Each month we catch up with the DIME Store to hear them brag about one of their many local makers. This month's subject was Carrie Crumbley, the talented gal behind Resoycled. Part vintage hunter, part candle maker, Carrie and her product are largely responsible for the intoxicating smell inside the DIME Store. Read her interview to get the full scoop on her awesome handcrafted goods.
Read MoreDIME FEATURED ARTIST: TRIPLE THREAT PRESS
Our fine friends over at DIME feature a seller/artist with us once a month. Check out their new store on South Locust when you have a chance, and read on to hear all about this month's featured artist.
There’s more than a little excitement brewing around Triple Threat Press these days. The letterpressing duo is gearing up for the DIME Summer Bazaar, trying to keep their popular work in stock at the DIME Store, and planning their speech for May 13th’s Creatives Mixer at OSDH. Nonetheless, we found a bit of time in their schedule to hassle them about how awesome they are.
photo by Triple Threat Press
How/when did you guys decide to start your business?
Laura: In May of 2012 I graduated with my MFA in Printmaking from UNT. I was looking to purchase a press so that I could continue to print my own artwork, and when I finally found our Kelsey Excelsior letterpress in Sanger in early July, Dave planted the idea that perhaps we could use it to make a little bit of money.
Dave: In hindsight, it was a little foolish on my part because I didn’t know the first thing about printmaking. Luckily, Laura knows a lot about it. With her help, and through helping restore the letterpress, I was able to gain a working knowledge of how a it all works.
Why did you choose the name "Triple Threat Press"?
Laura: Growing up around theater, a "triple threat"–a talented singer, dancer, and actor–was something I always aspired to be. Triple threats are fiery, committed to their talents, and they are always in demand. While naming the business, we tried to pick a moniker that would comment on our dedication and drive as well as our services. We both have backgrounds in design, Dave is an incredibly talented coder, and I know my way around a printshop pretty well.
Dave: The other reason we picked it was because we thought of a lot of names that were very descriptive of us as people and we thought that it would be better to have a name that was descriptive of what we do. A lot of people ask us, “So, what are the three threats?”. We don’t have to go around telling people what we do. The name starts the conversation for us.
by Triple Threat Press
What drew you to letterpress over other forms of printing?
Dave: One of the things that we took away from the first Etsy Denton sale that we attended was that there was a real market for letterpress items in Denton. Basically, there wasn’t anybody doing it here. We figured that with good designs and well-made products, we could make a splash pretty quickly.
Laura: Also, letterpress is one of those printmaking techniques that allows an artist to create hundreds–if not thousands–of identical pieces of art from just one image. Large letterpress editions help us keep our cost down, which makes it that much easier for us to sell our goods and services at affordable prices. Thus, nearly everyone can afford to own something that we made. That might be the most beautiful thing about this process: because letterpress was initially utilized to create reading material for the masses, it truly is “the people’s art”.
What is it like to work in a business relationship with your significant other?
Dave: It's really great. (And not just because I'd be in trouble if I said anything to the contrary.) I think that we work really well together and it is fun to be able to bounce ideas off of each other whenever they come up, instead of only between the hours of 9-5.
Laura: I think that I might just be the luckiest woman in the world. To have a significant other who believes in me so much and supports me so fully that he wanted to start a business with me has got to be the greatest gift that I have been given in life. I know how mushy that sounds... and all of my friends will probably make fun of me for saying so, but that is genuinely how I feel. Put that in your press and print it.
photo by Lauren Apel
photo by Triple Threat Press
How did you become involved with DIME?
Dave: After we restored our letterpress, we started designing things like greeting cards and notebooks. We thought that the Etsy Denton Handmade Harvest would be a great place to try selling them. When we applied, we didn’t even have an Etsy store set up. Thankfully, we were able to sell at that event and it went really well. When the DIME Store opened, we quickly applied to be a part of it and were even asked to do a chalk mural on their wall.
Where can we shop your work?
Dave: We have an Etsy store. You can also find our work for sale at the DIME Store, and we will be selling some stuff at the DIME Summer Bazaar on June 8th. If you'd just like to keep tabs on what we're up to, there is our Facebook page, Twitter, or triplethreatpress.com.
photo by Triple Threat Press
Triple Threat Press is one of the featured speakers at May 13th's Creative's Mixer. How do you feel about being looked to as a voice for the creative community in Denton?
Dave: I still can’t get over the fact that somebody somewhere wants to hear what I have to say.
Laura: Dave still doesn’t understand that we’re not just some do-nothing teenagers anymore. We’re adults, and because we have worked hard to hone our adult skills, we are actually getting to be somewhat good at what we do. Imagine that, Dave. We do our jobs well.
Dave: I know a lot of people who do their jobs well... that doesn’t mean I want to hear them talk about it! I guess it is just crazy to me that this time last year, nobody knew who we were and now, people are going to sit and listen to us talk.
What did you get out of the first Creative's Mixer last October?
Dave: We showed up not really knowing what to expect. At that point, we weren’t even a business yet. We were just a couple with a letterpress. It was very neat to see so many people come out and to hear about what other people were doing in Denton. I think it gave us the assurance that what we were doing was good, that we had a market in Denton, and that people around here would support us.
photo by Triple Threat Press
photo by Triple Threat Press
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists who are looking to start a business or become an active part of the Denton creative community?
Dave: Know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s really easy to make things and put them out there for people to buy, but there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that you might not really think about (More on that at the Denton Creatives Mixer on May 13th!).
Laura: It is really important to understand that there is a significant amount of time that must be devoted to creative work, and having realistic timelines in place to complete this work is essential to success. One last thing: No matter how hard you need to work to meet a deadline, try to schedule at least one hour of solitary time every day. Spend this time on yourself, not the business. If you’re anything like me when we first started our business, you’ll have a hard time turning off work. That’s not healthy. Take care of yourself, y’all.
photo by Triple Threat Press
photo by Triple Threat Press
photo by Triple Threat Press
DIME FEATURED SELLER: MANDY CAVE
Interview provided by DIME. Photos by Sara Barnes
As Denton Independent Maker Exchange (DIME) gears up for the opening of it’s brick and mortar store in April, we caught up with DIME leader and accomplished water-colorist Mandy Cave. Mandy’s abundant enthusiasm will get you excited about her work, the store, and maybe even about creating some art, yourself.
How did you get into watercolor painting?
All I knew when I moved to Denton was that I wanted to be an art major. It wasn’t until I took my first watercolor class that I learned to love it. One day in class my teacher showed us the work of famous watercolor painters, and I recognized a couple of them from my childhood. As a kid my parents had a painting of a dog laying on a bed framed above their headboard. I would lay in their bed for hours staring at the painting. When I got a little older, I found my new favorite painting of a young lady sitting in a yellow field, reaching out toward a house in the distance. It turns out that a watercolor artist, Andrew Wyeth had painted both of them. After that I starting realizing how much I’ve always been drawn to Watercolor. Whenever I go to the bookstore, I find myself wandering over to the kids section to flip though the illustrations. Most of my favorites are always watercolor artists. Maybe I was hardwired to like it and just never saw it until later.
What is your favorite thing about watercolor?
There are these little moments behind the scenes I enjoy so much. I feel like all watercolor artists must like them. Like when I’m about to clean off a brush in a fresh jar of water. When I tap the brush loaded with color on the side of the jar, color floats and dances around in the water. It’s magical. Right now I am learning how versatile watercolor is. I can use it to make these huge, realistic, fine art paintings, or I can make small, simplified illustrations. Both are so fun! The illustration thing is really new to me. I’m just now exploring it.
Your custom family illustrations are the cutest thing ever. Can you explain how you go about making those?
It is an opportunity to make friends. I get to know details that are important to people. One family I’m about to paint owns chickens. The wife asked me if I thought it would be silly to include them, but I told her I think those details are what make a family unique. I can’t imagine leaving things like that out. Some people are really open to share about themselves, like the origin of their pet’s name and the way their son likes to gel his hair. I love it! Then they send me photo references and I compose a drawing that feels fitting for their family. After I make the drawing in a sketchbook (and do a lot of erasing and re-drawing), I transfer it to watercolor paper with a projector. Watercolor paper is delicate. If you use an eraser on it, the tooth of the paper gets damaged. The projector prevents me from damaging the final painting. Then, the best part, PAINTING! I use this ridiculously small 4 haired brush to outline the edges of a sweater, the tip of a dogs nose and everyone’s tiny eyes.
You recently had your work featured on the prestigious Design*Sponge Blog. What was that like?
It was such a fun opportunity to be found by people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Folks from California to Maryland. One gal who found me through Design*Sponge told me about her dream of documenting her family every year, just like her grandmother did for 65 years of marriage. It’s funny because I’ve been interested in capturing the changes in one family over a long span of time. Thanks to Design*Sponge, our little dreams met.
How did you become involved in DIME?
The postcards for the Bazaar’s are adorable! That’s how I first found out about DIME. I couldn’t make it to the Summer Bazaar but when I saw the cute postcard with the fall leaves, last october, I made it a top priority to be there. Graduation from College was coming up and I was nervous about the end of campus days, surrounded by artsy students. So, I did everything I could to make new friends at the Bazaar. I signed up to be on the e-mail list and made sure to go to the Christmas party. That night, we got to laugh at how everyone wrapped their gift in brown kraft paper and we ate chocolate cookies. After that, I jumped at every opportunity to hang out with Shelley and Rachel. I was eager to be a part of the creative community.
There are so many great artists around town. When I was getting started, Anna Tovar, also a DIME watercolor artist, met up with me to talk artsy-business over some killer breakfast nachos at Loco. The whole DIME group is inspiring and it’s contagious.
In addition to being a DIME artist, you are the newest leader on the DIME leadership team. Can you give us a little incite into your role?
Rachel, Shelley and Nikki are so fun, it feels more like play than work. Right now, I’m transitioning into my role. The most exciting thing I get to do is post on the DIME Facebook page about all the Artist’s who get into the DIME Summer Bazaar.
Where can we purchase your work?
You can find my custom illustrations at MandyCaveWatercolor.Etsy.com. I’m going to debut illustrated prints and cards at the Summer Bazaar on June 8th. After that, they will be available on my Etsy Shop and at the DIME store. The home for my fine-art portfolio is mandycave.com
Do you have any advice for aspiring Etsy sellers?
Yes! My 1st piece of advice is “Get Smart!”. There are a bazillion helpful articles about setting up shop as a small art biz. Etsy has a ton of blog posts, Dave Ramsey has solid financial advice, Jon Acuff has great advice about pursuing your dream, DIME teaches Etsy classes and the list goes on. Read up on all your business/art heroes. Wisdom is at your fingertips if you search for it.
My 2nd piece of advice is “Start!”. It is scary to begin a business, but don’t let that keep you from diving in. There is a lot to learn about taking photos of your product, writing descriptions of your work, how to be your own boss, keeping a schedule, doing your own taxes, blah di blah... But let’s be real, you can’t be awesome immediately. You just have to start and learn as you go. And you don’t have to quit your job at Starbucks to do it. My last semester of school I was working at Panera Bread and I started my Etsy shop. Somedays I didn’t feel like sweeping bread crumbs, but then I read something Jon Acuff said. “Your day job is practice for your dream job.” After that, I swept the floors with a little skip in my step. I needed to be a a good barista before I could be an entrepreneur. I started toasting bagels with gusto and paying attention to guest’s preferences. Because of it, I learned customer service skills that I use for my Art & Illustration Business.
My 3rd piece of advice is “Don’t Listen To Your Negative Thoughts!” They simply aren’t true. Sometimes I think things like “There are enough artists out there already.” But that is absurd. If we don’t share our negative thoughts, we become convinced of silly lies. You have to use your talent because no one else can use it for you.
My Last piece of advice is “Make Friends!” Finding Creative Community is so valuable. Otherwise, creative energy wanes and you will quit. Care about other people around you. Pay attention to what they say and learn from them. They are your greatest resource.
