The accidental craft-preneur

This is just a quickie. I've neglected this blog a bit over the last month - I took my "allow yourself time off" message a little too much to heart! ;) But I haven't been idle I can assure you. Quite the contrary in fact.

So I want to take a few moments here to plug some of the areas where I am particularly active, because it is all great content and if you're interested in polymer clay, running a craft business in the UK, or any of the other stuff I occasionally write about on here, you'll love what I'm about to show you.

First off is RebelMouse. If you are at all active on social media I urge you (nay, implore you) to get your own RebelMouse page. It's absolutely great. It takes all the masses of interesting stuff  you pin, tweet, post on Facebook etc, and it collates it all in one place and makes it look aesthetically pleasing while it's at it. You can even get it to post tweets from groups for you. And it is a quick win - it takes minimal time to upkeep (did I just verb a noun there? Bad me) and with a little tweaking you can highlight your best content and even delete or edit the stuff you'd rather keep to yourself.

Here's my RebelMouse.



You can also find it waaaay down somewhere on my right-hand nav, although that's getting a bit out of hand these days. I need to shrink it down a bit.

Secondly I want to plug Pinterest. Six months in and I am still addicted - to the point of being mildly obsessed. OK, forget "mildly" - since I got a smartphone with a bigger screen I have used countless battery hours scrolling through and repinning all the polymer goodness on there. It's like crack. I just can't seem to get enough, and now, as if to taunt me, I have a following! Me, with people who want to see what I pin! Over 680 of them and growing by the dozen every day!



So think about it, craft entrepreneurs, by spending time doing something I enjoy, I am reaching out to a whole community of people. Add a link in your profile to your shop, Facebook or Twitter page and that's hundreds if not thousands (one day) of potential customers finding your stuff. Not to mention that you're building a following of like-minded individuals - people with similar taste, background, or hoarding tendencies (kidding) to you. Instant filtered customer base!

So there you go, my quickie update blog post has turned into a lesson in how to get your name out there and get yourself known for the things you do best and what you love the most.

What inspires you?

I've been reflecting a lot lately on where inspiration comes from. Most of my inspiration for my polymer clay jewellery right now comes from curiosity - I have a list as long as my arm of techniques I want to try and so whenever I get the chance to play with clay I give a new technique a go. The result is masses of fun but it means my stock is somewhat eclectic in style. You certainly can't pigeon-hole my shop! (Or crow-hole it for that matter ;))

I have often wondered how artists and designers develop their signature look. Does it come naturally and instantly, or does it evolve over time? Do even the most original artists begin by mimicking others? I grew up as a scientist and then later an editor, and my creative exploits were always driven by my desire to explore and experiment, and to try out what I thought might be a hoot. I didn't have the artistic upbringing that might encourage one to specialise, to become fixated on one thing, or one method. To be honest, that's why I got out of science - the thought of being the world's leading expert in one tiny protein in one of a billion chemical pathways in the human body just left me cold. I had no desire to be king of a very tiny and lonely castle!

I tell myself that my inspiration is nature. That's pretty damn broad I can tell you! It encompasses colour, form, structure, texture... pretty much anything that isn't manmade, and in my view that really only leaves out architecture, industrial, steampunk and kawaii (oh and vintage, but I make an exception for that). I suppose it takes my king of the castle philosophy to its most extreme point. It allows me to be a wanderer, going wherever whim takes me like a happy vagabond.

Bearing all of that in mind, Pinterest suits me down to the ground. I can be the ultimate magpie, browsing through thousands of pins and plucking out anything that sparkles at me. I even love the way it is laid out, so no matter what I pin, my boards look cohesive (to me) and lovely (to me). Pinterest seems to quietly sort out and organise the disparate thoughts in my mind. As a result, browsing through my inspiration board is like plugging directly into the mains. POW! I get 10,000 volts of inspiration right smack in the face. I love it!

So I guess what I am saying is that I am not quite ready to settle down yet. I'm having far too much fun gathering my pearls of inspiration - disparate as they are - and hoarding them like jewels. All that is to say, don't be surprised if my shop goes through some changes as I develop. It's like a teenager, working out its style.

And now I have given myself permission to be creative, let's see where that takes me :)

PS - you are welcome to follow me on Pinterest. I'm quite a prolific pinner, but it is all me, I don't pander to anyone else's idea of what inspiration might be.