We recently connected with Delaney Yorio and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Delaney, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
Growing up my parents always insisted on me going to university and finishing school, as well as constantly reminding me to, “do what you love and the money will come.” I truly believed this idea because I saw my mom doing something she enjoyed and she excelled at what she did, same for my dad. I always felt if you are passionate enough about something you will push yourself to limits unknown to make it work for you. This is a philosophy I grew up with my whole life, the hard part was figuring out what exactly that passion was. I knew I was interested in pursuing art but there is a WIDE range of careers you can pursue in this field. For example when I started school at The School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago in 2015 I had decided to pursue a course in graphic design, this changed before the first day of school. I then decided I wanted to try a hand in fashion design, which I loved but it was a little to hectic for me and I wanted something a little more relaxed. I then decided something I felt strongly about and connected to was art therapy and moved in this direction. In my classes I had the opportunity to travel to Tanzania for one of my courses. I did not ask my parent’s permission before signing up because I didn’t want to be talked out of it. I was set on going, however when I did call them to tell them I would be leaving for Tanzania in a few short months they fully supported my decision and even encouraged it. All they asked is how I was going to pay for it, my response, ” I’ll figure it out,” (thanks student loans.) They asked no questions and let me pursue this dream. This trip changed my life in many ways. It humbled me, it made me look at the world with fresh eyes and from it I realized I thought I knew a lot more than I really did. It sparked the need to travel and learn more about the world around me, which is exactly what I decided to do. I left school in 2018 and took off for South East Asia with just my backpack and an open mind. My parents were nervous about this but they fully supported my decision and had all the faith in me that I would come right. They believed in me even when I wasn’t so sure. Through my travels I really found myself and my confidence to truly pursue being a creative artist. I accepted myself for the weird and quirky person I am and I believe it really started to come through in my work. I am so grateful that my parents from a young age gave me the space to be me, they gave me courage to pursue my dreams and the tools to start a career I truly wanted. I hope one day I can share this same love and support with children of my own.
Delaney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Delaney Yorio, I am a 25 year old artist from Cincinnati, Ohio. I attended the The School Of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2015 and decided to leave and travel South East Asia in 2018. In my travels alone I became very comfortable with myself and with my art work, which I never truly felt confident in. The person who really brought this new found confidence out in me was my husband Jade. I met him in Vietnam in 2018 and we had quite the whirlwind romance. He pushed me to share my work and allowed me to feel comfortable being my quirky self. I thought people would judge my art and think it was too weird or not good enough, but Jade showed me that if my art made me happy and if it felt good doing it why should I care what others think. He showed me that there are other people out there that feel just like me and will appreciate my work for what it is.
In 2017 after my grandmother passed away I became obsessed with the earrings she had left behind. She had such a fun and unique sense of style and I loved how each piece of jewelry she owned had a story. I was particularly infatuated with these few pairs of ceramic earrings she had. I wanted so badly to recreate these for myself, but one worry I had was how fragile they were, and how heavy they could be. So I did my research and found that polymer clay was a light weight clay that was a lot more durable than ceramic clay. I became obsessed with the idea of creating jewelry with this clay. There was just one issue, I was too afraid to even start because I didn’t want to fail. I put it off for a long time until I met Jade. I told Jade of the idea I had to make these earrings and how I had all the fun designs in my head but wasn’t sure where to start. He told me to put it down on paper, come up with a rough business plan and go from there. Second problem was, we didn’t have an oven in Vietnam so I was not able to physically start making anything just yet, but I did my research and put my ideas on paper. I continued this for two years while we were living in Vietnam.
Then in 2020, COVID happened as we all know. Jade and I were with his family in South Africa at the time. Lockdowns happened and I ended up staying there for three months while he continued to work. He worked long days while I sat at home trying to find work online. One day, Jade came home and he knew I was having a hard time adjusting to life in South Africa and I was feeling a bit lost in what to do. He told me to bring out my sketchbook and he would get me the tools I needed to start making this polymer clay jewelry I had been obsessing over for years. It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshines off the bat… My first few pieces were either burnt, completely crumbled or looked like a child’s art project. I spent my time watching videos and doing research and finally made a few successful pairs of earrings. I had started making them for fun and just for me but Jade encouraged me to share my work online, so I did. It was scary at first, I was afraid of being judged or people not taking me seriously but I took the jump. The feedback I got was very unexpected and wonderful. I spent most of my days creating new pieces and experimenting with different techniques. It was not only fun but it was very therapeutic for me.
I started getting messages from people interested in buying some of my earrings, so I decided to look into making a website for myself, into branding and packaging. It was a lot of learning, trial and error but in the end I was very happy with the outcome. I spent hours and days, even months working on my website by myself and creating content. I launched the website and business, Delaney and Blu in April 2021. At the time it was only meant to be a side job for me, but it took off very quickly. I decided to quit my day job only a month later and pursue this dream full time. It was the best decision I ever made. I spent my days creating and my weekends soon became filled with markets and people viewing, buying and talking about my work.
Delaney and Blu was a dream I held on for too long, I think the only regret I have is not pursuing it sooner than I did, but I am grateful that I took the jump at all. I now work full time out of my home studio in Cincinnati, Ohio and attend markets and art festivals all around the Midwest. My work has developed into more than I thought I was capable of. It is bright, light and unique. I like to focus on color because color makes me happy and I want other people to smile when they see my work. I like to use a variety of materials and techniques in my work as well to stand out from the many other polymer clay artists.
Some of my favorite pieces that I make are made from “scrap” or what I like to call my “recycled” clay. I use the left over pieces from my larger designs or slabs and cut them into tiny pieces. I then roll them out to create this marble effect of many different colors. You never really know what colors will mix, or stand out until it’s rolled out into a flat piece, kind of like rolling out dough. From this large piece of marbled clay I then use small “cookie like” cutters or a knife to cut the clay into shapes and pieces to create my earrings. These are then baked in my toaster over ( I know… it sounds weird but it works!) Once they are baked, I sand them, and one thing not a lot of people do is sand the sides AND the top of the clay to create the look of layers. This technique brings out new colors that are hidden beneath and to me it almost looks like layers you’d find in rocks or stones. After this I cover the pieces in resin to really make the colors pop and shine. Sometimes I even paint over the top of this “recycled” clay to make it a little more interesting and unique from other makers.
Some other materials I like to use in my clay are real flowers and herbs from my garden. These are all truly unique and special. I press the flowers and herbs into unbaked clay, then they are cut, baked, sanded and then resined to keep the flowers nice and preserved! I like these especially because they can be custom made for my customers as well. I can take flowers given to me by the customer and make them special earrings or necklaces that they can keep and cherish forever. One of the most meaningful custom orders I did was for a friend of mine from middle school. Her dad had passed away when we were in high school and her family had kept the flowers from his funeral. She asked me if I could make her family some custom earrings using these flowers. It meant so much to me that they wanted me to create something so meaningful and special for them to cherish for life.
Another technique I use is clay canes. This process takes a lot of time and patience. It took me two years to even really attempt making a slab with clay canes. If you are not sure what this is I urge you to look it up because if I attempt to explain it through writing I think I may lose you. These clay cane slabs are always featured on our site as our special one of kind slabs because they are near impossible for me to truly re-create. They are usually a big, colorful slab with extremely intricate detail. These slabs can take up to 5 or more hours to finish, some have even taken me a few days. Our current collection for this technique is called Jade’s Secret Forest. Each earring in this collection is a one of a kind style and cut.
I truly find it hard to encompass my work in just a few words, I think it speaks for itself more than I ever could. All I can truly tell you about each piece I make is that it comes from the heart, each piece is made by me from start to finish. Each post, package or interaction is done by me.
My goal with my company and with my work it to make people smile, to feel confident in being bold and out there. I want people to embrace their unique and quirky side and to me that is through my style and jewelry. If I ever leave the house without earrings I feel like I have left my pants at home. They are a part of me that shows people who I am and how I may be feeling that day. I just hope that they can do the same for my customers.
I like to describe my work as little pieces of art for your ears. I believe they are just as valuable as something you would hang on your wall. They are made with patience and careful attention. It is art that you can share with the world rather than just the few people who may come to your home. I believe my work is unique from the many other polymer clay makers because it is beyond bold, it unique in it’s shape and design, it’s fiercely in your face, even if it is just our small simple studs. There is character in each piece that I believe makes it special to each individual customer.
The journey of Delaney and Blu has been hard, exciting and life changing. I am proud of how far my work has come and how well my vision has come across to my loyal customers. I worried a lot about sharing my work, about what people would say. I worried people would not get what I wanted to share, and that is an experience, a smile and a little piece of me. I believe people have found this in my work and I know this from my customers. They have been nothing but supportive, loving and kind. I love being able to meet them at shows or even online because this work is vulnerable for me, it is me. I am always touched even if people do not buy anything from me, their smile, their words of kindness are more than I could ever ask for. I feel so lucky to have the community of Delaney and Blu behind me in this adventure.
I also need to give a special thanks to my family in this journey, they have been nothing but supportive and loving. My husband and I are living countries apart while we work on his immigration visa and my family, especially my mom have stepped up in so many ways to help support me in this time. From working shows with me, helping me finalize design decisions, to carding studs until 2am. Thanks mom, you are a true gem and I could not have done this without you!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best way for me to meet new customers is at pop-up markets. Yes, they are a lot of work but it has truly helped build a loyal customer base for Delaney and Blu. After doing a pop-up I usually see a spike in our online sales and in our online following. I think it is extremely important for my business to be out there in the community, talking to people about the process and for them to see my pieces in person. A lot of people have the misconception that all my pieces are extremely heavy due to the size of some, but because they are made with polymer clay they are much, much lighter than they look. I highly recommend to anyone just starting out, one of the best ways to build your customer base is getting out in the community, talking with customers and other creatives, you never know where it may lead you!
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
You can find my products on my website at delaneyandblu.com. I run and maintain this site myself through Shopify. I have absolutely loved using Shopify for the past two years. I looked into other e-commerce sites like Etsy and Amazon but I felt that creating and curating my own site was more suitable for me. I didn’t like all the hidden fees involved with Etsy and with Amazon I felt that it could get to be too much for me and my products would no longer be slow made and small batch, all made by me. I like Shopify because I really have creative freedom of how to present and share my products with my customers. I also like using Shopify because I use their POS system for pop-up markets which is great and super useful, since most transactions are done through card payments nowadays. Shopify also has great marketing tools, inventory tracking and financial reports for the boring side of Delaney and Blu. Shopify has gotten me this far and I am happy where I am, if I ever want to expand and grow the business I would stick with Shopify and use something like Etsy at the same time to expand my audience, but for now I am happy as a one woman team!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://delaneyandblu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delaneyandblu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delaneyandblu/
Image Credits
Delaney Yorio