We've begun a series of features of talented Etsy-sellers and handmade entrepreneurs who impact their community in some positive way, and we are looking for more artists to feature on this blog! Helping your community can mean donating a portion of profits to charity or creating work that inspires others. Whatever it is, we want to hear about it!
We are a non-profit retail boutique that sells the work of domestic violence survivors online at www.uncoveredartistry.com.
Please comment this post or email us at uncoveredartistry@gmail.com if you are helping your community through your Etsy shop or handmade business!
"I don't use my Etsy Shop in anyway to solicit donations, or use it to persuade others to shop with me based on my involvement with helping others. This is a personal thing that is near to my heart and seeing a smile or reaching out and paying it forward is something that cant be explained..." -Robin Thompson of Hartley Soap
My first reaction to Hartley Soap's products was, "delicious!" These soaps, lip balms, and lotions look good enough to eat (though I wouldn't recommend it!). Robin is a talented artist who creates one-of-a-kind artisan soap. The soaps are made using fine natural ingredients such as olive, coconut and palm oils and are blended with essential and fragrance oils. Hartley Soap's products are beautifully photographed and sold at affordable prices. And (just when you thought it couldn't get better) Hartley Soaps donates overages, ends and slightly dented soaps to Robin's local Salvation Army and Women's shelters.
What do you do? I make Artisan Handmade Cold Process Soap. My soaps are made using the tried and true Cold Process method which is similar to the way it been done for hundreds of years.
Why Choose This Soap? Hartley Soaps believes that simple is better. Our process is simple, our business structure is simple, and our packaging is simple. Even the way we cut and cure our soaps is simple. Because these soaps are made in very small batches and hand cut, you will notice variations from batch to batch. They are cured for a minimum of 4 weeks before they are sold. This allows all of the ingredients to be completely saponified (absorbed) into the oils, producing a gentle, richly lathering soap.
Where do you get your inspiration for your work? The outdoors, long road trips, the visual stimulation that nature bestows upon me each and every day!
How did you become involved in your work? I have been an artist all my life, and making soap just happened to be one of the things on the bucket list, little did I know at the time when I started whipping up that first batch that it would grab a hold of me and never let go!My passion for creating beautiful, luxuries and quality products that others can enjoy is what drives Hartley Soap each and everyday.
What are you doing to help your community through your work? I donate my overages, ends and slightly dented soaps to our local Salvation Army and Women's shelters I also donate to a local group that does mission work in other counties.
Why did you decide to make a difference through your Etsy shop? I am not sure that my Etsy Shop makes any difference to anyone but me, I don't use my Etsy Shop in anyway to solicit donations, or use it to persuade others to shop with me based on my involvement with helping others. This is a personal thing that is near to my heart and seeing a smile or reaching out and paying it forward is something that cant be explained.
What is your favorite item that you make? What else! Colorful Happy aromatic SOAP.
Uncovered Artistry is happy to introduce our first featured Etsy shop, Collars with Color. My sister and I started selling our handmade jewelry on Etsy.com over a year ago. It was our experience owning that shop, called La SuaVoce Designs, that inspired us to start Uncovered Artistry Boutique, an online boutique that sells the artisan work of domestic abuse survivors. We are still active on Etsy (La SuaVoce now sells hair pieces and Jane Austen greeting cards) and we've noticed lots of Etsy sellers who, like Uncovered Artistry, are helping their communities through their art and businesses. Each Etsy shop we feature is helping their community in a unique way. Read on to learn more about our first inspiring shop!
It wasn't just the cute, colorful dog collars and leashes, which are sold at affordable prices and made from environmentally-friendly material, that drew me to Collars with Color. The Etsy shop is new (just started in May!) and already has a wide array of collars and leashes for sale. Despite being so new, the shop is already taking a great concern in the environment and the community.
They are even offering a special deal for readers of Uncovered Artistry's blog. Collars with Color will donate 10% of proceeds of any item you purchase from their Etsy shop to a domestic abuse charity . Mention "Prevent Abuse" when placing your order with Collars with Color and they will donate to their local charity, The Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria, IL. If you mention "Safe Place" they will donate to our local New Hampshire safe haven, A Safe Place NH. Take advantage of this great opportunity!
What do you do? Collars With Color makes dog collars, leashes and harnesses using hemp – an incredibly strong and sustainably-grown product which is therefore environmentally friendly. Our hardware is made with 20% recycled plastic. Jimena also works as a freelance Spanish translator/interpreter, and Kevin works in the IT field.
Where do you get your inspiration for your work? Collars With Color really combines many of our passions: dogs, the environment and helping others. Our dog Alfy is our baby, and he has led us to become involved with volunteering at the shelter where we adopted him. A recent trip to Buenos Aires to visit family led to rescuing a street dog - also a huge inspiration. We realized that not everyone understands that there are resources for helping animals in their community – and that not everyone understands the importance of spaying or neutering their pets.
We are personally committed to living low impact lives environmentally, so it is natural that Collars With Color would be run no differently. We’re focusing on greening the supply chain, reusing packaging and cutting down on waste.
How did you become involved in your work? After just a few months of use, we became very unhappy with the quality and durability of the harness, leash, and collar that we had gotten for Alfy. We looked around online and in shops and were unimpressed with the style of the boring nylon collars available in the big box stores. Knowing she could make something better, Jimena got to work. Collars With Color is still very new – we started in May 2010 - but we’re quickly growing and we are very excited with the possibilities.
What are you doing to help your community through your work? We are partnering with several local animal rescue and adoption groups by promising a percentage of our sales to those groups. Customers just need to designate their desired organization.
We are looking to expand to other organizations as well – not just animal rescue groups. We’ve learned that many high-profile charitable organizations hesitate to partner with for-profit companies, so we are working on a different model to give our customers more choice in which organization they support.
Why did you decide to make a difference through your Etsy shop?
It’s a win-win for us. Partnering with charitable organizations is essentially free advertising for us. But more importantly, we both feel very strongly about giving back to our community and helping others. These charities and organizations are the experts, so by directing funds to them we can increase our impact rather than trying to start our own program of educating the community about the importance of spaying and neutering.
A few weeks ago we were at a “Woofstock” event and a uniformed active duty soldier came up to our booth and I saw his eyes light up when he saw our Camouflage collar. That moment was a huge inspiration for us as well, and is forcing us to think beyond animal organizations.
What is your favorite item that you make? Our dog Alfy wears the Batter Up collar, leash and harness that we offer in our shop. That will always be my favorite.
