By Your Hands: Today's Featured Artist

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Today's Featured Artist - The Primitive Outhouse

Today's Featured Artist is Janice from The Primitive Outhouse.

Tell us a little about you?
I am Janice and I am the shopkeeper of The Primitive Outhouse! I have lived my whole life in historic New England. This is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen.
On a given day I can drive to the mountains and feel on top of the world, in that same day I can drive to the ocean and feel like I am just a speck of sand in this world! I love the changing seasons and the drastic weather here. A saying we have here in New England is if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!
Living in this area has provided so much inspiration for me! I am with a wonderful man who takes good care of me, and pushes me to push my self and obtain goals and to keep creating. I am currently a stay at home mother of three boys and on occasion I work for a friend doing construction clean up.
I am also a full time student in college for my Associates Degree in Business Management, I only have 2 semesters left.(Finally!!!!)! I am looking forward to getting that degree and then I will continue on to obtain my Bachelors degree in Accounting. In the mean time I try to make some extra money doing my crafts to contribute to the home when I can !

How long have you been in business?
I started selling my crafts at home to friends and family since about 2000. I did that for a while and then ventured out and rented a craft booth for a few years. That was fun!
I then discovered eBay in 2006 and started selling there and created a website, these were great. In 2008 I shut down my website and went to eBay.
It was also in 2008 I started an Etsy site and have been there since! I do sales from anywhere really, some people message me from my blog and I have several old customers from my website whom I still sell to.

How did you get started?

I can't remember exactly when the crafting/creating bug started, but it was when I was just really young! I remember designing and painting my Barbie's wooden furniture (ha-ha)! I always have enjoyed painting and creating! We didn't have a lot of money growing up, my mother was always making gifts and clothes and costumes for us and family and friends. I always enjoyed the feeling I got when I made someone something they loved! That is my whole reason for doing what I do!

What is involved in making your craft?

I am involved in anything and everything crafts and handmade!! I am a very eclectic crafter, I enjoy painting and sewing and trash to treasure I also dabble in a little woodworking on occasion. I just go with the flow if I have an idea or see and idea I like I attempt it. I just love to create!

What is your favorite thing to make?
My favorite thing to make is anything painted! I love to paint, it is such a peaceful feeling when I grab that brush and completely get lost in the project!
I also love to try new things and the feeling I get from learning the method or technique and come out with a finished product.
I also love creating primitives and learning the history of the items they used back then. It brings me back to those days and how different things were then.

Do you have set hours to work?

Not at the current time. I am a stay at home Mom, so there are no set hours lol. I do however try to take as much time as I can to craft and it is mostly after the kids go to bed!

What are your future plans for your business?

I hope to do this forever or for as long as my body and mind will let me! I would love to open a shop someday and actually get to meet my customers and build real friendships and relationships with them. I want to bring back that feeling from back in the day when you created friendships with the local shop owners.
I used to live next door to one of those Ma and Pa shops and it was my favorite place to be, they knew me and what I liked and always had a little something special for me under the counter. This is what I want for my business and I hope to someday achieve it!

What does handcrafting mean to you?

Handcrafting, that word seems to have lost it's meaning over the years. Handcrafted means that it is totally handmade in every part of it, in everyway.
There are many shops in my area that claim to be handcrafted and they are not and it is disappointing. I enjoy seeing peoples creations and the hard work and time that goes into making them.
I do make hand made items and I also offer items that are not totally handmade, the latter is usually the case with any items in which I repurposed.

Where do you sell your crafts at?