Member Story ~ Amy Kirkman Glass Studio

As part of an ongoing series, I'd like to hear from members who'd like to share their story on the blog. Amy Kirkman Glass Studio shared her story below.


Amy's Story
I'm a fused glass artist that grew up around art all my life. My parents owned the studio but it was mostly used as a hobby. They built it for many years until passing away from cancer recently. So I inherited the glass studio... decided to take some glass classes and then I was hooked.

I'm fairly new to the glass world, I've been doing this for less than a year. My glass teacher is impressed with my work and that has been a big confidence booster.

I worked in medical records for six years until I quit my job to take care of my mother who was sick from cancer. After she passed didn't have the heart to sit in another soul draining office again. I just knew that I had to somehow keep the glass studio open. It was my parents' dream having that studio, there was no way that I was going to sell it.

My mother worked hard all her life. Nineteen years in the electronics industry. Growing up I didn't see her much because she was always working overtime to make the best possible income. And I always missed her.

All my life she always told me "hard work pays off". Our last long conversation she finally realized and told me, "You can work hard all your life but quality time with your family and doing what you love is far more important than the biggest paycheck."

So I want to do what I love... and I love being a glass artist. :)

Be sure to visit AmyKirkman shop.

The Birth of a Team- Will Craft for Food!

This team is a support group, a resource center and a promotion team dedicated to helping Etsians who have lost their primary job or someone in their household has lost their job and they are using Etsy to try to make ends meet.

Losing our jobs does not have to be a negative thing, we can now do our passion full time and work to turn our business into a successful venture to pay to put food on the proverbial table. This idea sprang from a post I placed on the forums about unemployment and there were so many of us affected that one poster suggested a street team and hence "Will Craft for Food Street Team" is born.