Just a Day In the Life of this Artisan

This week I thought I might write a little something about what a typical day in the life of a crafter or artisan is like.

For those who don't know us, let me make an introduction. We are John and Tracy Seekins and we run a little shop called Jinxy's Fine Gifts on Etsy. I design and create all of our jewelry. John creates all of the paintings and sculpture within our shop. I have also self published a poetry book of my writing that I sell on Etsy as well. "Poems for the Soul".

John and I are full time RVers. This means we live in our camper at various campgrounds. We travel with our youngest son, who is 15, and we homeschool him.

Typically our days start late and run into the wee hours of the morning. We have always been night owls and the nice thing about this lifestyle and this business is that we can keep what hours we like.

Generally we are up by about 10am. Our son gets up a little earlier and since this is summer he is only working on artistic pursuits that he enjoys. Since he is up first he usually makes coffee. When we arise, John goes out and spends an hour relaxing at the table and drinking his coffee. Just allowing himself to fully wake for the day.

I however can't wait to check my email and website. So I usually get right up and get on the computer. I check my email and the website to make sure there is nothing pressing I need to deal with.

Then I drop into the forums on etsy and post in any that strike my fancy. This is what I consider to be my morning promotion time. I spend at least an hour posting in the forums.

After that I take a break for lunch and creative time. I might create a couple new pairs of earrings or a necklace. By this time John is well into a painting or sculpture and in his "do not disturb" mode. Not that you could get his attention if you tried. John gets very into his art and loses the world around.

After lunch and creative time I usually head outdoors with my backgrounds and any items that need to be photographed for the site. I try to do this quickly because of the heat but it usually takes about an hour.

After returning everything to the house, as I am usually sweating and hot, I grab a towel and my soaps and head for the shower. This always makes me feel so much better and is much needed after the hot work of taking pictures.

Now it's time to edit photos. This is probably the part I dislike the most. Every photo has to be checked for brightness and balance and then sized for upload. I have to pick out the 4 or 5 that I will use and get them into a file. This usually takes me another hour or two, depending on how many items had to be photographed.

Once everything is edited, it's time to list. Of course supper time is coming and I like to get everything done once I'm into this. So if I'm cooking I go to cook supper first. Fortunately John enjoys cooking and will often cook when he finishes his art work.

Listing can take another hour or so. Once I've listed everything I like to try and promote it a bit to get it some views. So off to the forums again for another hour of link dropping and chatting. Sometimes I even get sucked into a game of tag in the forums or some other such game. It's fun and it gets a lot of views for our shop.

Usually before bed, by the way I eat while I'm working so no I didn't forget, I try to drop into chat for a little while. Lately chat has really disliked me and tends to toss me out for no apparent reason but I still try to hang out for a little while.

This is a typical day. Of course there are days when I work on my off Etsy promotion or post to this blog. I have managed in the last 7 weeks to take at least 2 days off completely and enjoy my day.

I have to say that working from home is a lot of work, working online is a lot of work, and promoting is even more work. But I love it. I love creating, I love selling, and I love interacting on the Etsy community. I also love getting sales and hearing how people love our items. That makes all of this well worth it to me.

AppleOranges

The featured Etsy Artisan this week is AppleOranges.

Tell me a bit about yourself. -

I'm a 24-year-old graphic artist from Massachusetts. I am interested in any kind of art I can get my hands on. I paint (oils and acrylics), cross-stitch, crochet, knit, draw, take photos, everything! I'd also rather be outside than inside, so you'll find me in the ocean, atop Mt. Washington (climbed it with my boyfriend last September), in a lake, or in my backyard. I umpire girl's softball as a second job and I am also learning to play guitar.

What is the name of your Shop? -

Apples & Oranges appleoranges.etsy.com

Do you belong to a Team on Etsy? -

No, not yet. I'm still trying to get myself started and I don't want to commit to anything that I can't find the time for.

Where do you find the inspiration for your designs? -

I have a BFA in Graphic Design, but I have always felt that making tangible things is far more satisfying. I often only have to go as far as my wardrobe to find color combinations that I love and feel would be great with a piece of jewelry to go with it.

How did you get into your craft? -

On my 17th birthday, my aunt (who also made jewelry) took me into Harvard Square. There is a bead store there, and I instantly thought, "I could make this instead of buy it!" It began as a selfish craft and a way for me to get great jewelry without spending a ton of money on junk that would only fall apart.

How long have you been crafting? -

In general, I've been an artist my whole life. I never spent a lot of time in front of the TV, I was always nose deep in some new craft book.

What made you decide to focus on your crafting and make it a business? -

I've been selling on and off for a while, and everyone has always been supportive and told me that I should go public and get serious about it. I never get sick of it, and I hope this pans out, because it's really what I love to do.

How do you market or promote your items and where can we see it? -

I do craft fairs in my home town, there is a big one coming up in September called Yankee Doodle Weekend in Billerica, MA. And of course also at my shop Apples & Oranges

What is your favorite Item in your shop? -

Oh, man. Probably this one: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12960468 I love the butterfly effect that the drop beads create, and I love how sleek it looks with a black dress or even a brightly colored one.


Do you have any future plans you'd like to share with us? -

Right now I've got some napkins that I'm going to attempt to make into bags and change purses. I've got two quilts under my belt, so the sewing part should be easy!

Do you have any advice to share with other people who create? -

Don't stop loving it. If you start to hate it or get frustrated, have another outlet. I play guitar, and I know I can't sell that, so that helps calm me down when I get discouraged or down.

AurorasThings

This weeks Featured Seller is AurorasThings. I chose her because she lives in the state of Maine and I am originally from there. Just thought it would be nice to have someone from my home state here.

Here's what she had to share.

AurorasThings

Tell me a bit about yourself.
Hi, my name is Dawn, I'm 27 years old and I'm from Maine. I'm a Christian stay-at-home mother, I have 3 children with one on the way, (Aug, 29!!) I have a wonderful husband of 9 years who is very supportive of my hobbies and endeavours.

What is the name of your Shop?
My Etsy shop name is AuroasThings. I named it this simply because my name means Aurora.

Do you belong to a Team on Etsy?
I do not currently belong to any Etsy teams. I am, however, looking for the right fit for me as I sell a variety of arts and crafts. I have a few teams in mind, though :)

What are your goals for your crafting?
My goals are to bring joy and happiness to anyone who find that they like my things. I love to create and learn how to do new things so just crafting brings me joy.

Please describe your creative process.
Oh, there are so many ways that I work, lol. I like to craft just about any free chance I find, when the kids nap or when they want to help (my oldest may begin her own shop! We'll see.) The materials I use are different based on what I am inspired to make. I use the highest quality materials for each item. I love sterling silver for my jewelry, the best yarn I can find for my crocheting, I'm pretty much a brand shopper when I comes to that. I also love to recycle, reuse and repurpose. I make new crayons out of old ones (we have sooo many old broken crayons...), really cool paper beads from magazines that I've finished reading and I send out all my jewelry in giftboxes that I've made from greeting cards.

Where do you find the inspiration for your designs?
Everywhere! I look to nature for my jewery. There is no way to beat the beauty found outside!

How did you get into your craft? How long have you been crafting?
I have been crafting since I was a little girl. My Meme taught me to knit when I was about 8 years old and my grandmother-in-law taught me to crochet when I was 19. For the rest I am self-taught, I research and poor over techniques, I love learning!

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
Apart from creating things, I raise my children. I try to create in them a love for kindness and responsibility. To love those who may not love them and to take care of the earth and what God has given to them.

What made you decide to focus on your crafting and make it a business?
Honestly, living in this state. I love Maine, It is a beautiful place, but our cost of living is very high, as I am sure most areas are nowadays. My husband also encouraged me to try this out because we are running out of places to put or use everything I make, :)

How do you market or promote your items and where can we see it?
For now, I am only on Etsy with my handmade things, I really love the community there. I spend time in the forums talking to others, everone is so kind and genuine, It is such a change from eBay, where I sometimes sell non-handmade items. My username there is cherrytree830.

What is your favorite Item in your shop?
I would have to say that my Sterling Silver bracelet made with Swarovski Crystals and the matching earrings are my favorites. I really enjoyed creating these and feel that they are unique to other pieces that can be found online.

For anyone who thinks this isn't work...

Are you an artisan or a crafter? Have you ever had someone say something off about it? Well let me tell you this IS work.

Here's just what I did today.

I got up this morning and went on a search for a candle. My husband was creating a new candleholder out of clay and he needed one to make sure the holder hole was the right size. That was a big flop. I didn't have any, our neighbors didn't have one and the owner of the campground where we live and work didn't have one.

Oh well had to go to town anyway. Then we were off to the post office to ship out two orders. I found out that my shipping is priced too low and I have to work on that. I talked with the lady at the post office for a little while and gave her my etsy site address. http://sisterjinx.etsy.com but I didn't have any cards so I had to write it for her. She was so sweet though, she gave me a bunch of old left over bubble wrap. :) Bubble wrap is your friend.

Then over to the store and hurray they DID have a candle. Not exactly what I wanted but it would do. Talked to the cashier/owner about why I needed the candle and gave him the shop address too.

Back home and logged right on to the internet while hubby got to work on his latest stuff.

I began a thread about random acts of kindness and worked on that for most of the day. The blog on that is also below this one. It took a LOT of time and effort so please check out some of the great shops I included.

While I was doing that I was working on promoting my shop off etsy. I usually have at least 4 windows open and I work in all of them.

Throughout the day I also posted on 4 different blog sites I work on. I approved people to the new team list on yahoo. I wrote a post for that list. I posted on our team forum several times. I promoted ON etsy in the forums a bit. I answered some questions in other forums. And I relisted 5 items because I'm doing a test to see if this little expiriment that I read about in a forum will work for me.

And somewhere during all this I created 2 new pairs of earrings which I hope to post tomorrow. I also hope to post some of John's new stuff but due to drying and painting time they might be another day.

Of course that means tomorrow I have to work on pictures with my less than worthy camera. And then I'll have to post all the items and get them promoted.

I also worked on off site promotion with a new site I found, by reading in the forums. I am in high hopes that will pay off as well.

So if your day is anything like mine, don't ever let anyone tell you that what you do is not work.

brought to you by Jinxy's Fine Gifts