the peaceful peacock

frequently asked

::  Where can I buy your stuff?  ::

You can find my sweet coozies and my sig­na­ture gro­cery bags at the Com­mu­nity Food Co-op here in Bozeman.

I am also devel­op­ing a small line of pat­terns that will be avail­able in my Etsy shop.

As far as cloth­ing and yarn is con­cerned, I’m focus­ing on build­ing my inven­tory for our sum­mer mar­ket so items are rarely for sale.  On occa­sion, I update my Etsy shop with ran­dom bits.  Stay tuned here and join my Face­book Fan Page for pre­views of goods that make it out into the world before mar­ket sea­son (June — September).

::  Can I come over and see what you have for sale?  ::

Nope.  We’re messy.

Plus there’s that whole busi­ness license deal with zon­ing and whatnot.

:: Do you make cus­tom orders? ::

Right now my pri­or­ity is my chil­dren.  Cus­tom orders take an immense amount of energy and time ~ these days I’m lucky if I get my teeth brushed.  I hope to offer cus­toms in the future on a very lim­ited basis.  Like in five years or so.

:: Do you use patterns? ::

Any goods offered for sale are of my own design.

I do occa­sion­ally use pat­terns for per­sonal use and when I share those projects here I’ll be sure to cite the source.  I have a high regard for copy­right law and the work that my fel­low arti­sans put into their cre­ations, whether I know them per­son­ally or not.

:: How did you learn to do what you do? ::

I’m a third gen­er­a­tion fiber and tex­tile artist so the instinct is pretty much pro­grammed into my genes.  Other than that, The Yarn Shop and Fiber Place here in Boze­man is an incred­i­ble resource.  I have taken a mul­ti­tude of classes there (from eco-friendly dye­ing to learn­ing how to knit), and I wouldn’t be the whirl­wind of tech­nique that I am with­out their highly skilled and friendly staff.   Not to men­tion the fact that it’s where I get the major­ity of my fiber supplies.

That place is like a dream come true.  Really.

:: Who designed your web page? ::

Me.

There are a lot of tools in this bas­ket, that’s for sure.

I am a huge fan of Wordpress.org, which is an open source plat­form with an unlim­ited amount of options.  I use Mosaic Globe to host my gallery pages and Big Car­tel for my gen­eral inven­tory when it’s avail­able (yarns and pat­terns).  I use Etsy pri­mar­ily for the releases of my newest col­lec­tions though my pat­terns are avail­able there as well.

I also take all of my own pho­tographs unless oth­er­wise noted.

:: What is Gypsy Road? ::

Gypsy Road is the Etsy team that I founded in 2008.  It is a col­lec­tive of highly tal­ented earth-bound free spir­its who are sin­cerely devoted to the devel­op­ment and pro­mo­tion of their tal­ents and dreams.  New mem­bers are approved by jury process so that qual­ity and rep­u­ta­tion remain at the high­est standard.

:: Is your work con­sid­ered art or craft? ::

For me, the two go hand in hand like old lovers walk­ing down the lane.

I con­sider the gen­eral prac­tice of mak­ing items my craft.  The process of design­ing them how­ever is an artis­tic endeavor to me for each project is a per­sonal jour­ney that changes me and influ­ences every aspect of my life.  Work­ing with palettes, achiev­ing spe­cific effects, unleash­ing an idea into fab­ric form…I con­sider these acts of art.  Once I can set the design into stone and make it again and again it becomes a tool of my craft.

On occa­sion I take my hand­crafted items and push them into the realm of fine art, whether it be a series of pho­tographs, an instal­la­tion piece, or a tex­tile work  meant to cre­ate an emo­tional reac­tion and inspire an ocean of thought.

::What influ­ences your work? ::

Music.  Moun­tains.  Prairies.  The sky.  The moon.  Rivers.  Rocks and Sticks.  Tra­di­tion.  My grand­moth­ers.  Artists, famous and unknown.  Using what’s at hand.  Grow­ing up in the South­west.  Reclaim­ing my Mon­tana birthright.  Teach­ing.  Grow­ing.   Ernie.  A chal­lenge.  Fear.  Work­ing like I don’t need the money.  My under­stand­ing of What­ever It Is and Life in gen­eral.  Fish­ing.  Birds.

My man.  My chil­dren.  My loves.