It was no surprise that I have finally got around to setting up an Etsy shop:
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JEpandas (now on shop.jessica-emmett.com)
At first Esty was just meant to be a solution to selling t-shirts on top of just paypal. It then turned into me being inspired by all the great crafts on there.
I use to love doing all kinds of craft/making when I was younger. I use to think “craft” and “making” was just a hobby for me. I mean I’m a digital illustrator, I don’t really make objects in a work sense, so I never really imaged that making things could be part of my business! My illustration work translates to t-shirts, so why can’t my aesthetics translate to other things?
I had some beige polymer clay sitting on my self from last year. The reason I bought the clay originally was I read an article about an illustrator who always makes little models of her characters as it makes the best reference for drawing. I did actually give it a go based on some characters I’ve been developing for a personal project…the girl didn’t work too well, but it was my first attempt. After I made the models I didn’t really think more of model making.
Thankfully polymer clay seems to last that whole time so I set about making some prototypes… and I’m on a bit of a panda mission at the moment so thought I’d draw a panda little how I draw them in a cartoon way. So after testing, developing techniques, and being happy with the proportions, I set about making a real batch. I’m super happy with the results! Here are a few examples. You can buy individual or custom charms from my Esty store: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JEpandas
