1.
Tell Us a bit about yourself: My name is Sarah Clement and I am the proud designer/creator of infantaisle baby gear, mobotrobile mobiles and eclecticlay fine art ceramic pieces. My Etsy shops respectively are
http://www.infantaisle.etsy.com/ ,
http://www.mobotrobile.etsy.com/ and
http://www.eclecticlay.etsy.com/ .
I joined ETC in January of 2011 (still a newbie) after being fortunate enough to have my North Market Holiday Craft Extravaganza booth placement next to Michelle Harris of Once Lost Jewelry where Susi (
21st Century Art Quilts and Curious Goods) and Karla (Adornments by Karla Jewelry & Art) were helping out. Our conversations were lovely. Had it not been for these fine women artisans, I may not have discovered this wonderful group from which I have already learned and shared so much.
My parents named me Sarah Jeanne (Jeanne after my mother) Cobb (Cobb after my father) on a fine spring morning many years ago. I grew up in a small town (pop. 500) and stayed there to attend college (pop. 800). How I acclimated to the city so quickly after college was due to having older siblings who began my urban introduction when I was a preteen. Coincidentally enough, Columbus, OH was the first city of three that I was let to roam about as a youth, specifically the Victorian Village where my sister resided in a tiny attic apartment while attending OSU graduate school. Who knew that after living in two other cities between college and now, I would end up here in Clintonville, loving every day of it!
I followed my boyfriend here after almost a year of living three hours apart. After being here for two years, we were married and expecting a baby boy. These two men are the absolute greatest experiences/loves/life forces I have ever had the pleasure of sharing my existence with. A first baby will teach you how much you don’t know, how much you want to know and how much you can learn...especially when it comes to unconditional love, absolute exhaustion and...under par commercial baby products.
The latter, of course, was grounds for me to put my creating urges into action. By designing and sewing these useful, washable baby items I have satisfied my need to create art and my need to own utility items that not only work, last and clean easily, but are unique and fun to look at.
The mobiles are also a product of my dissatisfaction of the boring mobiles I found at all major retail outlets. Babies need contrast. Pastel plush animals just didn’t appeal to me. I made my son a black and white mobile that hung horizontally so he could see it while he lay in his crib. He LOVED it. I loved it. I made more and began to expand my subject matter. I am still in process of this.
My ceramic art was actually all made while I lived in Indianapolis, IN and working at the Indianapolis Art Center as an instructor and education assistant. My love for creating female and male torsos was born in college where my inspirational (I know, but cliche as it is, it’s true) ceramics instructor, Herb, challenged our class with the task of hand building a human torso completely from our imagination. This is still my favorite clay project.
2. Apart from creating things, What do you do? Firstly I am a mother and wife. Family is what I always wanted and I am loving every single second of it (yes, even the trying times). Aside from providing, nurturing and snuggling with my boys, I practice yoga, read up on natural remedies and nutrition and have recently formed a group with some fine young ladies and mommas to study herbs, homeopathy, essential oils and nutrition. This takes up my ‘free’ time...that is when I’m not feeding, cleaning, toting, sewing, designing, organizing, etc... It has become a passion. I’m a nature girl and would like to rely on the earth for most of my and my family’s needs.
3.
What first made you want to become an Artist? I think I was born this way ;) My mom nurtured my artistic talents as a child and after trying out five other boring majors in college (among them accounting, psychology and economics), I landed in my comfort zone: Visual Arts. I look back at my childhood artwork and remember how much I enjoyed it and how at home I felt doing it.
4.
Tell us about your Art/Craft. Ha! Which avenue? I currently work in textiles and fiber art including cotton baby utility and wearables, recycled plastic felt mobiles, and interior decorating in my own home. I was a custom picture framer for years which is a passion of mine as well. Color, movement, line, shape, function, etc. are all things that excite me. My love of ceramics was born when I was a child with the neighbor three doors down who had a kiln and potters wheel in her basement. In college I fell in love with it again and kept late nights/mornings in the clay studio pretty much for two years straight. Since being in Columbus, however, I have had little ceramic involvement. I do plan on doing it again very soon.
Currently, I sew. Oh boy, do I sew! I have our office/studio full of hip, mod, funky, pretty, sweet, fun and unique bibs, burp cloths, wee pads, pop pods, snack pods, bib clips, coasters, greeting cards, and mobiles. I have stacks and stacks of coordinating fabrics sitting on a table waiting to be turned into something neat for a little snugga wugha to wear and get real use from. Soft cottons and flannels, bold colorful prints and easily washable baby items have become an addiction I think.
My favorite items are my burp cloths, wee pads and pods. Okay, pretty much everything ;) The burp cloths are bean shaped and large enough to get good coverage on mom or dad’s clothes. From birth to 6 months, my clothes only got gooed upon if Ivan had a good range. The cloth is contoured to cradle a neck and hang over the shoulder. Works. That’s what I was aiming for. The wee pads have a wonderfully wild soft flannel print side and more conservative (yet still fun) cotton print side. The inner layer is rubber sheeting which absorbs wetness and does not soak through. I never once had to change Ivan’s sheets in the middle of the night. I also carry one in his diaper bag. I felt so bad putting his naked little bottom on a cold plastic surface of the big box store changing pads. The pods are just too handy. I use the pop pods (now that he doesn’t use a pop/pacifier) for my keys and chap stick when we go for walks or to the park. The snack pods go everywhere with us. I made them so that they can be washed, wiped, turned inside out and shaken, folded over to prevent spills or just closed to fit larger snacks like sandwiches.
5.
Please describe your Creative Process. Wow, to put that into words would take some concentration. I create in what you would call organized chaos. It has taken a lot of growing, learning and rearranging to get a system down.
Firstly, I love to shop for fabrics. I see a nifty fabric, I put the bolt in my cart. Some days I have no room left for Ivan in there! He is a very patient shop-alonger. I sometimes have to wait for 30 minutes to even reach the cutting counter. He just flirts with the other customers and is generally happy. No idea how I got so lucky. I buy online as well, from Etsy fabric suppliers. I have found some fabulous patterns in Etsy fabric shops.
When I have the fabrics home, I gather them, wash them, trim them and fold them up all nice and neat...the gift of tidiness bestowed (instilled, inherited, all of the above) upon me by my mom. This gives me a sense of order. Then I like to pair them with complimentary fabrics so I can make double sided, reversible items. These pairings sit on my table for minutes, hours, days, weeks and some even months!
When I feel the need to accomplish something I look through my stacks feeling out the vibe of which patterns and colors are suiting to my current mood. On these I draw the patterns, cut them out and sew them. Simple as that; although nothing is at all simple when I have a toddler circling my feet...he’s like a cat but without the Independence. During the day I do have a minute here or there to work but usually I get more things done in the wee hours of 9pm-1am.
6.
What Handmade possession(s) do you most cherish? A monster from Wholly Craft that Ivan’s Uncle Giles got him is my favorite toy of his. Other than that, I love his crib quilt made by a friend’s mom. Oh, and his knitted stroller blanket made by a neighbor of my moms who I grew up with. It is soooo pretty and bright and cheery. Of my handmade items for him my favorite is his black and white mobile that is now in storage waiting for the next baby to come.
Things that I have that are handmade and most awesome are my blue and white ceramic female torso with orange and red tropical flowers that hangs above our mantle (I made this), a conversation starting multi-colored glass bead and spiraly silver necklace made by Lori Saas (local artisan), and a tall abstract canvas painting of a pregnant figure hanging in our front room which was given to me by my sister just before my son was born and which had hung in her house for fifteen years. It was painted for her when she was expecting her first son by her friend Cynthia Ryan of Lexington, KY. In case of fire or flood, all of the above would be first on my list to save...after the family of course :)
7.
What are you looking forward to being a new member of the team? Oh, my, I am seeking advice every day from fellow members. I have received so much support already and hope to give support to new members in the future. Making more sales, of course, is something I look forward to doing as well as helping other members promote their wares. Sharing booths at fairs would be nice. Learning of fairs in the area would also be nice. Actually, these things are already in the works. Creating new friendships would be a wonderful bi product of being a member of Etsy Team Columbus. I have lived in Columbus for almost four years and have yet to have artsy friends. I have no idea how that is. But it is true. Ha!
8.
What are your Favorite features on Etsy? What new features would you like to see? Now that I have been formally introduced to treasuries, I would say this is a really cool feature. I also like the Shop Local feature. I like to eat local. Why not buy handmade local? It stimulates the economy that cradles my home.
9.
How do you promote your work? I have just begun promoting like mad. I have yet to pay for advertising though. I like to spread the word through my friends’ mouths, their friends’ mouths, and so on. On each product I have a handmade sewn-on label. I send out multiple business cards and a nice thank you card to customers, even at fairs. I have just made a new fan page on Facebook for two of my shops and I asked nicely for my friends to ‘like’ me. This is getting responses from not only friends and fellow artisans, but strangers too. I am convo-ing other shops on Etsy in other states as well as adding them to my treasuries. Soon I will build a website. For now it is Etsy, Facebook and Twitter. I do have a blog but it needs fine tuning and an audience.
10.
Where can we find you on the web?
http://www.infantaisle.etsy.com/
http://www.mobotrobile.etsy.com/
http://www.eclecticlay.etsy.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Infantaisle/168803453167068
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mobotrobile/186751101360309
http://twitter.com/#!/infantaisle
http://infantaisle.wordpress.com/
11.
In ten years where would you like to be artistically and personally. Personally I would like to still be here in Clintonville raising children and living the family life, travelling and heading forward. Artistically I would love if my brand (hope to have infantaisle be a legal brand soon) takes off and I can manage a business of it. Also, I would like to be back in the ceramics studio, perhaps even have one in my home, and still be dabbling in custom framing, even if it is only for my own work. Truthfully, I have so many ideas and interests, I just hope to be a member of the art world forever.
PS: Word from the blog writer: Please wish Sarah a Happy Birthday! April is her Birthday Month!
Written by 
Tags:
Posts
