Featured Seller: OpalLight, TrashyBroad, & BeyondTheBook

Who are you?
Sherri Pekks. I have 3 stores on Etsy. OpalLight, TrashyBroad and BeyondTheBook

Where are you located?
South Raleigh

What do you create?
*Laughs* Which week? :) I wish I could stay with one thing but I am always getting into new mediums. I really love my salvaged plate pendants so I am always working on those on the side. Stained glass is also very satisfying but in today’s economy people can’t afford to buy the largerpieces I enjoy making and on that note, I sometimes can’t afford to buy the supplies. I see potential in odd things so when I get an idea I just go with it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I like knowing how to do a little of everything.

Why did you choose your shop names?
Opal Light Studio came about when I was really focusing on stained glass and my youngest daughter’s name is Opal. It just worked.
Trashy Broad happened when I decided to take a bunch of scrap metal we had in our backyard to a local recycling place. (Boy was that an experience.) I actually was paid pretty descent cash for it! I told a friend of mine we should get an old pick up truck and paint TrashyBroads on the sides and go around collecting scrap metal to recycle. Sadly, we never got that far but we did start having a trashy broad craft night which was really just an excuse to sit in mygarage, drink alcoholic beverages, cut, paint and glue. Also Trashy Broad focuses on only using recycled things that might otherwise be thrown away like tin cans, glass jar lids andold albums hence, Trash.... and I am a Broad.
I magically inherited 8000 books and I sell them on another online venue. Some of the more damaged or un-sellable so Beyond the Book was a way for me to them give a new life. I have found really great photos and illustrations and knew I had to do something with them.

What is your favorite place to visit in the "triangle"?
The Flea Market at the State Fairgrounds. I get so excited when I find a really unique plate on adollar table. My family and I can spend a whole day just browsing while filling up on Amish popcorn and candied nuts.

Where do you create?
I have set up my “studio” in my garage. It started out as one table and now has fourtables/stations and takes up over half the garage! My friends joke that it is like a mini Michael’s. The best part is that it is all mine!! Having two small kids, a husband and many animals I am constantly cleaning up after them. I like knowing that my studio is my mess.
The other half ofthe garage is filled up with bookshelves for another business of mine. Needless to say, my husband was forced to build a shed in our backyard and our automobiles will have to endure any weather Mother Nature puts upon them.

What is the most time consuming part of your craft?
Honestly, it is finding the time. I am not a good sleeper so I usually get up really early or go to be really late to “work”. My kids are still young so they are all over me, what feels like 24 hours a day. I do things in small spurts. “Mommy is going out to the car to get something reallyquick.”. ...as she sneaks out to spray a layer of varnish on her latest project. This fall both of my girls are going to a part time preschool a couple of days a week. I am so excited to have that time to really focus.

What is you most popular item that you create?
People tend to really like my Salvaged Plate Pendants. When I work craft shows people look atthem for a minute and then my line is, “Those are all made from broken plates.” and the response is always the same. “Oh Wow! Really?” I think people like the variety the plates offer and no one pendant is ever the same. Even if it came from the same plate it is different in someway or another whether it be the design or shape.

What are your goals?
My goal is to help bring in enough income withall of my unconventional venues to stay home with my two girls and take care of my home. I really like being my own boss and my mind is so restless that I do not do well in “the real career world”. I am constantly thinking up new things to make and feel a job in the outside world would just suck out my creative soul..sorry I went off a little there, didn’t I?