Great Canadian Artists - FiveForty

I'm starting a series of posts featuring my favorite Canadian Etsy Artists! The world deserves to know about the amazing talent in the True North.

I'm so happy to showcase the works of fiveforty, who lives and works in Terrace Bay, Ontario. Her etsy shop is full of her handwoven creations and gemstone jewels that are worth taking a look at. Her marvelous use of colour, texture and recycled materials truly make her one of a kind.

I posed a few questions to fiveforty, so we could get to know her a little bit better.

1. Tell us a little bit about who you are and your life up to this point in time.

Who am I? Good question, I ask myself that same question all of the time. I live on the north shore of Lake Superior with my husband, my mom, and our 3 dogs and a cat. I am 50, halfway through my life.I majored in weaving (fibres & fabrics) in college, minored in painting and photography. I was a stay at home mom, my two children are now grown and live away.This second half of my life is about me and my creativity. It is time to follow my heart and my dreams.

2. Outside of your creative life, what else are you up to?

At the moment my creative life is my life! I am trying to build a business so most of the hours in my days are devoted to it.I love cooking, I am a foodie, I try my best to follow the philosophy of slow food.

3. What made you first want to create art?

My dad studied at the Ontario College of Art. He always encouraged us to be creative.

4. What do you offer in your Etsy shop?

I am selling one of a kind, handwoven rag rugs, not your usual rag rug, mine are woven with recycled used textile for both warp and weft. Soft and cushy felted wool, sturdy denim or corduroy. I also make and sell one of a kind beaded beach pebble and gemstone jewelry. I love working with Lake Superior beach pebbles, but also love working with semi precious gemstones, fresh water pearls, and of course colour. I have some felted wool cuff bracelets, recycled from my weaving supplies, I think they are a fun and creative way to use my bits and pieces.I have recently started playing with needle felting, I am very much enjoying it. I will be working some needle felted pieces into my shop.

5. Without giving away any of your trade secrets, what is your creative process?

Colour is a huge part of my creative process. I will talk about my rug weaving for example. I order my used textile (say, wool sweaters) by the 75 lb. bale. My supplier ships it to me by the Greyhound. I have no choice in colour of sweaters, I get what I get. Probably about half of the sweaters will be feltable wool, the other half I have to figure out what to do with, I have bags of them.Once I have the sweaters processed, I lay them out across my living room floor and see what colours speak to me! The next task is the cutting, there are a lot of hours work in the prep for each rug. Loom prep comes next, deciding if the colours really do work with one another, then the weaving. I have to be happy in my heart before a rug is finished.

6. Where do you create?

My loom is in my daughter’s bedroom, sharing space with her things. I do call it MY Loom Room now though. I used to weave in our living room when I first started weaving these rugs, but the dust throughout our living space was terrible.Everything else I create is done in the living room or at the dining room table. I can only imagine how wonderful l it must be to have studio space.

7. If you listen to music while you make your creations, what is the soundtrack?

I love music and my play list is ever changing. Here is a sampling of what I listen to every day. Patty Griffen, Regina Spektor, Ray LaMontagne, The Raconteurs, Neil Young, Mark Berube, Feist, Kristen Hersch, Eddie Vedder, Wilco, Cat Power, Yeah, Yeah,Yeahs, U2, Martha Wainwright & Snow Patrol…….on and on it goes!

8. What are your Crafting Resolutions for 2008?

Hmmm craft resolutions for 2008!! I actually have a couple of them. I bought a 75 lb. bale of men’s shirts to try something, an experiment of sorts. At the moment I don’t want to mention what it is, as it is some thing though labour intensive is something I have never seen anywhere.I would also like to incorporate some smaller priced items in my shop this year, so I will be working on that. Trivets, needle felting……oh and I need to work on my writing skills!!

9. How do you promote your Etsy shop?

I use my blog, business cards, Facebook, and family and friends to promote my Etsy shop.

10. What is your most favorite handmade item that you have made?

The favourite item I have made is a huge tapestry blanket I wove on a large frame in college. I am proud that I actually finished it. It does however now live in a trunk in our basement.

11. What is your most favorite handmade item that someone else has made?

My favourite item made by some one else, is a mask I bought in Brazil. I am in awe of the workmanship, skill and resourcefulness of the artisan. It is a gorgeous piece!

12. What is your favorite purchase from Etsy?

My favourite Etsy purchase, I love each and every one I have bought. They are also different, and unique each piece is a favourite!!

13. What was your best Etsy “moment”?

My best Etsy moment just happened recently! I love building treasuries on Etsy! I of course am very pleased when my treasuries make the front page. My biggest hope in my treasuries is that the artisans in the collection sell their work because of the treasury. A couple of weeks ago, one of my collections made the front page, and six pieces of work from the collection sold, and some had other sales they said were a result of the list.One of these very talented artisans is The Felted Garden. She contacted me to say she wanted to thank me by giving me a scarf. Her shop has been one of my favourites since joining Etsy. I admire her work. I tried a few years ago making felted wool scarves myself, and was not very successful. I appreciate her talent and skill. We messaged back and forth and finally came to an agreement, we traded, I sent her a rug and she sent me a very beautiful scarf.

14. Top 5 list – list your top 5 favorite movies, books, bands, and foods.

I don’t have a top 5 list of anything. I like such a huge variety of all things. I do not like fishy fish, organ meats, sea food and cilantro. I actually hate cilantro, I hate the taste of it. I love coriander the mature plant though.

15. What advice would you like to give to others on Etsy?

Follow your heart and have patience!!

16. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Ha!! In ten years I will be 60. I do not want to think of that at the moment. I hope I am settled, in a comfortable place, following my heart…creating!!

17. If you could describe yourself in 5 words, what would they be?

Passionate, creative, introverted, quirky, reliable.

Wonderful words from a wonderful artist. You can visit fiveforty at her etsy shop http://fiveforty.etsy.com/ Thanks, five!!!!

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Adventures in Advertising (and Marketing) - Part Three - TAKING PHOTOS!

You might have the most awesome handmade items in your shop, but unless people can SEE how gorgeous they are, you won't sell them. Photos are the key to selling items over the internet, whether that be on Etsy, ebay, lov.li or any of the other amazing sites out there.

You only need three things to take great photos of your products. Seriously.

1. A relatively okay digital camera - I use a Kodak EasyShare C653

2. Basic photo editing software - where you can crop, adjust the size of your image, brightness and contrast

3. A source of bright light, preferably sunlight


Having a basic knowledge of composition also helps a little, but if you are an avid reader of fashion magazines, you'll have it too.

Make sure your item is clean, pristine and ready for it's 15 minutes of fame! There is nothing worse than a good picture of a dirty item! I've taken photos of items and then realized once I had edited it that there is wire sticking out, or dust on a gemstone.

Take your item and set it up in a location that is brightly lit, but not necessarily in direct sunlight. I usually use a window sill. I set the item up on a pillow or a book or a piece of paper that has some texture on it and take several shots, from different angles. The light is the most important thing, next to your item!

Then upload your photos onto your hard drive and open up your photo editing software. I'm a Photoshop girl myself, but all you really need in an editing program is the ability to adjust brightness, contrast, and size. Open up your photos.

Create a "new" document, and make sure it is about 20% of your original photo. Go back to the photo of your item, and select a square selection of that photo, including your item. Drag the selection to your new document - it should be much closer and detailed than your original. Adjust the contrast and brightness and save this new photo! I find that saving photos with a description of the item helps me to find them for easier uploading, especially if I'm taking a whole batch of pictures. (i.e. beach glass pendant1.jpg)

Etsy requires that photos be less than 1000 pixels x 1000 pixels. I usually make my photos 400 x 400, it takes less time to upload to Etsy or other sites, and the quality is still great.

Photos are your tools to generate traffic to your site and to generate sales! Experiment a little, and it will pay off in the long run!!!

xoxoox muffin

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500 Hearts and Counting...

Etsy has a lovely system by which its members can show their love to their favourite shops and/or items by "hearting"! Today, I reached 500! Thanks so much for the love, etsy!

(I know it's a silly, superficial, high school thing... but every girl wants to be loved!)

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Adventures in Advertising (and Marketing) - Part Two - YOUR SHOP!

Okay, so you already know what you want to sell, and you've decided on a shop name and a logo... you might even have some great promo materials and a kickass business card! Now, how do you set up your etsy shop?

Think seriously about the ambiance that you will like your shop to have. Think about your target buyer group and look at other shops (on etsy and in real life) that have the "feeling" that you would like your shop to have. Then create a banner that reflects that. Your banner is the first thing that your buyers see, and first impressions can mean a lot! I know that I'm really turned off by a banner that is juvenile (unless it is for a kids' shop, in which case, juvenile is GREAT!) or poorly done. There are lots of people on etsy who do banner and avatar design, but it really isn't hard to do it yourself if you have a good graphics program.

The etsy labs have a great tutorial on bannermaking here:

http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/07/skill-share-making-banner.html

They use Adobe Photoshop as their editing software, but any other good basic graphics program will work. Here is a list of freeware ones - I can't vouch for any of them though because I'm a Photoshop girl too!

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelbasedwin/tp/freephotoedw.htm

I actually fiddled around with several banners when I first started. The first one had my MuffinTop muffin logo on it, with pink and brown stripes. I liked it, but as time went on, I felt that it wasn't reflective of my style anymore. So, it evolved into the current one I have now. I quite love it (for now) and feel that it gives buyers some insight into what I offer. (It's also lovely that it is my favourite colour!) I have kept my avatar, because it is what people in the forums identify me with - plus it ties together all of my promo materials as well. I also try to take photos that complement both my banner and my avatar - keeping it all coordinated!!!!

It's tricky, creating an identity for your shop! It's hard to change it once you start promoting and getting traffic into your store!

Here are some etsy sellers who I think have done a really good job at creating an identity for themselves:

http://BizzieLizzie.etsy.com - her banner and avatar are similarly coloured, and it's clear what she is offering! (it doesn't hurt that her bags are so awesome!)

http://TiffanyTeske.etsy.com - her banner is a complete reflection of her art and her avatar is her pretty face! A lovely photo of yourself is a great avatar - she does it in a really artistic way, which suits her shop.

http://LisasLovlies.etsy.com - Lisa uses a wonderfully sharp graphic as her banner, and a picture of one of her bestselling items as her avatar. The colour of the banner also reflects colours in her avatar - and it's sharp, crisp quality speaks to the jewelry that she sells.

http://mimosa.etsy.com - Sigh! one of the lovliest shops on etsy... Sandra's banner is reminiscent of the colours in her awesome forged items... and her avatar has her sweet little face. Like Tiffany's, the shot is artsy and captures her personality. It's great that her banner also declares that she has flat rate shipping - a great draw for buyers.

NEXT TIME: Taking great photos! (not that I'm any mastermind, but I've been told I take a nice picture!)

xoxoox muffin

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