Sell Your Work: How to turn your craft into your business. - Tapa blanda

Sell Your Workbr> A Report for Craftsmen Who Want To Turn Their Craft Into A Business

Sell Your Work is a report on how to turn your crafts expertise into your business. It was written by a former State Exhibition Chairperson of Arizona Designer Craftsmen, a statewide organization for fine-crafts artists who participate in juried gallery shows throughout the country and whose work has been sought after by collectors.

Sell Your Work recounts the author's experiences as well as those of other fine-crafts artists and owners of galleries and boutiques regarding what it takes to get your work included in venues where it can be seen, touched, tried on (if jewelry), and purchased.

I guess you could say I came to doing art work by the back door. My formal schooling was in the area of clinical psychology . . . Bradley University, B.S. 1965 and M.A. 1969. But even as a child I wanted to grow up to be a jeweler. I was always fascinated by pretty stones. I would pry them out of old pieces of costume jewelry and squirrel them away in a small, fuzzy, green velvet box lined with cotton and have fantasies about whether or not they were real.

I was a stay-at-home mom when we lived in Chicago’s Hyde Park district so I had a lot of time on my hands. I started buying and studying jewelry design books and set up a small studio in the sun room of our apartment and showed my wares at street festivals. The University of Chicago offered a class in welding so my friend, Annie Kleboe, and I decided to sign up. Annie was doing stone sculpture at the time; she’s now into collages.

We moved to Arizona in 1975. I wanted to learn casting and was very fortunate to find excellent instructors. Bob and Gina Winston were veteran designers selling out of a gallery in California but their studio where they held classes was only ten minutes from my house. I truly lucked out. I stayed with them for five years.

My other crafts include woodworking and sewing (quilt design and construction). I owe whatever sewing skills I have to my mother. She was very patient with me. Sometimes I’d get so frustrated at not being able to do it I’d be ready to quit. But she sat with me and she showed me and finally I’d settle down and try again. Another skill this taught me was how to follow directions.

The unifying factor with all of these seemingly diverse crafts is that they are all puzzles where you first need to create the pieces before you can build the puzzle. I find that fascinating. It’s kept me involved for the past 40 years.

My professional writing career began in 1980 with the publication of Jean’s Arizona Fan Palm, cutting directions for a 3.2 carat citrine (see it in the Handcrafted Jewelry Photo Gallery book in my Kick-Start Creativity series), in the January issue of the Lapidary Journal Gem Cutting Magazine. Many years later I was submitting step-by-step articles for original jewelry designs to various international magazines.

And now, 2012, I’m enjoying the writing and publishing of various kinds of books for Amazon. I’ll be 70 years old this year. It’s been quite a ride. I hope you enjoy my offerings.