Meet Teri from The Beaded Branch

Hello everyone!

It's been a pretty eventful week for me, I came down with a pretty nasty cold! At first, I thought it was just my allergies kicked into overdrive, but, when the Allergi-TEA wasn't as effective as it usually is, and when resorting to OTC options didn't help, I realized that I had a cold virus. Fortunately, I was able to knock it out pretty quickly with a secret weapon (I'll share the secret weapon with you on my other blog).

But on to more interesting topics... such as the artwork of one Teri Landow of The Beaded Branch.

Photo from The Beaded Branch on Etsy

Recently, I was able to interview Teri about her amazing jewelry, as well as her thoughts on art and selling online. I hope that you'll find her interview as enlightening as I did! Enjoy!

How long have you been creating your art?

I've been crafting and creating pretty much one way or another for my entire life. With a mother who sews and crafts, and a father who does woodwork and basket weaving, I've always been surrounded by people who were creative and creating, so it was natural that I took up crafting too. It was about 10 years ago after taking one or two classes in beading that I really caught the jewelry bug, and feel as if I truly found my niche in the art world.

Where do you sell your art?

I started off at one local craft show which I still do, Fluvanna County Old Farm Day. I also do one or two other very small local craft shows, as time permits. After starting to sell at craft shows, I started selling online, at http://www.thebeadedbranch.com. Over the last year, I finally decided to start slowly moving all my stock over to my store on Etsy: http://TheBeadedBranch.etsy.com I also sell on consignment at a small local store, the Palmyra Country Store.

How do you market/advertise your store?

Marketing and advertising is something I'm still learning a lot about. Right now, I concentrate only on free advertising. I have pages on http://byhand.me, http://www.indiepublic.com, http://www.merchantcircle.com, http://www.talentdatabase.com and facebook. I also participate in IndieSpotting, where I can submit one piece a week to be on their spotlight page. Plurk and Twitter have also been helpful, along with the old standby, business cards. Right now my business cards have only my main web address on them, but when I order more, I will also include my etsy shop address. I leave them on any community bulletin board I can and my husband hands them out when he's at work, to coworkers and other people who might be interested.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

It was around eight years ago that I decided to start selling my jewelry. I had been making jewelry on my breaks at work, and people kept asking me, "How much is that one worth?" After my jewelry stash started to fill up several plastic shoeboxes, I decided I was never going to be able to wear it all, and so I had better get my business license and start selling. If for no other reason, than to recap some of the losses I had from trying to buy every bead I could get my hands on.

Photo from The Beaded Branch on Etsy

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

I have several pieces of advice:

1. Learn time management skills. They will be invaluable to you as your business grows.
   
2. Figure out how big you want your business to grow. How much time do you have to put in to this?
3. Figure out what you want to sell. If you are only in it to make money, then don't do it. If you truly love your art, and want others to be able to enjoy it, then by all means, sell.
4. Stay organized. Organize your finished stock by where you want to sell it. Keep your supplies organized. Keep your paper work up to date and organized. Do whatever it takes. Disorganization takes time away from creating, listing, and promoting.

[Good advice. I definitely can learn from the disorganization tip... I so badly need to get organized!]

What inspires you?

Everything. Books I read, nature, architecture, photography, art, friends, family, magazines, and movies. I try to glean inspiration from wherever I can get it. People inspire me the most. I'll pick a person I know, and create a bunch of jewelry that I believe they would like. I think about the colors they wear, or should wear, what styles they like to wear, how they carry themselves, everything. I believe that if one person in the world likes it, then there's a pretty good chance that there is one other person in the world who will like it.

Every artist experiences "creative block" -- a creative dry spell -- how do you deal with creative block?

Walk away. I get away from it for a while. I try working in a new or different medium. I color with my kids; I cook a new dish that I have never tried before. I listen to new music. I just see if I can experience something new and different, or re-experience something I haven't done in a while. And most importantly, I don't let it bother me.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I have to admit, I kind of giggled at this question. Yes, I work in jewelry, and yes, I basically work with beads. But there are so many other mediums I use at this point that I start to lose count. But it all ends up as jewelry. I love the versatility of jewelry. There are a million different mediums that can be used to make it, and it seems like more are coming out every day. I love to try different things, experiment and play with my supplies with only a basic knowledge of how they work and what they are supposed to do. I'm less afraid to to try something new if I haven't taken a class in it, because then I don't have a bunch of "can't do's" or "won't works" hanging over my head. ("You can't do that." "Well, you can try it, but it probably won't work.") More or less the actual medium I use pretty much choose me. I get an idea, and then have to figure out what medium will be best to create the pendant, earrings, necklace, or whatever it is I'm trying to envision.

Photo from The Beaded Branch at Etsy

How do you wish to be remembered?

First off, as a good mommy and wife. Of course, that goes without saying, probably. Second, as a jewelry artist who might not have pushed everything to its very limit, but did step enough outside the box once in awhile to create something beautiful and unique.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

Salvador Dali, MC Escher, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rene Jules Lalique, and my mom and dad.

What blogs do you visit on a regular basis?

http://3zArt.blogspot.com

http://dropofsunshinedesign.blogspot.com

http://hairtiesgaloreandmore.blogspot.com

http://handmadeshopaholic.blogspot.com

http://juliadarling.blogspot.com

http://rainwolf.blogspot.com

http://timothyadamdesigns.blogspot.com

and

http://bishopmadison.blogspot.com (which is my brother's very conservative blog, but he's my brother and I love him anyway!)

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

http://andreabaker.etsy.com

http://juliadarling.etsy.com and http://juliadarling.artfire.com

http://rainwolf.artfire.com

http://3zart.artfire.com

http://dropofsunshine.etsy.com

and of course:

http://liberteas.artfire.com (Thanks Anne!)

Any final thoughts?

Go ahead and play. Get your hands dirty. Color in a coloring book, but color outside the lines. When life gives you lemons, make grape juice and make people wonder how you did it? ;-)

Thanks for the great interview, Teri! Very informative!

Meet Orin Drake from Wicked Orin!

Greetings!

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

Stunning!

Orin Drake is the artist behind Wicked Orin, a shop that can be found on both Etsy and Artfire. Much of the artwork are objects of fantasy: dragons ~ including some rather remarkable beaded dragon jewelry pieces; large, beaded spiders, and fabulous jewelry such as the piece shown above -- so enchanting that it looks as though it should be adorning the neck of the fairy queen herself!

Recently, Orin took some time away from creating fantastical art to answer a few of my questions... I hope you'll enjoy this opportunity to get to know Orin Drake a little bit better...

How long have you been creating your art?

"Seriously" (meaning I've consciously been creating, producing and improving whatever I've been interested in) for about six years. Apparently I've been working on it since I could hold a crayon, though. If it wasn't sketching or discovering water color it was crochet, sculpting whenever I could get my hands on clay, painting--I was just out to make stuff!

Where do you sell your art?

Right now I'm sort of going between ArtFire ( http://wickedorin.artfire.com/ ) and Etsy ( http://wickedorin.etsy.com/ ). It's a bit of a difficult situation; Etsy is far better known and I have a good deal of positive feedback and sales there, but ArtFire is more "comfortable" from my own artist's standpoint.

How do you market/advertise your store?

A lot of my creations have a definitively geeky slant, so hanging around gaming communities helps quite a bit. Otherwise, I have a DeviantArt account and a SheezyArt account, both of which get a pretty good number of people interested, and the DIYScene forums ( http://www.diyscene.com/forum ). There's also my own blog, I suppose, but... very few people see anything in my blog.

At what point did you decide to sell your art?

I'd like to say it was at the point where I realized people might actually buy what I make. But really it was when I realized that I could not get, let alone keep, a steady job unless I employed myself. I'm afraid the "triple threat" of being an artist, musician and writer don't really matter when you don't have any interest in customer service or three degrees in... anything, really. The curse of a college town.

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Do what you love, and do it your way. Sure we can all learn and take friendly advice (when we ask for it), but there comes a point when you know what you want to do and you should never let anything get in your way. Most importantly, though, don't lose heart. There are probably going to be people who don't like what you do, and that's fine--but there WILL be someone who absolutely LOVES your work. Focus on what you love and what makes you happy, and that absolutely will carry through.

What inspires you?

Anything, everything! Sometimes it's actually a joke or a not so serious challenge ("Bet you can't do ____."). Other times I'll see something that I think is way too expensive for the work that seems to be involved (or the materials used strike me as ridiculously overpriced), so I'll try to make it myself. But most of the time... I don't really know. I like to default to the answer "video games and music", because that seems to hold true to just about everything. I have fun with what I create, and that seems the most important self-fulfilling inspiration of all.

Every artist experiences “creative block” – a creative dry spell – how do you deal with creative block?

Honestly, I usually drop in front of a console and play video games for a few hours, turn up some music or go watch one of my geeky favorites like a handful of Beast Wars episodes. Then I have to admit, I'm usually good to go after that. My dry spells don't usually last more than a day. I think I'm much too focused on doing SOMETHING, anything. Boredom is not acceptable.

How did you choose the medium you work with?

I have too many mediums! And the list is always growing. But I think it comes down to what looks fun. Jump rings looked fun, I've become quite good at some chainmaile patterns. Sculpting looked fun, and I still love making masks and dragons. Fabric looked fun, and I'm currently making more patterns after my little plush dragon turned out so well. Next up, leather and needle felting!

photo from Wicked Orin's Artfire Studio

How do you wish to be remembered?

Just as someone who loved what they did, and loved to share that with people who had a similar connection with the creations. People always ask if it's hard to let go of a piece I've spent days or weeks or even months on... and no, it's not. I have confidence that the person buying it caught a similar "spark" when they saw it that I had when I created it, plus I get the funding to buy more materials and make more fun things. That seems like the way it ought to be.

Who are your favorite artists (living and deceased)?

I'm utterly uncultured when it comes to art. I have way, way too many artists that I follow and am lucky enough to be friend with quite a few of them. Some day I'll have to make a list! I'll really have to admit to my horrifying geekdom by listing Yoshitaka Amano and Tetsuya Nomura specifically, though. They're both character designers for Final Fantasy games, but they both have distinctive art styles that I adore. Amano's work is some beautiful combination of colorful, soft, and amazingly sharp and harsh--it's too hard to describe without really seeing it for yourself. Nomura's work has become cliche in the RPG genre--but he established the cliche because his work is just that distinctive. I'm certain that there are countless other artists whose work I've seen and admired and get little to no credit, sadly. Concept art for nearly anything makes me very happy.

What blogs to do you visit on a regular basis?

Mostly ones that have to do with video games and absolutely nothing to do with art, actually. I do like to take a look at Etsy's and ArtFire's blogs from time ot time, but the only really art-related ones I follow are Cute Plush ( http://community.livejournal.com/cute_plush/profile ) for all kinds of plushie/stuffed animal ideas, and Craftastrophe ( http://craftastrophe.net/ ), because... well, I have a sick sense of humor.

For anyone who might be reading, what shops would you recommend that they visit right now?

I absolutely have to recommend my incredibly talented friends--most of which unfortunately don't have shops open at this time. I'm afraid I might just have to recommend my links page ( http://www.reignofangels.com/jewelry/links.html ) to be updated whenever everyone gets all set up. In the meantime, if you're into geeky cross stitch, definitely go visit Schala-Kitty at Crafted With Zeal ( http://www.schala-kitty.net/zeal/ ).

Any final thoughts?

There's nothing wrong with admitting that you started to make jewelry because you love shiny objects.

Thank you, Orin, for your time... I enjoyed your art, and getting to know you a bit better!