PalomasNest- Home Goods

I first discovered Palomas Nest on Etsy during a search for rings. I came upon one of Caroline's listings- it was a bowl similar to one pictured at the bottom of the post that reads "be the change". I think this would be a lovely bowl to have by the sink in my bathroom- a little morning inspiration and a place to put my jewelry when I am washing up. She has a unique style that is easy to recognize- casual yet modern- organic but polished- useful and exciting, always perfectly simple and well crafted. Having her shop in your favorites is a MUST- convo her if you have any special requests- she is a gem of a girl who would bend over backwards to make you happy!

Name
Caroline Colom Vasquez

Location
Austin Texas

Business Name
Paloma’s Nest


Describe what you sell.
Handcrafted gift wares and home goods made of natural materials and stamped with texts


What is your real life like?
I am a full time Mom- that keeps me plenty busy! Hobbies and interests include Art History and Interior Design, and my husband and I design furniture together.


What is your process?
My work is made of pure clays like earthenware and porcelain, wood, cotton fibers, and recycled papers. The few tools I really use, besides my own two hands, are my collection of vintage stamps and my rolling pin!


Business Goals and Vision...
My Etsy shop provides me with an international audience for my work. I love the personal interaction I get to have with my customers there, and the orders from my shop keep my production running at full capacity! In the long term, we are expanding our home-based studio space so that production and my product line can expand over time.


How do you market your business?
Online, photos are the most important part of selling your work. If your photos do not show off your product or attract attention, they will not be noticed.
I honestly feel like excellent customer service is the best way to market and grow your business…happy customers tell their friends!!


Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I wish I had more time to keep up with the design journals! I love the community of blogging, but again, I just don’t have time to explore much beyond Etsy.
For me, the best way to improve my business is by focusing on my own work. It is easy to become distracted by other artists, or to want to modify your designs to be “more like” something you see selling elsewhere…but the most important thing is to be true to your own design sense and your own product line…in the long run, that is what will make you stand out from the crowd!

What inspires you?
Art history and ancient symbolism inspires me when researching texts and words to use in my work. I also pay attention to tactile senses like the feeling of cold stone and or the sound of crunchy leaves on a cool Autumn morning.


What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
That is like having to choose a favorite child!! I do really enjoy making custom pieces, as I love the idea that I am creating an “instant” heirloom for someone to cherish for years and generations to come.

Am a fan of these places...
www.thisisalliknow.etsy.com
www.simplijessi.etsy.com
www.fieldandsea.etsy.com
www.hijackedceramics.etsy.com
www.manimina.etsy.com


Find seller at...
www.palomasnest.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

Howlindoggie- Jewelry

Name
Ceeb Wassermann

Location
Sydney, Australia

Business Name
howlindoggie

Describe what you sell.
Handmade limited edition & OOAK jewelry

What is your real life like?
I am a full time Jeweller. I have a husband, daughter, cat, dog & goldfish. I love road trips. Vacations (they don't happen much, as we work a lot), art, drawing, movies, music, scuba, reading and of course my primary love is making & designing my work.oh, and I love great food!


What is your process?
my most favorite technique is sawpiercing. This is reflected in a lot of my work. I work in gold silver, platinum or any metal, it just depends on the piece. Sometimes I dream pieces, other times I set myself challenges


Business Goals and Vision...
I would like to expand my internet business (eg. Etsy & my website) as this is quite a new field for me. I want to sell more of my production work in stores overseas.


How do you market your business?
word of mouth mostly , blogs, some minor advertising and I belong to the fabulous etsymetal group. Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I do only one at the moment as one of them did not work for me, so I'm still looking around for others.


What inspires you?
The ocean, Japanese design, Alchemy, Carl Jung, Matisse, Chopin, Travel, Music, amongst other things.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
Chrysanthemum pendant(first picture) & The Jane Johnston Cuff (pictured below)

Am a fan of these places...
Etsymetal.com
experimetal.esty.com
nanopod.etsy.com
moxieandoliver.etsy.com
saschaK.etsy.com
JapaneseTreasures.etsy.com

Find seller at...
www.howlindoggie.etsy.com
www.ceebwassermann.com/splash
www.mettledesignstudio.blogspot.com/

Beadcomber Handmade Beads

These handmade polymer clay beads from Tina's shop look so lifelike that admirers may be fooled! When I saw them I knew that they would be appreciated by my readers and Tina has kindly agreed to talk to me about them....

Name
Tina Holden

Business Name
Tina Holden - Beadcomber

Location
West Coast of Vancouver Island, BC Canada


Describe what you sell.
Multi-media jewelry often using my own handmade focal beads and pendants, mostly handmade components, Chakra Jewelry and my tutorials for both polymer clay and beadwork.

What are the best sellers in your shop?
mmm...hard to say since there is a bit of everything, but I've sold quite a few tutorials and beads from my underwater collection.

How do you market your business?
Well, Etsy is probably the main one, but I also sell through galleries, boutiques and gift stores. I've written tutorials for magazines, joined online groups of like-minded creative souls such as Talent Database. Then, of course, there is plenty of blogging and getting the opportunity for interviews such as here.

What is your target market?
Probably all age groups, this includes the casual for young girls and women, classy for business women, hip for young men, the surf culture and new age interest.

What do you offer that sets you apart from the other supply sellers on Etsy?
That's a big question. Of course we all want to be different and offer something unique and worthwhile, find some sort of niche that no one else has filled yet. My Reiki Pendants are unique as are my Picasso Power Pendants where people can choose their own stones with a chart I supply, to have something crafted just for them.

I also focus on items that reflect my natural surroundings as with my Underwater collection of Sea Urchin, Starfish and Shell beads that are lovingly recreated using polymer clay because the natural products are too fragile for wear. There are a couple of items that I designed and created that will soon find their way onto Etsy as well which have done really well for me in various galleries.

What is your “real” life like?
I have wonderful husband/partner of 26 plus years who is very supportive in what I do. As a matter of fact he has turned to creating his own line of jewelry and pendants...carved prehistoric ivory pendants, inlaid stones into antler, resin work. I'll be putting up a store for him soon. We have two kids. Well, they aren't kids anymore maybe that is why I really want a dog or cat, or both! Job and Hobby is the same as we're semi-retired. I'm interested in

Graphic design, beachcombing and what not...

Any offers you want to give blog readers?
I always send a Gift along with purchases. Plus, I'll offer Free

Reserves to blog readers. If one orders a few items from all the listings, there is a little extra shipping added, .25 per item for Canada and USA, .50 per item for elsewhere. People will sometimes ask me to do a special reserve instead for which I usually charge the .20 listing cost. Just mention you read "Debbie Gootter Designs Blog". Doesn't sound like much, but if one has a whole bunch of requests, it really saves.

Find seller at...
beadcomber.etsy.com
beadcomber.blogspot.com (polymer clay blog)
beadcomber.ca (jewelry)
flickr.com/photos/tinaholden/
beadcomber.com (picturetrail)

JPatPurses

The thing that I like about JPatPurses is the incredible selection. Browsing through her store you will find little zipper pouches like the one to the right, in a huge variety of colors and patterns. This would be great to keep things compartmentalized in the big purse I carry around. There are lots of other styles available- check them out...

Name
Jenese Patanella

Location
Tennessee

Business Name
JPATPURSES

Describe what you sell.
I make wallets, zipper pouches, gadget cases out of the latest designer cotton fabrics

What is your real life like?
I am married with two teenage daughters, a sweet corgi dog named Ginger. I love to read, take my dog out walking and of course sew!!

What is your process?
I was the first one on Etsy to develop and use a very special bat quilt interfacing technique on all of my items. This gives them structure and strength yet still super soft and comfortable to carry. Since others had copied my technique but I am very proud to say that I was the first to develop and successful sale items with this extra step!

Business Goals and Vision...
Short term is just to try and increase my sales each month. I really don’t have any long-term goals except to be able to keep doing this and not let it take over my life. After all there is work and then life. So far sewing has been so much fun but when it because or starts to become more work and less fun then I will need to re-think my small business.

How do you market your business?
At first I did a lot of outside advertising, flyers at local businesses, business cards and online advertising. Now that I have established a pretty good market, I think most of my business is repeat and word of mouth.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I personally have a blog that is really just a fun way of showing what is going on within my sewing studio. I really have very little free time to do much else right now.

What inspires you?
I get most of my inspiration from trying to make a busy women’s life easier. I try to design items that will keep her more organized and efficient. I often only make certain items with specific fabrics. When I purchase fabrics I visualize which items would look good with that fabric.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
I love my back pocket click –it wallets. I actually designed it first for myself. I love to be able to just grab and put it in my pocket when I am in a hurry. Then I also love my newest designed boxie swing gadget cases. Super handy for my cell phone.

Am a fan of these places...
I can only name a few since I don’t have time for too much Internet time except within my own.
Fabric.com
Hancock’s of Paqucah.com
my local library website

Find seller at...
jpatpurses.com
jpatpurses.etsy.com