Internet Artisan Interview - Locust Street

Kristy is a newbie to Etsy and selling online, and she has some terrific pieces. Her handmade journals are so very unique, I just don’t understand why she’s so surprised with all her sales! You need to go by her blog and say hello, too. She is currently donating some of the sales to missionary friends in Guatemala. Just write their name, "The Amands” in the buyer’s notes section, when you purchase one of her journals before January 1st, and she will give 40% of the sale to their cause. What a great idea, eh?

• What's the name of your business/shop?

Locust Street

• Do you have a registered domain name and/or a blog?

Locustst.etsy.com
Locust-street.blogspot.com
Facebook—Locust Street

• What type of handmade products do you sell?

Right now I am making handmade journals. The covers are paper grocery bags that I doodle on or collage on, ink, then cover with packing tape. The insides are recycled paper… paper that’s plain, stamped, inked, doodled on, old envelopes, postcards, random papers, maps, pictures etc all hand cut and bound with metal wire. They’re smaller in size… about the size of an old postcard. 5 1/2"x 4"

I am also working on some Christmas Banners. As soon as I finish my next batch of journals I will be working on the banners more.

• Show us a piece you recently finished

I tend to work in batches. I am knee deep in creating 30 more mixed art journals at the moment. The very last things I’ve finished are these love-note-pads found on my etsy site. [she sold this one, but Etsy shows some similar items

• What are you working on right now? Any sketches?

Here is one the banners… I’m still working on the prototype. There are some MAJOR changes that I’ll be doing… but this is the relative idea..

• If you have a website or blog, what do you use for advertising? What do your avatars look like?

I haven’t advertised much yet. I am waiting to build up more stock. I will be pushing my facebook fan site more, spending more renewing items on etsy and participating more on others blogs.

• If you have a website or blog, tell us about your favorite widget.

My etsy mini for sure!

• Which online selling vendors do you use? What do you like best about each one?

I just use etsy right now. I just opened it at the end of Sept ’09 and will probably just stick with them so I don’t have to do a lot of separate advertising.

• Are you involved in social networking? What's your favorite and why? If you're not involved, you must have a good reason!

I have a facebook fan site. I run special sales just for them. I will be working on upping my fans once I finish my next set of journals.

• All of us can use a helpful business hint once a week. What's yours?

Do be afraid to let people know what you do (both online and day to day)… you never know who will be your next costumer! And fight the urge to give friends and family large discounts on the products you’re selling!

• Do you have a "modus operandi" for computing the price of a handmade object? Tell us your formula?

Wow. I wish I knew. When I started making my journals I was afraid to price them more than a few bucks… I had no confidence in myself. But they take SO long to make... so I researched it a bit and realized that I have to respect my product and myself. I took my journals to a small community event to sell for the first time and priced them over twice as much as I was originally thinking… and they sold well! I got so many compliments and could have sold more if I had lowered the price, but at the end of the day I would have had the same amount of money and close to no product left! Seeing the public’s reaction helped me have confidence in my art. I am very tempted to drop my prices a little bit… but I keep going back to how much time it takes to make… almost every page needs to be either hand cut, or decorated and then punched for binding. And my prices now have to reflect the fact that I am also selling some of the journals on consignment. My pricing is not scientific… it’s more of a gut feeling as to how much I need to get for them to make it worthwhile… it comes to a point where I would rather give them as gifts to dear friends then to make so little off of them.

• We'd love to see your little corner of the world, where you create.

Sometimes I work on a typing table next to my computer… this was my actual workspace for my first set a journals… chaos sometimes helps me feel like I don’t have to reach perfection. Other times I haul everything up to the kitchen table.

• Where do you see your artwork in one year? Any plans in the works?

I am in my first month with this and never imagined that I would already have a few etsy sales, be selling in an actual shop and being interviewed for a blog! I think I’ve already passed my one year goal! I would love to come up with a few more different products… some that were a little faster to create... and keep finding stores to sell them to. I am also starting to think about doing a few craft fairs. I’m excited what this year has in store!

OK, it’s storybeader’s turn to pick a favorite.
Kristy is a real soul sister, loving many of the things that I hold dear: books, notetaking and recycling. Love the color of this little journal - you need to look at the images in her Etsy shop, to understand how her mind works! They’re terrific!