Tell us a bit about yourself name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff.
My name is Paul Cunningham and I'm a baseball savant. I'm lucky to have a lovely and charming wife who indulges my creative impulses, and two beautiful daughters, ages nine and six. We live in suburban New Jersey with our pet sea monkeys.
I was born and raised on an old hops farm in Cooperstown, NY, where I learned how to play baseball. I spent my Summers during college drinking beer and working as a researcher for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I commute to my job as the Photo Editor for a major sports league in New York City (guess which one). I enjoy cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, but I especially like drinking beer and sleeping.
What first made you want to become an artist?
My sister is a talented artist, I'm not. I'm an inquisitive tinkerer with a knack for figuring things out.
I'm fascinated by craftsmanship so I challenged myself to create something unique that people would want to buy. Thus, LEMON BALL baseballs were born.
Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
A baseball is an overlooked and under-appreciated object.
But the great baseball writer Roger Angell wrote;
"Any baseball is beautiful. No other small package comes as close to the ideal in design and utility. It is a perfect object for a man's hand. Pick it up and it instantly suggests its purpose; it is meant to to be thrown a considerable distance- thrown hard and with precision."
Simply, I wanted to take that quote, and bring it to life in a way that makes people appreciate what a baseball is.
I love working with leather. It is wonderfully aromatic and has many other sensual qualities. Leather comes in an infinite array tannages, thicknesses, colors and textures. I select hides based on the properties that I feel will yield the coolest and most sensual baseballs.
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
When I was a wee lad, my Mom did a bunch of paintings in the Grandma Moses style. The property that I grew up on had a lot of farm buildings that lent themselves well to this style. I cherish one in particular that shows me at the age of ten hauling firewood on a sled. Some of the trees are no longer around and the buildings have since fallen into disrepair, but this painting shows the property in the way I want to remember it.
Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.
Books
I read to my six year old a lot:
The Lorax (timely, I think)
The Cat in the Hat (read it again, Dr. Seuss was brilliant)
Stone Soup
In the Night Kitchen
The Chronicles of Narnia
Most anything by John Irving
Movies
I don't have time for movies or TV, but I've enjoyed:
Shawshank Redemption
O Brother Where Art Thou
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
Old School
Music:
Dire Straits
Eric Clapton
The Who
ACDC
The Beatles
Websites:
The Vintage Baseball Glove Forum
The New York Times
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
Seth Godin's blog
Sports Shooter.com
What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?
Create with love and passion.
Make stuff that you would buy.
Create a brand identity and stick with it.
Practice the Golden Rule!
What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?
I love how easy Etsy is to get up and running with. I discovered Etsy, created my shop and had my first sale within 24 hours. All because the designers and administrators created a wonderfully user friendly tool that has empowered tons of creative people.
I also love how sticky Etsy is. Tons of cool features like Time Machine, Pounce, Geolocator, Colors, etc. that make Etsy fun to play with.
I also love the forums and all the wacky people that hang out there.
How do you promote your work?
I sell to a handful of retailers who promote for me.
Promoting scares me. I've been blessed with success on Etsy. I want to balance Etsy and my career, with my duties as a husband and father. Etsy has given me a creative outlet and a chance for self actualization. I want to stay small enough so that I can treat my customers like gold.
In ten years I'd like to be...
A renowned baseball glove designer and craftsman making ball gloves for Major League baseball players, and still selling LEMON BALL baseballs on Etsy.
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