Simply Shiny Life

It’s been a while since I’ve profiled another seller. Too long maybe? While reading some of the threads in the forums, I discovered a unique seller that specializes in woodworking. Her shop features gorgeous hand formed items, and she has an interesting background.  Read on to discover more about Christina and her artisan woodworking creations.

Name: Christina
Location: Reston, VA
Shop name: Christina Gurnham woodworking
Facebook: Christina Gurnham Wood Working
Blog: CGurham Blog
Site: christinagurnham.com/
Etsy Shop: Cgurham on Etsy
Videos: Christina Gurham woodworking demo

What are your artisan beginnings? Where did you start and how did you progress to work you are creating today?
I began wood working about 4-5 years ago when I had a really bad case of cabin fever. I have always been a person who liked working with her hands. So I took a woodshop class for fun and I was hooked. The first thing I made was a tray, which I still have. One day my dad gave me all of these extra floor boards and he said “build me something for Christmas” and I laugh at this now but I made him two trays because that’s all I knew how to make at the time.

I started off building projects for my home – shaker style furniture (hall tables and end tables), then moved on to aquarium canopies and bases, and then I met the scroll saw. When I started doing scroll saw work my whole style changed.

I actually experimented with scroll saw work about 3 years ago when I made each family member a Christmas ornament that year. People really appreciated the gifts and I figured I’d get better at working with the scroll saw and see where it would take me.

What are your favorite materials?
Exotic woods. I try very hard to only use colors that appear naturally in nature.

What are your favorite pieces to create?
I love intarsia. Intarsia uses a scroll saw to cut pieces of wood similar to a puzzle making. These pieces are then shaped and rounded to give depth and character. Then the wood pieces are glued together, a backing, and ornament hook is a applied. Several coats of finish are applied to each piece, with hand sanding in-between. The result is beautiful but time consuming!

It’s funny that when I go into our community woodshop, big burly guys are chucking logs onto their tables. And I definitely haul in large piece of wood too – I buy raw pieces like they do ( pieces that have not been jointed / planed – meaning squared.) but then I make these cute Christmas tree ornaments out of it and save all my scraps for other projects. I hate throwing out scrap.

What inspires you?
I admire other scrollsaw artists, like Kathy Wise. I do use a few of her patterns, but I do create many of my own designs.

How do you describe your design style?
I like to make funny Christmas ornaments – something that will make people laugh or go “awww” when they see it. But I also like making functional pieces, like the wooden usb drives key chains, hand mirrors, wine stoppers, and cheeseboards.
I like really showing off the grain in a piece of wood – like with my live edge burl boxes. Those are really neat because they don’t look like a box from afar, they look like a gorgeous piece of wood. But then you lift off the top and there’s this amazing hidden box.

What artists have influenced you, and how?
We have a good arts community in my city, and it is well supported. I definitively learn from other wood workers who have been doing this a lot longer than I have, and they have always been helpful. I also belong to the Northern Virginia Handcrafters guild and work on the standards committee.

What’s been you biggest creative or artistic oops?
I am constantly experimenting with new techniques. If you create enough “oopsies” you’ll get a “success.”

What’s been the biggest thing you’ve learned about selling online?
It’s super hard for the buyer to understand why this “chunk of wood” is $xx.xx” because they can’t feel the weight, they can’t feel the hand sanded surface and feel how silky smooth it is. They just have a picture and some text that describes the item. It’s so much easier to sell in person because a buyers can really feel the hard work that went into an item.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
You’re going to try many things – creating techniques, selling techniques and it’s going to take some time to figure what works. Try not to get frustrated.

How do you spend time when you are NOT creating?
I have a 9-5 as a video editor, I also workout often. It’s rare that I am not at least thinking about my next project.

Where have you been published/featured?
I have been included in the etsy news letter – scroll down to professional gifts and you will see my 4GB steampunk jump drive
On etsy front page in this treasury Here’s a link to the chickadee:

What Artfire artists do you admire?
I am still meeting everyone. I will say there isn’t an artist on artfire I dislike. There are so many great artists on Artfire. I am so glad I joined.

We are too.   

Welcome to Artfire Christina!

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I’ve created a new collection on artfire called Aw Nuts. This one is actually part deux, as my first version contained a reseller. ICK! I contacted AF on twitter and they were kind enough to delete the first version. I love the support I get from Artfire staff.

What sponsored this particular collection? The handful of almonds I was enjoying while I was surfing the AF forums.

Enjoy!

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Recently, Artfire announced it was changing it’s business model somewhat and discontinuing the free basic shops. I’ll not go into the details here, but you can read all about it in this post:

Basic Accounts: Start your Pro free trial before 8/15

As is the usual at Artfire, after making the announcement, the Admin team created a post for comments in the seller forum (UNLIKE some other sites I’ve frequented, which may create a post, but quickly closes it down and censures any negative opinions. )

As you might imagine, there was quite a bit of teeth gnashing. (Wait, didn’t I use the teeth gnashing term previously with an Artfire change?  Yep. Sure did. Welcome to open forums. LOL) The thread generated more than 200 pages, a great deal of it from outraged basic sellers that had been getting AF services for free, and now, to stay, they’d have to evaluate their shops and decide whether or not to pay to be Pro. And this simply classic post from an experienced vintage seller named “The Lives of Maggie the Cat”  I thought it was so good, I’m sharing with you. It’s long, but VERY much worth the read.

Maggie the Cat said:

This is my experience with basic and pro shops here.

I joined as basic a year ago. I did nothing with the shop. Didn’t list anything just looked around debating whether I wanted to risk $15 (I think that’s what it was then) a month to be pro. I know from experience that it takes time to get shops set up and the links out there so you can make money. I emailed a few sellers both basic and pro and asked for their off the record input. Some didn’t respond but the pro sellers who did believed they were on to a good thing. None were satisfied with sales but all were making a profit.

Then while I was still debating the basic/pro or go decision, the $5.95 a month lifetime fee was announced. I decided I could gamble $72 for a year to get up and going, and a year is the time frame I allow myself to see results on a site. So I signed up and began listing items, automatically turning pro when admin pushed the start button. It took 2 months for me to have my first sale. That was Thanksgiving weekend 2010. By the end of January I had made enough to cover my fees for the next few years. Sales have ebbed since then but I still make a good profit each month with just a handful of sales.

Granted some of you are selling bits and bobs for very little money and it takes a lot more sales to cover a $10 fee, but I encourage those of you who are sincerely working at selling on AF to look at your items and decide:

1. Is it truly something someone would buy or should it be put out in the .25 box at a yard sale.

2. If it is something someone would want, are you asking a fair price for it? Some of you are asking true artisan prices for jewelry that is nothing more than cheap strung beads. Others evidently don’t have confidence in their creativity and are practically giving away items that are worth many times the asking prices. Buyers can’t pick up your items and examine them so if they see a pretty item at a bargain price they will assume it is made of cheap stuff and pass on it.

3. Do you have a key-word crammed title? Are your descriptions filled with information as to size, material, and a little bit of a buying hook to make people want it?

4. Have you put the best photo possible in your #1 spot and added additional photos of details, backs, etc.?

5. Is your shipping realistic or are you guessing or blatently overcharging a la eBay sellers trying to avoid fvfs?

6. If you are a vintage seller do you truly know the details and value of your items? The other day I clicked on an item and found it listed as from the 1970s and I know without doubt that it was more than 100 years old. I really don’t like the provenance box because it causes people who don’t know to make up stuff to fill in the boxes but this thread is not about that. People use the words gold and silver when they mean gold tone or silver tone, fail to mention what the vintage dress is made of, if the pattern is used or uncut.

You can’t blame AF for not doing their part when you haven’t given them anything to work with.

Here are my suggestions for basic sellers who feel betrayed and angry at AF:

1. If you opened a store and put a couple things in it to see if they would sell…Leave. With that kind of attitude you will not succeed anywhere.

2. If you created a slap-up kind of store with the kind of problems I outined above, fix it this month, ask for your trial month in August. Start checking in daily so your items get good exposure on AF. List a new item at least once a week. Act like you care about your store. Make your store something you are proud of. If you don’t know what a great store should look like, spend an hour just looking at AF stores. There are some true beauties here.

3. Taking advantage of the August free month, will take you to mid September when the summer sales slump is usually over. People are getting serious about life, doing early Christmas shopping, etc. Gamble $10 a month till Christmas to see if your efforts pay off. The autumn and xmas shopping months are the true test unless you sell beach rafts and swimsuits.

4. To those of you who say you need that $10 for food….you are in the wrong business. Online sales fluctuate wildly. Unless you sell essentials, this is not insured income. Take up baby-sitting, dog-walking, burger flipping, or any other minimum wage job if that is all you are qualified for.

On-line selling requires work and daily supervision of the site. If you aren’t willing to make that commitment, this isn’t the place for you. In fact there is no place online for you to pretend to sell. Online selling is not a lazyman’s way to make a living. You either have to make what you sell or go out and locate it, fix/clean it, photograph it, brush up on your English skills so you can write about it, and monitor the site to see how it is doing.

I understand that the US is in serious economic crisis and that many of the basic stores may be owned by people who have lost their jobs or are in desperate straits. However these same economic conditions effect buyers. Sales are in general down unless you sell Picasso originals, diamonds and platinum jewelry. The rich have disposable income. The rest of the population doesn’t.

But the days of everything sells online are long over. My sales are 10% of what they were during the early days of eBay when you sat and watched your item prices go up every time you refreshed your computer screen. It will probably not recover fully in my lifetime. This means you have to have realistic expectations. You also have to work harder.

One thing I will have to add here is the idea of AF charging basic stores a commission when something sold. THAT WON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM. It won’t get rid of deadbeat, abandoned or low quality stores. They will still be taking up space and cost AF money that should be spent on improving the site for paying stores.

I keep remembering JFK’s famous quote. “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” The concept can be applied to the workplace just as easily.

Good stuff huh?

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Update: I made this collection inspired by Julie Bass from my blog post below City of Oak Park vs Vegetables. And now it is on Artfire’s front page. WOOT!

New collection on @Artfire called : Just plant it. I’ve featured lots of green, growing images of real and painted and created plant life. Not a piece of jewelry in sight, but all that green makes for a lovely collection.And I really like the use of old utensils as garden stakes. Pretty crafty, don’t you think?

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My creamy pearl earrings were part of @Artfire’s Collection of the Day. Thanks goes to the Potter’s Daughter for including me in this lovely collection.

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I know, I know, its spring right? Nearing summer? And I should be compiling great summery themed Collections. Well, hell. Sorry ’bout that. I spied this awesome vest from RockHandWool and it inspired this latest artfire collection. So there. And, truth be told, I swear I used to own a vest that looked an awful lot like this one. Maybe I need to go dig through my closet. Of course I’ll need to hold on to it until, say, October since it’s already 90+ here.  (Also, for those you that are eagle eyed, I included another item from The Mud Place’s shop. I LOVE her stuff.)

This one is called Warming Trends.

You can find artisan jewelry, unique gifts, vintage, fine art, accessories and supplies within Artfire member studios. Please click anywhere in the image below to visit Artfire and comment.

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I spent the day yesterday in doors. It was rainy and windy and definitely inspired this collection. Well, and plus I’m a sucker for vintage goodies. As, ahem, I myself am a slightly (cough cough) older than vintage. And, by the way, see those awesome soup cups at the bottom? I bought them in green for myself.

This one is called Rainy and Stormy.

You can find artisan jewelry, unique gifts, vintage, fine art, accessories and supplies within Artfire member studios. Please click anywhere in the image below to visit Artfire and comment.

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I’m already sick of winter and am ready for spring. In that spirit, I’ve created a new Collection on Artfire called I’m Ready for Spring. It’s full of lovely spring greens, sprouts and other spring like images. Doesn’t the bunny just make you happy?

You can find artisan jewelry, unique gifts, vintage, fine art, accessories and supplies within Artfire member studios. Please click anywhere in the image below to visit Artfire and comment.

One of my latest Collections on Artfire made it to the front page! Awesome! This one is called Warm Cocoa Blues and features gorgeous blue and warm brown colored items.  It was inspired by the adorable snuggie stuffed critter from Flying Hooks and Needles.  And, it looks like at least 2 items from this Collection were sold. YAY!

You can find artisan jewelry, unique gifts, vintage, fine art, accessories and supplies within Artfire member studios. Please click anywhere in the image below to visit Artfire and comment.

One of my latest Collections on Artfire made it to the front page!  Awesome!  This one is called Pale Sunny and features gorgeous pastel yellow colored items. The temperature was 19 F here today… a nice cheery yellow Collection suited me. Even nicer is that at least one item has sold so far.

You can find artisan jewelry, unique gifts, vintage, fine art, accessories and supplies within Artfire member studios. Please click anywhere in the image below to visit Artfire and comment.