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Today’s Dabbled Interview is with Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson, of JNA Designs – Handbuilt Vinyl Goods for your Beautiful Life. She does some fabulous work in vinyl, and I’ve asked her to share a little about her and her fun vinyl goods!

1. First the quickie background stuff: In three sentences or less.. who are you, what do you do, how long have you been doing it, and do you do it full time?

My name is Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson, I make bags, wallets and accessories. I started working in vinyl after falling in love with some glittery sparkle vinyl (1996-ish?) and I needed a bag that would withstand the sweatiness of commuter biking in summer in Texas, and general rough treatment (bartending in a music club at night, working as a blacksmith during the day). I make things part time, my 3.5 yr old son keeps me pretty busy, and I’ll soon have a second kiddo, due this spring.

2. Why Vinyl?

It is pretty intense, visceral work cutting and working on leather hides and I needed to take a break from it after doing a lot of that kind of work. I liked the colors and finishes available in vinyl and other synthetic materials, and I started making things for myself, and then for friends. I was disappointed in the quality of non-leather goods I saw (at the time, vinyl had a connotation of ‘cheap, and cheaply made’) and had destroyed many a bag through normal use. I repaired things all the time at the leather shop so craftsmanship, construction, and utility and are pretty important to me.

3. Without giving away trade secrets, can you share a little about your process for designing/creating your bags and wallets and so forth?

Usually a new design starts in my sketchbook and then gets broken down into a pattern and how I plan to put it together. Sometimes I build a paper model to visualize, or just start working in the materials, taking notes on the pattern and construction as I go. I always carry the prototype and take notes on things I’d change on the next version (I’m kind of a perfectionist about my work, so there are usually changes). I tend to ‘overbuild’ so I don’t have to do repairs — I’d
rather be making a new item!

4. For the crafty types out there, do you have any advice on working with vinyl in craft projects? Any great tips to share?

Vinyl is pretty easy to work by hand and a lot of leather tools (punches, snap setters) work great for vinyl and similar materials. If you are going to try to sew vinyl, know the limits of your sewing machine (some can handle it, others do better with lighter materials or the timing gets thrown off) because repairs can get pricey. Hand sewing with glovers needles (have sharpened tips that pierce) and a thimble works great as well. Think about how you will use the item — would that cuff bracelet be more comfortable backed in felt? Will the snaps or rivets need reinforcement?

5. Austin seems like the place where all the cool happenings are going on. Are you a native Texan? What’s your favorite thing to do in Austin?

You can see live music every night (and good bands!) and there is so much crafty stuff (Stitch, Blue Genie Bazaar, Moxie, Parts and Labour, Future Craft Collective, Austin Craft Mafia etc.) Great breakfast tacos! And it’s a pretty vegetarian-friendly place. I grew up in Japan and the midwest, but I’ve been in Austin for more than 20 yrs, minus one year I lived in Japan. I love hanging out with my hubby and son, biking, gardening or going to the park or pool, or working on house or craft projects together.

6. For a lot of creative types, the hard part is not creating, but actually marketing their items and getting their stuff out there in stores or online. How do you market your vinyl goods? Tips?

It used to be much harder I think before etsy and blogs. You had to build your own website and buy advertising, or swap links and banners and promo goods if you had crafty peers. Try different methods, and see what gives you the biggest return. Look at your web traffic logs. Ask customers how they found you. Build a good mailing list, become part of a supportive peer community, there are more people selling their crafts online so marketing is important to get notices and stand out. Keep trying different things!

7. I need that Skull Wallet!! So, where can people visit you online and/or buy your stuff?!

Online I have some at jnadesigns.com, and austinhandmade.com. In Austin I always recommend Moxie and Sparks, great for local flavor. I also participate in a few shows each year: handmade austin women, blue genie bazaar, stitch, austin city limits. I hope to finish the packaging for my kits, start wholesaling again, and have some special items on Etsy once things settle down a bit.

Thanks so much, Jenifer, for sharing with us! Fun and Inspiring!

More Dabbled Interviews:
Dave Gugel (Halloween)
Naomi Henderson (Cupcakes)
Cory Godbey (Author/Artist)
Shannon Riffe (Silkscreening Entrepreneur)
Diana Evans (Artist)
Diane Gilleland (Crafter Extraordinaire)

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2. It looks huge– I see you have multiple areas both inside and out… Does it keep getting bigger?
It has grown over the years, but I think I have reached the size limit, I’ve ran out of yard and house. The entire front yard and facade of the house changes from a Florida home to an old abandoned Victorian-style house. The inside of the home gets a face lift as well. The living room becomes old and weathered, the breakfast nook has a creepy meal all prepared for the tasting, the kitchen becomes a witchs’ layer, and the dining room is set as a wake for a loved ones passing. This year’s addition to the side and back of the house has became the Scare Zone for the adults and older kids, complete with a corn field, butcher shop and many other frightening sites. So like I said I have reached my size limit, but my future goal is to reuse or enhance the decor I currently have. I want to always keep the kids surprised.

3. What’s your favorite part? (include pic links on flickr if you have them) My favorite part is what ever is in front of me at the time. When I start to think that something is my favorite, I enter a new area and get excited all over. I have so many very different and distinctive props that I could never say one thing is better than another. Take a look at photos of my props on Flickr! http://flickr.com/photos/gorenmore/sets/72157608125906375/show/

4. Do you have a professional background in building sets, or are you just creative and handy? Do you build it all yourself, or do you have friends/family helping out? I am mostly creative and handy. All the props you see I build myself, and only take on a little help from my family when the props are to big or heavy to put up by myself.

5. Settle a bet I have with my husband, what are the faux facades (like the tower) made out of? All the facades on the house are made of 2X4’s and plywood. I want to make sure that my props withstand the Florida weather conditions since they’re up & outside for the entire month of October.

6. So anyone can come by and check this out halloween night? The house is open to trick-or-treaters of all ages from 6 to 9 pm.

Anything else you want to say? I want to thank all the Halloween home haunters on-line. They provide many resources, tutorials and inspiration that help create my home haunt.

Thanks so much, Dave, for sharing your brilliant achievement in the field of Halloween Decorating! I wish I was in Florida so I could road trip over to see it all in person!

And readers, if you’re in Florida anywhere close to Davenport, you should definitely check it out!

More of a Dabbled Halloween
All of the Dabbled Interview Series

Your cake designs are wonderful — so creative and excellently crafted! How did you get started? How long have you been doing it?

:D thanks!!! I have always loved baking and making cupcakes but I got into decorating them early last year when I did a beginners cake decorating course. That taught me how to work with fondant and a few basic things that allowed me to figure out how to make what the things I want to.

Without giving away trade secrets, can you tell us anything about your ingredients or techniques?

Umm well I guess this is a big secret to give away but it is important, I use an Australian brand of rolled fondant “orchard” it is really good for two reasons, it has a really soft texture/ look and also it tastes really good. A lot of people tell me that they don’t like the taste of fondant and so I guess you should try a few brands to find one that tastes nice and is good to work with.

Is this what you do with your life, or do you have a “day job” as well?

No its not, I would really love to have a shop and I am working on starting a business but sometimes when I spend sooo long making my stuff I wonder if I will ever be able to make money from it! So at the moment my “day job” is that I’m a computer engineering PhD student. I get paid to program robots to play soccer and its pretty fun :D. [ed- gets paid to program soccer robots? how cool is that!]

Do you have other creative outlets?

Umm no I haven’t got time! I would love to do a million creative things but at the moment cupcakes are my only release of creativity.

You’ve done some really fun stuff, like the Pac Man designed cupcakes. Where does your inspiration come from? Do you classify yourself as a geek?

Haha umm no I don’t class myself as a geek… maybe more of a nerd..?! But being a computer engineer I do have alot of geeky and nerdy guy friends so after a while of making them pink cupcakes with rainbows and flowers I thought I should make them something a bit more suited so that’s when I thought of video game themed, robots, lego etc.

What are your favorite things to surf to on the web?

Cupcakes of course! When ever I can I’m looking up cakes, cupcakes, cake decorating supplies etc.

How much would it cost if I wanted you to ship a way cool birthday cake from Australia!?!!?

Umm that’s a good question…A lot of people ask me but I’m not in business yet so I haven’t really looked into it, a few cake shops in Australia do it so it cant be too expensive… I think?!

Thanks for the great info! Love your work…

Previous Dabbled interviews, including Cory Godbey, Shannon Riffe, Diana Evans, & Diane Gilleland

1. Let’s get the standard stuff out of the way first… In three sentences or less.. who are you, what do you do, how long have you been doing it, and do you do it full time?

I’m Cory. I draw things, I’ve been doing it for a while, and it do it all the time.

2. So, Portland Studios.. your profile says you’re in South Carolina! Are y’all just trying to sound like you’re from Oregon!? Seriously, as a fellow southerner, what are your thoughts on being an artist in the South?

Portland was a place where we wanted to end up and somehow the name was supposed to help get us there. Fortunately, we got hung up on making things and doing the work rather than the name and after a while we never bothered to change it. As far as living the South, I deal just fine with humidity and the cost of living is unbeatable. We have some local clients but mostly our clients are scattered from NYC to LA so our region doesn’t really come into play all that much.

3. The quick personal question.. you married? have kids? if so, how does that effect your creative time?

Married with three cats. And a white couch in my office at home. The cats like to scratch it (and since it’s the only thing they go for we gave it up a long time ago) and my wife Erin will read or something if I’m working in the evenings.

4. I have no idea how (you know how it is with the internet!), but i first started following you when you started ‘The Photoshop Experiment‘ blog. Honestly, as an artist who was not really versed in PS as the time, it was a great help in honing my own techniques! What made you decide to share your Photoshop techniques with the world?

I’m glad the The Photoshop Experiment was helpful! I even named it “Experiment” because it was an experiment for me to see if people even cared about how I get from point A to point B. It’s always helpful for me to see how another artist works. I got a crash-course lesson in Photoshop once and spent the next few weeks struggling to make anything look even remotely passable. I wanted to put something out there, sort of a catalogue of studies to give anyone who wanted a boost in Photoshop. It can be beyond frustrating learning it.

5. Your latest project is Ticket. I understand this is a labor of love, tell us a little about it! It looks way cool, though i admit I haven’t ordered it yet :) (ed-I ordered it! )

Well you better get on that, there are a few left! This post here : http://lightnightrains.blogspot.com/2008/07/ticket-how-why.html : contains a lot of pictures of what I’ll mention here about Ticket. I spent about 3 months worth of evenings, nights, and early mornings preparing the book. Work during the day was too full to hold anything else so when I came home I then worked on Ticket. The company gave me a chance to make something so I spent a lot of time thinking and making storyboards and thumbnails. I made a list of everything I like to draw and decided to sort of weave a loose story through them. I made a small book for my wife when we were dating called “Curious Events.” Curious Events (yet unreleased) has since developed into a little library of four distinct, interweaving stories. I think of Ticket as almost a “postlude” to Curious Events. You don’t have to have seen Curious Events to appreciate Ticket though, more or less, Ticket reprises most everything I love about these four little unreleased books.

6. Do you consider yourself a writer as well as an illustrator? What challenges did you face trying to do write the story? You did Ticket more independently, will you try to sell that to one of the ‘big’ publishers?

I love to write. My hero is Maurice Sendak. To make “story” and “pictures” that what I want. Really, what I’m most interested in is telling stories. With Ticket I knew that this would be “a story in pictures.” Part of the joy of that comes in finding what other people bring to the pictures or imagine the story to be. The original version of the “Curious Events” book I mentioned earlier had no climax, nothing happening exactly, just a collection of pictures that were (hopefully) interesting to look at. With Ticket I really wanted to make a rise and fall in the narrative — a definite climax and dénouement. As far as selling it to a big publisher, I don’t know. One of the reasons we are interested in self-publishing is that the artist is able to control ever step of the project. We have really been overwhelmed with the response Ticket has brought.

7. You just went to ComicCon in SanDiego… was that purely a work thing for Portland Studios? Do you go to other Cons? I’m sure it was a blast, but did you find it professionally rewarding as well?

It was work; we had a booth, we sold a lot of stuff, and met a ton of really awesome people. What I got out of it professionally, you could say, was sneaking away from the booth long enough to see the drawing and painting demonstrations by the likes of Jon Foster, Donato Giancola, and Gregory Manchess. Those demos were eye-opening. Also getting to chat with the guys at Flight and Imaginism was fantastic as well.

8. What advice would you give an artist just starting out?

Draw. All the time. And learn how to draw the human figure.

Check out (and buy!) Cory’s stuff here! https://store.portlandstudios.com/ is where you can find all of our products, including Ticket. A Big Thanks to Cory for taking the time to talk to us and share his art and vision!

Click here for All Previous Dabbled Interviews..

Interview 1: Craftypod * Interview 2: Diana Evans, Artist * All Interviews

For the 3rd Interview in the Dabbled Series, our focus is craft and the business of craft. Today we have Shannon Riffe, who writes the blog Make It – a blog about building a craft business, and is the silkscreening designer/crafter behind Rifferaff. I’ve been enjoying Make It for a while, and Shannon has documented a great deal about her journey to making it in her own craft business. A lot of times we only hear someone story after they’ve become established, but I think the process of how you get there is fascinating as well. So I’ve invited Shannon to share some of her wisdom here!

1) So, first off, the easy stuff… In 3 sentences or less, who are you, what do you do, how long have you been doing it, and is this your full time gig?
I’m Shannon Riffe, I currently live in Cambridge, MA but am moving to Ann Arbor, MI at the end of August with my boyfriend who will be a graduate student at the University of Michigan. I officially started my business in October 2007 making screenprinted paper goods. I work part-time as an office manager and part-time on Rifferaff.

2) You have some great designs… How did you get into printmaking?

Thank you! I left a full-time job in 2006 to take an unpaid internship with Mod Green Pod, a young organic textile and wallpaper company. What I lacked in income I made up for with exposure to design and the ins and outs of running a small creative business. Mod Green Pods products were all silkscreened, so that’s when I really saw up close the versatility of the medium. Up until that point I had experimented
on my own with batik and block printing with mixed results. Eventually I want to move into fabric design as well; I knew that teaching myself to silkscreen would allow me to do prints on paper and fabric.

3) Where do you get your inspiration? And what are your favorite sources of inspiration, both for your business and for your art?

I never get tired of reading about female design entrepreneurs. I’m fascinated by the businesses and the women behind Lotta Jansdotter, Orla Kiely, Port2Port Press, Virginia Johnson, Amy Butler, the Saltwater clothing line (I could go on and on…) These women are my business inspiration. They all have a unique and distinctive style, a playful sense of color, and their business are imbued with their personalities.

As for artistic inspiration, I strive to keep it simple. I want all my designs to look like they’ve been handrawn, or come from one of my block prints because they have. Design that’s done fully on the computer is just not interesting to me.

4) Without giving away trade secrets, what process do you use to create your art?

Everything starts with a drawing or block print on paper. I’ll scan that into the computer, manipulate it a bit in Illustrator and then send the digital file to a local t-shirt shop that makes my screens. When I get the screens back, I print all my products by hand using water-based inks that I mix into custom colors.

5) You’ve been documenting how you’ve started your business. Are you pleased with your progress thus far? Besides reading your blog (obviously!), what are your best hints for those who want to go into a crafting type business?

Yes and no. I’m really pleased with the reaction to my work, but not pleased with sales, for which I take full responsibility. I wasn’t confident enough in my product to really get aggressive about marketing it and getting the word out to stores and consumers. But now, 8 months in, I finally feel like I know what I’m doing and I’m
moving forward full steam ahead.

6) What has been the most challenging thing about starting your own business? What’s the thing you wish you’d known most at the outset?

Money. I’m proud to have never taken out a loan – I haven’t even asked family for money – so the entire venture has been funded by my personal savings. While that is a source of pride for me, I also think that going through the process of applying for a business loan would have been a good experience because it would have forced me to write a business plan and actually get serious about the direction I want to
take. As a result, I’ve floundered a bit as I started out; thinking I’d do one thing (gift wrap, selling via Etsy and craft shows) and have since shifted my focus (new emphasis on cards, pursuing more wholesale opportunities).

I wish I had actually run the numbers and had a business plan from the get go. Some people are able to start a successful business without a lot of pre-planning but I’ve learned that I can’t.

7) For all the readers who want to sell their stuff, what has been the most effective ways you’ve marketed your products? Least effective?

I don’t think I’ve been in business long enough – or had enough sales – to really answer that. I will say I think it’s extremely important to just think about getting the word out about your work in general. You may not see a direct correlation between advertising and sales, but every time you advertise you give someone a chance to see your work and you never know how that could play out. I was a little disappointed when I didn’t get a flood of orders from participating in The Sampler and Poppytalk Handmade Market, but now I realize that those experiences were still valuable because it got my work in front of new eyes I may not have reached any other way.

8) You’ve talked about lack of women of color in the design field. Do you think that affects your ability to sell your art? What would you like to say to women who feel like they don’t see ‘anyone like them’ in design? What would you like to say to ALL women?

No, it doesn’t affect my ability to sell my work. To other designers of color who feel like I do, I would say, keep doing the best work you can do so that you can be the one who gets on the cover of the design magazine or who gets a high profile licensing deal. I don’t want to whine about not seeing enough designers of color and then not do anything about it. I want to be the success story. This is one reason
I have a picture of myself on my blog – even though I’d be more than happy to take it off – I think it’s important that readers see me.

I think that’s a great tip for all designers. Really get personal with your audience and show them the person and the process behind your work. The Internet is so great for this, especially blogging. The revitalized interest in handmade items is all about a consumer’s desire to know where their stuff comes from. What better way to do
that than to see the person who made it!

9) So, where can we buy your cool stuff?

Right now you can get the full collection at rifferaff.etsy.com. I also have some items in Greenward (Cambridge, MA) and The Paper Place (Toronto, Canada). In the future I hope to start wholesaling my cards to more stores and have limit

ed edition items available exclusively on Etsy.

Thanks so much to Shannon for sharing a little of her journey toward ‘making it’ in the craft business!

We’re starting a new interview series here at Dabbled — interesting people in the worlds of arts, crafts, & food — and to start it off, we have Diane from CraftyPod -The blog & podcast all about Making Stuff – www.craftypod.com. I’ve been regularly reading her blog for a while now, and she always has such interesting ideas– lots of great inspiration. So be sure to check it out!

1. OK, easy stuff out of the way first.. In 3 sentences or less, who you are, what you do, and how long have you been doing it?
My name is Diane Gilleland, but I usually go by the nickname “Sister Diane.” I produce a blog and podcast called CraftyPod, write for various craft publications, teach craft classes here in Portland, and for the last 5 1/2 years, I’ve organized the local Church of Craft. I’ve been self-employed as a crafter and podcast producer for the last year and a half.

2. How did you get into podcasting?
My partner, who is very techy, first introduced me to the concept. At the time, I had a website called SpinsterSpin [ed-no longer up, but here’s the archive link], which was about women who don’t seek marriage or motherhood. So my first podcast was the SpinsterSpin podcast. I loved being able to put a voice to the stuff I was writing, and I found editing sound to be the most compelling thing ever. After a couple months of that, I had a sudden thought: “What about a podcast about crafts?”

3. What’s your current favorite thing that you’ve created?
I love the Reverse Applique tote I made for CraftStylish. And I’m currently playing around with recycled book purses for a class I hope to teach later this year. But really, whatever I’m working on now is my favorite thing. I’m much more into the process than the finished product.

4. Portland sounds like a great place to live! Does it rain all the time, like it does in Seattle?
Yes! From November through June, it’s pretty gray most of the time. Our rain is fairly gentle – much of the time, it’s more like “misting.” What’s cool, though, is that on those rare sunny days, this town becomes one big MGM musical – everyone’s in a great mood, and all is well with the world.
If you ever want to come visit, I’ll give you the crafty tour!

5. What’s the deal with the Church of Craft? It sounds very cool… why don’t I have one in Atlanta?!?
Church of Craft (http://www.churchofcraft.org) is essentially a public craft group, but it’s also a church.

Think of it this way: if you take the idea of a church, and you strip away all the specific doctrines and dogma and ceremonies, what you’re left with is a safe space where people can come together, connect, and experience some kind of renewal. And this is exactly what happens at a Church of Craft meeting.

Church of Craft chapters, or “flocks” as we call them, are happening in lots of cities, organized by dedicated volunteers who care about the power of craft. You’re right, there isn’t one in Atlanta – maybe you should start it!

6. Who is hotter: Mal from Firefly or Angel from Buffy?
Without a doubt: MAL. I loves me some Nathan Fillion!

Thanks Diane for sharing your story and your thoughts, as well as your cool crafts!