doing those. I investigated Etsy because I bought a painting by Heather Murray on Etsy, and it seemed like a perfect venue for me.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Dangerous Mezzo Productions is the name of my opera production company, chosen because of my voice type (I'm a mezzo soprano). My artist website is lunenburgartist.com, but when I signed up on Etsy it was as a buyer (to buy art, natch!). I didn't even think about opening a shop there, at that point, so I just used dangerousmezzo as my user name. About two weeks later, I thought, what the heck, and signed up as a seller. I'm really, really glad that my Etsy shop name is dangerousmezzo – it sums me up much better than lunenburgartist, which is a little too dull.


What do you love most about creating your work?
Getting really messy and sticky! I also love the sense of exploration I have while collaging – there are almost infinite ways the darned things can turn out, and I like trying to feel my way towards when I should stop or when I should keep going. I often get it wrong, but it's a lot of fun!

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Southwold, on the Suffolk coast of England – I could spend weeks there. It's just a little seaside town, but so relaxing and attractive.


A book you love:
This is really hard, because I'm just about addicted to reading. Okay: Jane Austen (especially Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice); E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books; mysteries and thrillers by Minette Walters; fantasy by Terry Pratchett.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I'm not terribly interesting, I don't think. I'm either very funny in person or a complete wallflower.


What achievement are you most proud of?
Starting and running the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Just do it. Yeah, do all the planning and so forth, but don't let your fears (or the opinions of other people) stop you from trying something. We all need the courage to just jump in with both feet and risk failing at something. Failing isn't a big deal – but letting fear hold you back from even trying, that's very sad.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Keeping myself organized enough so that I spend time on all the things I want to do.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to sail: my husband and I have a very old, beat up 30-foot classic full keel Alberg sailboat (I demur at calling it a "yacht") which we sail all around the South Shore of Nova Scotia, generally with a drink in one hand... I also ride and teach riding to a few young friends of mine (I fell off my horse a year or so ago, and broke my upper arm, which has set me back a bit). I knit like a mad thing (but no socks, damnit!) and I can't stop reading.


What are you working on right now?
Bigger collaged works – 8 x 10 inches and up. I'm also planning my fourth annual Opera Workshop in Halifax and I'm preparing to sing Carmen in June, which is a huge deal.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I want to get started in encaustic – that's a technique that's fascinated me for some time. One of my favourite Canadian artists, Heather Murray, does some amazing work in encaustic and I really want to explore it. (It's the ancient technique of painting with hot coloured wax – mmm... hot wax...)

Lilymoon ... Cyprus

Artist: Stavri
Business: Lilymoon
Web site: lilymoon.etsy.com
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus

What do you create?
I make illustrations mostly based on imaginary stories that I write.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work in my studio surrounded by my books and other things that inspire me.

Do you have another "day job"?
I used to be a full time graphic designer but I left that job to pursue illustration.


Where and what did you study?
I studied illustration and graphic design at a local college.

Where do you find inspiration?
I'm inspired by human emotions, by books or strange stories, by my travels and by the little things in life that are overlooked... I like holding an imaginary magnifying glass over them and wonder at their beauty!


What motivates you?
An insatiable hunger to create.

When did you start doing this?
I loved drawing from an early age and always knew it was wanted to do with my life.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes – I would draw for hours and make up stories with the characters I drew.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I didn't "intend" for it to be a business. I just wanted to share the images and stories with other people. I was very lucky to find Etsy and join a community that embraced my little world.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I just joined two names of things that I love: lilies and the moon. I liked the way that it sounded – it felt right.

What do you love most about creating your work?
Creating alternate worlds where anything is possible.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
The Alhambra, Spain. I'm still haunted by my visit there, it felt like walking in to a living fairytale!!

A book you love:
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
That's a difficult question... umm... I can think of odd things about me but I don't know if they are interesting... For example an odd thing about me would be that I always read books in English but I mostly write my stories in Greek – I think in two languages...

What achievement are you most proud of?
Following my own path in life and being true to my self.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do what you love and be certain that it will lead you where you want to be.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Sticking to one story and finishing it. I usually hop from one story to another...

What do you love to do in your free time?
Take long walks, read books and make up new stories.


What are you working on right now?
At the moment I spend most of my days packaging and going to the post office as it's really been a busy period for my store. I do write down ideas though and have plenty to work on when the holidays are over!

What do you hope to achieve next?
Publish my stories in full one day so they could travel round the world and maybe inspire others to write their own stories...

Lucie Summers Designs ... United Kingdom

Artist: Lucie Summers
Business: Lucie Summers Designs (Lusummers at the Blu-Shed Shop, on Etsy)
Web sites: lusummers.etsy.com and blu-shed.blogspot.com
Location: Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK

What do you create?
I mainly make mixed media paper collages that find themselves made into a couple of different products... sketchbooks, sketches for customers to frame, and paper quilts. The paper quilts are generally created for exhibitions.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Well, the 'where' used to be a garage, but was converted into a room by the previous owners of our house. Although I'm lucky to have a space to call my own, it's certainly no homage to high design. It's also the family dumping ground; I share my space with several hundred half-used tins of paint, unused furniture, a million magazines and books, and old toys waiting to be taken to the charity shop.
The 'when'? Whenever I can! I have two small boys (aged two and five) so my time is precious. I've actually only realised that since having children! I do the bare minimum of housework, just enough so we don't all collapse from some hideous illness, so I have more time to create. (As I type, the ironing pile is perilously close to the ceiling and if I get up I risk serious injury from treading on some form of toy tractor/truck/car.) I literally snatch any five minutes I can; while I'm waiting for the potatoes to boil, after the boys are in bed, when my youngest has a nap. It's amazing what you can get done when your time is limited. I also couldn't do this without my mum and my husband; mum has my two-year-old every Thursday and my husband has both boys on a Saturday so I can get a good run at it!


Do you have another "day job"?
Nope – mother, terrible housewife and mixed media artist, that's me! Although I do write articles for Quilting Arts magazine sometimes.

Where and what did you study?
I studied 'design crafts' at Norwich School of Art and Design, a small city art school in Norfolk, a million years ago.


Where do you find inspiration?
Oh, everywhere. Leaves are a big thing for me, and flowers. I also get very excited by text and fonts, particularly old handwriting. Architecture, patterns on old teacups, old printers' blocks, the insides of envelopes, vintage bits, everything! I made a series of small paper quilts for an exhibition in the States this past September all inspired by the stories I wrote at school when I was five or six. Colour combinations are also a great inspiration; bright pink and red, turquoise and blue, red and white. I find living in the countryside a massive influence on my work.


What motivates you?
I'm actually quietly ambitious, and that really motivates me. One day I'd like to have a whole range of products (paper goods, textile designs, house goods) available both in the UK and worldwide. I want to be a household name! So I'm not setting myself up for a fall or anything... wanting the best for the boys motivates me too. Just wanting to create something everyday motivates me.


When did you start doing this?
I started by having a simple website made and tried to sell my personalised name wedding and birth samplers two years ago. I literally sat back and waited for the orders to flood in because I knew I'd got a good product. The trouble was, they were too expensive on their own... and I didn't sell one. Not one. So I decided to design and make smaller personalised 'plaques' for kid's rooms and opened another 'shop' on a UK site called notonthehighstreet.com this time last year and did much better. Then at the end of august this year I opened my Etsy shop selling completely different products which has worked much better for me, so I've dropped the other site. I'll probably add the personalised stuff to Etsy early next year.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I come from a long line of women who sew, so I grew up with fabric around me. I can't specifically remember getting into art, it was just always there. I had a doll's house that didn't have dolls in it (I'm scared of them) but I used to change the decor all of the time. My boys actually still play with the little bits and bobs I made, vintage fabric covered beds, and funny little curtains made with matchstick poles.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Just after my youngest son was born, so two years ago. I must have been mental, what a ridiculous time. I blame the hormones! I've made tons of mistakes, some of them quite costly, but I've learnt a lot. I decided that if I was going to be a stay at home mum, I was going to have to find a way of earning some money that used the skills I knew I'd got that didn't take me away from the kids. And it sort of works, most of the time.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Erm...well, my name is Lucie Summers, and I design stuff.
'lusummers at the blu-shed shop' came about because we have a blue shed in our garden that I can see while I work at my laptop, but I decided that it should be 'blu' rather than 'blue' because it was more like 'lu'. Complicated, huh?


What do you love most about creating your work?
The weird inner peace I get and the little funny fuzzy feeling of excitement in my tummy when a piece is working well. I almost have to remind myself to breathe.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Ohhh, good question. I've loved lots of places, but I've just come back from a weekend in London and while I've been there lots of times, this was the first time with the boys and I suppose I saw it through their eyes. It's an incredible place, around every corner is something new to see and experience. It's so full of history, it's amazing.


A book you love:
Oh, crikey. Just one? Probably Echoes by Maeve Binchey. I first read it as a teenager and I must have read it ten or so times since. I was so in love with Gerry Doyle. I get sad when I finish a really good book, it's like friends leaving you. What a sap.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Hmmmm... I've known my husband, Sam, since I was about five years old. We went to school together and (according to my mum) one day I came home and told my parents that there was a boy at school with the most lovely name, Sam Summers, and I was going to marry him. He lived on a farm and, aged five, I quite fancied being a farmer's wife. Then I did marry him 20 years later and I am now the worst farmer's wife in the history of farmers' wives.


What achievement are you most proud of?
Apart from the obvious answer of my boys, who I'm soooo proud of, this year I had two big achievements with my paper quilts. One, called Revealed 2 won a big award at The Festival of Quilts exhibition in Birmingham, UK. Also, a series of five paper quilt collages (boringly called 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, 2/2 and 1/1) made it through to the final of Quilt 2007 at the same exhibition. It's a huge, huge honour just to chosen. That was amazing.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do what you love. If you put your heart and soul into something, it will shine through. Don't give up if you know you've got a good product. I was so low before I joined notonthehighstreet, but I knew I'd got a good product, so I modified it, made it more accessible and they sold well.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Probably getting enough time to do everything. I feel terribly guilty that my children don't live in a perfect home, with perfectly ironed clothes and a kitchen floor so clean you could eat off it.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I try to spend Sundays with the family and we'll go to the park or swimming or visiting friends. If I get time completely to myself, I love to shop!

What are you working on right now?
Right now I've got more sketchbooks to make for Etsy. I've also got an exhibition with a group of other textile artists in Ely Cathedral next year...I've not done much so far, but that's at the top of my never-ending 'to do' list.


What do you hope to achieve next?
Ohhh, so much! My short term goal is to get to 100 sales on Etsy. (I'm at 98 at time of writing!) I've also got plans to do a collaboration with another paper goods artist that I'm really excited about. Next year I'd like to start supplying my sketchbooks to indie and lifestyle shops. My long term goal is really as I mentioned previously; I'd like lusummers to be a household design name.

Nectar Jewelry Designs ... Pennsylvania, USA

Your name: Sharon Fiorini
Your business name: Nectar Jewelry Designs
Your web site: nectarjewelry.etsy.com
Your location: Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA

What do you create?
Jewelry – sterling silver, polymer clay, and a combination of both sometimes.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work at a tiny jeweler's bench in my living room. Since I work full-time and have a family, I create when I can fit it in – usually late at night and on the weekends.

Do you have another "day job"?
I'm also a graphic designer during the day.


Where and what did you study?
I was an art major in college concentrating on printmaking and sculpture. I think that now that I'm doing jewelry, with some of the techniques I use, I'm combining both of those areas of concentrations, just on a much smaller level than I had in the past.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in looking more closely at things. I want people to notice the fine details in my work. It's kind of my motto regarding people – don't judge by looking too quickly. Notice who they are, not just what they look like. I like to concentrate on kind of the hard outer shell but there's so much more if you look inside.

What motivates you?
What motivates me is a need to create. If it was painting as a child, drawing, sculpture, papermaking, printmaking, photography, graphic design or jewelry.


When did you start doing this?
I actually started doing jewelry only about 4 years ago when I was pregnant with my son. I started with stringing beads, graduated to wire-wrapping (I did a lot of that), and now I've moved on to metal and more of a mixed media technique when I also use polymer within my metal designs.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes! I used to draw on the floor of my parent's basement with glue. They loved that!


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
As I started to do wire-wrapping, I was wearing my jewelry. People were noticing it. So I would bring it in to work and I would also have jewelry parties.

How did you choose the name for your business?
You know, I don't even remember. I think I saw a commercial on TV, Nectar popped into my head and that was it.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love every aspect of it. When I'm at my day job, I'm constantly sketching new ideas. I have tons of Post-its and pieces of paper with drawings on them of designs I'd like to create. I love the challenge of creating that design that I first saw in my head. And I love that people seem to really like my jewelry – that they find it unique and new and beautiful.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I haven't travelled all that much, but I'd have to say that I love San Francisco and NYC.


A book you love:
With my day job, my family, my jewelry, and Etsy, there's no time left to read. I think the last book I read was Night by Elie Wiesel. But mostly, I'm reading books to my son.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
Hmmm, it's maybe not the most interesting but I'm actually pretty shy until I get to know people. I think that's where my inspiration comes from. People sometimes tend to misread shyness as arrogance. I'm totally the opposite – I'm extremely down to earth.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of the fact that I have learned jewelry making completely on my own. Of course, I'm always striving to learn new techniques. There's so much out there!


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Don't settle and don't give up. If someone tells you they're not interested in your business, keep trying and striving. Listen to your instincts regarding business opportunities. If your instincts are telling you that something doesn't feel right, listen to it. And market, market, market. It's tough out there. You need to keep getting your name and your craft out to the public. I'm always working on that.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
My biggest challenge is finding time to create.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Free time? What's that?


What are you working on right now?
I'm working on a new line of jewelry – mostly sterling. But it doesn't involve soldering at all. I'm trying to find new ways to attach and join using my little "pins". It's always about the details with my jewelry.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I really hope to have my jewelry take off so I can give up the day job. Jewelry is my love, my obsession, my creative outlet. It's what I need to do.