Tell us a bit about yourself name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff.
My name is Karin. I've been living in USA for the past 9 years. I grew up in Denmark amongst rolling hills and farm land. I worked for a big clothing store in Copenhagen, I was re-designing vintage clothing and also worked on the stores own clothing line. I was then transferred to their newly opened "branch" in New York City. I met my husband in New York and after we got married we opened up our own store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, hence the name.
We had fun with that for about a year and a half, selling printed t-shirts (printed at night after closing the store, we had t-shirts lying to dry all over the house). I knitted hats and mittens, made bags, sold old records, made dresses from new and salvaged fabrics, and friends would come and hang out, it was a great time but I guess I just got sick of being tied down to opening hours and not being able to sneak off on vacation when we wanted to. We moved to Boston a year ago, where my husband now goes to school. And that's when I decided to give Etsy a try as per strong request from my mother-in-law.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I read a lot and like to make things in general (knit, sew, cross stitch embroidery, cook, bake, etc). My husband and I love to travel and take trips when we can, whether it's camping or hiking for the weekend, or 2 months in Asia. I also love working in the garden.
What first made you want to become an artist?
I never really had that ambition, I had many other thing I wanted to be as a kid: nurse, construction worker, vet, zoo keeper, linguist, etc. I always sewed though, my mom let me use her Bernina sewing machine from age 5 or so, and I would make clothes for my dolls, saddles for the Barbie horses I even made a pair of "underpants" for my dad's birthday, It read "dad" on the front in applique and they were way too small. I also loved making things out of cardboard boxes: shoes, 4-story doll houses with furniture, helmets and other odd gadgets.
These were all just for fun and hobbies, and I never thought that would be a career. Not until I was 25 did I start creating and sewing for a living, that came after many other ways of making a living: night helper at a nursing home, office secretary, bakery sales clerk, cleaning at the Neuro-trauma ward at a hospital, garden keeper, and many others. I never went to school for design, but went to school for pattern making (women's clothing).
Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.
A bag pattern is pretty easy to put together when you have been dealing with women's clothing patterns. I often make my patterns in leather or fabric since it's a lot easier to cut around and they "stay" on the leather. I usually get started early and then take a long break and then work again often till late at night. I work from home so it's really hard to "let go."
Anyone who does Etsy or something similar full time will agree with me on this: nothing beats being your own boss, but you work twice as much. I take days where all I do is cutting, then the next day they'll all lie there rolled up with lining pieces and buckles, ready to be put together. I use mostly new leather now, the recycled leather is hard for me to get, I used to make bags from reclaimed leather a lot back in NY when I had tons of thrift stores around to scout for old leather coats. The linings are new and reclaimed fabrics.
What handmade possession do you most cherish?
My bed. It's a Swedish horsehair mattress and it is indeed handmade and hand sewn.
Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.
Such a difficult question. There are many more but these came to mind first:
Books:
Deliverance
Lord of the Flies
Bukowski: Tales of Ordinary Madness
Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut
My Life as a Dog
Country Wisdom and Know How (anyone who loves to cook, make cheese, make soap, make a chicken coup, prune a tree, and many other things: you must own this book)
Movies:
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Princess Bride
The Mosquito Coast
Rushmore
Fitzcarraldo
Songs/Bands:
Dungen
Pinback
Radiohead
Neil Young
Spoon
Yo La Tengo
Websites....
I don't have any favorite ones but this one has great houses made from old reclaimed barns:
thebarnpeople.com.
I also clearly like ebay.
What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy?
Take good pictures of you items from different angles. Use a solid colored back ground, it looks less "messy." If your listing picture is bad or boring, people are less likely to click and look at your items.
Ship out as often as possible, and offer exchanges or refunds or something else in that genre.
What are your favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see?
My husband loves to Pounce.
I like the "hand picked items" and Showcase.
The one feature I have been missing since day one:
Letting us know our total sales number of the month after refunded fees etc. It would make monthly paperwork SOOO much easier.
How do you promote your work?
I haven't really done much lately, being so busy with Etsy. I have a web page for whole sale but that's about it right now.
In ten years I'd like to be...
Still making leather goods. But less work hours and more time for my kids, husband and my other hobbies. Living in a self built house in the woods.
|
