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| Fun Funky Metal Flower Ring Up Cycled |
To get to know Annette and Netteblo I asked her a few questions about herself and her shop.
Check out what she has to say:
Tell us a little about yourself and what you sell.
I received my degree in Fine Art in 1997 with an inter-area focus in ceramics and sculpture. I worked mainly in ceramics from 1993 until 2005. At that time, I made a life changing move from the Gulf Cost of Mississippi to southwest Florida. I had lived 37 years in Mississippi before moving. All of my ceramic studio equipment and materials were put into a storage building on my property where I reside in Florida and it is still in that storage today. I found that I did not have enough space to once again make a ceramic studio. As most artists know, you cannot be a creative type and sit by doing nothing creative at all.
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| Earrings OOAK Raku and Bead Earrings |
Why did you decide to work with upcycled/recycled/repurposed materials?
My husband and I also own our own business of Mold Inspection and Remediation Contracting, so that ate up a lot of my time, however, once I got settled into all of that, I started to look at ways I could create, utilizing the small amount of space I did have, and the even smaller amounts of time. We are blessed with a plethora of consignment, thrift and second hand stores as well as estate sales. There are almost 20 within a 1 mile radius of our home and they are filled with very collectible, valuable and sought after items! I found myself perusing these often, purchasing a little something each time. Eventually, I decided I would take this vintage jewelry, deconstruct the pieces and reconstruct them in a very modern approach. This began my journey with upcycling jewelry. Next to our office is an upholstery shop that also sells designer fabrics. They were throwing sample books in the garbage bin one day and I could barely handle them throwing away some of those beautiful fabrics. They were small square or rectangular samples...I thought and thought about what I could utilize these fabrics for so that they wouldn't end up in a land fill (being eco-conscious). Then it came to me...I could make deconstructed looking purses and bags out of them...thus, the beginning of my line of bags. I have some other ideas for these sample fabrics as well and hope to get started on those soon.
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| The Amy bag a Recycled Upholstery Fabric Clutch |
What inspires you to create/sell what you do?
My "Erla" line was the concept I came up with for all of my pieces that I recycled, upcycled or repurposed, although some of my jewelry is made from new materials. "Erla" was taken from my two grand daughters names...Ella Reine and Laurel Ava...the four initials from their names makes up the name "Erla". They and my daughter, Amy Nicole, are very inspiring to me.
I tend to create what I enjoy creating, not what the market warrants and sometimes, because of this I am not a mainstream seller, but I am still doing what I enjoy doing and that is what matters the most to me, after all!
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| Silver Cuff Bracelet with Vintage Embelishments |
What is your favorite thing about running your Etsy shop?
I joined Etsy as a shopper when it first came on the horizon. I opened shop to sell in 2009 with just a few items. I enjoy the Etsy site, firstly because of its ease of use...secondly because it is very inexpensive to list and sell, although promoting is more expensive
Since i have joined Etsy has more than doubled it's membership and it's presence on the internet world has grown tremendously.
I just received my first West Elm catalog for 2011 and there were several Etsy members' artwork in the catalog. That says multitudes about the awareness of Etsy as a place to find socially conscious, homemade crafters' work. I am proud to be part of that and hope to grow right along with Etsy as it does!!!
See all of Annette's work in her Etsy Shop.
See you next week,
Valerie
Additions
Really lovely items and I do agrre that, in the end, we must create also for our own happiness and follow our hearts (although, yes, a eye to "the market" may be necessary from time to time :P)!
ReplyDeleteMany may not realize that Annette was one of our very first Upcyclers! I just want to thank her for her leap of faith when she joined our team and her belief that we were onto something amazing...Here we are over 350 members later! We're so glad you Love 2 Upcycle, "Nettie"!
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