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.

seaurchin ... England

Artist: Lisa Stevens
Business: seaurchin or c-urchin
Web sites: seaurchin.etsy.com, c-urchin.blogspot.com, c-urchin.deviantart.com
Location: Bristol, England

What do you create?
I create unusual, experimental ceramic pieces, often with the inclusion of glass. Mostly these take the form of ceramic pendants, but my true love is the larger sculptures.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Erm... mostly on my sofa, in front of the telly in the evening! One day I will have a proper workshop! My kiln is in the garage, but I do also attend a weekly ceramics evening class... at the moment I am learning to throw.


Do you have another "day job"?
Well, I'm a Mum. I have a three-year-old son. So technically I did not leave my day job to follow my art, but to have a baby! Before that I was one of the senior sculptors at Aardman Animations in Bristol, making plasticene puppets for animated films and series, such as Creature Comforts, Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit – The Curse of the Wererabbit. If you're looking for credits though... I'm credited with my maiden name, Lisa Newport.


Where and what did you study?
I studied in the seaside town of Worthing on the south coast. I did a Theatre Design HND (shorter and less academic/more practical than a degree). I specialised in costume design and construction, but I also loved making the scale models of the sets and characters.


Where do you find inspiration?
My main inspiration is the clay itself! I love the way you can do practically anything with it. I love the chemical reactions between the glass and glaze and love experimenting! Texture wise... I take inspiration from sea creatures, geology, pollen and honeycombs amongst others. I love the graphic illustrations of Earnst Haeckle.


What motivates you?
Making things is as much a need as exercise and eating fruit... I feel ill if I don't make anything for a while!

When did you start doing this?
I started my ceramics course about six years ago, but it took a couple of years to find my style.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I always did it! Apparently my Mum was told by the nursery teacher, when I was three, that I was going to be an artist! I guess it always gave me a sense of satisfaction.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I have been on Etsy for nearly a year now. I had sold a few pieces before at craft fairs before that, but basically Etsy gave me the opportunity to sell and therefore develop my work. It was, and still is, a way to make some money without having to leave my son in full time child care. The hours at Aardman were long... I went back for a short contract, but it nearly killed me!


How did you choose the name for your business?
The spherical sculptures I was making look like sea urchins... must make some more of those!

What do you love most about creating your work?
It's always different....I'm often surprised when I open the kiln... it's like alchemy!


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I love the eroded coastline of the Big Sur in California... ooh, and the Underground Gardens in Fresno... and Yosemite! (That was a great holiday!)

A book you love:
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Working at Aardman on feature films.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Working on Wallace and Gromit – Curse of the Wererabbit


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

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
There aren't enough hours in the day... or evening.


What do you love to do in your free time?
Other than ceramics? I love walking, especially in woods.

What are you working on right now?
Another batch of pendants, some custom orders, and I hope to make some more sculptural pieces soon.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I intend to open another Etsy shop for handmade supplies. I'd like to exhibit my sculptures in a Gallery.

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...)