By Contributing Columnist Devin aka Oooohshiny

While Etsy is filled to the brim with jewelry stores, vintage sellers, children’s hair bows, stores like Sleepy Robot 13 are true diamonds in the rough. Lisastarchild creates robots, zombies,and other adorable creatures out of polymer clay, and tries to find them happy, loving homes. As her shop’s tag line says, these are things you never knew you needed until today……

Tell me about yourself.

I was born and raised in Cleveland, OH. From the age of 15 I was always trying to start my own businesses. I think my inspiration was to not have to work for someone else. Many crashed and burned quickly. I was young and very, very stupid. I tried making jewelry, clothing, you name it, and always got frustrated when I wasn’t making money immediately. It took until I was about 21 to really have the patience to stick with something to really make it work.

How long have you been crafting? How did you get started working with polymer clay?

I have been crafting since I was about 8 or 9. My mom did ceramics and made her own molds so I got started that way. I loved making and painting my own figurines, but the firing process before a piece was finished was just too long for a kid to wait. Eventually my mom bought me my first Sculpey®

sample pack and I fell in love! I think my mom kind of instilled the DIY lifestyle in me. She was on disability most of her life with a serious case of lupus (that later in life my sister and myself both inherited) and could not work a regular job because of the crippling joint pain. She got a monthly check from the state but it was barely enough to pay the bills, so crafting became the family’s main source of income.

Is crafting your full-time job?

At the current moment crafting is my full-time job. In 2009 I lost my job at an air rifle company. At first it was just a way to keep the rent/bills paid until I found a new job, but quickly it turned into my job, but in a good way. Prior to this I hadn’t picked up a pack of clay since I was in high school. I had forgotten how much I loved it! Though it’s a full time thing now, I always have in the back of my mind that sales could slow any day and that I may have to get a 9 to 5. My goal is not to have to, but I think it’s good to always be aware of it.

What is your daily routine?

I usually wake up around 9:00 am (or whenever the dog wakes me up to go out.) I check/respond to emails for about 45 minutes. Next I copy and paste all of my Etsy orders from overnight into graph with the customers’ name, address and item(s) they’ve purchased. I usually do this about three times a day. I then go on to social networking. I check/respond to direct messages on Twitter, tweet a friendly good morning to everyone, and then check tweets from some of the people I follow. I like to retweet posts by other Etsy sellers; it helps them and it gets the word out more about Etsy in general. After Twittering for a bit, I check my Myspace and Facebook (I’m a little more fond of Myspace than Facebook.) I round out my morning online routine by re-listing items on Etsy. By that time it is a little after 11:00 am, so I make some coffee and cereal and I begin packing orders from the previous day. Once previous orders are packed, I begin working on custom orders. I try to make 2 new items a day. Some of these items may make it to Etsy that evening, but some end up on a shelf in my living room, because my boyfriend likes them too much to let me sell them! I check emails a few more times and update my Etsy order graph. At around 6:00 pm, I print my Etsy order graph for the day and get started packing or making items for those orders. I usually try to stop at 10:00 pm but more often than not I work past 4:00 am.

How do you balance crafting and the rest of your life?

Even though I am crafting full time currently I still have several other responsibilities to take care of throughout the day. Also my robots have become quite popular. Though I love making them, I really want to work on making new characters as well. I’m still trying to find a happy medium.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?

That’s a tough one. I have new favorites all the time. I think when I master making something that has a lot of detail that I previously wasn’t able to do, it instantly becomes my favorite. But if I have to choose a favorite I’d probably say “Zombie Toast”. I love zombies and I love toast!

Name your…

Top three websites:

plasticandplush.com, buffmonster.com and thedirtycream.com

Top three books:

Extras by Scott Westerfield, Once Dead Twice Shy by Kim Harrison, and The Bad Art Collection by Jhonen Vasquez

Top three musical artists:

Nonpoint, Smile Empty Soul, and Adema

Top three movies:

The Nightmare Before Christmas, Super Troopers, and Kamakazi Girls

looshies, rockythezombie and loveandasandwich

Tell me about your blog. How did it start, and what do you tend to write about the most?

My blog (http://lisastarchild.blogspot.com) started as a place for me to post my most recent figures and slowly grew into a place where I post contests, selling advise and exchange ideas/opinions with other crafters.

Other than Etsy, where do you sell your creations? How do you promote yourself?

I also have a small shop set up on bigcartel.com (http://sleepyrobot13.bigcartel.com/), although I have not seen any sales from this site just yet. I usually promote myself by joining forums outside of just the Etsy community. I love the website diyscene.com. I also sign up for any craft/art shows that I can that have more of any indie crowd. I wear my robot jewelry everywhere I go and I always have business cards on me; I always take business cards with me to the post office. At least one person always asks “What are you shipping so much of?” and I’ll hand them my card. My biggest tool for promotion is probably Twitter.

What is your favorite thing about being part of the Etsy family?

That’s just it. It’s a family. Like a family, sellers help each other out and like a family, you may have one or two bad apples. Without Etsy I wouldn’t have been able to do what I love for a living in the short amount of time that I have. I also may have never found some of my favorite new artists. I love that if people see your shop and really like your work, they let you know and they let others know. I only hope in time I can do more of the same.

If you could be anywhere doing anything for the rest of your life, where would you be and what would you be doing?

I don’t think I could ever completely move out of Ohio, but if I could afford it, maybe buy a winter home in Florida? I would love to have a few small runs of vinyl toys based on my designs under my belt and possible start a yearly handmade toy convention.

Please check out Lisastarchild’s shops (www.sleepyrobot13.etsy.com / www.sugaredwithspite.etsy.com) and blog (http://lisastarchild.blogspot.com).

You can follow her on twitter at @lisastarchild

Tags: bigcartel, creatures, diyscene, polymer clay, robots, zombies

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