Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Featured artist: S & T Creations

I have decided to start hosting a featured artist here on Adventures in Vintage. It's a great way to network with other artists and promote their work.

In this interview, I'm featuring Teri Baskett and Saundra Gordon of S & T Creations. They make amazing beaded jewelry. Enjoy their interview!

Q. Tell me a little about yourself:

My business partner, Saundra Gordon and I live in Jeffersonville, Indiana and have been beading for over 5 years. We incorporated to create our business when people began to ask us about what we’d made. In fact, Saundra actually sold a piece right off her neck at a restaurant once! THAT was wonderful!

We both like bigger jewelry and Saundra likes the bling bling, but my pieces aren’t quite as flashy as hers, usually anyway. We do like our pieces to “pop” whenever appropriate.Agate Diamonds: $36.00 Black Banded Agate puff squares, top drilled, offset with mother of pearl chip beads, gold spacers and black cube crystals

Wow, that may be difficult. I remember teaching myself to crochet in 4-H at age 9 or 10, and doing some sewing in 4-H too (but I didn’t like that). I know I made Christmas gifts for my grandparents and family members, and friends’ parents when I was in high school and college because I was very broke. Our family has always made wreaths and flower designs for headstones for our family, AND I made the flowers for my wedding. Saundra is MUCH “craftier” than I---she is positively wonderful at home décor and making things for any room, any time. She also makes bows and can’t live without her glue gun (she might not shoot you, but you won’t come unraveled either lol).

Q. Please describe your art in detail. What's your favorite type of crafting/art?

Right now, I concentrate on jewelry making and am trying to learn to work with metal clay and silversmithing (maybe a little wire wrapping too). My other crafts are generally relegated to things I can do with my grandson (age 4) and 2 nieces, age 3 and 4. We did make lots of the designs for my daughter’s wedding in February too.

Saundra makes many things for her home, for gifts and for the holidays. Christmas is her very favorite holiday and she is in the throws of decorating her home (3 Christmas Trees later…). She adds new Christmas décor regularly, so she will be updating those things. Plus she bakes (and I am this year too) for Christmas gift baskets, so there have been 3 full days of bread, muffins, and biscuits so far and then we will work on cookies, red hots, peanut brittle, chocolate covered pretzels and other tidbits with another friend and share them with each other.Amber Slabs: $40.00 Roughcut, polished “slabs” of amber combined with gold beads, crystals and amber chip beads. Earrings are chip beads, gold seed beads.

Mainly, better quality components and MUCH better finishings. We’ve learned tons of ways to make the clasp not only LOOK better, but be more stable and last longer. We have been able, through our business, to buy better quality and to add more tiny touches that make a piece more professional looking. While trial and error is still a great teacher (but sometimes a very frustrating one), we have also taken classes and used tutorials to learn better techniques. I also think our inspiration has improved as well as the range of work we can do as we have been able to incorporate more options into our designs (multi strands, chandelier settings, etc).
Pretty In Pink: $25.00 Smooth pink drops are separated by faceted opalite rounds for this pretty in pink design. The back of the necklace consists of smaller pink rounds and opalite rounds so the necklace will be comfortable and lay easily under a blouse

Q. Where do you get your inspiration?

Fashion magazines, movies (Meryl Streep’s necklace in Prime inspired some designs AND made me think of how to combine 2 pieces into 1 combination for an outfit). Saundra is very fashion aware and follows trends very closely. She's always up on the latest color trends and looks (vintage, chunky, etc).

Q. Where are S & T Creations products primarily sold?

Our main venue is our etsy store: S & T Creations. We also set up booths at various fairs/events and have home parties as well.

Q. What advice can you give other crafters when selling their items?

Be patient, don’t give up, and continue to expand your ability and knowledge.

Q. Describe yourself in three words:

Teri: quiet, loyal, intelligent

Saundra: flamboyant, friendly, confident

Q. Is there is anything else you'd like to share with us?

We both love old film noir movies (Saundra got me started on those). She has a collection of over 10,000 movies, while I’m way behind, maybe 3000 or so! I am more quiet and shy than Saundra, although we both describe ourselves as introverts.White Buffalo: $50.00 (earrings are available): Gorgeous graduated white “turquoise” (howlite) rondelles are paired with great red glass for this stunning necklace!

I want to thank Teri and Saundra of S & T Creations for being our first featured artists! Please be sure to visit S & T Creations for some great jewelry! You'll be so glad you did!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your wonderful review of our work! Our store is at http://sandtcreations.etsy.com
Teri

Annie Spandex said...

White turquoise? Very pretty..

A Beaded Affair said...

Wonderful article and wonderful artists. Great etsy shop too. http://www.sandtcreations.etsy.com
Nice job.
Lois
http://www.abeadedaffair.com

tkmetalarts said...

Very striking pieces featured here by these 2 talented artists. Thanks for sharing.

ChezChani said...

All lovely stuff but that pretty in pink just leaps off the page. It glows!!

Unknown said...

Thank you for this great discussion of our friends Saundra and Teri of www.S&TCreations.etsy.com! Look forward to tons more fabulous handmade jewelry from this energetic creative duo.
best,
~Anna Lee H.
http://gahooletreedesigns.blogspot.com
http://sassydlite.blogspot.com