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| Work in Progress |
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| Robins Studio |
Robin Wade is an amazing Artisan her creative process includes the use of the discarded and unused. I purchased one of her pieces a few weeks ago and was so delighted and touched that we decided it was her time to shine in the spotlight!
What prompted you to open an Etsy Shop?
For almost the entire three of so years I've been creating jewelry, people have been telling me I should open a shop on Etsy. It seemed intriguing but there were so many uncertainties that I stopped myself. I thought the process of setting up a shop and managing it would be too complicated and overwhelming. I reasoned that people might not want to purchase my creations. There was always an excuse not to open a shop, and yet there was also a tug to push myself to give it a try. Last June 16th, my friend Leah Peterson was visiting and staying with me for a week. She has an Etsy shop and agreed to sit down and walk me through the setup. I was blown away at how easy the whole process was!
Your stories about each piece you create are intriguing, how do you get your ideas?
I had to have some kind of description for each post so decided to create little stories about each piece. The stories are based on how I see the piece as it's created. Much to my surprise... the stories have become an important part of each creation. I get messages from people daily about how their special piece helped them deal with a physical or emotional struggle. Knowing that one of my little angels or other creations have touched someone's life in a positive way is amazing! My life has been enriched by the countless people I've met through my Etsy shop. I look forward to hearing from people who want to share a bit of their life and why the piece they chose has touched them. I will never regret pushing myself to take a risk and give Etsy a chance. My life has changed in so many good ways because of it.
Tell us a little bit about your creative process ad how you got started.
I started drawing and painting several years ago as a way to express what I was feeling inside. I found that creating art was my passion and it has been very important in my life. I worked for many years with children from birth through 18 years that had been abandoned, neglected, and abused. I loved my work with children and I sometimes give them voice through my art today. I started to create jewelry after taking a basic silversmith class and learning how to solder a bezel. Once I figured out how to solder different metals together... I went my own direction and started setting all kinds of materials in silver. The angels and other little sculptured figures evolved out of learning those basic skills. It took a while to learn how to successfully solder several joints without melting the previous ones... or the entire piece. I've approached the jewelry as a sculpture. I sculpt wings, faces, and other pieces out of Fimo and then create molds so I can reproduce them with PMC. I cut, solder, and set different materials to create each piece. The challenge of incorporating different materials is always exciting to me. Each piece that I create kind of tells me how it want's to look. I don't gather specific materials for each piece. My workbench is full of bits of re-purposed sterling, copper,brass, rocks, broken ceramic bits, buttons,typewriter keys, and on. It's organized to me... but most people would probably see it as chaos.
What are your Favorite Shop on Etsy?
The true answer is I don't have 1 absolute favorite.... I have several for different reasons. If we are talking Vintage stuff my favorite would be CoolVintage because I love the old dug up and found objects. It's kind of like experiencing a small "dig" without actually digging. If we are talking jewelry... I love QuenchMetalWorks. She does amazing work with buttons and sterling. I use both in my own work but in very different ways. I absolutely love KatHannah's paintings/prints. Her work is deep, beautiful, remotely uncomfortable and quietly thought provoking. If I had to choose one... (painful)... it would be her shop.
Please visit RobinWade today!
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You can see the winning items and a full description at Niftic Vintage
