West Corinth Studio

It's Tuesday and I am excited to introduce you to another "earth-friendly" seller- Heidi Shaulis and Issac Willis of West Corinth Studio. They reside in the same house and virtual shop -even though they work with different mediums they both keep it green in art and life....

Name
Isaac Willis and Heidi Shaulis

Location
Corinth, Vermont

Business Name
West Corinth Studio

Describe what you sell.
Folk art. Heidi produces mainly oil on canvas original paintings, and various reproductions of her images on recycled and hemp papers. Isaac is a woodworker, and buildseverything from jewelry boxes to electric guitars.

What is your real life like?
We live in a tiny little house on top of a hill surrounded by very wild woods. We get lots of organic produce from our garden and pick gallons of berries in the summer. Winter is harsh, with lots of shoveling, but as long as the power doesn't go out we have DSL and Direct TV. Isaac and the boys play guitar and Heidi devotes much time to her dog, Bea and her 6 cats.

What is your process?
Isaac does pretty much everything by hand. He uses only sustainably harvested north american species of wood and lots of salvagedand/or recycled material. Finishes are organic and everything is a one of a kind.

Business Goals and Vision...
Right now, all energy is focused on finishing Heidi's painting studio. It is a passive solar design and we've made it a priority to use as many recycled and sustainable products where possible and within our tight budget. ( Pictures of the studio progress can be seen on Heidi's blog; http://heidishaulis.blogspot.com.) Having a dedicated workspace will enhance her ability to produce a variety of new products. Isaac will be building more guitars as well as guitar stands and related gear shortly.

How do you market your business?
We are currently marketing exclusively on Etsy, but we do have many wonderful, regular customers who have been with us for years.

What inspires you?
Most of our inspiration comes from the natural world. Our favorite place has always been Vermont, mostly for it's natural setting. On our little hill inspiration abounds.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
Isaac's favorite is Eat Your Heart Out, semi hollow electric guitar (first picture)
Heidi's is The Sheep Next Door, framed original oil painting. (second picture)

Am a fan of these places...
Hinessight.com for current news
We check daily http://forecast.weather.gov; the National Weather Service website, so we can plan our outdoor work/activity
RedRiverPaper.com for 100% recycled Greenpix paper
Greenfieldpaper.com for hemp paper
There are too many great stores on Etsy to narrow down to any favorites...we love the whole site and also the forums are fun.

Find seller at...
Our work is for sale in our etsy shop; www.westcorinthstudio.etsy.com, and we also have an informational website at www.westcorinthstudio.com

Beautiful Bridget

Name
Kim Ferrugia

Location
Springfield, MO

Business Name
Beautiful.Bridget

Describe what you sell. handcrafts bright and colorful crochet items such as pure cotton scrubbies, apple jackets, coffee cozies, iPod pockets, scarves, and washcloth and dishcloth sets.

What is your real life like?
My hubby and I have been selling online across many venues for over 9 years now. I'll never forget the day we both got to give our notices at our jobs....it was so exciting but SO scary also! We had no idea what was going to happen and really took a step out in faith that everything would work out and it did. One of the greatest blessings was that we've been able to be at home with our children while they've grown up. At the time we quit our jobs and started our home business I had just had a baby about 5 months before and it was such a joy to be able to be home with both her and my older daughter. Now everything has grown into such a smooth routine and I have been able to free up time for myself to run my business on Etsy as well.


What is your process?
As you may have guessed, I absolutely LOVE to create! My hands are always busy...if I don't have something to occupy my hands, I will fall asleep in 15 minutes...so I make things ;) My creative genius (am I allowed to call it that?) usually comes out late in the evenings while my oldest daughter (missindie on Etsy) and I get together to watch our favorite reality TV shows...our "mother and daughter" time which I cherish more than anything else in life. My primary craft is crocheting, I've enjoyed doing it since my Mom taught it to me when I was a young girl and now as an adult I get ideas that pop into my head for new creations or I see things that I like and make my own crochet versions of them. There is nothing that feels better than hearing how someone else is enjoying something you created!


Business Goals and Vision...
Right now I'm still just a small potato on Etsy and so I am hoping to make it through the holiday season with plenty of orders and plenty of time to get them made. In the long term my dream is that my daughter (who is missindie on Etsy) and I can grow our businesses together and really get this thing off the ground!

How do you market your business?
I've mostly been relying on word of mouth for advertisement. I do try to participate alot in the forums and have joined many street teams on Etsy such as Etsyhookers, EtsyMoms, Christian Artists Street Team, Trade-a-Holics to name a few. I also try to leave my business cards wherever I can and use my products out in the public so that people can see them and inquire about them.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
Not yet but I do try to learn as much about business and my brain is constantly running trying to come up with new inventive ways of running my business.


What inspires you?
Let's see, what inspires me....my family of course, a quiet room, soft music, bright colors, the changing of the seasons, the holidays....I pretty much find inspiration in everything. I love going to my favorite craft stores and feeling and touching all of the different yarns...like I said, inspiration lies in everything.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
I think my two favorite things are my apple jackets: (top picture)
and my coffee cozies: (second picture)

Am a fan of these places...
www.GudonyaToo.etsy.com

www.Missindie.etsy.com
www.BubblySensations.etsy.com
www.SSSJ.etsy.com
www.MommysLittleHelper.etsy.com

Find seller at...
www.beautifulbridget.etsy.com
www.beautifulbridget.com

Retired Records

Name
Karen Dengler

Location
Cincinnati, Ohio

Business Name
Dengler Designs

Describe what you sell.
Functional art made from recycled record albums and the covers. Items include painted record bowl, coasters, wine rack, totes, purses, wrist cuffs and pendant necklaces.

What is your real life like?
I have 3 dogs and 2 cats, all from rescues. I am married for the past 11 years, and have two daughters, my husband is a firefighter. I work part-time as a social worker, currently working with older adults in a mental health treatment program. I facilitate therapy groups.My interest include, hiking, camping, rock climbing I love being outdoors. I also have an organic garden with vegetable and herbs. I also enjoy good wine and hanging out with my friends at home or going to an art opening or new restaurant.

What is your process?
My process is fairly loose, I usually am inspired by an album or cover and make a design that coordinates with it for my bowls and purses. I heat the albums and then cut them to make coasters and pendants. I am experimenting all the time and continue to change my process and I go and learn. I have no special tools that I use. I try to incorporate as much recycled material as I can into a project. For the straps on my purses and totes I recycled belts.

Business Goals and Vision...
Short term is to have enough inventory this year to get through the holiday season. I have been also working on some new designs. My long term goal is to have made 100 different items from the record and it’s cover.

Who is your favorite musical artist?
When You Were Young, by The Killers.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
http://www.parkandvine.com/
http://nvisionshop.com/ two of my favorite stores here in Cincy.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by nature, minimalistic design, influenced by art deco design. I love bands like The Killers, ie: modern rock . I love walking in the forest and get excited by the smell of skunk, horses and fall leaves on a sunny day.

Am a fan of these places...

Recently discovered: RighteousNiteOwl.etsy.com

NancyGamon.etsy.com

aBreathofFrenchAir.etsy.com for my bath & body

Spiderbite.etsy.com

Seagoddess.etsy.com

Find seller at...
RetiredRecords.etsy.com

PartyBots Apparel

I'm on a mission to find the coolest earth friendly products on Etsy. Partybots is certainly at the top of that list. The shop header reads..."eco-friendly and organic- renewable soy printing solvents- natural water based platen glue- low impact color dying". Karl features his own art work on his creations and they have the look of a broken in old favorite. Earth friendly and cool- start adding these to the holiday shopping lists for guys and gals!



















Name
Karl Addison

Location
Seattle, Washington

Business Name
Partybots

Describe what you sell.
I sell dorky drawings that are hand printing using sustainable methods on to eco-friendly and 100% Organic apparel


What is your real life like?
My "real" life does not really exist. I pretty much live in my fantasy art world. I draw everyday, print as much as I can, and take great pride at growing my beard out. I spend the vast majority of my day working on art projects like wheat pasting, giclee prints, and doodles. Since I left my corporate job this has become my life - and I love every moment of it.

What is your process?
The majority of my work I do traditional screen printing. However, I do not use the traditional methods of printing due to their natural hazardous ways.
I'm very keen on the soy bean solvents that I use, water based platen glues and so forth.


Business Goals and Vision...
I have many goals, but my main goal is to make my art as accessible to as many people as possible. Rather that is done on printed apparel, in the streets, or on gallery walls. I plan on living in both Seattle and New York one day - and beyond that I hope to live in Tokyo or Paris. Have not figured out which one I like better. I just hope my artwork keeps growing as I do.

How do you market your business?
I market my business everywhere I can. I do a lot of guerrilla marketing, and projects like that. I currently have 43 stores within the US carrying my shirts, 2 stores internationally, and a ton of online stores. I get a great amount of exposure from all of those. In addition to that, there are a lot of amazing folks who write about my artwork and product. That helps more then anything I could ever pay for.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I don't really subscribe to anything other then google alerts. Those keep me in the "know" when it comes to the industry that I'm in, plus anything that comes out on the web about me personally. It is pretty amazing to keep up-to-date.

What inspires you?
Honestly, almost everything inspires me. My friends are an endless source of inspiration. I get many ideas from the things they do and say.
Traveling helps a lot. I'm generally in a different city at least once a month. When I'm out of town I spend my free time seeking out various street art, galleries and art museums. Plus just being in different environments and cultures helps with inspirations. I also pull a lot of ideas from when I was a kid and growing up. Ideas like my "intestants" drawing came from having ant farms. You could clump all of this in to being observant of my surroundings and taking mental notes of all of it.


What are two of your favorite things about your shop?
Two favorite things... The feel of organic and eco-friendly apparel is pretty amazing. So soft and comfy. The second is being able to offer as many drawings as I do. Variety rules.


Am a fan of these places...
Etsy in general
Flickr.com
youtube.com
adultswim.com
wikipedia.com

Find seller at...
www.partybots.org
www.partybots.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/photos/partybots/sets