Saturday Artisan: Muddy Heart Pottery

Meet our Saturday Artisan: Melissa of Muddy Heart Pottery. 

I fell in love with her shop as soon as I stumbled upon it. A lots of pretty colorful porcelains you can find for home decor and jewelries. 

Let's get to know Melissa a bit more. Read on. 

Tell us a bit about yourself and what arts/ crafts that you make? 

My name is Melissa, but everyone calls me Meli. I live in beautiful NC with my hubby and my baby doggy. Besides ceramics, I love knitting, sewing, decorating, gardening, cooking, baking, entertaining and working on paper crafts!. Yes, I love doing lots of things!

 
What is the story behind your shop name? 

My pottery shop is called Muddy Heart; I picked this name because for some random reason I see heart shaped things everywhere!!, and when doing pottery, being muddy and dirty is a given! . I thought Muddy Heart was a cute, short memorable name and I went with it *_^

Who is your target market? My target market is all who love colorful, unique and delicate porcelain pieces made by hand . I am constantly imagining new designs and useful items that add whimsy to your home and life. 

Which part of creation process that you like to do the most? I love to paint, so the glazing part is one I enjoy a lot. Every piece I make is hand painted with lots of care!. I am slowly gravitating towards Majolica, which is a beautiful glazing style of pottery, and which suits my love of painting.

For us who love to travel, could you share a bit about your beautiful town/ city? 

Raleigh is beautiful, full of culture, life and great outdoor activities, and being close to the mountains and nature is a fantastic bonus!. If you have never been to the blue ridge parkway, I'd say come on over and enjoy the amazing creation of nature....there's so much to do in NC! 

Could you share on how your organize your products, we all can use a little tips here and there in this department? 

I have my pieces labeled and bubble-wrapped in Ziploc's safely kept in clear container bins. I do try to keep my etsy pieces to a certain size so that I don't run out of storage space quickly.

What is your best seller? 

My most popular items are my necklace pendants , tray dishes and yarn bowls. I know once I add the cool new items that are on the works, they too will be the stars of my shop....yes, I made you curious so remember to come by to see my new weekly additions! 

How does your day go in general? 

I work a 9-5 job from home, which may seem easy enough but in fact is very hectic!; after work ends, I prepare dinner for my hubby, my doggie and me (I love to cook!), spend some quality time with them and afterwards I get to work on my pottery until about midnight ... Of course, life is never predictable, so my days vary, but that's pretty much my schedule if things stay the course *_^ 

How do you balance your personal and work life?

I am a big planner and a list maker...I try to stay on top of "to-do things" in advance so that I don't get stressed with last minute things. By doing this, I feel I have control of things. and in turn, I have a little more time for my family and my "relaxing time" which is working with clay!.

 
What inspires you? 

I am a BIG fashion person!; I constantly read style magazines and pay close attention to trends in colors, textures and patterns... I have an inspiration board right in front of me, where I keep all sorts of pictures I am drawn to. Most of them have nothing to do with pottery, but I love the colors, and that is enough to get my mind going in creating items based on that!. Aside from my inspiration board, I look at tons of things at antique shops and at flea markets; old is new again, and I feel that craftsmen/women back in the day had an amazing talent at making everything more intricate, and I want to emulate that as much as possible.

What is your goal for 2012? And are you on the right track?

I am not one to do new year's resolutions...I feel they lead to disillusions if you don't stay the course. I feel that you know what you want and you have to make it happen; this year I wanted to make my etsy shop happen, and so far It is up and running, I have made good sales and met great people!, and I will work on growing my business, improving my pottery skills and being a better business person. 

Any advice for others running their on-line shop? 

I will say to have patience, and works towards achieving your dream!. I am by no means an Etsy success-yet-, but I hope to be one of those shop owners that get interview on how they quit their day job to do what they're truly best and happiest at!. As Audrey Hepburn once said "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says IM POSSIBLE"

Saving money is important; tell us one thing that you do to save money? 

I will say that shipping and packing materials are by far a huge expense!. Try being green and visit your local supermarket for boxes they're throwing away to use as your shipping boxes; get free newspaper publications and use those as free packing material, and finally, keep all of the packing material you receive in any order you get by mail. It helps being green and saving some green!

I try to be a social butterfly when I'm not in my pottery studio, if you want to keep in touch with me, here's how: ♥ My shop: www.muddyheartpottery.etsy.com ♥ My Blog ♥: domestiquette.blogspot.com/ ♥ My Email: muddyheart(at)gmail.com ♥ My Facebook: Muddy Heart ♥ My Pinterest: Domestiquette ♥ My Twitter: BDOMESTIQUETTE

Stay-tuned for tomorrow's giveaway!