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Featured Artisan Spotlight: Denise Vance, MK Jewels
Posted by ArtFireContent on 05/24/2011 at 14:51:57
Please start by telling us a little about yourself and your studio.
My name is Denise Vance, have been married to my husband now for 17 years now, he has a daughter who is married and has t
hree boys and a son that was killed on his motorcycle in April of 2008. I have two sons, one married to a wonderful mother of our two granddaughters and my other son is engaged.
I am the owner of MK Jewels, where all of our jewelry is handmade by me. Most of my designs are a one of a kind but some items can be duplicated if my clients would like more than one of the same item. MK Jewels creates Awareness Bracelets, Inspirational Jewelry, Remembrance Bracelets, Rosaries and Fine Casual Jewelry.
The jewelry designs that I promote on my ArtFire shop are inspired by many reasons. The death of my stepson inspired the Remembrance Bracelets. Cancer in my family inspired me to design Awareness Bracelets from which I donate a percentage of the sale price to the cause for further cancer research. My Inspirational pieces were inspired by my love and faith in God.
How did you come to selling online?
I have always been crafty, learned sewing in school, taught myself to crochet, took tole painting classes and decided I would try to m
ake jewelry. I have been creating jewelry since 2005, but just started to really sell my creations in 2008, and in January 2010 decided I would try and take it to the next level by selling online. I first joined Etsy and didn't get anywhere with that shop, so I saw some of the members also have ArtFire shops so I decided to give it a try. I have sold more of my creations through my ArtFire account than I did on Etsy. My goals with my ArtFire studio is to put my name out there in order to make enough sales with my Awareness Bracelets that I can give back enough money to make a difference in Cancer research.
Why do you think that buying and selling handmade products benefits society?
Buying and selling handmade products will keep our handcrafters who are mommy's at home with their little ones, and for the ones that don't have little ones at home it will provide a second income and the employment rate may drop if we had more handcrafters who could sell their products.
