Tell us a little about yourself and your creative business
I fell in love with beading about 6 1/2 years ago when we
moved to Cyprus. I was bored and needed
to find a hobby. Browsing the internet I found a beautiful beaded necklace. Then I googled "beaded jewelry" and
discovered many more beautiful items. I've realized that THIS IS IT! That's
actually how I fell in love with beading.
I started out by "inventing my own techniques." Last summer I
was also googling something and accidentally found some videos about leather
tooling. That was exciting, so I had to try it at least once! Once I tried it
I've realized that from now on my artistic soul is split into 2: beading and
leather tooling. I combine them as well making jewelry with tooled leather
elements, gemstones and beads.
I worked for a huge company with a great number of employees and when they saw my jewelry they started requesting custom orders. I also began taking part in fairs and exhibitions, and one day I was advised to try Etsy. I opened my Etsy shop about a year ago. My original website is www.gemsforall.com because it was created long before I've added leather tooling to my skills. At the moment of creating my Etsy shop I was already tooling leather, thus I've named it "GemsPlusLeather."
It's very difficult to say what inspires me. In most
cases new ideas come just before I fall asleep. I call it "twilight zone
of my mind." I start dreaming and then I realize that the dream shows me
my next project. Then I have to wake up and write down the idea, otherwise I
won't remember anything in the morning. I know for sure that I've lost several
ideas if I was too lazy to write them down straight away. I hoped I'll do that
in the morning... Unfortunately in the morning I had just the memories of
"some project I dreamed about" and couldn't remember any details. Sometimes I get inspired by pictures, flower,
and even movies... That's how I've created my rose, Prague belt, peony, Midway Geyser
necklace, calla lily necklace, peacock necklace and many more other items you
can find on my page and in my shop.
For me my greatest achievement is my happy returning clients. When people buy again it means you make good stuff. I always do my best and I want to understand my client better. That's why some of my clients become my friends later on. I always do my best to satisfy my clients because I don't want to disappoint them. I love getting their "wow" comments once they get their parcels :)
Well, until last week I didn't have any difficulties selling online. Last week one client unexpectedly "had changed her mind" because she told her man about the surprise she had ordered for him and he said he doesn't need it. It was the first time I've faced such a problem and it was frustrating; I also had to proceed with refund, order cancellation, renewal of the item, etc. Etsy order cancellation and refund procedure is not very clear but I've managed. I wish you'd never face such situation but if you ever would you may ask me; now I know how to handle it.
The biggest problem selling on Etsy is visibility. There are billions of listings and if you don't advertise yourself there's a very small chance to be found by the buyers. Thus advertise, share, invite, create coupon codes, join teams and promote your shop wherever and whenever you can! Create clear and correct keywords for your listings and provide your listings with attractive pictures. I wish you good luck!
Thank you Anna for sharing your interesting story with
us!
Well that wraps
up another edition of Artist Spotlight.
We try and run this column every Monday and we’re always looking for
artists to spotlight. So if you are
interested or know someone that we would enjoy reading about please pass on the
information.
Thanks for
stopping by,
Until next time…
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