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.

Groundwork ... South Carolina, USA

Artist: Danna Ray
Business: Groundwork
Web site: www.groundwork.etsy.com
Location: South Carolina

What do you create?
Paintings, drawings, and children's illustrations.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work at home in my studio, where I keep somewhat erratic hours. I often get inspired late in the evening and work straight into the morning. I like the quiet and the focus of working at night. I also don't like to take breaks while painting. I prefer to start a new project and just keep working until its finished.

Do you have another "day job"?
I work part-time as an rock climbing instructor for a junior climbing team.


Where and what did you study?
I received my BFA in Communication Arts and Design from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Where do you find inspiration?
I grew up in a log cabin in the woods of rural South Carolina. I spent nearly all of my childhood playing in those woods. I didn't care for dolls, but I was fascinated with animals, and plants, and rocks, and water, and changing seasons. This was really the basis for everything that I know and love. Additionally, I draw inspiration from energetic people, idealistic people, and artistic people. I like searching for a balance between the tedious and the transcendental.


What motivates you?
The act of creation. I think that's why I don't like to take breaks while painting. I'm just so excited to see ideas come to life.

When did you start doing this?
I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. I opened up my Etsy shop about a month ago.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Absolutely. My mom likes to tell the story about a Thanksgiving turkey collage I made in preschool. The class was given worksheets printed with a line drawing of a turkey, and instructed to cut feathers out of construction paper and paste them to the turkey. Mom laughs about seeing the collages when she came to pick me up. Apparently all of the kids had cut and attached five or six big lumpy feathers, except for me. My page was covered with dozens of the tiniest feathers I could cut out. Sure, it was partly because I had seen turkeys in the woods and I knew they had more feathers than I could count... but mostly it was because I was obsessive. You know moms like to tell stories that both brag about you and make fun of you at the same time. This obsession with tedious detail is still very much present in my work.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I decided in high school that I wanted to write and illustrate children's books. So, I chose to attend VCU for their illustration program. After college, I spent the next four years traveling, working as a horticulturist, renovating a house, getting married, and rock climbing. Finally, I am back to drawing and painting! I've missed it terribly. I hope to never take a break from being an artist again.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I thought of the word groundwork as two words: ground and work...it seemed fitting for my naturally inspired artwork. A thesaurus can be a great resource when trying to think of names.

What do you love most about creating your work?
I really enjoy the unexpected surprises and fortunate mistakes. No matter how much planning and sketching I do, I'll never know precisely how a piece is going to look in the end. Many times I get to a point in the middle of a painting where I think its just not going to come together. When I was younger this was quite discouraging. But, then I realized that project after project, I was always able to pull it off in the end. Now, I've come to embrace this part of the process. I feel like many of my best ideas and best paintings have been a result of working through that very frustration. By incorporating or fixing these unplanned elements, I become more creative and versatile as an artist.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I've been lucky enough to take trips to Italy, Switzerland, and Jamaica, as well as a climbing trip to the Palisades all in the last year! (Amazingly, I had never even been on a plane until 2004.) This is a tough question, but I think I have to choose the Palisades. The Palisades are a group of peaks in the central part of the Sierra Nevada range in California. Here you can find the southernmost glaciers in North America. The landscape there is astounding. My husband and I climbed our first 14,000ft peaks!

A book you love:
For children or adults: Everybody Needs A Rock by Byrd Baylor. I love the pictures by Peter Parnall.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
I have far more hobbies than time. The more interesting of these would probably be rock climbing. I've been climbing regularly with my husband for about two years now. Climbing can be quite freeing. As you focus intently on your movements, any small nagging thoughts from everyday life tend to slip away. Then, by the end of a trip, it feels good to get back to those everyday thoughts with a fresh perspective.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I bought and renovated our home with no experience, on a shoestring budget. I was inspired by my father, who built the log cabin my sister and I grew up in when he was only 26 years old. He cut and notched all of the logs by hand. My father passed away in 2004. I bought our house in 2005, figuring that if my dad could build an entire house at age 26, surely I could manage to renovate one at age 23. It was a process of constant challenge, and I often wished for my dad's advice. Now, two years later, this is a pretty nice little house. There are still some unfinished projects here and there, but they can wait. I have paintings to make.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
When I was at VCU I talked to a woman named Libby Meggs who had just had her first children's book published. She told me that she had a Winston Churchill quote taped up beside her desk that read “Never, never, never, never give up.” I've often thought of that. I have a large magnetic dry erase board over my desk where I hang various pieces of inspiration. I used to have this quote written there: "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing- that's why we recommend it daily." Sometimes knowing that you aren't motivated or inspired can be very depressing. That quote helped me remember that I need to motivate my self each day, even if the day before wasn't as productive as I had hoped.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
I enjoy working in more than one style as well as a variety of media. This is not usually a good thing for an artist. Clients and customers like to know what to expect. Thus, I have to keep my children's illustrations separate from my Etsy/gallery work and those separate from any graphic design work I've done. Even in those separate categories I have to monitor whether my work is looking consistent enough. Ugh.


What do you love to do in your free time?
Gardening, rock climbing, kayaking, cycling, cooking, dancing, tea drinking, chocolate eating.

What are you working on right now?
A series of abstract landscapes inspired by dream fragments.7

What do you hope to achieve next?
I've written a children's book that I need to finish illustrating. Then, I'll send it off in hopes of getting published. Also my husband and I are eying new 14,000ft peaks to climb.