Etsy Seller Interview with Ash of AshElizabethArt

How AshElizabethArt got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

My Etsy shop is AshElizabethArt, and I sell handmade jewelry, crafts, and artwork inspired by nature. This is actually my second Etsy shop; my first one I started around 2015, I believe, but it didn’t work out, and in 2017, I decided to start fresh and open a new one. I had already been making things out of clay for years and years beforehand, so it was a no-brainer that I would continue to make things out of clay to sell in my shop. I do make other items on occasion, such as painted wood slices, pressed flower art, and original paintings, but the majority of my items are made from polymer clay. The process for making those clay pieces, whether they’re earrings, necklaces, or figurines, is usually quite similar. I get an idea of what I want to make, sculpt the items, bake them in the oven to harden them, then do any sanding or fixing to prepare for painting, and then it’s onto painting, which is probably the most tedious part but also the most rewarding once it's done. After everything is painted, I coat the items in a glaze to seal them and then add the finishing touches like earring hooks or necklace chains. I then photograph them, edit the photos, and they’re all ready to be posted to Etsy and my social media accounts.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite items currently in my shop are my pastel mushroom earrings; they’re super simple, but I like that simplicity, and I just think they’re quite cute. I would say they’ve sold quite well, since there is currently only one pair left, and I suppose that could be because mushrooms and "cottagecore" themed items are quite popular at the moment.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

Since it was so long ago now, I can’t exactly recall how long it took me to earn my first sale, but I can say that it has taken a long time for me to get to the point where I can feel relatively confident that my items will indeed sell at all. For a long time, it was frustrating to feel like I wasn’t sure how my items might do, and I longed for a time where I could simply make things and know that they would do well. And while I still struggle to sell certain items sometimes, I’m in a much, much better position than I was a few years ago and don’t have to worry nearly as much about making sales, which I’m very grateful for. These days, I promote my items in a way that I wish I would’ve done sooner, which is by making my items in small batches, setting a date to post them, and telling people about it on social media a few days beforehand. This has proved to work very well for me, and I’m so glad I started doing it. Before, I would make my items and just post them whenever they were done, but I think that posting about a shop update in advance can help get people excited about it. In the days leading up, I’ll post photos on Instagram of the items as I make them, which also gets people excited and engaged, and they know that if they see something they’re interested in, there’s a specific date and time that it’ll be available for them to get it. So between that and just posting on social media in general, I’ve found that over time it’s gotten easier for my work to reach people.

Managing AshElizabethArt

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

It is currently just me that runs my shop, which I’m quite comfortable with. It’s a very small operation, in a literal sense since my items are usually very small, but also because I tend to not make very many at once. I also tend to not make very many of one item; a lot of my items are either one of a kind, or there are only two or three of them, and each new batch of items are different, so I don’t have to worry about having a way to make the same items multiple times.

I use Instagram and Tumblr to promote my items and also to post casually about my life and other interests, which helps to keep my posting consistent even when I don’t have finished products to share. 

As for shipping, I order my shipping supplies like envelopes, tissue paper, and label paper in bulk, and I package everything myself and send it out via USPS. I print shipping labels through Etsy which I’ve been doing for years now and have found to be relatively easy.  I use VistaPrint for my business cards, but I sometimes simply print them myself using thicker watercolor paper if I don’t need that many at once. 

The future of AshElizabethArt

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

My goal at the moment is to keep myself on a more consistent schedule. Since I work for myself, it can be really easy to procrastinate or lose track of time, but so far, it’s been nice to have a more solid routine to help keep me on track. I also hope that I can at the very least maintain what I have now with my shop, since it seems to finally be doing better after years of struggling to move forward.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

This might be a kind of obvious one, but I would say to learn the absolute basics first, like how to set up listings, how to ship items, figuring out what supplies you’ll need, etc. Make sure that your shop is set up and ready to go, that all of your policies are in place, that your listing descriptions have all the information that a customer might need, and that you know what to do next once you start making sales. It’s probably still going to be a bit shaky and confusing at first and will likely take some trial and error, but I think it’s worth it to get yourself comfortable with the more technical, administrative side of the site. This way, you’ll feel more prepared and can focus more on the fun stuff, like making your items and sharing them with people, and you won’t be as confused or overwhelmed by all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

And since it can be so confusing and overwhelming when you’re first starting out, the other piece of advice I’d give is to reach out to other artists. Reach out to people in the same boat as you, but also to people who you look up to. Ask them (nicely, of course) if they have any tips or advice or if they’d be open to answering some questions you might have. It can be a great way to not only learn from people whose work you admire but also to make connections, which is so important! I know that for me personally, the friends I’ve made through my work have been so helpful and supportive, but it's also been so lovely to have people to talk to about these things, to know that you’re not alone and that there are people who understand what you’re feeling and can help you along the way.