Katrin Schwulst ... Dresden, Germany

Artist: Katrin Schwulst
Business: seasprayblue
Web sites: seasprayblue.com, seasprayblue.etsy.com, seasprayblue.dawanda.deLocation: Dresden, Germany

What do you create?
I create Illustrations and offer them as prints, cards and compiled into a calendar at the end of the year.

Where and when do you do your creative work?

Whenever I have a new image in mind and have some time, I go to my couch. I turn on the TV and look for some useless TV-shows. This is the best position and the best surrounding for me to concentrate on my drawings.

Do you have another "day job"?
I work in an architectural office and am busy with drawing construction plans and doing calculations all day. It sounds boring but for me, not at all. When I was in school I was addicted to math. Also I’ve always dreamed of designing a tiny house for me and my family some day.

Where and what did you study?
I’m not an architect, although I really would like to be one. I studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Dresden with a focus on environmental planning and sustainable infrastucture. I know it sounds naive, but I always wanted to make the world little nicer and healthier to live in.

Where do you find inspiration?
Most of my inspirations come from listening to music or happen in the very moment when I close my eyes before falling asleep. The most impressive pictures I keep in mind until I wake up. I also find new images while going for a walk or when I’m on the train.


What motivates you?
As an artist I find it very motivating to finish a new illustration and find a great title for it. Receiving positive feedback from others is very motivating too.

When did you start doing this?
I created my first image in august 2007. By September I found myself lying on the couch each evening creating a new illustration.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I remember one picture I made in kindergarten. Each kid had to paint a tree. I drew a birch tree that really caught the eye of my teacher. She was so impressed that two of the branches crossed each other – so she really celebrated it. I didn’t tell her that this only happened because my brush slipped.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
In summer 2007 I had a lot of time together with my 8-month-old son. So I borrowed some magazines from the local library. I skimmed through the pages and found in one edition of “PAGE” a story about the ‘Seven Web Wonders'. Number three on that list was Etsy. I was so impressed by this platform where everybody can offer his own handmade products. I got so excited and decided that I wanted to be part of this community. In July 2008 I registered to sell on both Etsy and Dawanda (the European version). It’s strange, but after that I never heard or read anything about Etsy or Dawanda in the press again. I guess that is was just a fantastic coincidence.


How did you choose the name for your business?
The name ‘seasprayblue’ was chosen long before I started my art business. In 2000 I had a crush on a boy who was studying in the same class that I was. Part of my strategy of getting to know him was writing him an email. Of course, I needed a very special and well chosen new email address to write him this note. So I rememberd a few words from the song that we had to dance to in our modern dance course. They came from the song “Ode to the Sea” written by Pablo Neruda: ...says yes – in blue – in sea spray – raging... The name stuck with me through the years.

A book you love:
Actually I don’t read that many books. Sometimes it takes ages just to finish one. But I love murder mysteries – especially from the Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason. Some years ago I read The Catcher in the Rye from Salinger, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol – from A to B and back again from Warhol himself and The Hotel New Hampshire from John Irving and loved them all.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I speak Swedish.

What achievement are you most proud of?
There isn’t just one thing. I am proud of my University degree, my little son and the fact that I haven’t drawn a lot in the past but am now getting such huge amounts of positive feedback.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Everyone has potential to create something special. Before you start find out what it is and then try, try, try! You will get better at it with time. Also, when you’re going through a dry spell, you should look back on your achievements and develop fresh, new ideas.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Writing messages for my illustrations. I love to make people laugh, smile, dream and think about my images.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I like drawing, meeting good friends for ice cream, listening to music, biking, laughing with my son, watching movies, going out to dance, reading. The last two things I haven’t done for ages.

What are you working on right now?
Another artist interview for Dawanda (I hope that I will finish that one faster). I’m designing my own web site, and fortunately I have a little helper for that. I’m also developing ideas for Christmas illustrations and creating a cover image for the legendary Moleskine books. I collaborate with Modofly who sell these designed Moleskine books on Etsy. I also was asked by an indie band from California if I could design the cover of their next album. I wish that my days were two hours longer than everyone else’s days; that would be great. Could someone please arrange that for me?


What do you hope to achieve next?
I would like to attend a workshop in screen printing and doing something in that field too. And as a mother I think about creating a small zine for kids, which I could offer in several languages.

Kristiana Pärn ... New York, USA

Artist: Kristiana Pärn
Business: Krisblues (on Etsy)
Web site: kristianaparn.com
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA

What do you create?
"Hey Kristiana, what's new?" asked one of my long lost friends recently.
"I paint harmless creatures," I wrote.
"And the creatures are never capable of even the slightest harm?" he asked.
"No harm," I replied.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I live and work at a studio apartment in Brooklyn, New York. I tend to be a night-owl but I also love early mornings. These two extremes are my favorite times to be creative. Once the sun is high up in the sky I like to be in sync with the city life.


Do you have another "day job"?
I don't have a day job at this time. About three years back I started to get more freelance work and I loved the lifestyle that came with it. Having time to think and take care of myself was important. With less money the quantity became quality and using intuition as a guidance made a great impact on who I have become today. Jobs are great but you have to love what you do, or find it challenging.


Where and what did you study?
First attempt to find myself a profession was to study accounting and I did so in Estonia. Feeling unsatisfied with the accounting life I decided to let the profession find me instead. I took painting lessons from a local painter and that's where things became more serious. I left Estonia in search for something new. Being an artist is like being in an art school for life. So, I am still in school...

Where do you find inspiration?
Ideas sneak up to me so quietly that I never quite seem to understand from where or how they come. Everything around me is so inspiring. The city, colors, people, seasons, and memories to name just a few.


What motivates you?
Success and feeling of accomplishment are great motivation.

When did you start doing this?
Painting harmless creatures? It was spring of 2004, I lived in Kew Gardens, Queens at the time. It was during my great escape from Manhattan. I had very little then but everything I had meant so much. I think it was the time I discovered what it means to be happy and free and creating art was part of the process.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I was more interested in playing with sand, rocks, sculpting with moss and clay or making things grow. I can't remember being into drawing or painting that much, though I loved, loved looking at drawings in encyclopedias and trying to copy them as well as I could.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I don't know if I can call it a business, it might as well be the art of making a living. I try to be business-like as little as I can, although I know that selling work is a way to continue doing what I love.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I am still choosing my business name. It's a tough one. My current Etsy store name is "Krisblues", which is put together from my name, Kris, and one of my favorite shades, blue.

What do you love most about creating your work?
I really enjoy working with colors. I feel like my artwork often speaks through hues. For example: combination of earthy light blue and dusty yellow creates a feeling of safety and love; once the blue becomes more green or turquoise, though, the peacefulness changes into restlessness and feeling of wanting to understand. I could go on...


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Living in New York City is fascinating. I love how ugly here becomes beautiful, how large things feel small. Cultures, communities, tolerance, ignorance, dark and light existing all together.

A book you love:
Naked Came I – a biography of Auguste Rodin by David Weiss.

Also, I used to have a Hungarian fairy tale book called The Magic Flute by Emil Kolozsvar Grandpierre, which my father would read to me every night. One of the stories, about a needle and an egg traveling around the world, must have been pretty good because I asked for it over and over. I also remember a tale of a king who had one eye crying and another laughing at the same time... fairytales fascinate me.


What achievement are you most proud of?
Ever since I received a painting from my grandfather for my sixth birthday (it was a funny picture of two rabbits interviewing one another with an old tape recorder) I've wanted to be able to draw like him. I wanted to be able to create whimsical pictures for grown-ups. And that's exactly what I do now. I'm happy that I've followed my heart.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do what you love.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Asking money for what I do. Art and money have a relationship I don't quite get still.

What do you love to do in your free time?
When I'm not working I love getting on my bike and riding around Brooklyn, stopping in different neighborhoods, absorbing the different lifestyles and meeting new people — or just observing them: people-watching is great. I also like going to galleries and markets, watching movies, seeing live music, taking photographs, and spending time with friends.


What are you working on right now?
I am always working on few different projects at once. Right now I am getting ready for exhibits in Nashville, TN and one here in Park Slope at a store called Pink and Olive. This month I also have few commissioned pieces, and I'm always working on fun little graphic design/illustration projects – greeting cards, CD covers, posters.


What do you hope to achieve next?
The next big step? I wouldn't want to project too much but I think it is going to be a book for little kids and for already grown up children.

Ashley Akers ... Texas, USA

Artist: Ashley Akers
Business: Ashley Akers Jewelry
Web sites: ashleyakersjewelry.com, ashleyjewelry.etsy.com, ashleyakers.blogspot.com
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

What do you create?
Hand-fabricated jewelry with a modern, organic aesthetic. Mostly utilizing sterling silver, semi-precious gemstones and pebbles.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Ideas are always brewing. When I come up with a design or even a component I have to sketch it. I have books full of sketches for jewelry designs going all the way back to my beginning jewelry class in college. Of course many of those have never come to fruition, so looking through them provides more inspiration. My studio is in my home and I work seven days a week and anytime of day based on what needs to get done. I do get up at the same time every day and get to work about the same time. I am a very much a schedule and habit-oriented person.


Do you have another "day job"?
I worked for seven years at a charming local garden shop, Home to Garden. I just got up enough courage to quit that job this past December. That move was one of the most exciting and scariest things I have ever done and I have absolutely no regrets. I do continue to work part time on my husband’s and my other endeavor, which is a landscaping and lawn care business.

Where and what did you study?
I studied at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas under master metalsmith and enameling genius Harlan Butt. I majored in jewelry and metal-smithing, and minored in anthropology, graduating with a BFA in 1999.


Where do you find inspiration?
My design process is very much informed by my materials. I will play around with gemstones and pebbles until I find a pleasing combination. The metalwork usually plays a supporting role to whatever material I employ for color and texture. I also get excited about trying out new materials like fiber or polymer clay. I feel like I gather inspiration from all around. I am a very visual person and cannot help but be inspired by my surroundings. I am attracted to pattern, both natural (plant structure, pebbles on the ground and wood grain) and man-made (textiles, recycled metal, and architecture). Color is a huge inspiration and ingredient in design for me. I love creating and surrounding myself with color combinations of all types. I have a love of mid-century modern design and I think that is reflected in the simplicity and organic lines of my metalwork.


What motivates you?
Motivation goes hand in hand with inspiration. I thrive on design challenges and definitely work better with deadlines, such as submissions for exhibitions.

When did you start doing this?
My first jewelry class was during my sophomore year of college in 1994 and I have never looked back. Wow, so 14 years ago.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I don’t remember a time of not being interested in creating things. My mother is an art teacher and fiber artist and my father is a talented wood worker. I always loved to paint and draw as a child. In high school I took watercolor classes and already knew that I wanted to learn to make jewelry.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I worked part time after graduating from college, but always did jewelry on the side. Before discovering Etsy I was selling at local craft fairs and to friends and family. I started my business out of a need to create and wanting to love what I do for a living.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I just used my name. I feel like it is important for my name to be associated with my work.

What do you love most about creating your work?
Gathering inspiration, designing, and the finished product. I enjoy the actual process of creation as well, but many jewelry-making tasks are quite tedious and unglamorous. The more enjoyable pieces for me to make are more complex and involved designs.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Definitely Mexico. I spent a month in Xalapa, Veracruz for a college anthropology course and was able to travel to Oaxaca as well. I love the indigenous crafts, the colors, cuisine and the warmth of the people in Mexico. I also aspire to travel throughout Latin America.

A book you love:
Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor. I particularly like novels based on historical fact.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
I am a plant-oholic. I can peruse public gardens, cool garden shops and gardening magazines endlessly. Even when I worked at Home to Garden I visited other garden shops while on vacation! I love succulents, cacti and agaves especially.

What achievement are you most proud of?
My college degree and taking the leap to quit my day job are my most proud achievements.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions and seek advice from your peers and mentors. Try to join a group of fellow artisans. I am a member of the Etsy Metal street team, and I have learned so much in the past year and a half from my fellow Etsy Metal members. Their knowledge has been invaluable to me.
Also, be prepared to balance many different aspects of your business and do everything yourself in the beginning. You must serve as an accountant, marketer, customer service specialist, photographer, web designer, as well as designer and maker. Sometimes the creation part comes last, unfortunately.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Staying on task and off the computer!


What do you love to do in your free time?
Spending time with my husband and two dogs. Going to the bookstore to read magazines. Visiting the weekend flea market and local antique mall. Watching travel and food shows, preferably with the two combined. Favorites include Mexico One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless, No Reservations with Anthony Bordain and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmer. Seeing live music. Traveling, but don’t get to as often as I would like. Ditto for camping and swimming.


What are you working on right now?
I’m working on three trades with fellow Etsy Metal members. I am really enjoying building up a collection of jewelry by friends. I feel like these pieces will become heirlooms and each has a story behind it. I’m also working on several more involved pieces to enter into exhibitions.

What do you hope to achieve next?
Not so much one particular thing as the big picture. I hope to continue to be able to grow my business and be a self-supporting artist. I want to learn new techniques, improve my skills and have a successful lifelong career as a jewelry artist.

Robin McGauley ... Ontario, Canada

Artist: Robin McGauley
Business: RDMdesign
Web site: rdmdesign.etsy.com
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

What do you create?
I create little tiny pieces of wearable art – usually called jewellery.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a room in my house that is called my "art room". It is a great little spot for all my silversmithing equipment and jewelers bench. I create on my time off from work.

Do you have another "day job"?
I am an Ordained Minister with the United Church of Canada serving as Coordinator of Adult Programming at an Education and Retreat Centre called Five Oaks. I work for three weeks in this job and then have a whole week off to spend in my 'art room' creating (my husband and I call it 'tinkering'). I feel really lucky to have such a wonderful day job that allows me time to be creative and pursue my other interests.


Where and what did you study?
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Religious Studies from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. I also have a Master of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology. It was while I was doing my Masters that I really felt a yearning to be an artist and use my hands. I was on internship in Nova Scotia and found out about the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where they offer Continuing Education courses in jewellery making. I signed up for a full year of courses, and was hooked. I decided that after I graduated from my Masters I would take a year off to take more silversmithing and art classes. Since then I have taken courses at the Vancouver Community College and at the Haliburton School of the Arts to gain more skill in my craft.


Where do you find inspiration?
I actually find the materials and tools themselves to be quite inspiring. I am amazed at what metal can do. I feel like I am just beginning this journey as an artisan and so when I get a new tool or some new equipment I usually spent lots of time being inspired by what it can do, and what it can add to my work.

What motivates you?
I often feel like I don't have a choice but to be creative. When I don't spend time using my hands I start to feel uneasy, like I have too much bottled up energy.


When did you start doing this?
I took my first course almost six years ago.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I was a totally crafty kid. I did really badly in school as a child because instead of studying I would sit in my room and do arts and crafts. I used to make beaded necklaces all the time as a youth. It is funny though because I never took art classes, not even at school. That seems so strange to me now and I often regret that I didn't.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I really never envisioned selling my work. For a few years I just made on-of-a-kind pieces that I wasn't able to part with because they were so special to me. One day I decided that I had too much jewellery so I started making five or six pieces of the same design. I also started making rings that were too big for me so that I wouldn't keep them. I set up my store on Etsy because I had to get rid of these extra pieces somehow.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I actually wanted to be called 'Divine Design' but then I noticed that there is a TV show called that, so I had to come up with something else. RDM are my initials (Robin Donalda McGauley) – it just seemed to make sense and is also easy to stamp on to the back of my pieces.

What do you love most about creating your work?
I love how relaxing it is to create. I experience creativity as meditation – time when I feel most grounded and myself.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I lived at a Castle in England for seven months where I did my first year of University. It was called Herstmonceux Castle and was built in 1441. There was a moat and everything!

A book you love:
My husband and I read The Tao of Pooh to each other before bed over the course of several weeks – it was so great!

What is the most interesting thing about you?
Given that I am a United Church Minister, people are usually surprised to hear that I am also a silversmith. But I think those who will be reading this interview would probably be more surprised by the fact that I am a minister.


What achievement are you most proud of?
At this point I am so proud (and am still pinching myself) that my work is being sold in the gift shop at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Trust that magical things can happen when you are doing what you love and yearn to do.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Being original. It is really hard to come up with a concept or a design that hasn't been done by somebody already.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I spend most of my free time creating.

What are you working on right now?
A couple of weeks ago I spent quite a bit of time designing some new pieces – mostly pendants. These pieces have multiple parts, some hollow, some stone settings, some combinations of silver, copper and brass. I was feeling the urge to create some things that are more complex and interesting since so far my designs have been quite simple I think. I am also working on a series of hollow rings of various shapes. My impulse has always been to bring things to a high polish finish, so with these rings I am trying to create a lot of texture on the silver first and then fabricate the rings.

What do you hope to achieve next?
My next goal is to be in a craft show – I haven't done that yet.

The Noisy Plume ... Arizona, USA

Artist: Jillian Susan Lukiwski
Business: The Noisy Plume
Web sites: thenoisyplume.etsy.com and thenoisyplume.blogspot.com
Location: Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation, Arizona

What do you create?
I create jewelry from sterling silver, copper, brass, and precious/semi-precious stones. Lots of it.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work here at the Achii Hanyo Native Fish Facility (USFW) which is run by my husband (the head fish biologist). We live by ourselves on-station and I have a workshop outside in our gigantic Quonset. I have also claimed a room in our house for workspace. I am a night owl by nature, but Robert isn't so I usually work during normal 9-5 office hours so that we get to see each other at the end of the day.


Do you have another "day job"?
I quit my librarian position at the elementary school in town about 2 months ago to go full time with silver smithing. I miss reading books to the wee kiddies but can now see very clearly that I was living a high stress life when I was splitting my time between jewelry and the art of librarianship. I am much happier now. Perhaps healthier too?


Where and what did you study?
I attended the University of Saskatchewan in my hometown of Saskatoon, Canada but not long enough to finish an English degree since I decided to marry my man and moved to The States. That old scrap of paper documenting my intelligence haunts me constantly and I'm yenning to finish it up! I also attended a community college in Lake Havasu City, Arizona for 4 semesters to learn a few silver smithing basics as well as lapidary techniques. In terms of my craft, I am largely self-taught.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find plenty of inspiration in the stones I use in my pieces. I consider myself rather lucky to have studied silver smithing in the Southwest where more often than not, a piece is designed around stone, silver is allowed to be brightly polished to a blinding sheen, and color is paramount. Southwest style is right up my alley. When I find a big free form cut cabochon in an amazing color, or struck with a fantastic matrix... I can't help but be flooded with inspiration. I'm also inspired by shapes I see in nature, the work of other jewelry designers, and other times the inspiration simply finds me. Sometimes I sit down with a few pieces of metal and a stone and the piece just builds itself slowly and steadily as though the design is being breathed into me as I work. It's a really great workday if such a thing happens.


What motivates you?
Selling 20 pieces on a weekend and having to make them all lickety-split so I can ship by Monday afternoon is quite motivating! Also, when I have a new design idea, it's difficult for me to tear myself away from my workbench, I want to stay there until the moon is high and all the desert critters are sleeping. I really like to finish what I have started in one go. The thought of seeing a finished piece of jewelry brightly polished and ready to photograph really elevates my pulse! When a piece is nearing completion I am bouncing off the walls with excitement, practically breathless...my voice turns into a high-pitched squeak. I'm sure it's frightening and ghastly to watch, but it sure feels great!


When did you start doing this?
I started silver smithing in 2005 when I was taking classes in Lake Havasu. It took a while to actually get set up at home with the right tools and start working independently of the workshop at school.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I was a funny blend of jock and art-geek when I was younger. My father fostered the athlete in me and I must thank my mother for cultivating my creativity when I was a youngling. She enrolled me in piano lessons as soon as I was out of the womb, as well as playing violin and trumpet for a few years; she also popped me into drawing classes with a local Saskatoon artist. She taught me to sew (she's a master seamstress). I was really into photography and graphic arts in high school and took a few semesters of painting as well. I used to stay up until 3am on school nights making beaded jewelry in my bedroom. I was continually crafting.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Last summer I took a trip to Europe with a girlfriend of mine and whenever we met someone new in a hostel she would introduce me as her friend who was “a maker of fantastic jewelry.” I thought about that title a lot while on that trip and realized I didn't want to make a liar out of my friend and I had best get serious about making jewelry. Looking back, I think it was really a sort of quarter-life crisis in that I didn't really love being a librarian, and was in desperate need for a creative outlet. At any rate, I came home and told my husband I wanted to open an Etsy shop and make and sell jewelry. We drove to town to buy a digital camera, photographed some of the pieces I had already made, and opened my Etsy shop that very same afternoon on July 18, 2007.


How did you choose the name for your business?
I actually picked three words and said them over and over to myself to see if the sound of them falling off the tip of my tongue was pleasing to the ear. It was.
Also, no one on the planet earth has ever been able to correctly pronounce my last name on the first go, so I thought I would spare you all fumbling your way through "JillianLukiwskiDesigns". Blah. That last name of mine is a Ukrainian mess. I confess.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love that all of it is mine. From the start, each component that builds a piece of jewelry is designed by me, sawed, cut, dapped, formed, forged, sized, set, buffed, and polished by me. This work is MY work, no one else tells me what to do. It comes from my heart and my soul, and is crafted beneath my furrowed brow with joy and obsessive attention to detail. I really make exactly what I want to make. I don't worry about whether or not the item will sell. I just make the things that are in my mind and trust that someone, somewhere shares my taste in jewelry. If I wouldn’t wear it, I don’t make it. My art is really the epitome of selfishness but I have to feel like a design is true to my ideas and my style. I have turned down a few commissions in the past because I wasn’t willing to be untrue to my style. For example, I don’t “do” Celtic jewelry… I do what I want to do. I love feeling like I have appeased my need to create at the end of the day. Anything that jeopardizes that feeling is not allowed in my workshop.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I need to give you five:
1. A glow worm cave in New Zealand (Rob and I collected a nalgene bottle full of the little guys to make a romantic sort of flashlight).
2. Every inch of the 230 miles of the John Muir Trail.
3. The Havasupai Falls below the remote Supai Indian Village on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
4. Alone.
5. The chain lakes, and river systems of Northern Saskatchewan… in a canoe.


A book you love:
Good grief! I really adore books. Books have always been such good friends to me...here are some of my favorite authors/poets instead: Gene Stratton Porter, Diane Ackerman, Annie Dillard (swoon), Willa Cather, Roald Dahl, Chaim Potok, Zane Gray, Leonard Cohen, CS Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Madeline L'Engle, Rilke – each one of them continues to change my life and widen my eyes.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
My lifestyle. I grew up in the National Parks of Canada doing backcountry patrols by horseback with my dad on the weekends (sometimes on school days too). I know how to chop wood, fly fish, paddle a canoe, start a fire with wet wood, and clean a horse's hooves among other things. I am most at home in the natural world and prefer the freedom and simplicity of the country life.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Knowing at the young age of 25 exactly what I want to do with my life, and doing exactly that. Every day.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Just start. If you try to get everything organized perfectly from the very beginning you probably won't ever begin. Don't be afraid, just go for it. It's ok to start small and build your way up into a bigger and better business. It takes a lot of courage to put oneself and one's art out into the world for all to see, don't ever doubt the courage that lies inherently within you. It's there. Draw on it.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
My dial-up internet is my greatest challenge. It's positively medieval. I can't get a faster connection because of where we are situated on the reservation. We are lucky to even have a telephone! My internet speed makes me crazy and drinks up a lot of my spare time and workshop time. I used to have to do all of my uploading for my Etsy shop from the library in town a couple of times a week, but I bought a new computer and am able to do all of my work from home now. What a nightmare it was.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to bake. I bake my own bread once a week. It's a happy thrill every time I see it rise up.
I also sew, rock climb, walk my dogs, do a heap of yoga in the living room, garden, run, explore the desert, collect honey from the wild bee hive in the bulldozer, play my piano, make zines, write poetry, and read. I am also a member of "The Letter Writers Alliance" and write many, many, many letters to friends and family.


What are you working on right now?
As soon as I finish this interview, I've got to polish up a few pieces of jewelry which were ordered over the weekend and ready them for shipping. This afternoon I am working on a few pieces featuring Alunite cabochons. In the larger scheme of things, I just completed my wholesale catalogue for 2008 and am going to be posting those out to a few different boutiques in Alberta, Canada and Oregon.
Interestingly enough, I'm just working hard at being me.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I'd love to live someplace where I could apprentice a goldsmith. How I would love to get my little fingertips on some gold and dip my small hands into buckets of faceted gems. I'd also like to write something worth publishing someday. I'm much more into short term goals as it's difficult for me to see past lunchtime.