Feature Friday - Chelsea Rainbow

Hello Lab Rats - It's Feature Friday time again!

I'd like to introduce you to Jacqueline Gikow/ChelseaRainbow and thank her for a fabulous interview! ~ Lori

Where can we find you?

Shop: chelsearainbow.com
Blog: chelsearainbows.blogspot.com/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/chelsearainbows
Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/ChelseaRainbow/

1) Tell us about yourself, your shop and what brought you to the Etsy community. 

My name is Jacqueline and I’m the owner of ChelseaRainbow. I live in New York City, one of the most vibrant urban cities of the world and also the capital of fashion. You may not be able to afford a designer dress, but you can always find my fashion forward jewelry to update your own looks and my elegant home decor accessories to enhance your home. 

In the past I have had careers in pottery, graphic design and industrial design with a sidetrack into computer programming early on in my work history. Ever since I can remember, art in some shape or form has been my passion. I am a graduate of The College of Ceramics at SUNY with a BFA in sculpture and art history, an MFA in Arizona State University in environmental design, and an MID in industrial design from Pratt Institute. A perpetual student, I am self-taught in handmade fashion forward jewelry with a tasteful backing as a professional designer. I have also written and had published two hip, smart books: Graphic Illustration in Black and White and Polymer Clay; Creating Functional and Decorative Objects.

What brought me to Etsy was having a job in a crafts gallery that also sold jewelry. I had been making jewelry for about five years, but not selling it. A cousin of mine bought a painting on Etsy so I decided to check it out. I liked the atmosphere on Etsy so I opened a jewelry shop last June. By December I had diversified to include home décor accessories and I decided to change shops to Chelsea Rainbow; Exploring Creative Embellishments. I’ve now been open as ChelseaRainbow for about three months and took a large step backwards in my visibility so I’m working hard to get to where I was.

2) Please walk us through a typical day in your life.

In a typical day, I get up early and check my email and do some neatening of my shop. Then I have breakfast and I do two hours of work at my virtual day job, where I work from home.

After that stint of work I spend some time making jewelry or photographing my work and also editing it in my digital software. 

Then I have lunch and do some errands. I then will promote my work in the various teams and social media.

After that I work two more hours on my virtual day job. And then I check out a few promotional websites. I subscribe to HARO (helpareporterout.com) and have been published a number of time from the site.


Then I might do some more promoting and I take the evening off. It’s handy having a virtual job because I can spend a lot of time working on Etsy, either in my shop or on my jewelry and home décor accessories.

3) Name your top 3:

Books
Purple Cow, by Scott Godin
Poke the Box, by Scott Godin
How to Make Money Using Etsy, by Tim Adam

Music
Melanie
Blue Grass
Classical

TV
Law & Order
NCIS
NatGeo

Web sites

chelsearainbow.com
www.senseofashion.com/jgik6856/seller

4.) What are your top 3 shops on Etsy?
www.etsy.com/shop/baconsquarefarm
www.etsy.com/shop/beadedembellishments
www.etsy.com/shop/thegirlmakesbanners


5.) What projects are you currently working on?

Currently I’m working on some semi-precious pendants and necklaces as well as making some large (size 13) knitting stitch markers.

6.) Where do you hope your shop will be in a year?

I’m hoping to be more visible on Etsy and selling a bit faster. Since I sell jewelry, I have a lot of competition, but my work is unique and fashion forward, so I expect people to find me with the efforts I’m making to keep my shop up to date and well-stocked as well as approaching my target market.

7.) What suggestions/tips would you offer to someone new to Etsy?

Be prepared to work hard at filling your shop with products. Aim for at least two pages of items so that the buyer will be able to have a choice of products. Also be patient, especially if you’re a jeweler. It takes time to get known on Etsy both by the buyers and by the community. Join a team and make some treasuries so you can get seen. And finally get familiar with SEO so that you will also be visible on Google as well as on Etsy.