Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Shop feature - Kristine of Gulickkr on Etsy




Hair-pin/Shawl-pin
Purple and white amethyst pendant
Kristine of Gulickkr on Etsy has been creating beautiful jewelry since 2008.  It started as a labor of love and a way to support her dad's new-found hobby.  Her dad was inspired by a TV show and decided to go mining for gems.  He found many beautiful stones but also found that it was very expensive to have the stones cut and set into jewelry.
Sterling silver wire wrapped purple pendant


 To save money, he decided to join a rock club and took a lapidary class where he learned to cut cabochon out of stones. A cabochon, from the Middle French caboche (head), is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted.  He learned how to cut the stone slabs and grind and polish the stones into beautiful one of a kind pieces.  Kristine, along with her dad, then took a wire wrapping class.  Together they created beautiful jewelry.  Dad continued to make the cabochon pieces and Kristine developed her love of wire wrapping.

Sadly, Kristine's dad passed away from cancer in 2010.  She still has a few gems that her dad created but now she buys all her stones from fellow Etsy stores, rock and mineral shows, or jewelry suppliers. To honor her dad's memory, and to help raise money for cancer research, Kristine donates 10% of each sale to the American Cancer Society.

I asked Kristine, what advice she had for new Etsy sellers:
"Advice that I would give someone new to Etsy is to be patient and committed. It takes time for your shop to get noticed. It is frustrating waiting especially for that first sale, but it will come. Just believe and it will happen. The biggest thing that I learned since opening my shop is that it really is a full-time job. It takes time to make items for your shop, but it takes even longer to commit to marketing and getting yourself known. It is so important to invest that time in your shop."
Plum crocheted shawl

What's new in Kristine's shop?
Gemstone wire wrapped gemstone tree
"I  have started a few new lines since opening my shop. Since November, I have launched a line of chainmaille ornaments (seasonal item only), gemstone trees, and hair/shawl pins. The hair/shawl pins have been really popular, so I would like to continue adding more styles of these pins to my shop. Also, to compliment the pins, I just starting selling crocheted shawls (as of two weeks ago). I have loved crocheting since I was a little girl, and am having so much fun working on shawls now. So that is the main focus of my shop right now (building up inventory of the shawls)."
I have chosen just a few of the beautiful listings to feature here.  I recommend you take a moment and check out  Kristine's Gulickkr shop on Etsy. Click here for Kristine's facebook page  and here for twitter.

18 comments:

  1. What a great story about her dad mining for gems and them both learning to wrap them up into beautiful jewelry! Wow. It sounds like a movie! :) Thanks for sharing and letting us know a little bit more about Kristine!

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  2. I didn't know it all started with Kristine's dad. What a great way to continue his legacy.

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  3. loved hearing the story of how Kristine got started. Thanks for sharing it! I also have LOVED Kristine's pendants from the first moment I saw them:)

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  4. What a great post. I knew some but not all of this. I am a repeat customer of Kristine's because her work it amazing!! I love it when I see my Mom wearing the pendant Kristine made. Gorgeous!!

    Keep up the great work, Kristine....and thanks for your friendship.
    Judy, You really rocked this one....pun intended! LOL
    Becky

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  5. Oh my, how touching that Kristine and her dad started this hobby- turned business together. Congratulations to her for continuing to pursue the business, and give back to a worthy cause. Her dad would be proud I'm sure :)

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  6. Lovely post! I had not visited Kristine's shop until today. Her jewelry is beautiful. I appreciate her advice very much.

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  7. I love how Kristine and her dad started her interest in the stones. Her jewelry is so beautiful and her crocheting is perfect.

    ♥♥♥
    Sue

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  8. Wonderful interview, I didn't know how Kristine came to do wire wrapping. Thanks for sharing with us. Blessings Niki x

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  9. Thank you for featuring Kristine, Judy. I loved learning a bit more about her.

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  10. Thanks for introducing us to Kristine's shop! Always love to see what fellow Etsy shop owners are doing!

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  11. Wow, beautiful work! Thanks for sharing!

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  12. I love Kristine's work. Great feature!

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  13. Kristine is, herself, a gem. I am so glad to get to know her more and more....

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  14. Her work is so beautiful! Great feature.

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  15. Of course I love all her stuff, but especially the trees that she creates. I didn't know about why she started to create, but that's such a sweet story. What great memories she must have of her dad.

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  16. It was nice to read more about the lovely Kristine. I am thinking it must have been lovely for her to share an interest like lapidary with her father for all those years. It is so cool that she can help other cancer sufferers through her shop profits.

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  17. Great background story. I love Kristine's new shawl line. I have one of her hair/shawl pins and it is unique and lovely. I need to get my daughter's knitted scarf finished so that I can give it to her with the shawl pin.

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  18. This feature has been a wonderful way to get to know Kristine more. Thank you!

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