Meet the Maker... April 2023: Sam from Rustic Roo

Each month at The Home Crafters we spend some time with one of our crafters, getting to know them a little bit better, finding out more about their craft and sharing their story with you. 

April 2023, our Maker of the Month is Sam from Rustic Roo

Sam has been a seller at The Home Crafters shop in Yate Shopping Centre on and off for several years, she was introduced to us through her mother, Kerry from Mummy Moo Crafts and, since becoming a mum to two fabulous little boys, has really started to forge a solid, hobby business by creating and selling hand-painted artwork.

Here's her story:

"Sam, tell us a little bit about you, how you started your craft and turned it into a business…"

I loved art and textiles in my school years. I then went on to do a degree in costume design at Birmingham City University. I worked in the costume industry for a few years but discovered the travel and working hours were not for me so I switched lanes and went into the care sector and began caring for the elderly, I loved this job and was still doing this up until I became unwell a year ago.

I fell ill and was diagnosed with Psychosis in 2022. Psychosis is a mental health condition that causes people to perceive or interpret things differently from those around them, this involves hallucinations or delusions. For me, I have auditory hallucinations and tactile hallucinations. I also suffer with a sensory disorder where my visual, auditory, tactile and proprioception are heightened compared to the normal base line for humans. I became too unwell to work and was classified as disabled. I was very unwell for 6 months but then started to get support from a mental health team.

In October 2022 I had to accept that my illness was long term and that, in some capacity, I will always suffer with Psychosis and sensory disorder. Being able to accept my illness was a massive step for me and has helped me to forge a new life. This is how Rustic Roo came to be.

In November 2022, I attended a workshop at The Home Crafters craft shop and learned about mixed media painting. This sparked me to get back into painting which I have always loved. The workshop specifically showed me that painting on wood was fun, decorative, and versatile and I particularly love the way it looks rustic and naturally frames the artwork, so I ran with the idea and began to flex my creative muscle. 

I curated a catalogue of my own illustrations on natural wood, I'm still in the process of creating my style of painting at the moment so it does vary a lot. I'm also getting to know to what other people like not just myself, because, after I decided that it was likely that I was never going to have a "normal" job, I thought why not try selling my art.

“Rustic Roo is a pretty unique name, where did it come from?"

The name came from my nick name, "Roo" and that I started painting on natural rustic wood. 

“How do you balance crafting a new business with a family?"

I'm a mum to two lovely boys, 4 year old Deacon and Denver who is nearly 2. I love my boys to bits, but pregnancy and motherhood has been very hard for me due to health complications and my mental health. (I could write a novel about the complexities of health, family life and mental health, perhaps we’ll save that for another blog!)

I am also married to my husband, Dave, who I married in 2015. We met way back when we were in school at age 12 but didn't become a couple until we were in our 20's. On the subject of age I'm 32, and I have no clue where the years have gone!
Dave works 3 days a week and is out the house quite early so my mornings are taken up sorting the boys out, we have nailed a morning routine with breakfasts, getting dressed and the pre-school run. I also have a cat and a dog, so my mornings are nothing to do with crafts, just the boys!

I guess my full-time job is being a mum so painting is actually my way of escaping all that at the end of the day and it’s my me-time. I may be now trying to make it into a successful small business, but crafting has always been my hobby. I love planning, I love making lists and plans. I’m the type of person that loves a good spreadsheet. Plans really help with my illness, they help keep me calm and on track. I love a good old-fashioned paper calendar as well to plan my year on, which helps me to balance family life with building a business.
At the moment, I am finding time to develop my style, expressing myself through art and developing a portfolio of designs to put in the craft shop and online, I guess being quite early on in the craft business I’m still learning and finding my own style, I use Pinterest a lot for ideas and styles. I’ve recently opened an Etsy shop and spent time specifically building a social media presence for Rustic Roo.

I’ve been reading lots of books on ETSY, social media, craft business, marketing you name it I’ve bought the book and tried to learn about it in order to make my little craft business a success. I’m always learning about my illness as well, I’m still currently in therapy so that’s a massive learning curve learning about myself.

I would also like to say that I take my dog for a walk daily, it is something that really helps me unwind, the peace and quiet of walking just me and her.

“What made you go from craft hobby to craft business?"

A big decision-making factor for me was recently my brother, a personal trainer who owns his own business. He did a lecture at a college about his business, how he started it and all of the boring bits as well as the good bits. This really inspired me to take Rustic Roo up a notch. I was just selling a few bits and pieces in the craft store, now I’m on the website, Etsy and have started getting my name across lots of different social media accounts and I still have more to go. I also got the opportunity to move my crafting base into my brother’s studio and set up my own workspace which is still a work in progress but it’s lovely and bright and a really nice space to work and get creative.(Much better than working n the family dining room table!)

“What’s your favourite part of having your own craft business?"

Well for me it works around my illness, I would never be able to have a “normal” job as my illness can be very unpredictable. I also love that I can fit it in around my family. Having two small children means I tend to have to work around them so in the evening and at nights when they are asleep or when I can get childcare.

The versatility of the work and creative process is great too, the biggest things I make are large wood slices about 25cm across and then the smallest wood slices I work on are about 6cm across. They are very different scales; the small ones become things like keyrings and charms and the big ones create bigger, more meaningful pieces of art. I love going from a blank piece of wood to a painting, I also quite enjoy creating videos as I work then watching it back speeded up – It’s really cool to be able to watch the process.

“What’s your least-favourite part?"

I’m currently finding Etsy a bit of a high and low. I was so excited to get on there and I’m happy to see that I’ve had lots of views but no sales yet on Etsy which is a bit disappointing. It can sometimes be slightly soul destroying to put all the effort of making, photographing and listing your products and not seeing anything fruitful come out of the hard work. I remain positive, however and know it is only a matter of time before the hard work begins to pay off.

“What’s your go-to tool or piece of equipment?"

Firstly, my laptop, I wouldn’t be able to do Etsy or any other online stuff without it.
My light box is also crucial for photographing my work.

Art wise I use acrylics; I use them in both paint for and pen form. I have a huge selection of paint brushes and use all different ones depending on what I’m doing. I do love my heat gun too, it helps to dry things quickly so I can be more productive.
I also couldn’t be without the wood I paint on; I love the material, I’ve always been quite rustic and down to earth person so this really suits me.

“What’s next for Rustic Roo?"

I have lots that I plan to do next, first thing is to get more of my products selling online at The Home Crafters and Etsy, then I want to start selling on Folksy. I also want to start to craft fairs, fetes and local events to sell my paintings in the Summer.
I’m always working on new products, but I feel that’s an ongoing process that will hopefully just naturally develop the more time I put into the business.

“Any parting words of wisdom?"

I guess “find the time”

I could very easily just crash out to watch tv once the boys go to bed each night, but I try to push myself. The creative process is fun but can be rough so take care of yourself first but embrace how much it can help you too. I have an amazing family that support me, and they have all really helped me on my journey, don’t be afraid to lean on people who care about you, when you need to. And, why not drag yourself along to a friendly craft workshop or community group and get crafting some time, you never know what could come out of it!