Enjoy our exclusive spotlight interview with…
Gesine, the Etsy shop owner of Blobhouse.
Tell us about your shop name…
► Back when the Internet was young I got my first domain name, not really having much of a plan for what to do with it. It just felt like the thing to do to have a website. I was making small abstract, colorful sculptures at the time that I called Blobs, so blobhouse came to mind. When I opened my etsy shop and thought about what to call it, blobhouse sounded like a good choice. Even though I still don’t do anything with the blobhouse.com domain, I have hung onto it and paid my yearly 25 bucks, thinking that one day I will expand my empire and somehow use it for that.
Tell us about your logo…
► Ah, logos. Not my favorite thing to design. But since I had to do one I chose orange, my favorite color, and handwritten lettering with squiggly lines that reflect my whimsical art style.
Tell us about your shop…
Tell us about the items in your shop…
► I sell small painted sculptures of animals and invented creatures that combine a child-like appearance with professional craftsmanship. All of them are originals that only exist once. The smaller ones are made from a combination of polymer clay and epoxy clay, the bigger ones also contain paper clay, which I make myself. I do not work with molds because I am not interested in just producing one item over and over. This is a terrible business model, because it obviously takes me a lot longer to design, make, paint, name and photograph each individual sculpture, but it makes me much happier. My pieces all have a lot of personality and often tell a little story. People frequently see themselves or their pets in them, which I think is just the best compliment I could wish for. I have many other sculptures that don’t make it into my etsy shop because they are too hard to ship.
Where do you get your inspiration?
► Most often I wake up in the morning with an idea. So I guess things come to me in my sleep. Also drawing in my sketchbook always brings new scenes and critters to light.
Where can we find your work?
► blog – Sculpture is just a part of my art, I also work in illustration and animation. gesinekratzner.com is the place to visit and see all the different things that I’m up to. My blog gesinekratzner.com/blog/ also lives there. I have a private Facebook account and I don’t do twitter etc. I should probably try and be in more places on the Internet but there’s only so many hours in the day and in the end I want to spend them making art!
You cannot live without…
You‘re not a fan of…
► having to make money to live
We wouldn’t guess that…
► my chickens are named after characters in the TV show Lost.
One day you hope to…
► find a way of having some of my sculpture designs mass-produced and distributed through something like a toy company. I think my worry warts or pet lumps would be really well suited for that.
Do you have advice for other Etsy shop owners?
► Don’t get discouraged. Sales tend to bubble up and calm down sporadically, so be patient. Do what you love.
Other Etsy shops you love…
Here are some that I keep coming back to:
www.etsy.com/shop/3crows
www.etsy.com/shop/matteart
www.etsy.com/shop/krisblues
www.etsy.com/shop/PearsonMaron
www.etsy.com/shop/aliette
Visit her shop and sites to stay connected with this very talented artist!
