Manic Monday: Ruby Tombstone

Ruby Tombstone
Etsy | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Ebay

What got you started with selling online? What inspired you to put yourself out there?

Believe it or not, it was buttons! I had been selling vintage clothing and nail art kits on eBay for a couple of years and was looking for bulk lots of vintage gear to restock my store. I came across a few lots of vintage buttons, and flashed back to being a kid and playing with Mum's old button tin. I bid on all of them, thinking I'd only win one or two, and lo and behold I won them all! Then I went to visit my mother and she gave me the old tin full of buttons I had played with as a kid! So from then on, and I had to find something to make with the buttons, so I started searching for findings, which led me to vintage cabochons.....and I just couldn't stop buying craft supplies. Now I have a house full of plastic crates!

What is your absolute favorite piece in your shop(s)?

Oh wow. That's hard. Whatever I happened to have worked on last is my usual answer! The last one I worked on was a piece made from a vintage 1960s Fuzzy Felt set from the UK. I used to play with them as a kid also, and it was amazing how well I recognised all the pieces! http://www.etsy.com/listing/72786817/bambi-vintage-fuzzy-felt-necklace-aqua

I also love "Poor Gladys", a zombie memento mori piece I finished recently. I constructed a whole backstory for the poor, doomed woman. There's a scrap from her dress, some beads from her jewelry, some smears of blood - which is actually my own. I had to stab myself in the hand 5 times before I could get a single drop of blood. Then afterwards I couldn't stop bleeding. Art is pain, I guess! http://www.etsy.com/listing/69933221/poor-gladys-zombie-necklace-memento-mori

What's the most important thing that you've learned through your experience selling and promoting yourself online?

Karma works! There's a team on Etsy that finds shops who haven't had many sales. Twice a week we pick 3 shops and bombard them with "hearts", sales, and promotion. I found my sales picked up immediately. It pays to pay it forward!

What is your favorite quote (funny, inspirational - anything!)? 

"It's an evil wind which blows no minds" (Robert Anton Wilson)