Tell us a bit about yourself name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff.
My name is Suzanne and I live in Grand Haven, Michigan (while dreaming of Florida in winter months!). My “real” job is as a Director for a municipality doing primarily Human Resources and Administrative work. I don’t have a family yet which allows me to put all of my spare time into my business.
My dream job is simply working on my candle business, which is incredibly fun and rewarding! I love coming up with new products and ideas. I am proud to say every idea is my own right down to my labels, packaging, and Etsy banners! I am truly blessed with some of the best customers around. Craft shows are a special delight because I get to hear the delightful ooohs, yumms, and ahhs that come with peoples’ sniffing.
I recently joined the International Guild of Candle Artisans to expand my knowledge of the candle industry. Everyone says I could be the next big candle maker!
I am a self-professed soy candle addict. You know the type... they have a closet filled with candles – yeah, that would be me! I really do love my own products which is a bonus because it makes them easy and fun to sell.
I carry over 200 fragrances and several different jar styles so that I can delight all of my customers with just what they need to relax after a challenging day or to entertain guests.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I work full-time which takes the bulk of my time. Otherwise, when I get a spare moment, I love to garden. I don’t do anything halfway and you can tell that by looking at my yard which everyone tells me should be in magazines. I am terribly addicted to hydrangeas and daisies!
While we still have good weather, I enjoy scooting off to the beach after the candles are made for the day. It’s my reward for my hard work.
What first made you want to become an artist?
It was all by accident. In 2004, I read an article about melting candles together to make new ones. The thought of making candles popped into my head and that’s all it took. I already knew at the time that soy had numerous benefits including being clean-burning (no to little soot) and burning longer. So I started doing research on the internet and started buying materials to make my own candles.
As with anything else, halfway wasn’t enough and I had too many candles! I started to give them away to friends who told me I should be selling them. So I made more to sell locally and realized I had too many. I signed up for what I thought would be a one-time craft show – Garfield Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was then that I first heard the raving about my products – it was one of those things in life that takes you by surprise. I was addicted to the praise and signed up for several more shows. Within a year, I was honored by being invited to an invite-only show called Beneath the Wreath and got into another show in Lowell that is next to impossible to get into. By 2008, I believe I was signed up for 20 shows!!
Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
With candles, it takes time to figure out what materials work together and get a good product line sorted out. Candle making is not as simple as it looks and sounds. There is a lot of homework and testing that goes into it. You have to have just the right wax, the right sized wick, etc. I just found the one wax that I fell in love with about two years ago! So when I tell people that I melt the wax, add oils, add dyes, mix it and pour it, I have to follow that with, “It’s not as easy as it sounds!”
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
I have several primitive Halloween items that I adore and I have a sock monkey from the Monkey Shop on Etsy that is very cool! And of course, I absolutely love my candles – anything Pumpkin is at the top of the list for me.
Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.
I don’t have time to read or watch a lot of movies. I’ll admit that I like the stupid movies with absolutely no purpose but to make me laugh! Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, American Pie, I Love You, Man... I need humor wherever I can get it.
I have developed a recent addiction to country music. Many of the songs are just ridiculously funny and again that need for humor comes into play!
As far as websites go, I am a Facebook addict – why did they have to make an app for the iPhone? I never get off of there! I often check Craftcult and Craftopolis to see if my shop has been featured anywhere. And of course, I am a Twitter addict as well.
What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?
Don’t give up. If you look at my sales, most of them have been in the last year. When I first joined I gave up for nearly a year. The things I learned along the way that were most important were to buy some things first and get some feedback under your belt, relist three times a day – morning, afternoon and evening, start a blog and blog about other artists and things of interest to artists, price accordingly the first time (don’t do bargain basement pricing to try to get sales – your work is worth the appropriate price), play in the treasuries when you can – it is fun and it gets you noticed, hang out in the forums and give helpful answers, join teams and participate, follow timothyadamdesigns on all of his websites (his advice is awesome!), and show a general interest in everything Etsy even on the days when you just don’t feel like it.
What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?
A lot of my favorite features I get from Etsy Hacks – relisting and copying tools, etc. One definite need is calculated shipping for both UPS and USPS. A “want” is to have more sections available and have the ability to assign items to more than one section. To be able to assign an item to Premium 10 oz jars AND Fall Fragrances would be fantastic! Otherwise, all of my other wants have been given to us the last year or so.
How do you promote your work?
I promote on my blog, my Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, the forums, MySpace, emails and word-of-mouth.
In ten years I'd like to be...
Working for myself and making a comfortable living doing it! I would love to be up to my eyeballs in candles and busy enough to stay home full-time. Hopefully, within ten years I’ll be blessed with a family too. Of course, I might have to put them to work – ha! |
