Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Allyson Roth. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Allyson, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
My learning process began in elementary school with my grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her as a kid and often helped her make stuff for craft fairs. I learned early that a hot glue gun is definitely hot if you touch the glue to soon and to go straight to cold water. I remember watching painting shows and wood work shows with her. Not sure where I got the inspiration from but she let me use a butter knife and try my hand at soap carving. She was amazing. I miss her. Later in middle school and high school my mom and I started Tole painting. My dad would cut the wood and build stuff and my mom and I would paint them. I loved the moments I had with my dad when he would show me how to do stuff in his shop. Then my mom and I started to quilt. Our first quilt is actually still not finished, more so because we realized it wasn’t the most efficient process. We cut old clothes into small squares and hand stitched them together and then hand stitch 9 squares to a solid piece with batting in the middle, basically mini quilts, but that’s where we stopped not knowing how to assemble them together. So we decided to take a beginning quilt class at a local fabric store. It didn’t take very long for inspiration to florish and I was making all sorts of fun designs.
This lead to wanting to make clothes. My best friend’s mom helped teach me how to read a pattern and how to create my own patterns. My first dress I made in 9th grade, then hats, pillows, stuffed animals, and my prom dress my senior year. Eventually I made my own wedding dress.
Sewing wasn’t enough. My mom and I also started scrapbooking. Paper crafting is so much fun. Often I would make paper quilts for my books. Today, I host 3 scrapbook events a year in my community.
After high school and moving on with life, I took many art classes in college while working on my math degree to be a teacher. My most favorite became pottery. Building and sculpting usable items and abstract pieces was so rewarding to my inner self. I even made a life size sculpture of my daughter who was 9 at the time. Other classes I loved was 3D sculpture and oil painting, though I prefer acrylic these days. Halloween props has become an annual tradition for me now as I host haunted houses for schools and my current community.
To top it all off, when I was pregnant with my second child, I wanted to make an afghan for him. So I taught myself how to crochet from images I would search online and in books. Seven years later I’m creating my own designs, one I proudly say went viral in 2020. My full body crochet naked lady Frankenstein costume has nearly 8 million views. Definitely felt the love from the comments. Though many were shocked, appalled, scared, or even confused about it, the love shared that my craftsmanship was amazing really made me feel good.
As an artist I don’t feel there’s really much of a way to speed up a process of learning. As with many things in life it’s step by step learning process, trial and error, and we all must learn from our mistakes to improve whatever we attempt to achieve. Also as an artist inspiration comes from different things so though you might be really into making something right now eventually that might spawn into another form of art. And then sometimes you just want to mix all of them together and see what you can create.
Allyson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a California girl now living in a Florida world. Mom of 3, happily married, and grateful I can stay home with my kids and blossom my crafts. I’ve become the go-to for memory items; quilts, pillows, bears, etc, and dubbed The Memory Maker by many in my community. I also crochet anything upon request, which has lead to some fun items and some interesting things. Then to round it off, I also do clothing hems and minor alterations, and create a full outfits. Again, I’m just a stay at home mom who loves to make stuff for people. I don’t overly charge because I don’t like asking for money, but hugs don’t pay the bills. I’m happy to help you with whatever you want created, but keep in mind, I work around my kids, so it takes me longer than some other artisans. That’s another reason I have a lower price than one might find on say Etsy. Conversation is key though. I work with customers and discuss options and get insight on what they want so that their creation is special and unique for them. Occasionally a friendship will bloom.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
As an artist, the biggest pet peeve from many of us is when someone asks for something made thinking they’re being nice about supporting a small business and then complain that it’s too expensive and they can get nearly the same thing from a major department store. Here’s the scoop, we don’t work in a third world country sweatshop getting paid pennies for the hours of hard labor. We are tradesmen, we have a learned skill often from schooling or apprenticeships, we live in the same country as you and need to pay the same bills you do. So don’t tell an artist that what they are making is too expensive and it’s cheaper elsewhere. Talk with us, see why it costs what it does. Keep in mind, many artists do not get supplies at a super ridiculously low price, we get our supplies at the same stores you can. And time. Please remember it takes time to make things. It’s sad to say that more often than not, an artist isn’t even making minimum wage. For myself, I’ve found that on average I make $4 an hour because if I up my prices too much then no one will request items to be made.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When my daughter was 3 I decided to go back to school to finally get my degree and become a high school math teacher like I always wanted to. It took me a while and I was enjoying the art classes more than the math classes some terms. Unfortunately I had many telling me I can’t make a living from art and be able to support my family. So I stuck it out to finish my teaching credential. I still loved the idea of teaching. After 7 years teaching and having a second child, my husband got an opportunity to transfer to Florida. That was a fun eventure driving across the country. My bucket list of driving the entire stretch of interstate 10. For the past 5 years I’ve been able to stay home with my (now) 3 kids and to fill my in between time I’ve been able to blossom my crafts and offer my experience to others. I’m so thankful for this opportunity and hoping to continue to grow so that I don’t have to go back to the classroom. I’m sad that so much has happened in the school system that I’m scared to go back.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @AllysonKennedyArtist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllysonKennedyArtist