bear loves bird

Interview with: My Wonderful Machine

Wilmington is pretty durn fortunate when it comes to local arts. We have an amazing wealth of local talent. Artists, sculptors, actors, and musicians. We have fashion designers galore, just stop into Edge of Urge. You’ll never want to leave.

Hope Henderson and Jamin Belmont are two local artists who also happen to be awesome musicians. Hope is a local fashionista and designer. Jamin is an artist who’s had a few of his own shows hosted around Wilmington. They are both crazy-awesome surfers. Also in the band, Jamin’s brother, Justin Tinkler.

They have an album out this year, “Caught Between a Clock and a Dream” which you can find on BandCamp.

Both are amazing, sweet, big-hearted loves. And here’s more about them from their own mouths:

How we got started.

Hope: Jamin needed some female back up vocals for some songs he was recording with his last band The J Miners.  After meeting at a show and a quick chat about music he contacted me to see if I could do some vocal tracks. We hung out and had a real connection with music. He moved to Portland shortly after we met and moved back to Wilmington to play music with me. When he came back we just really enjoyed making songs together and wanted to push each other to be the best musicians we could be and write really beautiful songs.  

Jamin:  This was almost two years ago. We were born and raised here and never met. Even with all the surfing and skating we did growing up we never crossed paths until I was about to move to Portland.  I spent years making art and music about my lack of love and connection in life, so once I found Hope and we had that connection we just went with it and haven’t stopped.  

Hope: It’s hard to create great music. Let alone promote it.  The business side is what sucks. I remember reading an article a while back before I started playing music in a band, about how Sharon Osbourne threw a glass ashtray at someone’s [in the music industry] head. At the time I was like “whoa!? Why would she do that?” Now it makes total sense and makes me laugh. I have felt like doing that when venues don’t want to pay or just want us to play cover songs or we are in a bar setting and not a music-friendly setting. But I decided to keep a positive attitude and not let that part get me down.  We are going to just focus on making good music and getting better at what we do no matter what challenges we face.

We love music. We love originality. We are not in it to get famous or rich, we are in it to play good music that people can connect to and relate to and really feel- and to connect with folks who feel the same way we do.  If the music is great and touches you, people will hear it and want to support it. We don’t need to be the word of mouth. The fans do, the other bands do…So we are just saving money so we can afford to tour and put out the best-sounding music we can! Then one day we can have a family band and everyone can be invited. [laughs]

finding new inspiration for songs:

Hope: Finding inspiration for new songs is great! I get so excited.  We are music nuts! We love it. Sometimes I will be watching a movie and get inspired by the storyline and the feeling of it. Or reading the paper and coming across an interesting story. Or art. And then our past experiences in life and in the present, and thoughts for the future; it is very therapeutic. It is pretty funny because we are a couple and a lot of our disagreements or common relationship fights have been settled either by a great music session or a great surf session. It is hard to get mad when you are like “damn, that sounded good!” “Or “that was was a good wave baby, you’ve never done a thing wrong in your life.” A lot of times that tension and energy really makes for great music and feeling. Kind of like “oh okay, you wanna be mad at me…..well I am about to murder this song brb” Or I hear him play something heartbreakingly beautiful and I just wanna hug him and then add on a cool part to it.

The best thing about making music is recording and being in your own little music world and pushing one another to make music that you want to hear. I also love it when I put on our album and I daydream and forget that it is us that is playing. Also seeing people really like it and connect with it. Nothing makes me happier when people say they love our music and really feel it. If our album can make you feel something then I am one happy little lady. For them to get our album and take the time to really listen to it and not push it aside is awesome and restores my faith in humanity.  And I love it when I see people dance to our music at our shows. That is pretty cool. Our music is like our child and when it shines I shine. It is my heart.

goals for the upcoming year:

Hope: TO RESPECT THE MUSIC AND MAKE GREATNESS OUR GOAL.
Save our money and just record and make new music that we love. Creating songs that resonate with people and go right to their heart. And to afford the band equipment we need to be the best we can be. We plan on putting out a full record of MWM songs by Nov. & a good classic country side project album as well by the end of the year. 

Our goal is just to stay focused on what is important: the music, each other, and our fans.

We also have been planning to make a music video with some really talented friends Ben Coffman and Dave Azor . They are amazing. 

Also I want to collaborate with more of my talented friends. One thing that I am proud to say is that I have a lot of very talented friends and I look forward to pushing all of our talents and working more with them. Whether in the studio, in art, film, fashion, etc. We love it all.

We do plan on touring either in Sept/Oct or next Spring in France and Europe with my good friend Ludo and his music, Like A Dream. We are planning on doing the “Caught Between a Clock and Like a Dream” tour. We were supposed to go to Paris and play a short tour, but due to an awesome opportunity to be on my favorite show in LA we had to cancel it.

[Hope appeared on The Soup, and they also plugged MWM on their blog.]

… my dream right now after we finish recording - to just be on the open road and play our music town to town and meet other great bands and other people and play good original music all over the place.

Sounds good to me! Catch MWM playing local shows, and download a tune on iTunes. 

comings and goings

i’ve been reading a lot on how to improve your sales on etsy, how to get noticed, and how to turn it into a job.

it’s all completely relevant and exciting, and really new.

it’s sort of crazy to think of the modern business model and how we’ve changed it with the internet and technology.

i realized it laying in bed last night. i had finished a new fall scarf design, and was mulling over the 500 questions that always happen when i finish a new one, and opened my etsy on my iphone just to check it out before bed. i looked at my account, answered some emails, and made sure the order i had was processed. and i realized really quickly how amazing it was, that we are now able to maintain a lot of our business not only from home, but from bed, and at any hour.

in 1950, you came home from work, and while driving, there was no phone in your hand, there was no texting, there were barely refrigerators. you got off at 5, went home, and you were probably not bothered by work again until 9am the next morning.

now with our laptops, ipads, smartphones, and all of the thousands of social networking websites (like this one) we are constantly in touch and surrounded by the millions of firing synapses between us all. i think it’s an amazing thing, and also- sort of a curse.

if we can’t escape the workday, when do we relax and turn that part of our brain off? is it good- or healthy -to constantly be working?

i think the mostly internet-based business owner, especially, has a hard time turning off. take this etsy business, for example. i’m not at the point yet where i’m selling anything in a physical store yet. i don’t pay rent on a building, or pay business or property taxes to have a business, which are giant benefits to someone trying to get small personal business off the ground. it’s one of the great benefits of a tech-savvy society.

the downfall, however, is that everything falls onto my shoulders to promote, to build virtual relationships, and to somehow find my niche among millions of others doing the same thing. 

in a physical store, you get the benefit of passersby, who can pick your product up, feel the weight, how it falls, try it on. you get to talk to them, build a relationship, and have repeat customers because of that.

in the internet world, my products are flat images on a computer screen, which we try to make up for by taking pictures from all angles, using descriptions to convey the product, and building relationships by offering someone that other people may not. for me, it’s custom designing your own jewelry that can mix and match into necklaces, earrings, purse tassels, keychains, and can even attach to a belt loop on pants. making high quality, fun, bohemian-inspired accessories that allow the wearer the freedom of expression is how i hope to gain repeat customers.

i also package each item like a present, in light linen burlap with a nice little ribbon tied around it. much like tiffany & co. has the trademark logo stamped on all of their jewelry, the blue velveteen satchel with the satin ribbon, i try to make something that becomes the icon of my product for the buyer. it’s an experience. you get to unwrap a present, and wear it dozens of different ways. to get everyone a head start, we offer a free beaded charm with every order. it’s like collecting, and everything is designed to work together, using similar colors, textures, and materials.

we also donate to various charities, and they change every month. 

however, i have learned to balance the workload. it’s easy to go for 12 hours straight, especially on weekends when i’m not at my regular job. i get up, get coffee, and sit down with something to work on for 4 hours without blinking. and it turned me into a near-zombie.

it’s important to have music, drink water, eat meals, and look out the window. for me personally, i’ve learned to cut my work time down to after sunset, so that i enjoy the daylight hours. and i also try to keep it to specific projects each day, such as a new scarf one day, new leather tassels the next, and in the meantime, i write any new inspirations or ideas in my moleskine that i keep on my person at all times. i take pictures on my iphone of things that i see that give me a new idea, or a quick sketch in my notebook helps me remember.

i think we get going and can’t stop, chasing the end of the rainbow that promises those first few sales and repeat customers. as our own bosses, and with all of the responsibility resting on our shoulders, it’s important to remember a few things:

you can’t design, or perform, without new ideas and fresh inspiration.

take a day (or two!) to yourself. breathe fresh air, sit outside with a good read, get away from your phone, your computer, your office, and ESPECIALLY your work area if you have a home studio. keep writing ideas down, but give your body a break. let your mind unwind and reset so that when you do get back to the job, you’re fresh and full of inspired energy.

keep yourself organized

take one or two days a week, after you’ve done your work, and find a place for everything. i keep all beads in reused jars from jelly and other goods. i wash them, take the labels off, dry them, and store beads, findings, loose ends, wire, earring hoops, and i keep extra big pickle jars for my various pliers and tools. the jars make everything look really organized and nice. i also invest in photo storage boxes, which can be found at Michael’s for $3.99, and keep leather, fabrics, and anything else potentially “messy” in them with labels. I also got a nice large basket with a lid and keep odds and ends in there, as well. 

keeping your area organized will help to keep your brain from overload. i promise. you won’t go crazy looking for those perfectly bronze-colored tiny glass beads when they’re all in a cute little see-through glass jar. 

set hours and write everything down

don’t make yourself crazy with all of the pressure of the world on your shoulders to make your passion into a success. set hours. it’s a job. sure, you love it, and it started off with a skill and a passion, but when you start selling these passions and skills, they need to be given a few limits for your own sanity. work while the kids are at school, or after 7pm, or from 9-5, whatever works best for you. i work on internet stuff (like now) from 9-5 with a lot of breaks in between. i usually make new things and sit down at my work table from 9pm-whenever i’m done or tired. i create and design maybe 4-5 days per week, giving myself 2-3 full days to just come up with new ideas, or to give my brain a break. i write everything down that i think of on my downtime, so that no idea is forgotten.

make friends

communicate! join message boards, Etsy Teams, local craft circles, and make a youtube account and put up a few tutorial “how-to” videos of your own. blog, and read others’ blogs. invite people to guest blog! interview your favorite crafter or photographer or local musician. intertwine with the community that you are a part of. they’ll help you, and you’ll help them, and that always makes our worlds better.

don’t get (too) discouraged

so you’ve had that great photo print, or scarf, or necklace listed for 5 months, it has hundreds or thousands of views, and no one’s bitten. don’t fear. this is a 2D image of something you’ve created and loved. no one can see it like you do.

take new pictures, make an updated decription, and add really good tags. add more details, like really descriptive color tags (such as seafoam green or bright teal blue) so that treasury curators and even someone looking for a really particularly-colored scarf can find you. offer it on sale, or with free shipping. and then, renew the listing on etsy. renewing is like paid advertising. people are on etsy to buy, or thinking about buying, and are spending a lot of time on the front page for ideas. you can’t be found until you are seen.

bottom line is this: it should make you happy to create your art and sell it. if it turns into a full time job, you want it to be worth all of the effort. so you’d better love it now!

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