Small business with a flair

If you can make it at home
you can make it anywhere

By Anna Scott

When you took art class the teacher used your carving of a wild boar as a model for your fellow students (who were probably still trying to decipher the function of the gouge). Or perhaps you remember the "Young Painter's Showcase," when your Pot-of-Flowers went home with a blue ribbon hanging from the top left corner? Just like the six years before that?

Yes, you're talented.

You probably still make odds and ends, the occasional toy, or home decorations that your friends marvel over. However, while you've been impressing the neighbors, some people, spurred by their budding artistic passions, have turned these same hobbies into successful business operations. If you're interested in transforming your talent into profit, you can. But before you try this at home, some words of advice from artists who have made it big on the home front and abroad:

Folk artist George Colin and his wife and manager, Winnie, from Salisbury are enjoying in their 70s what they call "the simple life," although their customers boast titles like "former U.S. President," "TV host of the century" and "the most popular athlete since Muhammad Ali." Colin, who learned to paint and draw from a Norman Rockwell correspondence course in illustration 36 years ago, has created brightly colored pastel artwork for George Bush, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and myriad other fans such as Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Sen. Richard Durbin. Inquiring minds may ask how a retired flour-bagger from the Pillsbury Mills factory achieved this level of exposure.

"We caught the tourist," Winnie says, in sly explanation of her husband's artistic success. "People would see the work by the road when they were driving past our house. They would stop in and then drive away with painted furniture tied on top of their cars," she laughs.

The Colins' home, gallery and workshop rest amiably together among Winnie's shoulder-high flower gardens, George's pink, green and seeded watermelon furniture, and a few other wild constructions like a corn stalk fence and a table made from, among other things, coffee can lids. It all sits quietly on an unassuming corner of a country highway leading to New Salem's Lincoln sites.

U.S. tourists, like the ones heading to New Salem, generate more than $327 billion in revenue every year, according to the National Travel and Tourism Awareness Council. Not only are tourists increasing the amount they spend on arts and crafts, but the state government is too. Recently, Illinois Gov. George Ryan issued $400,000 in grants to help organizations host

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events expected to draw thousands of visitors to the state.

But the standard tourist isn't the only sort the Colins' colorful corner nabbed. In 1988 the artwork caught the eye of a Chicago photographer who was nonchalantly driving through Salisbury. The photographer was impressed with Colin's paintings and displayed several of them in a photography show, where their popularity eventually led to the opening of the Colins' own gallery, "George Art," in Chicago. The gallery was a success for the greater part of the five years it was open, but eventually closed.

For those artists still scrambling to make it big-time, or just to make ends meet, cultivating success, and not headaches, from your gallery experience can be tricky. Charlotte Brady of Seymour, a watercolor painter and retired art teacher who earns half her income from. her craft, suggests the whole thing hinges on the "who" of who's selling your goods.

"It's better to have someone else [a representative] selling your work so they can boast about your work," she says. "With representatives, often they only get you in [to a gallery or a shop] and then they kind of forget about you."

Brady has a personal spin on the subject of gallery displays. She owned an art gallery herself in Champaign for 10 years. Presently her work is being displayed in more than 30 galleries, not only in Illinois. but also in areas such as Seattle, Portland and Wisconsin's Door County. Her solution to gallery problems relies on keeping in close contact with the gallery owner or shopkeeper who is selling your work. "Have a catalogue made of your work and have it ready to leave with owners if they're busy," she suggests. "Send out postcards every time you have something new to introduce."

She says people go to galleries with the intent of purchasing something, making them the best venue for obtaining a sizable profit. Conversely, at a craft show your prices will need to be low to sell your work. Cost shouldn't discourage you from looking professional though. Brady says it only takes an hour at Kinko's to make your own business cards and hang-tags for your products. She even makes T-shirts emblazoned with her floral prints to sell for $15 each.

Linda Weathers from Dixon, who crafts hand-woven painted baskets, found that displaying her art in a gallery eliminated the need to advertise her products. After taking a class dedicated to basket weaving, she began displaying her art at the House of Art gallery in Champaign. Eighteen years and many happy customers later, the House of Art dead and buried, Weathers still finds her customer base does not warrant traditional advertising a necessity for profit-making. She claims it's best to sell your own goods because you can interest your buyer with your intimate knowledge of the product. To sell her work, she utilizes both traditional art shows and folk art shows.

"I try not to limit myself," she says. Her only stipulation is that the show be credible. By a "credible" show, Weathers means one that is overseen by a jury, making it more competitive to participate in, and more attractive to a purchase-driven clientele.

The Colins also felt their success hinged on their display venue, and found it imperative that they relocate their gallery after the failure of George Art. They closed shop on Chicago's North and Wells streets, and reopened with an art-dealer in Riverside, outside of the city. Colin's work still hangs and sells in establishments throughout Chicago, such as Eccentric, a restaurant owned by Oprah Winfrey, Shaw's Crab House, and the furniture section of Marshall Fields department store. Still, other artists insist that selling out of their homes provides the best success. According to a survey given by the National Craft Association, 79 percent of craftspeople work in a studio located on or in their residential property. So why not sell where you work?

Barb Foster does. She has been running a successful tatting business, Handy Hands Tatting, Inc., out of her home since —— 1990. But you won't find any finished Victorian-style lace products in her Paxton home. Foster sells instructional tatting books and custom-made German factory-imported thread that cannot be purchased in color anywhere else in the world. Like Weathers and Brady, Foster also sells her books at craft shows, and claims they are, often unfortunately, the best way to put your product on the market.

When she became confident that her books would sell, she began attending trade shows. At one particular show, which included giants such as Elmer's Glue, Home and Garden Television network's host Carol Duval asked Foster to give a televised tatting lesson. Foster accepted and appeared recently on the network's craft show.

Terri Zeilers and her mother Janice Wisslead, from Sciota, craft and sell rustic-looking birdhouses

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and lawn decorations at a rate of about 250 pieces per month. They attend an average of 40 shows each year. Even Brady, who no longer finds it necessary to go to more than one craft show a year, says her friends who make a living from sales at craft shows only go to about 15 per year. But, "It's still not a guaranteed income," warns Tellers, "and there is no insurance that goes with it. If you want insurance it has to come out of your own pocket"

Or you could try selling on the Internet. Some online small-business companies will help you build your own web page and sell your products from their domain name. (For example, potential buyers would reach you at "your name"."their business name".com.) Don't throw caution to the wind, though. Stephen Borkowski, the content manager for Bizland, Inc., a company that sells small-business web sites, says to watch out for Internet-based companies that will claim ownership of your site name and bind you to the monthly upkeep fee for life.

Foster also expressed concern about groups with binding contracts that tie their business, and your money, to the domain name. She suggests assuming the extra expense and hiring someone with knowledge of your product to design your web site. "You can find anyone to design your web site," she says, "the problem is, who's going to know about your site."

Colin tried selling his work on Selftaughtartcom, a forum for buyers and sellers of folk art. He found that people surfing the entire income from Grafting, this business could be a little frightening, and the customer base precarious.

"I've been doing this for the past five years and we do not make any purchases, such as a car or home with my income," says Zeilers, "You could get sick and not be able to attend a show, or the business may not be there, or the customers may not be there."

Sometimes though,the financial strain net for artwork were not willing to pay much for it, and it wasn't worth the hassle to ship it to them. Presently he no longer needs to look for sales outlets like the Internet, with some of his art fetching more than $1,000 per piece, but shadows of a past spent collecting refuse to use in place of the art supplies he could not afford, remain. "Fill up your icebox with food first," Colin advises those embarking on an art career, "because you might end up starving." Winnie adds, "It costs a lot to be an artist"

Your materials might also be hard to come by. Weathers keeps $5,000 in supplies stocked in her basement because she can only obtain them via shipment to her home. In the fall she collects grapevine and bittersweet to weave into baskets.

Even though lack of financial stability may not be the only risk facing artisans today, it certainly is the most concerning. According to the NCA survey, the median income for a crafts-person is $50,000, 26 percent above the national median of $39,657. But for the 22 percent of households that derive their may turn into a blessing. Many artists find their winning look edging on the cheaply hip. "You can do anything with junk really," says Colin. "That's why folk art is a great medium. It's for the average person."

Not only does folk art utilize the "junk" look, but other trendy crafts do too. Zeilers attributes her success to the popularity of the rustic looking items she and her mother craft. When they first started their business, they made the items out of old barn doors, used shelving, and the gingerbread woodwork from dilapidated porches. Now, because appropriately worn buildings like old barns are becoming scarce in the McDonough County area, Zeilers says she and her mother go through a four step treatment processes to make their new wood look like old.

"To keep up with the times you just have to watch what everyone is buying, in order to keep the business going we have to stick with the trend. We look into new issues of [magazines] Martha Stuart and Country Living, to see how they decorate, and we tend to stick with their look," she says.

In addition to the subject's matter, there is the subject matter itself to consider. Colin says his art appeals to almost everyone. "In this area, you can't be successful as

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an abstract artist In central Illinois we're practically in a cornfield," says Colin. "I paint the corn!" he laughs. Colin's artwork features roosters, a good seller this year; cotton pickers, the overall best seller; Abraham Lincolns, Winnie's favorites; cowboys; and also subjects less indicative of the area like dancers and ice skaters.

Functional items also tend to sell well. According to the tourism council, tourists want more items for use in the home, not simply for display. Weathers approaches her basket craft both artistically and traditionally. She says the dual approach makes her baskets as practical as they are admirable. "I want people to do more than just put their eggs in them," she says.

Weathers says her baskets became ripe for the competitive market after making them artistic, colorful and unique in design. Originality is the common thread of success for many crafters, and has led some to niche markets, like Foster's ability to be the only supplier of size 50 tatting thread in 12 colors in the world.

Dr. Bob Frankenberger has found a niche of his own—collectibles. The retired anatomy and physiology professor from Western Illinois University was carving and hand-painting wooden fish until it was suggested he make them into fish decoys by filling their underbellies with lead and adding a few metal fins. He was hooked on the finished product. "They're viable antiques and they're viable folk art," says Frankenberger, after citing an article he read two years ago announcing the sale of a fish decoy to Sothebys auction house in New York for $32,000.

Frankenberger annually sells hundreds of decoys, crafted in his Macomb workshop, for $3.50 per inch. When a customer requests a four-foot decoy, the profit can be hefty. After all, his overhead is small. "It's only wood!" Frankenberger laughs.

He has also tapped into the tourist market by carving wooden Abraham Lincoln dolls with propellers for arms. The funny and original toys, which have sold for $100 per piece, are made in memory of Frankenberger's father, who carved toys for the young Frankenberger.

Although he sells many of his toys and decoys to the Illinois State Museum, antique shops and art galleries, Frankenberger insists his craft is only a hobby. His carvings, made not only from wood, but also from bone, ivory, antler and mother-of-pearl were first featured in Springfield's Old Capitol Art Fair, and now sell regularly in the Chicago art market and to collectors throughout the nation.

"You've got to follow your instincts," Frankenberger says of his success. "This is fun, this is my pleasure, and I don't care what the world thinks." Colin expresses a similar feeling toward his craft. When asked if his subject matter is influenced by the buyer, Colin responds, "No, I do what I like. For a few years nothing sold at all, but I kept at it I thought, 'someday this will start selling.'"

Even though their star-studded customers have no problem purchasing multiple pieces of Colin's artwork, Winnie says they truly appreciate those customers who commit to a monthly payment plan just to purchase one selection. "The good Lord blessed us. We've been given a lot of breaks," says Colin. "But we work seven days a week," adds Winnie.

Linda Weathers, in addition to a full time job at an art foundry where she is an assistant to a bronze sculptor, spends four to six hours a day, and eight to 12 hours daily on weekends, perfecting her craft. During their busy season, from August through December, Terri Zeilers' mother, Janice, rises at 4 a.m., crafts for three hours before heading off to her regular job at the post office, and then returns home to continue Grafting until 1 a.m.

"Anyone that's self-employed finds that they put a lot more than 40 hours a week into their work," says Foster. A lot more is right Based on the testimonies of these artists, long hours, hard work, and a little creative luck are the only common denominators in this business.

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