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

Alright, Janice thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

I believe the biggest challenge facing many artists and myself in particular is people not realizing what is involved with making art. I am not just speaking of costs. My costs are fairly minimal as far as materials. If I create a 4″ ornament say, the cost of the felt, threads and perhaps some tiny beads is pennies. However, my time that it takes to create this ornament is substantial. My ornaments usually range from $14-30 per ornament depending on the work and details involved. One ornament can take me at least several hours, sometimes days. Minimum wage is over $15 an hour. I am certainly not getting that. When you do live shows and people are looking askance at a $15 price tag on a small piece, and then moving on to the buy and sell people who are selling items from another country for $5, it is sometimes difficult to compete with that. I must do constant selling that my work is handmade, all hand stitched and takes me many hours to complete. Nowadays, unfortunately art is a luxury, which is very sad. There are still a small handful of people that realize the work that goes into a handmade piece and will buy without question. This is not the norm. Handmade artists face a daily challenge of trying to compete with big box stores and people who sell already bought items. This is my challenge. I would love to sell at bigger, higher end art shows, but generally the cost and expense of those is not in my budget.

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

My name is Janice Parrott and I am creator, owner and operator of Mountaindolls.com, handmade fiber arts, dolls, cards, embroidery art.

I “retired” from a lawfirm as a legal assistant when my daughter was 3 to be with her. I started making dolls and doll clothes when my daughter Aly, an exceptional artist, was small and playing with AmericanGirl dolls, whose clothes, of course, were pretty expensive. So I decided to make some doll clothes. Not being a person who sticks to one medium, I moved onto making quilts. I made A LOT of quilts. I still love quilting. I worked in a quilt store for a few years, had another child, my son, Colton, who is an accomplished musician. The owner of the quilt store always taught me that if you wanted to make quality products, you needed to buy quality materials. Even though they were hard to afford, I still made a point to always buy quality, it made a difference in every piece I made.
I have always had great love of dolls, and making them just seemed to be a natural progression, because I could always use the gorgeous quilt fabrics in them. I learned the art of cloth doll making from some of the most wonderful dollmakers. The internet was very young then, and finding information about making dolls was a challenge. But I bought many patterns and learned as I went. My goal was to eventually make my own pattern. I did and since I have made hundreds of dolls and patterns. I did small shows, and the dolls sold very well, not consistently, but looking back now, I realize that I did ok. With every doll I made I tried to stretch my skills, and I have learned something with every doll I have ever made.
As my children got older, I had more time, and we did a lot of camping vacations, outdoors and nature became everything. I live on a mountain in the Helderberg mountains, hence my business name. I ended up going back to work mostly fulltime for a jeweler/goldsmith, who was wonderful teacher and taught me about gemstones and business. I retired when COVID came and we had to shut down. I learned so much there, and am grateful.

I had always wanted to make a baby doll, and so in trying to do that, I ended up on a very different journey. As I was making the doll, she turned into something different entirely not a baby, but a young girl. A fairy. Her name was Lacie, and as I was working on her, a story evolved, and it just mushroomed. I work a book, called Lacie and the Goose, which was published over 10 years ago, and I consider it my best accomplishment. I have made dolls from the four main characters from the book, and I have 2 more books in progress, hoping to finish at least one of them in the next few months.
The other very important thing I learned from making Lacie and her friends, was embroidery. I started doing some little embroidery flowers on the skirts, wings and other clothes, and found that I just loved it. All the embroidery I do is self-taught. With the internet and google you can find how to do anything, and I am grateful for all the wonderful artists who have shared their time and talents with the world! A very different arena from 20 years ago.

I still make an occasional dolls and some with short stories to accompany them. After the early 2000’s dolls and dollmaking sort of went buy the wayside, so moving onto embroidery art, again was a natural progression.
This is what I do now, every day. I work all the time, because I love what I do. Embroidery art is so vast and there are so many things you can do. I started making one of kind cards for shows, and they have quickly become the items I sell the most of. People tell me my cards are like no one else’s, which is always great to hear. I recently started using watercolor paints to paint the paper first, then attaching the embroidery piece to it. I guess I cannot use enough mediums!
My newest thing to make is little felt/fiber art earrings, that are hand embroidered and beaded.

Nowadays, I do get the occasional custom order. This year I did Alice in Wonderland for a customer who gave me a budget and complete freedom. I did a large piece on a wood block with the doll, the cheshire cat, the hookah-smoking caterpillar and the white rabbit. What a challenge it was, incorporating woodworking, clay sculpting, stuffed animals, needlefelting and painting. I have another really challenging piece that I am in the process of. I really cannot share details on that one just yet.
Nature and being outdoors is still everything. Gardening has also become a new passion, but being in upstate NY, a very short season.
There is always work on my table, usually I have several pieces in progress. Whenever I have a break, I work on a new gnome, which has also become a really fun thing to work on. I have made many different themed gnomes and people seem to love them. From a Scottish gnome with a kilt to a librarian with a stack of books to a fisherman. Mine are a bit different, and for this I am glad.
I generally will take custom orders, if I think I can do them justice. Most people just contact me through my website or see me at a show . Since I do not get that many orders, I can usually create something in a reasonable amount of time. A piece like Alice will take several weeks, and I always tell people to plan accordingly. For smaller things like cards and ornaments, a week lead time is generally all I need.
I love what I do, and am very passionate about my work, it keeps me going and sane :)

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Absolutely – YOUTUBE! I do not use it much now, but at the beginning of learning embroidery, social media was invaluable. A HUGE thank you to all the artists who have shared their tutorials.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

For me it is quality. Quality work, quality materials. Even though perhaps a person just glancing at my items may not realize it, I try to have all of my work the highest quality it can be. I would like that to be my reputation, and at shows, many of my repeat customers will tell me that the quality of my work is what keeps them coming back.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mountaindolls.com
• Instagram: mountaindolls
• Facebook: mountaindolls
• Twitter: mountaindolls
• Youtube: mountaindolls