Give me creativity or give me death!

       In the spring of 2003 I was walking in downtown Clarksville where I worked and passed a window where the strangest looking animal was looking back at me. It was a Cornish Rex cat, white as snow and absolutely bald.  If you have ever seen one, you know the shock I experienced.  A new shop was coming to town, a bead store called RocknRocks, and Clarksville was ready for it. After the shop had its grand opening I wandered in here and there and thought I might buy a few beads to make a necklace or something.  In Clarksville, anything new is the next biggest thing so lots of people wandered in and out too.  I got to know the people there and KiKi, the strange looking thing that greeted me that first day.

A recent guardian angel that
 I gave to a longtime friend

       The next year I graduated from college and found myself with not much to do and little money to do it with.  I looked all over the city for a job and there was none to be had, but the owners of  RocknRocks needed a store clerk and they were willing to pay a decent wage and I didn't have to fill out anymore dead end applications for work.  I started there part time and graduated to full time and then managing the storefront while the team worked behind the scenes on the online section of the business. 

 

      What I found out was I was good at beads. I learned how to crimp and string and how to help people have confidence in their work. I found a community of jewelry artists that made me want to learn and share more. I started making my own pieces, collecting beads, and teaching classes.  It was awesome! But I found that unless I put my items for dirt cheap, things didn't sell. Then one day, our boss took a slight piece of wire and a hammer and made a hook for a clasp and I was hypnotized.  I was amazed at how the metal changed when it was hammered.  My coworker, Eunice, and I began to stir up metalworking in our souls.  

      One day Eunice showed me Harbor Freight and the heavens opened and the angels were singing hallelujah! Later I found a 15lb anvil and right then and there I sold my soul to metalworking!  (I am from the South, the bible belt, and I went to Catholic school for 9 years, so things come to me in religion.)  In 2007 I had my daughter and quit working at RocknRocks.  Things were slow while I learned the ways of poop and breastfeeding, but when she was old enough to take good naps I pulled out my box of wire and began to create again and this time, people loved it. 

My lovely anvil, letter stamps, and stubby ball pein hammer
I found at Harbor Freight

      I made small things at first, little wrapped pendants and things (my anvil came in 2008). And with the ever enduring encouragement of my mother and my family, I started making more and more until finally complete strangers were buying my pieces.  I would get asked all the time "Do you sell online?"  And the answer was "no" until 2010 when I tentatively made a shop on Etsy called The Salvaged Edge and started selling to people all over.  I have enjoyed a moderate success so far, for which I am thankful, but I am always looking to meet more people and expand my friends and customers. So, if you are in the area, stop by 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarieYoungdesigns

And remember, if you are a struggling artist who is starting online for the first time: Slow and steady wins the race, that and promoting your product like hell!