Friday Feature - Embergrass Jewelry

Happy Friday Folks!

    Today's interview is with everyone's favorite twitter chat host, Claire of Embergrass! You might hang out with her on Tuesdays, or catch up with her re-caps on Thursdays. But, today you get to take a little peak behind the scenes of Embergrass Jewelry, and learn a bit more about this talented, inspired British gal in SF!  It's amazing to see what magic she can perform using one main medium - copper.  Lucky for us, Claire has also created a Guest Pintrest board for the SFetsy Pintrest - Halloween themed! The page is lined with scary decor ideas, spooky art, and deliciously devious delectables!

Enjoy the interview then head over to her shop to grab some Fall accessories for you and yours!

Sea Breeze Hammered Copper Earrings

1. What is your shop name and URL? 

Embergrass Jewelry http://www.etsy.com/shop/Embergrass 

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy

Team Storenvy

Copper Lovers 

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

I make simple but striking rustic jewelry in copper and gemstones. My interest in jewelry started when I discovered an adorable bead shop in the town I was living in at the time (Bath, UK). I dabbled a little but restrained myself from buying too much there! Fast forward a few years and I quit my career as a Chemistry teacher to move to San Francisco with my then-fiance. When I began planning our wedding and my search for the perfect (and affordable) tiara came up empty, with so much spare time on my hands I decided to have a go at making all my own jewelry. That quickly spiraled into also making jewelry for all my bridesmaids and my mother, by the time we got married I was hooked!

I prefer to learn by experimentation (and the occasional youtube video) so I learnt all my jewelry-making skills myself, gradually buying more supplies and tools to expand my skills. My creative process starts with my inspiration, I love to take photographs so I collect inspirational images in folders, one for each of my collections. I then sketch out designs, sometimes I'll sit down for a few hours and sketch loads of ideas at once, others an idea will come to me randomly and I'll rush for my sketchbook to record it. The final stage is, of course, making the item - manipulating wire, cutting sheet metal, lots of hammering and some soldering. Sometimes I'll discover that my sketch just isn't going to work out, maybe with my materials, or tools, or skills, or just because it doesn't actually look that great for real, but usually it's awesome to finally see a piece realized.

Curled Corners Wide Copper Ring

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you. 

Right now I have 2 hobbies - figure skating classes, which I just started a few months ago, and ceramics, which provides me a peaceful creative outlet not related to my business and associated stress. I also love horse riding and kept my own horse for several years. Unfortunately there aren't many opportunities to ride in San Francisco so that is now limited to vacation trail rides only.

Two things... I also enjoy reading fantasy novels (enjoy might be an understatement, I basically refuse to read anything else!) and Robin Hobb is easily my favourite author, with Terry Pratchett winning out if I want something more light-hearted.

5. What inspires your creations?

I'm mostly inspired by the emotions and memories I get from being outside and in nature. Each collection is inspired by a different aspect of my experiences: My 'Sundrops' and' Ocean Dreams' lines are inspired by memories of vacations to the seaside in warmer places than the UK! 'After The Rain' is inspired by the abundance of colour you get in flower gardens, wildflower meadows and especially those parts of the desert where it rains so rarely but when it does there is a sudden, brief bloom of life. My 'Fae' collection is inspired more by the fantasy novels I love to read and by my British roots. My final collection - 'Emberseeds' is inspired by the last few years of my life which have been spent living (grudgingly) in cities (London and San Francisco). I may not have grown to love the concrete jungle but I have grown to appreciate the beauty that can be found there and especially the beauty that appears when nature begins to reclaim the industrial structures.

Lush Beaded Long Copper Necklace 

6. What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?

I would love to learn how to manipulate glass. I love glass creations, from simple lampwork beads to stunning sculptural pieces, and I would love to be able to create my own.

7. If you had to be an animal for one week, which animal would you choose to be? And what would you do? 

I'd be a cat! Cats definitely have the best life, they sleep all day, laze in the sun, have their meals prepared for them, get snuggles when they want them and pretend to be independent when they don't. I would set myself an incredibly difficult but fun challenge, such as trying to fish a favourite toy out from under the sofa, or trying to unscrew the lid of the treats pot and in between working I'd make sure I got lots of naps!

Triangles Copper Necklace

8. What does buying and selling local handmade mean to you, and how has it affected your life? 

Buying and selling local means putting my money back into the pockets of the people around me. It means connecting with the person who made the item and rekindling the community spirit that got lost somewhere along the way. It means supporting someone's dreams rather than just someone's job, and the idea that people can be successful on their own in what they want to do. And it's encouraging a new kind of economy.

9. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations? 

I have a website with a blog at www.embergrass.com and a facebook page www.facebook.com/Embergrass. I'm also on twitter as @embergrass where I host the weekly #sfetsy tweetchat

Green Aventurine Geode Earrings

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

SF Etsy on Storenvy.com

Storenvy.com is a great solution when you are looking for a place to host your own shop and this weekend they have a campaign to reach 20,000 shops!  Storenvy is a local start-up offering free online store fronts and many of our members are already selling there.  If you'd like to know more about the service, please visit their facebook page or Storenvy.com and tell them SF Etsy sent you!
Rollcall!

Willo O'Brien of Willotoons on Etsy and Storenvy

Willotoons on Storenvy

Niki Baker of foreignspell on Etsy and Storenvy

foreignspell on Storenvy

Farrah of MzCreation on Etsy and Storenvy

MzCreation on Storenvy

Connor of San Francisco Terrain on Etsy and Storenvy

San Francisco Terrain on Storenvy

Kathryn Hedges of Splendid Colors on Etsy and Storenvy

Splendid Colors on Storenvy

Claire Smith of Embergrass on Etsy and Storenvy

Embergrass on Storenvy

Lisa Spinella of Tickle and Smash on Etsy and Storenvy

Tickle and Smash on Storenvy

Cyndi of BellaJacksonStudios on Etsy and Storenvy

Bella Jackson Studios on Storenvy

Maggie Hurley of maggiehurley on Etsy and Storenvy

Maggie Hurley on Storenvy

Each store is different thanks to the customizable features on Storenvy.com.  Sellers have the option to have the domain name include "storenvy" for free, but can upgrade to a full domain name.

And~our biggest request as a team was for an Etsy listing importer; there's an early option here!

I know we have more members on Storenvy too, feel free to share your shop links and experiences in the comments below~

~Even

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Savvy Entrepreneur: How Do I Get Involved In The Twitter Chat?

We’ve been promising a Twitter chat for a few weeks now and now we’ve finally gotten all the details together. If you missed my article two weeks ago I gave you a quick rundown on what a Twitter chat is and how we hope to use it.

This time around I wanted to try to answer many of the questions I expect will come up.

What is a Twitter chat?

Read this and this to get a good background. Or just join us to see what happens.

When will it happen?

Every Tuesday morning from 10-11am (pst), starting March 13^th.

Will there be a structure?

Claire (@embergrass) will be the host most of the time, with the support of both Lisa (@tickleandsmash) and I (@lightboxsf). This means we’ll be making sure the conversation keeps flowing by asking questions of the group, retweeting great bits of info, and directly engaging participants.

We will have a theme each week that will be posted on the blog, most likely the Friday or Monday before. We also have a google doc set up that any of you can use to suggest a topic. After the chat a recap will also be posted to the blog with highlights from the chat.

How do I join?

It’s really quite simple. Log on to Twitter during the chat time and do a search for #sfetsy. You’ll see the conversation happening in real time. To jump in, just write a post as you normally would, but make sure put #sfetsy in your tweet.

To make following along a little easier there are two recommended tools. The first is tweetchat.com. Just go to the website, set up an account and then search for #sfetsy. Not only does Tweetchat.com make following along a little easier it also automatically adds #sfetsy or whatever hashtag you’re using to your tweets. You can follow new people you meet from this screen, pause the feed if you need to catch up, retweet and reply quickly.

Tweetdeck is also another great option. You can either download the program or access it directly via the web if you’re using Chrome or Safari. Again you need to set up an account that links to your Twitter account. Then you can set up a column that follows #sfetsy in addition to your full feed, mentions, or whatever else you want to keep tabs on.

Can I just say whatever I want?

We will have a topic for each chat, however we also expect the chat to flow like a normal conversation. This means other things will come up that you want to say or share. You also might “see” someone on the chat you haven’t connected with in a long time, go ahead and say hi. All we ask is that you keep it relevant to the chat or Etsy users and be nice. Also make sure to include #sfetsy with every post you want to be a part of the chat.

Do I have to say anything?

No you don’t, you can just follow along and gain the knowledge that everyone else is sharing. However, you will get more out of it by participating. Most importantly participating allows you to connect with new people who may very well become valuable connections later. We encourage you to at least introduce yourself.

Can I contact people afterwards?

Twitter chats are primarily about connecting and sharing information, so yes, you certainly can send a tweet to someone after the chat with a question or introducing yourself, just make sure to let them why you’re contacting them so it doesn’t seem spammy.

Do I need to sign up?

There is no need to sign up before hand, just say hi once you’ve joined the chat, even if you join late.

Do I have to be a part of SFEtsy?

It’s certainly not necessary, but some of the topics or information shared will be locally based. However I imagine anyone selling on Etsy will benefit a little from all of the discussions we have.

If you have any other questions feel free to post in the comments or send them directly my way.

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Genevieve not only writes The Savvy Entrepreneur she is the Co-Founder of Lightbox SF where she empowers creatives to take over the world. Check out the blog or how to work with her.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Savvy Entrepreneur: SF Etsy Team Twitter Chat

Yep, I said it, Twitter Chat.

What exactly is a Twitter Chat? Claire, fellow team member and mind behind Embergrass Jewelry wrote a great post you should read. But the short answer is a Twitter chat is when a bunch of people come together at the same time on Twitter and have a group conversation that's marked by the use of a common hashtag phrase. In this case we're thinking #SFEtsy or #SFEchat. They generally happen either once a week or once a month.

What this means more specifically to the team is that once a week (most likely) there will be a set time when you can join in to get advice and feedback from your local team members and maybe an expert or two on topics like using twitter, networking, building sales, advertising, etc. Basically all sorts of business advice and experience will be shared and you can follow along or join in the conversation just by using the hashtag.

Not only are Twitter chats a great way to get various solutions to problems, but they are great for networking. I'm convinced that my recent participation in various chats is one of the main factors in gaining close to 100 new followers in just 2 months. And these aren't just random followers, these are people that I've connected with and want to continue the relationship.

Claire put together a survey to find out how much interest there is and what times are most convenient for people. If you haven't filled it out, please do.

So Lisa (@tickleandsmash), Claire (@embergrass), and I (@lightboxsf) are putting our heads together to make this happen, but this is for your benefit as a team so please send us questions, suggest topics, and voice concerns. We welcome any and all ideas and will be sure to keep you updated on the when, where and how as soon we've nailed it down.

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Genevieve not only writes The Savvy Entrepreneur she is the Co-Founder of Lightbox SF where she empowers creatives to take over the world. Check out the blog or how to work with her.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Savvy Entrepreneur: Bazaar Bizarre 2011 Recap

This past weekend was the beginning of the Holiday Craft Fair season and many of us were at Bazaar Bizarre, including myself. I had the opportunity to be there all day Saturday in the Etsy booth representing both Etsy and SF Etsy. I have never been on that side of a craft fair for the whole day, surprising I know, but I don't sell products. I've spent time helping out friends for a few hours here and there, but have never been there from setup to break down before. I have to say the morning set up energy was my favorite part of the day. It was great to see everyone loading in boxes, structures and tables and making them into their own little storefronts.

We got set up quickly and then our morning volunteer, Claire, started heading out to find each of the SF Etsy team members that we knew of to get a sample for our booth. She made 3 or 4 trips to gather everything. Both of us were really impressed by the talent of the group.

We also had the opportunity to offer up a table for some of the team members to have a few hours of vending time. I must say I enjoyed having the company all day and the chance to get to know a few of the team members much better.

Moment of Focus

Scene, Not Heard

Jen Oaks

Bunnycone

In addition to the selling and making friends we also got the chance to talk to a lot of people about Etsy and the SF Etsy Street Team. I remember one gentleman in particular that was asking on behalf of his wife, how to set up a shop and get involved in the local team. Our afternoon volunteer, Stephanie, also got to talk to a lot of folks about how supportive the local team is.

All in all it was an amazing day of handmade and great people. I loved being surrounded by all the talent. Thank you Etsy and Bazaar Bizarre for making it happen!

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I encourage comments directly to this post, but also feel free to email me directly with questions, reactions, struggles, etc. genevieve [at] lightboxsf [dot] com

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!