I started making Chainmaille as a hobby. When I was nine my older brother had a friend who was making Chainmaille armor and I got him to teach me how to do it myself. I must be the right kind of crazy for this type of work because by the time I was ten I had convinced my dad to help me make a booth for the Saturday Market in my hometown Eugene Oregon. Selling at market from a young age informed both my art and my personality in many ways. I learned to be kind. I learned to work hard and to serve my community. I learned to love conversation and real connections with my customers.

After selling in Eugene for 8 years it was time for me to move to Portland, OR to try out a larger city. I instantly fell in love with Portland and have lived here ever since. It's a place where you can succeed without cutting anyone's throat. I sell at the Portland Saturday Market every Saturday and Sunday. I play in a band and I go to local shows every night, seeing around 900 bands play each year. I ride my bike in the rain, sleep in on Mondays, and work 1,200 hours from June to August. In the summer I run a 32 band basketball tournament that's played all over the city on the regulation height hoop that I bolted to the top of my band's tour van.

So what does this all have to do with Etsy? Nothing. When I started my Etsy shop in 2009 I told myself that it would be an extension of what I already do every day, I guess if I were to put that into business terms I'd say that my brand is a lifestyle brand--no need to create an intangible ideal to sell my work. I'm a tangible, and my idea is to make things that can speak to my customers directly with no sales pitch. I've got roughly 49,000 hours of experience making my work.