Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chris Cravens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chris, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I was in my mid-forties when I decided to run 10 Gables. At the time, I left a 30-year corporate information technology career. It was so much fun learning to run a small business and my craft at the same time. While I gave it a good run, I quickly realized that to make this type of business successful enough to replace my income, I would have to move to more of a designer role and hire someone to make the products, into the teaching space, or into a bench jewelry role focusing on repairs and appraisals. Making jewelry is a passion for me, so it made sense to go back to working in IT and moving jewelry to a side gig. This allows me to focus more on the art of it all rather than busy production. For me, this is a perfect solution and I wish I would have discovered how much I love doing this sooner so I could have been making jewelry all along!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m inspired by the small things most people miss: light shining on seed pods, ripples on water, even bits of the past on antique buildings. I work with gemstones, sterling silver and copper to handcraft everything made for 10 Gables. My true love is creating gemlike stones by fusing finely ground glass called vitreous enamel to metal with kiln and torch. I also cut gemstones and am learning the ages old technique of chasing and repousse to bring more dimension to 10 Gables jewelry. My mission in life is to help people escape the ordinary with colorful, modern art jewelry for adventurous souls!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I am a like a sponge when it comes to absorbing information to grow all facets of my business. These are a few of my favorite books and I would recommend them for any type of small business owner: * The E-myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber: identify ways to automate parts of your business and save so much time
* Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller: game changing approach to focusing your makes & marketing on telling a story
* Profit First by Mike Michalowicz: the best strategy to build your business without credit
* The One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand: a great way to batch content of all kind (particularly useful if you’ve worked through Storybrand first)

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One of the most frequent comments I hear at art shows is “I wish I was creative like you are.” I often want to reach across the table and hug that person. To whisper in their ear ‘Oh, my dear, but your are! You just need to take the first step and then the next and the next to discover what makes your heart sing.’

I was a person who believed they weren’t creative, too. From a 6th grade failing grade in art class to being unable to draw. It was picking up a crochet hook in my late 20s that reminded me how much I enjoyed the sheer pleasure of turning string into something useful and beautiful. I learned this skill from my Grandmas, but had somehow forgotten that little superpower. From there, I explored jewelry repair as part of a business I ran for a while reselling vintage/antique jewelry. And then, the magic of enameling was revealed to me in a weekend class in 2016 I decided to try on a whim. I fell in love and it’s been a journey into all facets of jewelry making since then.

I would say to you don’t be afraid to ask questions and just take a risk to learn something you think you might like. If you hate it like I hate making pottery? No biggie, try something else! Your creativity is only limited by your imagination. And if your imagination is a little bit rusty, it only takes a little bit of work to un-stick it :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://10gables.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/10gables
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/10gables
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Xefb_tYdDlCCpCBSwLPzg