We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Erickson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.
Jessica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I never intended to earn a full time living from this work but I am happy to say that I have been able to. Starting out, I was just making a few pieces to show to my friends and wear myself but I eventually had some interest in the earrings I was making. I am a stay at home mom and my child was only a year old at the time – I didn’t have much time to work and when I did, I was sitting at her toddler play-doh table with her and making my earrings right alongside her. I eventually was able to create a website and was invited to sell some of my pieces at a local store in Detroit – Old Soul Vintage. After that, my sales really started to jump and I had to set aside more time to create and invest in quality tools to increase production. Once I realized I couldn’t keep up with handwriting addresses on packages and keeping certain pieces in stock – I decided to go full time.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I consider myself to be a mixed media artist and I bring that to my company – Crying Heart Craft Co. My main focus is polymer clay jewelry – specifically earrings, but I also make necklaces, trinket dishes, small figurines, ornaments, pins, hair accessories and have recently expanded into shoe charms (you know the rubber shoes with all the holes). I also work with jesmonite to create small dishes, plant cutting displays and trays. Jesmonite is a lightweight resin that has the feel of concrete without the weight. I got into polymer clay jewelry specifically because I had my own problem to solve – I have stretched earlobes and I can’t wear most of the earrings that I liked. So, I set out to make bright, bold styles that folks with stretched ears could wear – simply by offering a different set of hardware. The huggie hoop is now a standard in my pieces and works for most folks ears – it offers the security of clasping shut so it won’t slide off of a stretched earlobe! I also created my signature earring piece – the crying heart. This artwork is based off of a Bert Grimm tattoo but the earring itself is something that I created on my own. I was able to team up with another creator who made me a custom cutter (Goyna Studio) and stamp once my partner helped me draw up the perfect design – which happens to be my logo. It’s an iconic piece in my collections – customers collect all the different styles that I make with it, everything from bright marbling, silkscreen florals, checkerboard, hand cut flower patterns, flames, fruits and even more, I have a large and small size of this design so everyone can rock the piece that they are comfortable with. It’s taken a long time for me to find my particular style but I love experimenting with new techniques to fold into my pieces. If you like bold, big, colorful pieces that will make you stand out – chances are you’ll find a piece you love from me. I work hard to make my pieces beautiful and they will last you a long time with proper care. Polymer clay is a vinyl product and while it is durable, it still needs to be treated with care. I use up every scrap piece that I make – ensuring that I’m not wasting product and I’m also not overbuying. Most of these scraps end up being my best sellers – or making really elegant clay beads that I incorporate into designs.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Absolutely. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that I did not have to pay for information that was absolutely already free. There are plenty of polymer clay forums, websites and videos available that you do not have to pay to access. YouTube was a wonderful resource – and it still is! You can find color mixing recipes online as well – these have come in handy when I am out of a specific color. I wish I knew this earlier instead of driving all around town looking for one specific brick of clay. Making friends with fellow makers is also incredibly important – not only for sharing resources but for business tips, problem solving, fleshing out new ideas and talking through your small biz struggles – you’re not alone!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Building an audience is difficult, especially in todays market. I just started off with posting photo after photo after photo of my work (and quietly begged friends to share it) but soon I was able to connect more with folks by just being myself along with my product. For example – I made a video demonstrating the durability of polymer clay using one of my incense trays. It was just a few moments of me bending the tray, tossing it across the room and so on. It was silly and folks connected with that. So between the product photos and videos, I’ll occasionally post a video of me being harassed by my dog, a very bad lip sync of myself and my partner, relatable small biz struggles and so on. I’m just trying to show people that it’s just me doing all of this, somehow fitting it in with raising a family and keeping my head on my shoulders. People can relate, commiserate and have a laugh. Social media is constantly changing and it’s okay if you’re not a professional content creator. It’s also a good reminder that not everyone will like you or what you sell but there are people who DO. I’ve seen a quote floating around that was something like – 50 likes on a post might not seem like much, but if you had 50 people come up to you and compliment you, you’d be overwhelmed! I try to keep that perspective and gratitude always. People show up to buy something I made with my two hands – it feels really special. Especially when they follow up with a photo of themselves wearing it and beaming with happiness. Truly makes my day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cryingheartcraftco.com
- Instagram: @cryingheartcraftco
- Twitter: @cryingheartcc