Today’s featured Etsy shop is livefunky, a shop featuring original abstract act. Most of her paintings are in acrylic, but she also works with ink, watercolor, and collage.
What inspires you in your work?
Inspiration is such a curiously wonderful thing. I marvel at the power and mystique of it as I do the universe, and my questions about both go on and on. Are these ideas mine or am I drawing from a collective pool? Where is the source? What is out there or right here that we can’t see?
My process is all about blindfolding my brain and allowing intuition to guide me. I layer colors and arrange forms making one choice after another. The feeling of “no, do THIS” is what is so fascinating to me. What in me says “go green over red”, and why? It’s a gut reaction every step of the way until another feeling says “stop now”, and I know I am finished.
I am so comfortable with the idea that my paintings can be just a pretty arrangement of colors that would look good in someone’s living room. That is beyond fine with me. They can be anything anyone wants them to be – I set my work free to experience diverse interpretations. To me, they will always be my record of connecting to the universe in a particular way at each stage of my life.
What other jobs have you worked?
My high school art teacher helped get me my first real job picture framing, and I stuck with that trade for about ten years, on and off.
I was a pre-school teacher’s assistant for a while for 3 and 4 year olds. That was a lot of fun, but I wasn’t really cut out for it. I had favorites and couldn’t hide it.
I worked for a florist in NH watering and caring for plants at motels in Hampton Beach, businesses throughout Seacoast NH, and even private clubs and homes in the ritzy North Hampton area. I was in a mansion filling my watering can in this lady’s kitchen when she said to her visitors in a conversation, “That’s why I think it’s a sin to be poor..” without any concern for me overhearing it. I was just part of a huge community of people that came in and out of her estate called “the help”. I never went back to that house. It just worked out that she had canceled her service at the same time, otherwise I would have lost my job over it. Divine intervention, I thank you. 
I worked for a great fabric store that got all vintage and rare finds fabrics. I loved that job, and when I worked in the warehouse, I could fit a lobster roll and a few good waves at the beach in during my hour long lunch break.
I worked in a comedy club as a cocktail waitress. You can only imagine… I quit when I realized I had been smacked in the ass by a bar towel one too many times. It was still worth experiencing, the other girls were a blast, and it was great to laugh and work at the same time.
I’ve taught art lessons to adults and kids, and I am definitely better working with kids. I am a kid myself, so they understand me and vice versa.
My last job was working for the art and craft chain store, Michael’s, as the frame shop manager. It was a time when everything seemed to fit as far as the real life plan. Benefits, steady pay, a sure thing as long as you show up. I was at home in a frame shop, and I got discounts on art supplies, so it made sense. But the settled feeling I had there began to scare me. It was now or never to go for an art career and I could feel myself settling into another path for life that I didn’t want. I started thinking about going to grad school for art, then it all became clear that I just wanted to do it NOW, and that was exactly what I needed to do. I got the store through the holidays and quit January first in 2005. With my husbands support, I was able to dive into making and selling art full time, and I feel blessed to be living my dream. Pinch me, please.
What advice would you give someone thinking of starting a craft business?
1. Love what you do and stick with it. Create exactly what you enjoy creating in your own, unique style and voice. Copying another style because you think it will sell is a recipe for disaster. The most successful artists and crafters “make it” by being 100% themselves every step of the way.
2. Believe in yourself. Hold your head high, shake hands with confidence and look people in the eye. If you don’t believe in your products, who else will? Learn to get over shyness (this is a hard one for me) to be a good communicator about what you do. It’s your business, you need to speak it’s language comfortably.
3. Research pricing and figure out a system for yourself. Find out where you belong in the market and set your prices with the expectation that they will only go up.
4. Don’t take on more than you can handle. If you stretch yourself too thin, you can end up sending a poor message to your buyers. A commission that takes twice as long as it should, a package that never got shipped, spaced out at a show because of lack of sleep. Manage your time to fit in what you want to be doing, and learn to say no to the things that can be left out. Honesty is the best policy, and others will respect that your time has value and is limited.
5. Make connections. Reach out to the community you are a part of, if it’s painters, or potters, or knitters, and make friends. Be available if someone comes to you with a question. Be giving of what you know rather than hoarding it as a trade secret. The secrets are all out there already, and there is so much to gain from giving.
6. Get the word out! Have business cards with you at all times, and ship them with anything you sell. Be active in art and craft websites, and advertise in local shops and stores that sell what you make.
7. Don’t give up. It takes a while to get going, and it’s an up and down adventure. If sales aren’t great at the moment, focus on advertising and production. Keep yourself forward moving all the time, so that no little bump can bring you down.
8. Have fun. If it isn’t fun anymore, take a break. Do something else to refresh your spirit. The paperwork part of this business can be groaned about as a job, but once you start doing that about the creative element, something isn’t right. Maybe you are overworking yourself. Or maybe you picked something that isn’t exactly what you’d like most to be doing. Make it fun again.
9. Presentation is everything. At shows, have a well organized booth, designed for a good flow of traffic, with prices clearly labeled. If something doesn’t have a price, people will assume it’s out of their range and not ask. When selling online, photographs can make or break a sale, and a clear, well written description is necessary because, once again, most people won’t ask if they have a question. Anticipate every question and answer it in your description.
10. To end on an optimistic note, if your business gets bigger than you, don’t fear – consider hiring an apprentice to help you. There is a young person in your community that would be thrilled to have a part time job helping you out by running errands, packaging, or other odds and ends of things that need to get done. Even just one day a week would be a relief. I look forward to that day…
It’s impossible to show the scope of livefunky’s work in only two images, so come to her shop at http://livefunky.etsy.com and check it out for yourself!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love livefunky too! She gave some good advice as well. Good interview.
Terrific advice. Thanks!