Name: Blythe King

Shop Name: blytheking

Blog/Website: www.blytheking.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/blytheking

Location: Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Bio: I am a quiet middle child with cold hands and curly hair. I come from Pittsburgh, but currently live above an old hardware store in a small bayou town in south Louisiana, where I’ve collected piles and piles of vintage fabric. I live with my boyfriend, George, and my cat, Treetop Jones.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
Most guys I know carry around their iPhone, iPod, MacBook, Nintendo DS, sketchbook, etc. I design and make cases to keep these gadgets and notebooks protected and handy. I use all vintage materials, so a lot of my products come in classic masculine fabrics like houndstooth, plaids, and tweeds. I also have lots of more gender-neutral designs, like the Columbo Nintendo DS Case, Evander iSockit, and the Mailman iSockit, just to name a few.

Where do you sell your stuff?
I only sell online right now.

How long have you been in business?
Three years. I invented the iSockit in 2005, sold the first run of 100 or so on eBay, then launched the website that same year. I opened my Etsy store in May 2008.

How did you get started?
One day, three years ago, I came home from an estate sale with five boxes of old fabric. This was also around the same time I brought home a shiny new iBook, which needed to be protected from scuffs and scratches. So I designed the iSockit as a protective, unassuming laptop sleeve. That was my first handmade product that I sold. So then I started to teach myself more about sewing. I played around making various things, like pillows and toys for my cat. But then I focused on learning how to make clothes. I worked diligently for months, and got to the point where I felt fairly competent on the sewing machine. I loved working from 1940′s dress patterns. I actually use pockets on my cases that are very similar to those found in 1940′s dress patterns. I began giving lots of hand-sewn gifts, like voodoo dolls and baby blankets. I guess I received enough encouragement to finally open my Etsy store this year. I also, by this time, had amassed quite a large collection of vintage fabric.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
I post pictures to Flickr groups, and tell my friends to tell their friends to tell their friends.

What’s your creative process?
There are a lot of accidents and luck involved in my creative process. I have to say, I lucked out with my iSockit design. It worked from the start, both functionally and aesthetically. Most of my specialty handmade products start with the iSockit design as a base, which I then may build upon, like adding a button strap closure here, or an exterior pocket there. Listening to Philip Glass helps too.

What do you want people to know about your work?
My items are unique in their functionality, their appearance, and the materials used. Not only do my iSockits cushion and protect your laptop, they also work nicely as lap rests which absorb some of the heat from your computer. Visually, my handmade items all share a certain imperfect aesthetic that I like to think of as my signature style. Aside from the padding used to make iSockits, no new materials are purchased in the making of my products. Everything is recycled. I only use vintage materials, even the thread and buttons. Two more things: I don’t like to use Velcro or zippers on my products, and I’m a speedy shipper!

Name: Rebekah Jeannine

Shop Name: The Pink Samurai

Blog/Website: rebekahjeannine.wordpress.com

Location: Salisbury, MD

Bio: Born and raised in central Texas and currently living on the Eastern shore of Maryland. I grew up in a very creative environment and my mother always encouraged my ideas. She taught me how to sew and I was always making something at home. I didn’t start taking any serious art classes until I moved to Maryland. I majored in Business at my local community college after high school with the thought of open a boutique, but took a few years off and worked full time until just last year. I’m going back to school for a BFA in Graphic Design and I’m loving it.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
My main line is comic book buttons “rescued” from old comic books that would otherwise have been forgotten. These buttons are given a new life. Also, my Leet Speak cross stitches adorn cubicles all over the country.

Where do you sell your stuff?
Etsy is my main outlet, but I also try to get to as many comic conventions I can and set up shop there. It’s fun to actually meet the people buying the product.

How long have you been in business?
About 2 ½ years.

How did you get started?
I was originally selling pixels of Mario characters and purses, but the market was so flooded with both and I really wanted to be more original with my product. So I was looking through my vast stash of crappy comics and decided to go that route.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
I try to blog a lot, I’m really happy with my new home at WordPress and I go on the Etsy forums every day. I find that being a part of the community there keeps my name in the mix and I have more sales. I’m just now keeping up with Flickr and can’t wait to see the results of that. Twitter is really fun too.

What’s your creative process?
I just sit down with some good music playing and a pile of books. I try to find phrases that are totally ridiculous when taken out of context. And facial expressions that are equally as silly. When working with comics from the 80s and 90s, it’s really easy to find some real gems.

What do you want people to know about your work?
I put a lot of thought into the products I make. The composition and content are taken very seriously in each piece I make, whether its buttons, cross-stitches or prints…even though they are really geeky.

Name: Keith K.

Shop Name: Faux Sure

Blog/Website: http://fauxsure.etsy.com

Location: Brooklyn, NY

A little bit about Keith: Keith studied printmaking while completing a BFA in art education and printmaking at Syracuse University. In addition to printing custom designs under the Faux Sure label, he can be heard performing around Brooklyn and Manhattan as half of dj/production duo Ladycreme. Keith works in non-profit arts education as his day job, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with his partner Neil.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
My t shirts are designed mostly for guys, although women buy them too. Most guys can never have too many t shirts…

Where do you sell your stuff?
My Etsy site is http://fauxsure.etsy.com and I also have a profile on rumplo.com, a t shirt aggregator that links to my Etsy site.

How long have you been in business?
I’ve been printing on t shirts for about six years, but only have been selling through Etsy for the past three months. Before then, I had shirts in a Manhattan boutique, sold at craft fairs and did custom printing for friends and friends-of-friends.

How did you get started?
I’ve been interested in screenprinting for many years, and was looking for a way to continue making prints after I finished college and moved to NY. Since having access to presses and other equipment was out of the question, I became interested in ways I could print at home. I made a few shirts as a trial run, and people commented that they liked them and asked where I got them. I heard about Etsy last winter from a friend who regularly purchases through the site and began putting my ideas together to launch my store. For the most part, I print and sell stuff because I genuinely enjoy doing it and love the idea that people all over the world are wearing/ using items printed with my work.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
Mostly through word of mouth, but I am trying to increase my online presence. Right now, I have between 5 and 10 orders a week, which is great. Since it takes time to produce each piece, I’m not really looking to increase my output dramatically. (I can’t handle much more.) My day job and other creative projects keep me very busy.

What’s your creative process?
I keep a small notebook, and write down/sketch ideas whenever they come to me. Living in NY is inspiring, and I never know when something will strike me as interesting or funny. Sometimes, I have a very clear idea of a design before I physically start working on it, and other designs start off more vaguely and come together during the design process. I like to draw on translucent vellum so I can play with layout using a lightbox, then scan finished elements into my computer to size and clean up. It’s important to me that my designs retain a handmade quality, so I try to minimize the amount of work done in Photoshop/ Illustrator, and try to make some of my line work intentionally sloppy. I also try to design images that will look good when printed in a number of different colors since buyers will be choosing. I know a design is finished when I can’t wait to send it to the company that fabricates my screens so I can test print and wear the new design. If I’m not really excited to wear it, it doesn’t end up as a finished design.

What’s unique about your items or what do you want people to know about your work?
Each piece is custom printed to order for the buyer. You get to choose the color, size, and color of ink. No two pieces will be exactly alike, and only a limited number of each design will be printed.

Name: Michele Laird

Shop Names: Little Shop of Delights
Highland Books

Blog/Website: No personal blog as yet but working on it. I am a member of McEtsy team.

Location: Scotland

A little bit about Michele: I live and work in the far north of Scotland amongst beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife. My house is set amongst hills and trees and I have no near neighbours, just wonderful space and solitude. I share my life with a wonderful and patient husband , 2 horses and all the wild creatures around me. Who could fail to be inspired when blessed like me? I have many passions, probably because I am an Aries; I have more than one side to my personality. On one side I am technically minded and have worked as an industrial radiographer and been a physics tutor, on another side I love to create. My passions are making soap and handbinding books.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
I have soaps that are appealing to men, and some of the bath and body products are equally good for the guys as well as girls. I’m planning some more male oriented items too.

Where do you sell your stuff?
I sell on Etsy only right now, I used to do craft fairs but in my neck of the lonely woods they are few and far between .:)

How long have you been in business?
I’ve been in business on Etsy since June 2008

How did you get started?
Hmm that could be a long story! How did I get started making soap? Well like many others around the world I had gradually become concerned about the amount of chemicals to be found in commercial products and knew there had to be a better way. I know that my Great-Grandmother made soap for the family so I decided to learn how to do it for myself. I’m glad that I did because I hadn’t realized just how much better handmade soap is, both in a physical sense due to the ingredients that are used and more importantly the ones that are NOT, and also an aesthetic sense in that handmade soap is such a pleasure to use. I will never use commercial soaps again.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
I’m fairly new on Etsy so I’m still finding my way and getting the word out. But already a few other like-minded Scots have formed an Etsy team, we are team McEtsy

What’s your creative process?
Ahh…the creative process! In a word, possibly daydreaming ! Where I live is inspiration too.

What’s unique about your items?
I’m sure my work is not truly unique; there are many people making wonderful soaps now and also handmade books and journals. The only thing unique about my work is me. For instance I work out my own soap recipes, so in a way they are unique, and I am often daydreaming about another way to bind or cover a book.

Anything else you’d like us to know?
I try to live as green a way as possible and hope to make the least impact on the environment that I can.

                        (All links can be found in the right column)
                            1. Archdelineator 2. Birchbark Soap 3. Bloodle 4. ElanKnits 5. Interrupt
                            6. LoopyBoopy 7. Nestahome 8. Paradise Hill Designs 9. Sushipot
                            10. TimberPS 11. Tree Skin Structures 12. Vagabond Jewelry

Shop Name: johnwgolden

Blog/Website: http://johnwgolden.etsy.com

Location: North Carolina

A little bit about John:
Been selling my art since I was 11-years old (30 years). Work mostly digitally.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
I sell illustrations of robots, rayguns, radios, and record players as well as other things that don’t start with “R”. I find myself often describing my stuff to guys as art your wife, girlfriend, or partner will let you hang at home.

Where do you sell your stuff?
I sell my prints, rings and pendants on Etsy, as well as my own site, in my brick and mortar gallery, and I have some work in Art.com’s mail order catalog and their site, and in John Lewis stores in the UK. This fall I should have work in two major home decor catalogs.

How long have you been in business?
30 years

How did you get started?
My mother was an artist, and helped me make some linoleum block prints when I was 11-years old.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
I list frequently on Etsy, and I advertise on a few sites.

What’s your creative process?
I spent so many years having to be creative on demand, that I really just enjoy letting the ideas come to me without having to force anything. I will often let an idea stew for months before I actually act on it. I get influenced by lots of things I see, and eventually a combination of influences will gel into an idea.

What do you want people to know about your work?
I want my work to connect with people and have special meaning for them. It is valuable to me because it has meaning for others, and valuable to them because of that meaning. I want as many people as possible to be able to afford my work without having to scrimp and save and go without.

Anything else you’d like us to know?
I really appreciate the work you and others do to help artists like myself get their work into the hands of those who appreciate it.

Names:  Gretchen & Michael Wooff

Shop Name: Salmon Street Studio

Blog/Website: http://salmonstreetstudio.com

Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

A little bit about the Wooffs:
We are a husband and wife team that designs and hand screen prints t-shirts, onesies and other apparel for the entire family.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
We sell lots of men’s t-shirts and we also carry hoodies and something a bit unusual: hand silkscreened boxer briefs!

Where do you sell your stuff?
We sell on our web site (http://salmonstreetstudio.com), on Etsy (http://salmonstreetstudio.etsy.com), on Dawanda, Lov.li, MintD, to a few wholesale accounts and locally at craft shows and street fairs.

How long have you been in business?
Since January of 2007

How did you get started?
Michael made a Motorhead t-shirt in grade 7 and had always wanted to do screen printing professionally (and using properly purchased images) and I had been in retail management and run an online business before, so it fit together nicely.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
Friends, family, blog ads, craft shows, the forums on Etsy, business cards, email signature, press releases, renewing items on Etsy frequently and wearing our shirts wherever we go are the main ways…

What’s your creative process?
We both design. Michael enjoys printing more than I do, so he does most of that. We usually think of weird ideas but people seem to like the cute ones more, so we are leaning in that direction (but it is cool to be able to make anything you want really, even if it is just for yourself).

Once we chose/create the design we are ready to coat the screen and expose it. Gretchen specializes in ink color. She just gets a certain color combo in her head and *knows* when it is right!

What do you want people to know about your work?
There are *many* great screen printers around the world (a fave is http://circularaccessories.etsy.com). Our focus is on quality prints on premium shirts and excellent customer service. We really appreciate how lucky we are to be able to do this!

Anything else you’d like us to know?
Our daughter Zoe has a book review blog (that she rarely updates) but you may not believe she is only 8 when you read it: http://mementomoributreadthesebooksfirst.blogspot.com

Name: Suzanna Scott

Shop Name: Sushipot

Blog/Website:
http://www.sushipot.etsy.com
http://www.sushipotparts.etsy.com

Location: Manhattan, Kansas, USA

A little bit about Suzanna:
My name is Suzanna Scott. I’m a 33 year old artist currently living and working from my studio in Manhattan, Kansas. I have a Bachelors degree in art with an emphasis in sculpture. I have been married for eight years to a very patient guy named Patrick who is the brains behind the business side of Sushipot. My darling daughter Elizabeth is the joy of our lives and loves to help with the Etsy shop!

My inspirations come from all things old, chipped, cracked, worn, dusty, used, found, buried, designed, loved, pieced, intricate, aged and transfigured.

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
My one inch buttons come either as pinbacks or magnets and are quite popular with the guys especially the “mechanics” and “dictionary” sets. Guys also love my “doll house” series with anatomical imagery.

Where do you sell your stuff?
Etsy and a few select boutiques.

How long have you been in business?
Sushipot is about 3 years old although I’ve been working as an artist for 11 years now.

How did you get started?
The desire to work from home after my daughter was born led me to search the internet for venues to sell my work online and I came across Etsy. The rest is history!

How do you get the word out about your shop?
Word of mouth. Nothing beats loyal customers telling all their friends about you!

What’s your creative process?
When creating small scale assemblage and collage I tend to build every piece as a “patchwork” with each individual component influencing the next. My work is a blend of old and new, East and West, youth and age and humor and irony. I really love creating visual “double-takes”!

What do you want people to know about your work?
Every “art object” I create uses original ephemera (no copies) and unique found objects. I spend a lot of time scavenging for old, damaged books, ephemera and interesting junk in thrift shops, antique stores and estate sales. My customers span the globe, in fact I have shipped work to six of the seven continents–I doubt I’ll be shipping to Antarctica anytime soon! I am constantly amazed by the interest my work has generated in other cultures–I was recently interviewed by a popular Chinese fashion magazine.

Anything else you’d like us to know?
I drink A LOT of coffee. More than I would care to admit!

Shop Name: timberps

Blog/Website: http://timberpreservationsociety.com

Location: California

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
Unique art t-shirts.

Where do you sell your stuff?
Primarily on timberps.etsy.com

How long have you been in business?
Since June 2006.

How did you get started?
I had been screenprinting for 8 years and made myself some t-shirts. People liked them, so I made more.

How do you get the word out about your shop?
I rely really heavily on word of mouth.

What’s your creative process?
I draw a lot… a lot. Anytime an idea pops into my head that’s how I initially get it out. Through pages and pages of sketches, I get a few shirt design ideas and develop them further.

I just don’t see anything else out there like it.

What do you want people to know about your work?