ETSY online!

IT’S ALL ABOUT ETSY!

 

I’ve always enjoyed the creative process and using reclaimed wood for Folk Art satisfies my need to be creative.

I enjoy playing with wood, cutting, painting and repurposing it as something whimsical, fun and playful.

All I required was an outlet to sell my product, so opening an Etsy shop seemed like the right solution!

Although I have enjoyed starting up my Etsy shop, the downside is that it is taking up a great chunk of my time and I am discovering that too many hours at the computer is not such a great thing for back and eyes which begin straining and complaining to move away, go outside, jump, walk anything but sit at a screen editing listings, interacting in the discussions, checking and rechecking tags and titles, looking over the stats, (why are my views so low?) and brainstorming marketing ideas.

Then ‘HELLO’ I receive my first Etsy Transaction Note for an order and a following email from Paypal stating that an item has been paid for and can now be shipped and all the pains and strains melt away in the happy delirium of a sale!

Having an Etsy shop is so much fun and also so addictive!  To create something out of reclaimed wood or repurposed items and have a Buyer like it enough to purchase it, is so gratifying and motivates me to keep on creating!

A BIT ABOUT ME:

I live on Vancouver Island in a small cottage by the sea called Black Crow Cottage. My husband and I built our small cottage a few years back when our daughters grew up and away. We embraced the idea of minimizing, sold the big house and gave away or sold a lot of the items that are necessary to fill all the rooms of a big house and then we built small, very small by most folks standards, a mere 1000 square feet.  Living on a smaller footprint has been challenging in some ways and liberating in others.  Less time spent cleaning and more time having fun!

 

When a big storm took down our friend’s barn in the Cowichan Valley, I recovered a barn window from the collapsed building.

I knocked out the remaining glass, removed the old putty, repainted the frame and added squares of mirror. I gave it back to my friend as a memory of her old barn and she was delighted with it!  From there the inspiration of creating other Barn Window Mirrors began.

 

I am constantly inspired by the beauty of our West Coast shores.  Living by the sea not only affords me the luxury of kayaking, beachcombing and enjoying the West Coast lifestyle but also offers me a fresh 'crop' of driftwood daily to use in the making of driftwood boats, such fun to create, and of course it's very gratifying if others enjoy them as well!
My Etsy shop is still pretty new and while I am very focused on improvements I also have plenty to reflect on regarding my accomplishments, what I have learned and what I still need to learn.

AND I HAVE LEARNED AND ACCOMPLISHED PLENTY!

I’ve ACCOMPLISHED opening a shop, stocking it with Barn Window Mirrors, Driftwood Boats, Wall Hooks, Signs and Folk Art and I am actually making sales from people other than my friends and family. People unknown to me actually felt my product was worth purchasing. Go figure…

I’ve LEARNED that opening an Etsy shop is time-consuming and comes with an enormous learning curve. I am finding that I am spending way more time on my Etsy Shop than I had imagined I would.  I don’t have an addictive personality, however I have to be careful that when I ‘power up my computer’ and sit down at my desk I don’t get sucked into the Etsy vacuum and lose myself in the reading, absorbing and applying of what I am learning.

I’ve LEARNED that if you want compliments, ask your friends and family but if you want an honest critique from your Commitment Team that is exactly what you will get! Gut wrenching honesty. I have learned many things from the team I have joined, such as my photos are horrible, dark and cluttered and my shop is not cohesive. In the future I hope you will see cleaner, brighter product photos and a more cohesive shop look.

I’ve LEARNED the INS and OUTS of social media and how to increase my shop’s reach. So ‘friend’ me on face book and ‘like’ me on my blog.  Basically I am requesting all your hearts and attention…

In reviewing my successes this year the only thing I really know for sure is that I am exactly where I need to be...

BLACKCROWCURIOS believes in creative reuse by reclaiming and transforming cast off items into useful and decorative home accents. Beach combing and the inspiration of the outdoors are essential components of the BLACKCROWCURIOS design process.

Etsy Shop Link:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackCrowCurios

Personal Blog:  http://blackcrowcurios.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/folk-art/

Author:  Trish Repay

ARE YOUR CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING?

ARE YOU CONSIDERING OPENING AN ONLINE BUSINESS?

FOLK ART

FOLK ART

 

Traditionally Folk Art is the work of untrained craftsmen.  There is a strong functional and practical element to Folk Art.  Utilizing the long winter hours, farmers would build new tools and whirligigs for the farm while the women would gather together and create quilts. 

 
Folk Art reminds us that art has a place in the simplest of homes. Combining a love of color and an inventive spirit with a creative flair, Folk Artists are perhaps untrained and yet demonstrate imaginative, artistic talent. 

 Primitively crafted and often roughly painted, Folk Art offers a bit of charm and whimsy but is meant to be practical and utilitarian. 

FOLK ART GARDEN GATE

 

For me using reclaimed wood for Folk Art satisfies my need to be creative. I enjoy taking a cast off piece of wood, cutting, painting and repurposing it as something whimsical, fun and playful.  Folk Art pieces are fun to create, and of course it's very gratifying if others enjoy them as well!

PRIMITIVE FOLK ART TOY
NOAH'S ARK

The simplest and most common example of Folk Art is the wind-driven whirligig.  The word whirligig is derived from two Old English words whirlen (to whirl) and gigg (top) meaning to literally ‘whirl a top’.  

The American version of the wind driven whirligig probably originated with the immigrant population of the United Kingdom as whirligigs are mentioned in early American colonial times.

Example of a wind driven whirligig

By the latter half of the 19th century constructing wind driven whirligigs had become a pastime and art form.  Craftsman from the southern Appalachians continued to produce whirligigs into the 20th century. During the great depression there was resurgence of whirligigs by craftsman and amateurs which was attributed to the need for ready cash.

A wind-driven whirligig transfers the energy of the wind into either a simple release of kinetic energy through rotation or a more complicated transfer of rotational energy.  The whirligig can be either a simple or a more complicated mechanism that produces repetitive motions and/or creates sounds. The wind simply pushes on the whirligig turning one part of it and setting it into motion by using inertia.

An example of a simple whirligig is the button whirligig, (also called button spinners).  Button whirligigs are simple spinning toys made with a button and a string or thread.  They work by looping the ends of the thread and twisting and pulling with both arms, causing the button to spin. They were simple toys.  In America, they were popular during pioneering days and during the Depression Era because they were inexpensive to make, yet very entertaining. Children of the great depression from the southern Appalachians and Ozarks remember a button and a string as the primary spinning toy of their youth.

Create a simple button whirligig:

YOU WILL NEED:

Button

Thread

Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.   Cut a 24-inch length of string.

2.   Thread the string through the holes in the button.
3.   Tie the ends of the string together.
4.   Insert the middle finger of each hand into the loop at each end with the button in the middle.
5.   Spin the button to twist the strings and continue twisting the string until it becomes wrapped around itself all the way to your fingers.
6.   Pull the strings taut to let them begin to untwist.
7.  Release the pressure and then pull the string taut again to keep the whirligig spinning. Apply gentle tension to the string by pulling your hands apart. The button will begin to spin.

NOTE:  Pulling and releasing the string tension keeps the button spinning. Speeding up the action causes the button to make a whirring sound.

 

Enjoy some simple fun!

Author:  Trish (BlackCrowCurios)