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.

Shop Feature - Zudagay on Etsy

Handmade Floral Polymer Clay Beads and Jewelry 

by Zudagay on Etsy

Citrus Flower Pendant

Beautiful Flower Pendant

Here is a shop that has been selling on ETSY since 2007.  Zuda of Zudagay on Etsy creates these fabulously detailed floral creations using polymer clay. 

She has been working with clay of different kinds for most of her life and has been working primarily with polymer clays for about 15 years or so.

Red Flower Pendant

In 2007 her husband lost his job so Zuda, having known about Etsy since it started, decided the time was right for her to use her creative gifts and opened her shop.  Her first year was a great success and exceeded all expectations.  Her detailed floral designs continue to be very popular and sell well.  

I asked Zuda to explain a bit about Polymer clay and what she does:

"I primarily use Premo! polymer clay for my work. I like it for its workability and strength. To begin with the clay needs to be conditioned to get it soft and workable and to make sure all the plasticizers are dispersed throughout the clay. In most of my work I use a technique called Mille Fiori cane work which originated in glass work, and also in candy. This is where a design is created which runs the length of a cane or rod of clay. I slice the cane and then manipulate or sculpt each slice into a petal then attach each petal to a base of clay to create a flower."

Orange Dahlia Ring

 

I have shown only a few of the beautiful flower creations in her shop.  Take a few minutes and visit Zudagay on Etsy to see her other creations.  

 

 

Here are her other links:

Twitter: twitter.com/#!/ZudaGay
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/zudagay/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ZudaGay-Etsy-Shop/52262256268
Pinterest: pinterest.com/zudagay/
Blog: www.clayinthehands.blogspot.com

If you'd like an opportunity to be featured on my blog, leave a comment on this post.  I plan to randomly select from the comments here for my next feature.