MetalSugar

Another Monday - I love Mondays- we get to see the beautiful work of a jewelry designer every Monday and today we have the spectacular Melissa Cohen of Metal Sugar Designs in Brooklyn, NY. Metal Sugar is exactly what it sounds like: hard and soft, tough and sweet jewelry with a dash of flair, humor, and class to meet the needs of any buyer. All handmade by me and full of personality!

What is your "real" life like?
I live in a one bedroom apt with my boyfriend, my dog bosco, my cat isaiah and my boyfriend's cat Kanji. It's a zoo but I wouldn't trade it for the world. We watch Netflix movies more than I'd like to admit and I'm obsessed with Project Runway. I stay home alot and work on jewelry and try to get out of the house as much as possible to connect with my friends and to eat at all of the delicious restaurants in NY.

What is your process?
I mainly work with sterling silver, but like to work with gold. I also am beginning to incorporate technology into my work-by using illustrator for laser cutting and soon will be working on making pieces that light up and move. My process is sometimes planned and sometimes random. I have sketchbooks and try bringing one in my purse so whenever I think of something, I can draw it out. These often transform into pieces later. Many times I just sit down with my metal and make a piece in the moment. I have come up with some really interesting pieces this way-those are probably my favorite.


What are your goals and vision for your business?
My goals are to continue expanding and growing, learning constantly-I would like to get into more stores, get on more blogs, be part of more interviews, get noticed by magazines, press, anything to get my name out there. My goal long term is to do this for a living, have a cute studio to call my own, where I work in the back, teach small classes, and have a shop in the front where I sell my work as well as hand-picked items that I love from other artists.. This is my dream and I hope to see it come true one day :-)

How and where do you market your business?
I keep my business cards in different stores, I put my products on flickr, myspace, and facebook. I send out updates via email to my list of contacts that I've made at craft fairs or just through networking. I also get blogged about from time to time which helps get my name out there. I'm also part of a great collective of artists on my Etsy Street Team and we promote one another and are almost finished with a catalogue featuring many of these amazing crafters. I haven't put enough time and money into my marketing, but I'm working on it!

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I have a Bust subscription, often buy jewelry magazines, and subscribe to many blogs that feature handmade artists.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by so much-animals, Japanese toys and candy, simple lines and textures, and taking the humor in the world and making it pretty when possible.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
The Cupcake Signet Ring (second picture) and my new Duckie Jewelry (third picture)


I am a Fan of...
NOTCOT
Cake Spy
Fred Flare
fromjapanwithlove.etsy.com
http://glassfiction.blogspot.com/

Find Seller....
www.metalsugar.com
metalsugar.etsy.com,
http://metalsugar.supermarkethq.com, stars and infinite darkness and more to come!

Fancy Tiger Crafts

Name
Amber Corcoran and Jaime Jennings

Business Name
Fancy Tiger Crafts

Location
Denver CO

Describe what you sell
We are a retail store in Denver that sells craft supplies for knitting, crochet, sewing, felting and spinning. We make some craft supplies, including kits for needlefelting, which we sell on etsy. We like to make crafting accessible to everyone, so our kits are easy and make excellent introductions to the world of needle felting.

What are the best sellers in your shop?
Our needlefelting kits so far the Owl and Robin are our best selling kits.

What is your target market?
We mostly focus on marketing our brick and mortar store in Denver. Our target market is crafty types who are looking for supplies that are more modern and sophisticated than they might find at your traditional fabric or yarn store. We like to make everyone feel welcome in our store no matter what their skill level is.

What do you offer that sets you apart from the other supply sellers on Etsy?
Our kits are super-adorable and hard to resist!

What is your real life like?
We are super lucky and get to do crafts all the time. We are surrounded by yarns and fabrics all day long and get to craft sometimes at work and during the various community craft nights that we host here in Denver. We are both 30 somethings without kids but with cats. Amber enjoys making music, baking, and cooking Chinese food. Jaime enjoys riding bikes, studying herbs and great coffee.

Where can we find you on the web?
www.fancytiger.com
www.fancytiger.etsy.com

Any offers you want to give blog readers?
15% discount on your order through Friday, October 3rd just leave a note in the message to seller box at checkout and we will send you an invoice with the updated total.

Throw Me A Bone

Name
Doc Martin

Location
Laguna Beach, CA (yes, that same place where those bratty gumsnappers from the MTV show hail from).

Business Name
"Throw Me A Bone" - A Pixel Pet Design Studio

Describe what you sell.
Well, Throw Me A Bone is a weeee little Pixel Pet Design Studio with BIG IDEAS. It is where you will find a husband and wife team creating digital works of art with a unique flair of "Man's Best Friend". We produce modern, original, digital pet portraits, boutique style pet apparel, note cards, and people apparel.

What is your real life like?
Obsessed!....or maybe Possessed!...or maybe just passionate? My wife is always reminding me to "prioritize my obsessions" because there seems to be no limit to the things I want to accomplish on a daily basis. I have been quite fortunate really that I am able to "be creative" for a living. In my day job, I am the art director and all around "Jack of All" for an automotive design firm. I have been with this company for 10 years now and on any given day you will find me doing design for automotive after market accessories like custom wheels, auto gauges, and even watches. In addition I also design mens and womens apparel, hot rod and car culture collectables, auto graphics and custom paint schemes. I am also the companies photographer, web designer, and graphic artist!(whew....I am tired just thinking about all of that.) So needless to say, there is quite a bit of creative energy expended during the day.
So, my obsessions tend to drift away from the technical side of things when I am away from the office. My wife keeps me really grounded and she has been a huge part of my exploring other avenues for my creativity. She is the main inspiration for all of our pet accessories and has been a the driving force for opening up this whole world to me. Because being an artist is such a solitary occupation much of the time, we created "Throw Me A Bone" as a way for my wife and I to combine our talents and work together. It has been fun and we are both pretty happy with where it has taken us so far and the response we have been getting is really positive!

What is your process?
Because there are soooooo many breeds to choose from, the inspiration is never ending. But once I decide on the next breed, I do spend quite a bit of time trying to find just the right image of that particular breed to capture the one characteristic that makes them unique! Once that is accomplished, its pretty much a flurry of activity on the old mac until its complete. My tools of choice are my Canon Rebel camera, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on my mac.

Business Goals and Vision...
Because there are soooooo many breeds to choose from, the inspiration is never ending. But once I decide on the next breed, I do spend quite a bit of time trying to find just the right image of that particular breed to capture the one characteristic that makes them unique! Once that is accomplished, its pretty much a flurry of activity on the old mac until its complete. My tools of choice are my Canon Rebel camera, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on my mac.

What are your goals and vision for your business- short and long term:
Our short term goal would be to finish rounding out our product line with a full selection of pet portraits, note cards, ACEO's, pet apparel, and finally people apparel. Once that is firmly established, we would like to expand our brick and mortar presence to at least 100 stores in the next 36 months.

How and where do you market your business- We currently have been mostly focused on getting everything up and going online. We have our own website that we market our pet apparel through and we have been really pleased with our recent expansion to etsy. But on the whole, I would have to say this is the one area we really look to improve on in the next year. Our word of mouth advertising has been working well during our startup phase the last few months, but we would really like to have a larger presence next year at pet expos, more brick and mortar stores, and create a cohesive ad campaign.

How do you market your business?
We currently have been mostly focused on getting everything up and going online. We have our own website that we market our pet apparel through and we have been really pleased with our recent expansion to etsy. But on the whole, I would have to say this is the one area we really look to improve on in the next year. Our word of mouth advertising has been working well during our startup phase the last few months, but we would really like to have a larger presence next year at pet expos, more brick and mortar stores, and create a cohesive ad campaign.

What inspires you?
First and foremost - great artists inspire me and my work. Obviously a pets character will always kind of give me a direction to go in. Their personality helps me set the mood of the piece with my colors and style. But I gotta say, right now, more then anything I am truly inspired by so many of the new breed of graphic, lowbrow, and urban/street artists. The bombastic color schemes that they use have inspired most of my dog prints. I thought it would be fun to offer a new kind of "pet portrait" that is inspired by so much of this graffiti style artwork.



Am a fan of these places...
www.obeygiant.com
www.gigposters.com
flickr
google

Find seller at...
www.throwmeabonestore.com
www.throwmeabone.etsy.com
www.saintsandsinners.etsy.com
www.barneysbarkery.com

EandHDesigns

Introducing Maryann Lo Duca-Peik of E and H Designs. She lives in San Diego, California and she is new to Etsy. She has some wonderful painted wood items in her shop- would make a unique gift for a new baby or for your own child's room. Check it out....

Business Name
E and H Designs-- I have two daughters named Emma and Hannah-- E and H!

Describe what you sell.
I sell personalized wooden decor; mostly for children's rooms, but I also have some seasonal items. From wall letters personalized to coordinate with your baby's nursery, to A to Z Bookends-- anything can be personalized!!

What is your real life like?
I am a wife and stay at home mama to two beautiful girls. Emma is 6 months old and Hannah is 4 years old. Hannah is in pre-school and dance, so that keeps Emma and I busy during the day. We also have 3 dogs; Woodrow (Giant Schnauzer), Sydney (German Shepard Mix) and Allie (Border Collie Mix).

I love photography and gardening, spending time with my family, and working on my painted creations for my Etsy shop!

What is your process?
Basically, if something strikes me at the craft store or online at the many craft web sites I visit, I gain inspiration. Mostly, the pieces that I choose to paint are made from wood, but I would to venture outside the wooden realm and try canvas. We'll see!

The paints I use are typically Apple Barrel Gloss acrylic paints. I love to use stencils or even decopage techniques. A lot of times though, I simply free-hand it. I painted both my daughters rooms simply by eye. Hannah's room is based off of The Little Mermaid, complete with fish, seaweed, and a ceiling full of stars. Emma's room is a bit more girly. I painted an indoor garden for her with Sweet Peas and Sunflowers climbing a picket fence and birds flying into a painted wooden birdhouse (I sell painted birdhouses in my Etsy shop!).

Business Goals and Vision...
I would LOVE to be able to create beautiful things for children! Just thinking about how my creations could be something that a baby boy or girl could grow up with on their wall makes me smile and so proud!

Long term, I would love to see me business grow; perhaps expand and do some craft shows or even have my goods in some stores located across the country. That would be really exciting!

How do you market your business?
www.indiepublic.com
http://groups.yahoo.com

What inspires you?
My children-- they are my inspiration! It's amazing to see their little personalities grow and become more developed. The colors or fabrics they love, all bring me inspiration! I love looking through fabric stores for new prints or designs to mimic. Just the other day Hannah had a shirt on it with monkey faces on it-- that's my nest design-- letters with monkey faces!

Who is your favorite musical artist? (click to link to a video)
Shooter Jennings "4th of July"

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
The "NOEL" letters just in time for Christmas. They just came out so cute- love them! (pictured to the right)
and my "A to Z" Bookends. I have seen these used with a child's initials, and thought they would be super cute with an A and Z! These can be personalized with a certain color or design too!

Am a fan of these places...

I just love this shop... The items is this store are all so beautifully made! Just gorgeous handmade goods! www.allthenumbers.etsy.com

Fertility Friend... I had some trouble conceiving my second daughter and this website really helped a lot. Talking to other women going through some of the same fertility issues was so therapeutic. www.fertilityfriend.com

www.craigslist.com I love, love the stuff you can find locally on this site! Amazing -- and it changes by the minute!

The following sites are for traveling- I love to try to find bargains out there in the travel world! Especially kid-friendly travel!
www.travelzoo.com
www.tripadvisor.com
www.indiepublic.com This site is great to meet other artists or bloggers interested in promoting their ideas and goods! It has been so helpful in setting up my store sites!

Find seller at...
www.eandhdesigns.etsy.com

BMTyson

Today my choice is BMTyson from Murfreesboro, TN- Brian does wonderful original mixed media collage artworks and paintings. He has many interesting things to say about his art and process, please read on....

What is your "real" life like?
Real life is a total blessing right now. My days are spent working on art (collage, painting, doodling), freelance graphic design work, walking the dog & hanging out with my wife of 3 years. In my free time I love playing golf & tennis, eating out, and checking out real estate.

What is your process?
My process (if you can call it that) is pretty loose & improvisational. I begin a piece by perusing through my ephemera collections or thumbing through magazines looking for colors, textures, words, or parts of whole - something to "float my boat" and get the creative flame ignited. I then prepare my support, and start the collage process - arranging and fitting the "puzzle pieces" together into a pleasing composition and attaching them to the support. Next, I add acrylics in successive layers and then photo collage transfers, all the while working in an intuitive manner until the work "feels" done to me.

What are your goals and vision for your business?
In the short term, I am working towards creating large scale collages in the same style of my small scale ones and offering those for sale. I am also working to expand the online and word of mouth exposure of my Etsy shop and my blog/website. Long term, I want to show my work in galleries and slowly/steadily expand to where I can support my family solely through my art income (what artist doesn't want that). Also, I am passionate about giving to missions/social causes from the income obtained from my art - and would love to see those proceeds increase & expand.

How and where do you market your business?
Currently I market through Etsy, my personal website & blog (www.bmtyson.com), and word of mouth.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, ezines or magazines?
I float around the web, the blogosphere, & the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble fairly often - I love to see all the wonderful art & design out there. But I don't really subscribe to much. I find it's important for me to try and stay isolated to some degree so I can keep my personal vision and aesthetic intact. It's easy for me to get distracted by other's art & success.

What inspires you?
There's a lot that inspires me: minimal/clean design & illustration, old illustrations & diagrams (especially of animals & nature), the colors and shapes of nature, color in general, texture (visual & tactile), and words/typography all inspire me to create. Also, as a musician, music is a huge inspiration for me. I often find myself trying to recreate the emotion and energy that I feel in certain songs visually in my art.

Who is your favorite musical artist?
Honestly, there are way to many to pick a favorite. Some of those in the upper echelon include: U2, Eric Clapton, Coldplay, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Miles Davis, John Coletrain, Mark Knopfler, Santana, & Michael Franks.

Right now I'm really into Jeff Buckley, especially "Last Goodbye"

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
"Bound for Beauty" - Framed Triptych Collage
"Subdivisions" - 6" x 6" Mixed Media Collage

I like to visit:
www.papierscolles.com
www.illustrationfriday.com
http://artbackwash.blogspot.com
http://acollageaday.blogspot.com
Etsy homepage

Find Me:
http://bmtyson.etsy.com
www.bmtyson.com
www.bmtyson.com/blog