FAST Member Interview- Elizabeth of Elizabeth’s Lace

If you’re a member of FAST and would like to be featured in the weekly interview, visit this thread in the yahoo group to get the questions, then send your answers (and a picture or two if you’d like) to me at merigreenleaf[at]yahoo.com (or a convo to merigreenleaf). These will be posted in the order I receive them.

What is your name?
Elizabeth Zipay

What is your Etsy shop? Does your shop name have a meaning?
ElizabethsLace is the name; it’s my first name (although outside of my business I usually go by Beth) and I guess I thought it was very elegant and perfect for a Victorian form of lacemaking.

Besides your Etsy shop, do you sell anywhere else? Do you have a website or blog?
I have been doing art/craft shows for 15 years. I do have a website-
home.comcast.net/~elizabeths-lace

How long have you been making art/crafting? What was the first thing you remember making?
Since I was little, I remember doing cross stitch and crocheting from the time I was about six. I made a cross stitch of a bear sitting in a green pepper house. I only remember that because my mother still has it somewhere and I’ve seen it recently.

What kind of fiber arts do you do? If different from the previous question, what was the first fiber art thing you made?
I crochet and tat, but tatting is the thing I do most regularly. I made a crocheted afghan in gold and black.

What’s your favorite thing to make?
Tatted beaded necklaces.

(Click the below link to read the rest of the interview)

What is your favorite place to work?
In my extremely old recliner – seriously, it’s like the one the dad had on “Frazier”. I’ve tried to get new ones and they are not comfortable!

What inspires you? Where does your inspiration come from?
Shapes, other forms of jewelry, tatting patterns that start out as something else (like doilies) that I reinvision as jewelry.

What is your favorite color? Do you tend to work with that color, or do you find yourself working with other colors?
I love to work in variegated colored thread. But I guess I tend to work most in the colors that sell the best – so black, olive green, navy, taupe.

Do you prefer a specific type of fiber?
Cotton or silk thread.

Is there any other kind of art (fiber-related or not) that you’d like to learn?
I’d like to learn a lot more bead weaving stitches (I do just a little bit of that now).

Tell us a bit about yourself- where do you live, what’s your job, do you have a spouse/children/pets, any other hobbies, that kind of thing.
I am married and have 16-year-old twin boys, and I live in Pennsylvania. I have two cats and one dog. I have been working part-time as bookkeeper/tax accountant, but will be starting full time as of September 1st. I really like to read but have almost no time to do so.

Tell us one quirky thing about you (or one thing no one knows about you).
I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Do you have any advice for other fiber artists? Have any craft room, storage, or other tips?
Take care of your hands! I am having increasing chronic problems with the base of my thumb and wrists because I tend to be obsessive about the tatting, like for hours at a time, and in order to keep up with demand, I have to do it a lot. I do better if I take frequent breaks or try and do some other part of the process in between pieces.

Tags: etsyfast, member interview

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