Esmarts September Challenge and "From sketch to Art" part 1.5

Hillary made a beautiful necklace that took a lot of ingenuity an learning new skills for the Esmarts September challenge of "flower". You can vote for it here on the Esmarts team blog.

Here's a close-up look:

Hillary Created a wire flower using pink seed beads of different sizes, wrapped a pearl around the middle and then dangled a pretty pink czech glass leaf off the end. This is a prototype piece made from copper wire and steel chain.

This flower is actually a part of the "From Sketch to Art" Challenge Hillary Gave herself earlier this year. Our next post will include more details on "From sketch to Art" and the process hillary went through to get this far. The final piece has yet to be made, but this was a huge step in the right direction.

P.S.: Don't forget to vote!

Interview with Terri Collins of Callidora's

We are happy to present another interview with another talented artist, Terri Collins of Callidora's.



1. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.
I'm Terri Collins and I own Callidora's. I'm a homeschooling mom of 4, although my oldest is in college now. I started Callidora's 2 years ago when prompted by friends to sell my creations. I thought it was silly, I mean who would buy my stuff? But I've been really surprised and overwhelmed with how my business has grown over the last two years! Callidora's first started out as aprons and handbags - I felt safe making 'one size fits all' kinds of things. During that first year, I began offering simple skirts as well and bid on a lot of custom projects through Etsy. After that, I gained enough confidence in sewing without having the person in front of me, I was able to offer more in the realm of clothing. This past year, the economy has really forced me to focus my efforts since sales slowed down quite a bit.

2. How and when did you learn to sew?
I was 13 when I took my first sewing class at a Bernina store. My mother insisted! She's a great seamstress as well, and I always wanted her make things for me. But she was a single mother with 2 children and 2 jobs - not much time for sewing and certainly not for all my dreamed "necessities"! During that class, I was taught how to make a top and skirt for myself. Bernina also used a make your own pattern approach and I was delighted with my first projects!

3. Are there other arts or crafts that you enjoy?
I learned how to crochet at 5 and did that on and off over the years, but taught myself to knit 5 years ago. I much prefer the knitting to crochet. As a teenager, I did a lot of sketching with charcoal and took photography in high school. 8 years ago, I taught myself tole painting and did lots of home decor projects, but hubby got sick of all the little paints. Just before starting Callidora's, I tried my hand at jewelry making. I loved doing that, but the market seems so difficult to make yourself stand out. I didn't have my own style, just making pretty things. I'm now realizing as I answer this question that I have really been surrounded by art my whole! I wonder what ever made work in the corporate world for 15 years?! Must have been those darn bills!

4. What is it about sewing and fabric arts that caused you to choose it as your primary focus?
I sew women's clothing because don't feel good in the clothes they buy from the store. Every woman I know has some complaint about manufactured clothing. "I have a long torso - they think everyone's short!" "I have short legs - they think everyone should be 5'7"!" "It fits my hips but not my waist." And on and on. Whenever I've made my own clothes, I get a lot of compliments and I don't have those issues. I decided to offer other women the opportunity to FEEL and look great.

5. What is your favorite project that you have worked on before?
That's a difficult question! I put my heart and soul into every custom order I make. Oh gosh, I can't chose one or even 6! That's like saying out loud which kid is your favorite. The others would be heartbroken to hear such a thing. I love them all :)

6. You have some dresses on your blog and in your shops that are replicas of dresses in movies and on TV. How did you get started doing that and what all have you done in that area?
That started as answering a request on Etsy for the Ghostbusters Zuul dress costume. It looked like something not too complicated and there weren't many bids. I won the job and then I sort of panicked! The customer of course wanted as close to movie accuracy as possible. So I rented the movie and paused the film and watched the Zuul possession in slow motion 5 times - just to see how the dress moved so I could determine design and fabric used. Once that project was done, other requests came in for the same costume. It seemed that I had done something people wanted but didn't know how to get.
After that, I got requests for skirts done by designers selling for hundreds. I did what I call the "Pushing Daisies" dress. It was from the show "Pushing Daisies". My customer loved the design of the dress and chose and fabric and we were off! I did a request for a designer houndstooth coat - again hundreds of dollars for the designer one. A lot of ordinary women want to look beautiful and have nice things, but either can't afford designer labels or don't have the body those clothes are manufactured for. I am thrilled to create a replica for someone within her budget to fit her body and have revel in how it feels when she receives it!
I'm currently working on adding a "Penelope"movie inspired coat to my replica repertoire. It's not an exact copy because the customer made some design changes, but the flavor is still there.

7. Are there other projects that you would like to work on but haven't had the chance?
A wedding gown. I did one in the past for a customer, but I want to create 2 or 3 to have photographed and offer those designs for sale.

8. What advice do you have for people looking to get into sewing and fabric arts?
I can only speak for those who want to do clothing because quilting and toys and home decor are another matter altogether. My advice is to have a serger as well as sewing machine; take the time to press - pressing is sooooo important and is one step often shortened or eliminated all together; and handsew those important delicate areas - the hem, the zipper. A machine cannot take the place of handstitching for clothing of excellent quality. Most couture houses do the entire garment by hand - my customers deserve the same love and so do yours.

9. What do you think it is most important for customers and other people to know about what you do?
There is a segment of the buying public that feels that they should be able to get the same item cheaper because it's handmade. "Handmade" seems to mean that an unskilled person or kid made that. I want people to be aware that this does take skill and is an artisan craft. Being paid for materials AND time is only fair. I've seen many requests for a dress for $15 and I want to cry for the person who accepts that job - many times that's what the fabric costs or a little less. I would like dressmaking to be viewed as the art and work that it is and not some home ec project.

10. What is your ideal world as it relates to your art and how do you (or did you) try to change things to bring that world into being?
In my ideal world, more people will be aware of the importance of preserving these skills. I try to buy hand crafted for anything I need and suggest those artisans to others - whether its make-up, soap, wall art, gifts for relatives, whatever. I'm not against technology, but I don't believe it should take away our rich heritage as people of many cultures. Artisans care about their work and truly desire happy customers. You won't be put on hold for 20 minutes in a call center halfway around the world just trying to get a problem fixed.

11. Finally, where can we buy your items and hear about your projects?
My website, www.callidoras.com, has my photo gallery of custom work as well as some of my items for sale. I have two art community shops where most of my business comes from, http://callidora.etsy.com and http://callidoras.artfire com. You can find out about my upcoming projects, what I'm currently working, and any specials I've got going either at my blog, http://callidoras.wordpress.com or on my Facebook Fan Page, http://companies.to/callidoras.

A big thank you goes out to Terry for sharing her time and thoughts with us.
If you would like to be interviewed as well, post it in comments, find Hillary on twitter or convo us on etsy.

Esmarts August Challenge

The ESMARTS August challenge voting is open! Please vote for our piece "promise" on the EMSARTS Blog.

Team fun!

First, We wanted to announce the ESMARTS team challenge for August. The theme this month is nature/natural and Hillary plans on creating a piece to enter. We look forward to see what she creates and to seeing everyone else's amazing creations

Second, We wanted to share with you a byhand.me spotlight that Shades of Victoria created for us.

Last we wanted to share our Team flickr feed as well as Hillary's personal flickr feed.

That's all for now, but there are tons of interviews on the way as well as project updates! Have a great day!

Interview With Melanie of Melanie Lynn Design

We have wanted to feature interviews with other artists and crafters for a while now. Hillary was lucky enough to be able to swap interviews with Melanie of Melanie Lynn Design.



1. First, give us a brief description of Who you are, what you do and where we can find you.
I am Melanie, founder and artist behind Melanie Lynn Design, I am a student at SUNY New Paltz set to graduate this December with a BFA in Metals. I have been working with metal since I was 16, however I have been making jewelry since I was around 14. I currently work with newer technologies such as laser cutting and 3D CAD to produce works that are easily reproducible yet still maintain a high art feel in terms of their design. I can be found at.... http://melanielynndesign.com, and my work is available through either contacting myself directly or via etsy at http://melanielynndesign.etsy.com . I am also an avid blogger who's writing can be found at http://melanielynndesign.blogspot.com and http://mldshowcase.blogspot.com, a blog where I showcase others talent and new things I feel the jewelry community might find interesting!

2. What are some of the different forms of creating that you enjoy doing?
As of lately all of my creative energy has been going into creating files for laser cutting in Rhinoceros 4, an amazing design program. I also do a lot of beading and in general I just really enjoy creating, my mom and I also frequently find uses for restoring old furniture and things of that nature.

3. How did you get started in arts?
My parents have always been incredibly supportive of my creativity and my mother always did art projects with me when I was a child and enrolled me in a lot of local art classes, so I guess you could say it started right away and never stopped building. When I was 16 I took a class at Snow Farm, The New England Craft Program, and enrolled in metalsmithing and flameworking, both of which opened up my eyes to a lot of new things and cemented my desire to major in art.

4. What are you studying in college? Metalsmithing

5. How has your art changed since you started your studies?
Well, to be entirely honest I know it's changed but I don't necessarily know if it was the art, or the way I go about making it. I find academics to be somewhat crippling to the creative process sometimes as it forces students to twist their ideas to meet the expectations set forth by project parameters. This past semester I had no real studio classes [bliss.] and produced more work that received praise from my teachers and others than I had in three previous years. I do not consider that a coincidence at all.

6. What creator (artist, crafter, musician, writer, architect, etc.) do you admire the most and why?
Well, I think it is important to not just admire the person's work but also who they are as a person. A lot of the really great artists and crafters I have met in my life were terribly unpleasant people. On the other hand, the studio tech [and studio dad] of our metals department John Cogswell is someone I really look up to. His work has made him very well known in the fields of silversmithing and fine jewelry and he is one of the most kind, knowledgeable people I have ever met in my life. His advice has gotten me through a lot of things and he literally built himself up from nothing based on the skills he was able to exhibit.

7. In all forms of creation and art, I have noticed the theme of being or wanting to be in another world, and have talked about it on my blogs. So, tell me about your ideal world. What is it like?
Well, in your post you say you would like to live purely for art. To be entirely honest, I do not feel that way. I am pretty content with my life as it is, and once in a while, while you cannot put creativity on hold, I do need a break from creating things, lest they become forced and I start making for the sake of doing something rather than because I am excited for the outcome. In terms of the world as a whole, I would really like people to be less wasteful, start taking care of one another more, and being less judgmental. More support for artists and creativity in general would be great, it would be really nice to live in a world where the majority of parents didn't tell their children not to major in art. I was incredibly fortunate in always being supported in my creativity and I wish that others could be offered the same.

8. Do you have frustrations or problems due to the differences between the real world and your ideal world?

9. How do you overcome those frustrations and what do you do to bring that world into reality or bring yourself to that world?

10.How has this journey changed you?
I'm going to answer all of these together. I tend to focus on what I am capable of doing to change things. I think sometimes worrying about the smaller picture is the best way to take care of the larger picture, and I always try to help others with their creative quests whenever possible. This is why I recently started my showcase blog to show as many people as possible the work of others, and help artists network with one another.

11. What advice would you give to others starting their journey in creativity and finding their world?
Be yourself and have faith in what you are doing. In the creative arts world a LOT of people are going to try to stomp you down, just be confident in your own style and it will take you as far as you let it. =)

A big thank you goes out to Melanie for sharing her time and thoughts with us.
If you would like to be interviewed as well, post it in comments, find Hillary on twitter or convo us on etsy.

announcements, project progress and charity!

Hillary promises she has been working on the project she gave herself, but says she doesn't have pictures yet. In the meantime, here are some other things we wanted you to knoe about:

- Mario Marathon is doing a fundraiser for Child's Play, a charity founded by gamers to provide children's hospitals with much needed toys, video game systems and other forms of entertainment for the children in said hospitals and their families. We contribute 20% of our sales to this Charity every year from about Thanksgiving to about Christmas. Since our founder is a die hard video and board gamer, she wanted to make sure you knew about this fundraiser for one of her favorite charities.

- There may be a cross business personal jewelry design challenge in the works, but Hillary is waiting to post on it until she has made more progess on her original self-challenge.

- Hillary reached 200 followers on twitter and wants to celebrate! We are offering free shipping and free gifts to anyone who types "TW200" in the customer comments section of their order. Both Happy Hippy and Artful Unity are participating in this sale. This sale was originally slated to end tonight at midnight but it has been extended to Wednesday at midnight.

- Lastly, we have been working hard at trying to produce weekly content for our blog. We don't simply want this to be a collections of link lists, a bunch of unrelated posts or a mirror of Hillary's other blogs. We aim to keep this blog filled with interesting content and well thought out posts. To this end, we have decided to decrease our official posting schedule to twice a month. We will try to keep to once every two weeks, but, depending on scheduling and time needed for articles we are working on, it may work out differently. Also, if we have enough content for more than 2 posts per month, we will certainly post it. We are sorry to have to announce this decrease, but we see no other way to maintain and improve the quality of our posts.

Graffiti and life changes

Hillary was inspired by this site displaying artistic graffiti and wanted to share her thoughts:


Graffiti is frowned upon, but it is the epitome of thinking outside the box, and some of these artists are more talented than artists in galleries. I get why we don't want people painting random walls with curses, but there's a difference between that and the true greatness achieved by some people like those at the link above.

Our society tries to place emphasis on order and conformity instead of artistry and individuality. I understand that society is set up this way so that total chaos doesn't reign, but more and more I hear the whispers of the people and feel the push of the underground toward life focused on individuality, toward creativity and thinking outside the box in everything... People want art, they want music, they want to "be strange".

There is a song by Bis called "how can we be strange?" that says "please send a message to all the people who find their pleasure in being normal. Please help them to see they can be different, although our lives make it hard to see it." It goes on to say "how can we be strange, when we've got work to do today?" I think more and more that people want to be "strange" and be able to do work. I think that it is more common that people want to live life outside the box--I don't think it's a few radicals anymore. I think most people prize creativity over other qualities while feeling like they have to place emphasis on things like data entry, profit margins, and abiding by rules for the sake of abiding by rules. I think there are a lot of people who admire graffiti artists, performance artists, and musicians who aren't mainstream, but think that they could never do it themselves.

The thing is, you can. We can. It is true that you may have to abide by laws and, no matter how much you try to get away from it, profit margins always end up being important because you have to pay rent, but who says that has to be your whole life. Furthermore, who says you can't strive to make your daily life a little more strange. Maybe you won't ever be a well renowned graffiti artist, but maybe you can propose an unusual idea to your boss, or come up with a new and interesting way of getting your mundane 9-5 duties done, or spend your time outside of work pouring your heart and soul into a new idea. If more of us did this, and if more of us pushed just a little toward a more individual and creative society, I think we could have some beautiful things happen without total chaos.

The first and foremost example that comes to mind is Amanda Palmer. (Please keep in mind that her blog posts are not for the easily offended.) She was lucky enough to be in a theater department in high school that encouraged her to do whatever her soul felt was right. She does that now and amazing things happen. Art is created spontaneously by herself, those she performs with, and her fans at shows, in the street, on the beach, and anywhere else she ventures. She made little to no money through the traditional "get a record label, get them to publish a CD, go on tour for them", route, but managed to pay her rent and turn a profit using social media networks and other less traditional routes. I see this more and more through musicians, artists, and even "common people" in standard 9-5 jobs. I think people are ready for a big change and I think it will be absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to see the amazing things that will come from it.