Etsy Interview

Cookalas House Of Cards is filled with beautiful jewelry, and collage artwork. I wanted to get an idea of how she gets her inspiration and how she works.

What inspires you?
Color. Nature. A field of flowers, the salt scented air of the ocean, icicles glinting in the sunlight. Anything beautiful or colorful speaks to me, and makes me want to capture its essence.

Where do you work?
In a small, 6x6 alcove in my bedroom. It’s difficult, and always an awful mess! But I make do. I have 2 walls and a window wall – one wall is stacked floor to ceiling with my art supplies, my worktable is against the opposite wall, more stuff is piled under the window wall. It’s hard for me to just create when the whim strikes. If I’m making jewelry, the table and floor is piled with supplies I need, which I keep in gallon zip baggies and content labeled boxes. If I want to switch to art, I have to put all the jewelry stuff away and then take out all the art supplies I need. The setup is definitely conducive to creating when the whim strikes, but it is what it is and I work around it as best I can.

How do you find time for your crafting?
Well, honestly, I haven’t been making art for some time because I can’t find the time. I do make jewelry often, though, to keep my shop filled so my customers have lots to choose from. Jewelry gets made faster than art – it’s just a question of putting together the different beads and findings, and then stinging them together.

Metalsmithing is a different ball of wax – I do that outside on a large wooden table on the patio when the weather is warm enough because of the noise it makes and because it involved fire and chemicals. (I’m upstairs, so it’s really annoying to the downstairs people.)

The artwork is harder to sit down and make because promoting my Etsy shop chews up a large part of my free time, though that is going to change. I am an artist before all else, and that part of my nature must out if I’m to have any peace. I have a deep need to always be creating something of beauty. Jewelry fulfills that need to an extent, but my heart really lies with my mixed media and assemblage creations. So I’ve just recently come to the decision that I am going to put the jewelry away, limit my time on-line promoting my shop, and make time to make art because I have neglected that part of my nature for far too long now – almost 6 months. It’s time to get back to it!

What’s your day job?
I retired in 2009 after 38 years as a public servant. When I retired I was a Network Administrator but did so much more than just that. I kept the servers running, supervised the help desk, did the major software and hardware troubleshooting and also created data base applications for my agency. You could say I was a Jill of all trades.

Best marketing tip?
Create a shop blog, and use the social media such as Twitter and Facebook to promote, promote, promote. Also, make it your business to have excellent quality photographs of what you’re selling.