Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Bear Hugs: WireDreamsDesigns


A while back I was talking about starting a Customer Appreciation Feature…well, here’s my first installment. Meet WireDreamsDesign. She bought a bottle of my Bzzz Off! insect repellent back in July and she was the first to respond to my solicitation for participants in this feature. So, she gets to go first.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm originally from Texas but now live in Florida with my husband of 10 years and my son who is 2 1/2. I more than make up for the fact that my husband has no real hobbies because I frequently take over half our dining room table to work and have two shelves of nothing but yarn. I’m slowly working on taking over the garage with my kiln and a workspace set up to do lampwork glass beads.

I read in your profile that you’ve always been a rock/mineral collector. What was your 1st exposure to wire wrapping and did you instantly connect this art form to your hobby?

I was first exposed to wire work while looking for something Celtic for a friend. While searching, I came across a site that did wire wrapped jewelry. I bought two ear cuffs and a beautiful moonstone pendant. I was intrigued after that and started looking for references and supplies on how to do it.

I like how your love of one thing led to the love of something new. Do you make pieces out of favorite rocks/minerals from your personal collection? And if so, does your heart break a little each time you sell one?

My personal collection is comprised mainly of specimen-type pieces that are too large to make jewelry out of. Even if I could make jewelry out of them they are stones I picked because I was drawn to them, I couldn't sell them. I do tend to lean toward my favorite type of stones when picking out pieces for jewelry, like labradorite. It is my absolute favorite to work with. I will admit I have had a few pendants that I was a bit sad to see go because I really loved how they turned out.


I like many of the items in your shop, but right now I’d say “Down by the Sea” is my favorite – probably because it's the end of summer and I’m an East Coast girl living in land-locked Dallas. What is your favorite item in your shop at the moment and why?

Currently [the] larimar pendant [pictured at the beginning of this post] is my favorite. Larimar is another favorite stone of mine just because of the different shades of blue it can have. The bright blue color in this stone is absolutely amazing. {Sorry folks, this one sold before I got this post up, but check this one out. It’s beautiful and available…at the moment.}

You have a pretty successful Etsy shop. What secrets of your success would you like to share?

I have no secrets. Maybe it's just luck or people looking for something different when searching on Etsy. I do no real outside advertising other than a main showcase on Etsy here and there of which I have had sales from or people that have seen something then and came back later to buy.

What’s been your best moment since you started selling your wares?

A best moment is hard there are so many. I guess for me it's when you get a repeat customer. To know someone likes your work so much they want to add another piece to their collection. I haven't had anything really catastrophic happen since I've started.

Share something about yourself that most people (at least in your public life) don’t know or some other interesting tidbit/funny story/etc.

I was totally a geek in high school. Every Friday night was spent playing Dungeon & Dragons or a card game called Magic the Gathering. I also collected comic books (and still do) and I would love to go to Comic Con in San Diego one day.

4 comments:

Alyssa S. said...

D&D...awesome! I love this store :) Thanks for the feature. I am a bit disappointed there is no big Etsy success secret :)

Teddy Started It said...

No kidding! I want the secret too!

Amy said...

Haha, really I wish there was a secret. If so I'd be doing it alot more.

Thanks for the feature :)

Sun Chasing said...

Helloo mate nice post