Luv2Have, Etsy Featured Artist Interview

I found another amazing artist on Etsy.com that I’m featuring today. Luv2Have is a shop filled with the loveliest handcrafted, unique, dichroic fused glass jewelry.  She is a proud member of the CGGE. (Creative Glass Guild of Etsy). All of her glass is hand cut, fused, and properly annealed for strength and durability, and because each piece is handmade, each piece is very unique. I fell in love with her Rainbow-colored Etched Tree Fused Glass Pendant. It’s marvelous!

 

Cloud9 Design: Tell us a little bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, personal stuff).

Luv2Have: Hi! My name is Leah Pollard and I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada). My family moved to Prince Edward Island, the smallest province in Canada, when I was nine years old. I met and married my husband in 2000, and we had our son Matthew in 2004. We also have a crazy cat named Tigger.

 

Cloud9 Design: Do you have a job other than creating things?

Luv2Have: My first and most important job is a stay at home mom, and I work part time at Michaels craft store teaching classes in jewelry, polymer clay, and quilling. 

Cloud9 Design: What first made you want to become an artist?

Luv2Have:  When I was little, my mom gave me as much paper, scissors, and glue as I wanted. I had paper clothes, dolls, food, and anything else I could make out of paper all over my room. I have tried just about every craft out there, but I love to create with glass.

Cloud9 Design: Please describe your creative process (how, when, materials, etc). 

Luv2Have:  I create whenever I can find time! With a busy 3-1/2 year old, that usually means during naptime (forget about the dishes and laundry!) or too late at night. Glass fusing is such a fun process – you can put something into the kiln and it can come out looking like a masterpiece or a mess! There are many different techniques and types of glass that can be used in glass fusing – I love to use dichroic glass – it is so sparkly and pretty. The glass is cut by hand with a diamond bit cutter and carefully arranged on a shelf in the kiln. The glass has to be slowly heated to 1400-1500 degrees, and slowly cooled, or annealed, to ensure it doesn’t crack or break. Glass can be layered, etched, and molded, you can grind it, drill it, apply a decal to it, and much more! I learn something new everyday!

Cloud9 Design: what handmade possession do you cherish? 

Luv2Have:  The handmade possession I cherish most is the clay pot my son painted when he was two.

 

 Cloud9 Design: Where do you find your inspiration to be creative? 

Luv2Have:  My inspiration comes from everywhere – nature and outdoors, colors in clothing, other artists, websites, books, and mostly the glass itself. I love to pick up a piece and imagine what I can do with it.

Cloud9 Design: Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and websites. 

Luv2Have: Top 5 Books: Little Women, How Green is my Valley, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and all Agatha Christie books.
Top 5 Movies: Pretty Woman, Titanic, Ice Age, Ice Age the Meltdown, and every Christmas movie ever made.
Top 5 Websites: www.etsy.com, www.delphiglass.com, www.cgge.org, www.warmglass.com, and www.paypal.com!
Top 5 in Music: I really love all music but some of my favorites are Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Daughtry, and Simple Plan.

Cloud9 Design: What advice would you give to artists who are new to Etsy? 

Luv2Have:  Being new to Etsy myself, I am still learning and collecting advice, but I can say list new items often, get involved with the groups/forums, promote, be patient, and most important of all, have fun and enjoy what you are doing!

Cloud9 Design: How do you promote your work?

Luv2Have: I promote my work by handing out business cards to everyone, I sell wholesale to shops where I live, word of mouth through friends and family, I have a favorite craft shows I attend every year, and of course great blogs like this one!

Cloud9 Design: What’s your favorite color? Food? Place? 

Luv2Have:  My favorite color is blue, my favorite food is pizza, and my favorite place to be is curled up in the comfy chair with my son watching Bob the Builder cartoons.

Cloud9 Design: Where do you see yourself in 10 years…… 

Luv2Have:  I have no idea what the next ten years will bring, but I hope I will be in my own glass studio doing what I love!

Please have a look at Luv2Have’s Etsy shop.

Buy handmade & support local artists!

And check out my shop, too…i just added some items!