Team Spotlight! Interview with DesignedByLucinda

MsAnomaly's interview with DesignedByLucinda:

1. When did you open your Etsy store and begin selling?
I shut my brick and mortar shop in May 2007 and sulked for a few months. I sell on Etsy because I had a store full of inventory and more made daily and I needed a place to sell them so I didn't drown my cats and dogs in bead boxes :) I then stocked my Etsy shop in October 2007.

2. How did you select your shop’s name?
Cindy is a nickname of Lucinda, which is my real name. DesignedByLucinda sounded a bit better to my ear than Cindy's Silver (and DBL was the name I used for the brick and mortar spot so I hoped old clients could find me online that way).

3. What do you create and sell in your Etsy shop?
I create Jewelry and Fashion Accessories out of stones and Sterling silver, mostly with Swarovski crystals as highlights. Stones and crystals can marry up nicely in a lot of ways and not too many people seem to mix those mediums, so I like to find ways to bring out the best of the stone and the glass through the other material.

4. How did you become involved in your craft?
In 7th grade (all those decades ago) I was kicked out of Art Drawing class and moved into Jewelry Design and it was love at first buffer. Also, I liked saws and torches although I do very little with those today. Later, in High School, I worked after school in a Jewelry shop and learned the rest of the trade there. I dabbled over the years but ended up deciding I wanted to own a jewelry shop and I saved up to start DBL in the brick and mortar space. Then the shop landlords didn't pay the bills with the rent and I ended up a bit broker and here on Etsy :)

5. Explain your favorite part of the creative process.
I create because I am, just like I breathe because I am. I couldn't stop creating if I tried. My favorite part is when I receive a box of new supplies and I have endless opportunities and avenues to explore. It sounds hokey, but I love looking through the box and looking over each bead until I know which pack I want to start with, what glimmer of an idea I have to start using it for, and then tweaking the whole process until I end with a piece that makes me smile and sit down for a cup of coffee; I can take weeks trying to find just the right combination.

6. Do you sell in another Etsy store or anywhere outside of Etsy? If so, where?
I sell in my local area at shows and parties. I also have unstocked shops on Artfire, Craft.Ca, Handmade Fuzion and I go back and forth on HyenaCart.

7. So far, what project are you most proud of?
I am proud of them all, but my favorite would be this 3 piece custom order that I had 4 days to find the stones, create the piece, and ship it out. It was a bit of a pressure cooker! http://www.flickr.com/photos/designedbylucinda/2215198812/

8. What advice can you give to someone who would like to learn your craft?
Have patience. You won't have tiny knots in one month. You'll break some stones and lose others, so make your pricing formula cover a bit for loss like that. A killer deal on pearls isn't really worth buying 80 strands unless you are SURE you can move those pearls quicker than in 3 years. Yes, they keep - - but that tied up $$ could have gone for more variety over those 3 years and 80 strands of pearls is quite a bit if you aren't catering to the wedding market. Just follow your Muse and you'll be happy :)

9. What motivated you to join the Etsy Beagle Street Team?
Most of my dawgs are mixed. Technically, they are mixed with a Harrier but that is a kissing cousin to a Beagle and they do the arrr-wooooooooooooooo just as loudly. I also took in a stray last year who looks like she is part Beagle (NOT Harrier). Meet Ginger - - Her adoptive home fell through so she is still with me (and I LOVE her silly being!). http://www.flickr.com/photos/designedbylucinda/2342462496/ I make her work for her kibble: this picture is the one I use for Custom Order Listings. Exploiting the pooch...

10. Any other places we might find you (Flickr, blog, MySpace, etc.)?
I am also on Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and a super sorry blog with 4 posts but I am most consistently on Etsy. Feel free to email me anytime at http://us.mc810.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=cboard4488@aol.com and talk dawgs or beads or stones or just comment on the weather :)