I oftentimes rip pages from magazines when I am inspired by cool images. I have a pile of these pages sitting in a sad corner of my home office, waiting patiently for the right craft project to come along. This may be why I was so attracted to Andrea Thorson's Space Oddities shop on Etsy. She gives new life to images she finds in discarded books and comics through her collection of lighthearted pins and magnets.
Pictured here is a sampler pack of magnets made by Thorson that would certainly make any fridge a cheerier place to grab milk. In addition to recycled images, the shop features the artwork of her husband Chad. His work can be seen on screen-printed apparel, totes and notecards. Thorson also publishes the blog Craft Therapy to exhibit her artistic process and promote her work. With an eye for the quirky and unique, Space Oddities is nothing less than charming.
Thorson answered a few questions over email about her work and art.
The Daily Page: When did you open your Etsy shop and what do you sell?
Thorson: We are a husband and wife team who create screen printed totes, apparel and note cards featuring fun original artwork -- think robots, cupcakes and unicorns! -- and one-of-a-kind cards, pins, magnets and more made from recycled images and pretty papers. We have been selling on Etsy since the winter of 2006.
Do you have a day job? Does your shop pay the rent?
We both work in addition to our business and Chad has his own etsy shop AtomKid where he focuses on his illustrations. We also sell our wares at local craft shows. While we can't pay the rent on sales from Space Oddities and AtomKid alone, we have grown our business over the past couple of years enough that one of us was able to go from a full time to part time day job in order to focus more on art and our children, which is our ultimate goal!
What advice do you have for people interested in starting an online store?
Focus on a quality product and good photos and item descriptions. Promote your shop online by talking about new items on your blog or social networking sites you belong to and offline by having business cards available to potential customers who you meet at craft fairs or boutiques. If you're just getting started, don't be disappointed if sales are slow at first. It can take time for your shop to get noticed, but if you are making a great product, people will find it.
Etsy is an online marketplace whose mission is to "reconnect makers with buyers." These explorations will connect you with the makers in your neighborhood.
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