Spotlight: Penguin & Fish

When Alyssa was little, she would make everything from beaded bracelets to papier mache masks, all to be bartered for at her 'trading post' outside her bedroom door. Today she happily continues to make and sell her wares through Penguin & Fish where you'll find quirky, plush animals and adorable embroidery and sewing patterns. She also recently illustrated her first children's book and is currently working on her own fabric collection! Is she stoppable? I think not.

Read on to learn more about how Alyssa got her start, what other adventures keep her busy and her trip to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. You can also enter to win some patterns from her shop!

Where are you from originally and where do you currently call home?
I am originally from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Now I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota where my husband and I just bought our first house. In the middle of the two, we had short stints in Northern California and NYC.

How long have you been selling on Etsy?
Technically I opened shop in March of '07. But I didn't get very serious about it until a year and a half later when I started making my plush kitties.

Do you sell your art full time or do you have a day job?
I work on Penguin & Fish full time but not completely on Etsy. Most of what I do now is selling my embroidery patterns and kits to stores. I also license some of my designs and do occasional freelance illustration for the greeting card industry. I'm also lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who brings in the bulk of the cash via his teaching and freelance design gigs, but as Penguin & Fish grows it's gradually taking over which is exciting.

What, if any, formal training have you had in the arts?
I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

What made you decide to open up shop on Etsy?
I've always been interested in selling what I make. My brother and I used to make a bunch of stuff like painted rocks and beaded bracelets, then we'd sell them at our "trading post" outside our bedroom doors. I traded my dad something I made for a slide ruler once. That was pretty cool. After college I wanted to start making and selling again. Etsy was pretty young yet but finally I bit the bullet and opened a store. It was an easy and low risk way to entertain the idea of having my own artsy business.

Do you sell anywhere besides Etsy?
I sell in several brick/mortar and online stores as well as my own online shop which is linked to my Art Made Daily shop.

How did you come up with your shop name?
It's actually from an animation that I made in one of my classes in college called "The penguin and the fish". It's basically about my husband and me. The penguin and the fish fall in love and then the fish has to go migrate but they keep in touch via email. Heh heh.

What inspires you?
Everything! I always have my sketchbook with me so if I need to jot down or sketch an idea I can. Animals are always interesting. You never really know what they're thinking. That's a theme that seems to come up a lot in my work.

What do you like least about your craft?
Being on the computer all the time. I'm not too happy about the knots in my arm or that my fingers go numb from sitting at the computer all day. I'm hoping that the long holiday coming up will take care of some of that. All the marketing, corresponding with stores and vendors, accounting, prepping shipping and the rest of the business-y stuff is what keeps me on the computer. It's about 90% business stuff and 10% making stuff. I'd like to work on that ratio a bit so I can spend more time making new work.

Do you have any advice for other sellers on Etsy or those thinking about pursuing their craft?
Make sure that you absolutely love and enjoy making the work that you put out there. I didn't really start to sell things until I felt that way. Great photos are a must. And don't expect Etsy to do all the work for you. You have to get out there and push your product. One thing that helped a lot was saving some money so we could take little risks here and there with Penguin & Fish. Knowing there's money saved helps make those decisions a lot less stressful. Lastly, don't get hung up on doing lots of research or figuring out all the 'what ifs'. All that's important but at some point you need to just get started. You'll figure out tons as you go.

Five Etsy Shops you love
Gah! This is ridiculously difficult. Here are a few favs (I'm feeling plushy today)…
Mimi Kirchner
Cotton Monster
Gemma Correll
Fox and Owl
Mary Kate McDevitt

Where is the coolest place you have ever been?
Iceland! Either that or the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices.

Five things you love
Kitties
Swimming
Knitting
Reading
Spring

Five things you don't
Spiders
Insomnia
The cold
Eating mushrooms
Tornados

What would you like to learn?
Garment sewing, oil painting, ballet (might have to wait till my next life for this one)

Favorite junk food
Cotton candy, YUM! Ooo, and corn nuts.

What does the future hold for you and your shop?
I'd like to get more into licensing and just more art making in general. I'll be making more embroidery and sewing patterns for sure and my fabric collection comes out this next year. I'm thinking about maybe selling some prints in the shop, too? We'll see. I'll be able to think more once I get through the holiday season. Heh heh.

You can keep up with Alyssa and her work by visiting her blog or following her on Twitter or Facebook.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Alyssa is offering one winner their choice of any five embroidery patterns from her shop.

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:
Please leave a comment on this post with your favorite item from Penguin & Fish along with what other subject matter you would like to see in her patterns.

You may enter once per day and YOU MUST INCLUDE your first name -AND- etsy username or email address with every entry. (If you are worried about email spam, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.)

Receive additional entries (one each) if you:

Follow or subscribe to this blog, my Twitter or my Facebook

Follow or subscribe to Alyssa's blog, Twitter or Facebook

(You DO NOT need to leave separate comments for additional entries, just list which apply)

You have until Sunday, December 19 at 10 pm (est) to enter and I will announce the winner Monday morning.

Thanks for visiting!