Featured Shop: BPR Designs

Thank you very much Beth for taking the time to answer a few questions about your etsy business: BPR Designs. Your hand crafted fused glass products are very unique and make great gifts for any occasion! I am very happy and honored to feature your shop! http://bprdesigns.etsy.com

Q. How did you hear about Etsy?
A. I heard about Etsy from a friend at work. We were thinking about a gift for a co-worker and she mentioned this really great website that had only hand made items. I couldn't believe all the great shops.

Q. What made you decide to sell on Etsy?
A. Etsy makes it so easy to start small and build your shop. They are reasonably priced and the process is pretty simple, so you don't have to have a warehouse full of work to begin! I liked the idea of being a part of something committed to high quality, and I thought that people who shopped on Etsy would have an appreciation for beautiful things.

Q. How did you originally get into fused glass business?
A. I started by taking a kiln-formed glass class through my local community college and I was hooked. I live in Portland, which is the home of Bullseye and Urobos glass companies, so there are lots of glass artists and places to take classes here. I just started taking classes at various places and once I retired from my "other career" of 35 years, I had time to really pursue it. So I set up my own shop and bought a glass kiln, and an artist was born! Once I filled up my house with glass art, I figured I had to sell some of it or I'd be buried in it!

Q. What motivates and inspires you to create?
A. I love to garden, so a lot of my inspiration comes from nature. I love my flower garden and all the riot of colors, so that tends to be the colors and shapes I am drawn to in my work. Art is so different than my previous career in finance that I feel like I am exercising a whole new part of my brain!

Q. What do you like most about being a seller?
A. I like the interaction with the Etsy community. It feels like there are lots of new friends out there to support me and my business. And I find lots of places to do my own shopping through the community, as well.

Q. What is your best advice for new Etsy sellers?
A. It probably sounds like everyone else, but great pictures and a interesting shop are the key. When I first started I had no idea how to take inviting pictures and how to put them together to make it look like a store, and I didn't get much traffic or sales. It doesn't matter how many people stop in your shop if they can't see your product clearly. I find that with glass items, you need to be sure that buyers can really tell what it looks like so I spend a lot of time now taking and cleaning up my photos.

Thank you very much, Beth.