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

Kellie Ann, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I went to art school and was so lucky to stumble upon glass during my third year. It quickly became my favorite material and slowly took over my life – in the best way. I was initially drawn to a process called kilncasting – making molds to replicated objects in glass – ad still am. After graduation and a few years of working in the studio I learned at in a variety of part time roles, I was hired to work full time in the Education Department. Throughout my time in that role, I took it upon myself to learn every glassmaking technique we offered to ensure I could answer student questions properly. I FINALLY learned stained glass in January of 2020 and immediately fell in love with the process. I wanted to spend as much time as could working on the technique, and turns out the timing couldn’t have been better for me. Like many of us did, I wound up living with my parents for a few months during the peak of lockdown. After one week of living with them again, I knew I needed something to occupy my time. I had fortunately gotten a tax return that year, and still had some gift cards from the holidays, and decided to put it all in to setting up a stained glass studio in my dad’s garage. I then spent hours and hours every day working in that studio. I really devoted my “free time” to improving my skill and getting better at the process. In that time I realized that the butt I had made in my very first class, after finding inspiration in an Instgram underwear ad, had something special to it.
My screenshots folder quickly filled with ads and marketing materials for underwear companies and I was sketching up new poses non-stop. In that time I also came up with the name Soldered Curves for this new venture and quickly learned that people would be interested in these booties!
I firmly believe that I am still learning the technique everyday that I work on it. As with many technical skills, the more you do it the more you improve. I am constantly seeking to make the best pieces that I can and believe that by continuously working and teaching I am able to regularly learn something new.

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

I went to art school and was so lucky to stumble upon glass during my third year. It quickly became my favorite material and slowly took over my life – in the best way. I was initially drawn to a process called kilncasting – making molds to replicated objects in glass – ad still am. After graduation and a few years of working in the studio I learned at in a variety of part time roles, I was hired to work full time in the Education Department. Throughout my time in that role, I took it upon myself to learn every glassmaking technique we offered to ensure I could answer student questions properly. I FINALLY learned stained glass in January of 2020 and immediately fell in love with the process. I wanted to spend as much time as could working on the technique, and turns out the timing could not have been better for me. Like many of us did, I wound up living with my parents for a few months during the peak of lockdown. After one week of living with them again, I knew I needed something to occupy my time. I had fortunately gotten a tax return that year, and still had some gift cards from the holidays, so I decided to put it all in to setting up a stained glass studio in my dad’s garage. I then spent hours and hours every day working in that studio. I really devoted my “free time” to improving my skill and getting better at the process. In that time, I realized that the butt I had made in my very first class had something special to it.
That original piece was inspired by an Instagram ad I happened to see while deciding what to make in that first class. My screenshots folder quickly filled with ads and marketing materials for underwear companies and I was sketching up new poses non-stop. In that time I also came up with the name Soldered Curves for this new venture and quickly learned that people would be interested in these bootys! While continuing to make larger pieces I realized that because of the process of cutting glass, I was left with a lot of scrap glass that felt too big to be trash but was too small to use for more large pieces. While accumulating all of this scrap I stumbled upon the idea of making little bootys, coming up with the name Tiny Tushys. The rest is history off of these. Tiny Tushys are all unique because they are made with scrap and allow anyone and everyone to find themselves or their loved ones within the collection. To date, I have sold nearly 1500 Tiny Tushys and I like to believe that there are 1500+ people smiling a tthe them each day. The intent of this work is to celebrate all of our bodies, no matter what we look like. Every sale I make reminds me that people want to celebrate bodies and seek to do so through my work

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is anytime I get to talk to someone who has found joy in my work. I do markets year round and this gives me the chance to interact with people who are drawn to my work. These conversations can be wonderful – people share with me their delight in finding my work and hunting for the “perfect” booty (I do like to say there is no wrong choice, only the most right). However, my absolute favorite interaction is when someone who has been gifted a Soldered Curves piece stumbles upon me and shares how special the gift was to receive. I have been brought to tears – in the best way possible – because of conversations like this. That is the whole reason I make these pieces, to celebrate our bodies and to remind us that we are beautiful and deserve to be celebrated.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about a creative life is how in flux it can be. Sometimes you are going to have to work 12 hour days for 2 weeks straight, and sometimes you might have a week of laying on the couch staring at the ceiling questioning everything. I firmly believe that both of these extremes are critical to developing yourself in the creative sphere. Whether you’re fabricating on behalf of other artists, teaching, creating your own work – you have to fit this in when you can and when the moment hits. Take advantage of the work you have or the inspiration that strikes and make sure to get it done. But also be sure to sit in those still moments of doubt or thinking or simply feeling exhausted. It will push you through to the next phase of your process.

Contact Info:

• Website: solderedcurves.com
• Instagram: @soldered.curves