Today we are talking with Mompotter about how she got started making beautiful jewelry. I love her answers as she tells us how her art evolved and grew as her life circumstances changed.
1. What inspired you to start creating Jewelry?
Several years ago, before children, I was a full time potter. While I was selling at some local craft fairs I came across a gal who worked in polymer clays. I loved her work and was interested in learning more. Fast forward several years. I had three young children all under 6 years old. They still had early bedtimes back then and I found myself with lots of free time in the evenings. I was without a pottery studio, living in a rental house and wanting desperately to work with my hands again. It was at this time that I began working in polymer clay. I was enjoying the process of manipulating the polymer, designing patterns, and creating objects. As I branched out into making beads, I quickly got hooked on glass beads. As I learned more about the glass beads and started buying more colors and shapes, the polymer work went by the wayside. I quickly discovered that I loved making jewelry as much as making polymer beads and it was not nearly as time consuming. Time became even more important as our family grew and I began home-schooling.
2. How long have you been creating?
I honestly cannot think of a time when I wasn’t creating. I remember as a child I was always drawing, painting or making something with my hands. If there was no paper on hand, I would use the charcoal from the burn piles (out in the forest by my house), mix it with water and paint on the rocks. As an eleven year old I remember taking the scrap copper wire, from our house that was being built, cutting it and forming it into chain bracelets. I won’t tell you how long ago that was!
I have been making jewelry off and on for about six years.
3. What is your inspiration to keep creating when sales and creativity get slow?
I think “motivation” might be a better word for me. I am highly motivated to keep working because any extra I can bring in allows my children to take dance class, play sports and go on field-trips. We are a one income family living in Southern California, need I say more? Inspiration always comes from working. If I am working one idea leads to the next. If I really find myself in a slump, I will look for some new beads to get excited about (of course that can be dangerous on the budget). I rarely find myself without ideas. It is more likely, that I am without time or energy.
4. Which are your favorite pieces of jewelry?
That is a really hard question! I don’t really have a favorite piece. I do have favorite colors and it is really hard for me to not make everything in those colors. I lean toward the ocean colors. I love aqua, blues, and greens. Most of the time you will find multiple pages of those colors in my shop. I have to really work at balancing the colors out. I tend to work in series. If I pull out a color combination that I like, I often make several items in that color range.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35197871
I love making the “charm style” bracelets. They have always been my favorite to make and my top seller. I love mixing the shapes and sizes to create interest. Sometimes they have charms and sometimes they just have lots of beads. Lately I have had more requests to make necklaces in the same style.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39656881
5. What is your favorite type of food? My favorite food? That would have to be chocolate. Rich creamy milk chocolate to be exact. I also happen to love Chinese food, Japanese food, Mexican food and pasta. All things that I am having to avoid right now as I work at losing a few pounds.
6. Anything special that you would like to share with everyone?
It is really my desire to get back to working in clay but in the meantime I am dying to work with PMC (Precious Metal Clay). It is similar in feel to polymer clay but when it is heated to the appropriate temperatures and the impurities are burned away, it becomes a precious metal. It is available in several forms but I would love to work with copper or silver. Since the cost is a little out of range for me right now, I am content to begin making my own ear wires and creating things with sterling silver wire. Be looking for those in my Ocean Breeze Design shop in the near future. http://www.etsy.com/shop/OceanBreezeDesign
Thanks so much for stopping by to read my blog and this great interview with Mompotter at www.mompotter.etsy.com
