Fabulous Friday Featured Seller – Mcflashpants

McFlashpants’ collection of jewelry and small housewares are made almost entirely from reused, renewed, repurposed, recycled, and reinvigorated materials. Just my type of a seller. Read how creative she is. Even her answers are witty.

Cats or dogs?

I’ve actually found the perfect cross section–a pug. She has the pure adoration of a dog, but sleeps all day and sheds like a cat.

Star Wars or Sleepless in Seattle?

I was a Jawa for halloween once (flashlights taped to the side of my head), so I’m going to have to go with Star Wars.

Fruit or chocolate?

Ha! Does anybody ever answer fruit? I mean I’d LIKE to be the person who answers fruit, I’ve even tried to be a fruit girl, but I’m just plain not. When I was pregnant I carried a 2-lb bag of peanut M&M in the door of my car (just in case…), so I’m really going to have to go with chocolate.

Favorite color?

It took me years of disconnect to figure this one out. I would always say “blue” while in the meantime my whole apartment and wardrobe was swathed in shades of purple and burgundy. So, blue.

Favorite meal?

Pizza. For breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper, and dessert.

City break or weekend in the country?

Five years ago when I was living on the loudest street in Brooklyn, this would have been reversed. Now that I’m in bucolic upstate NY, it’s totally city break. I miss public transportation (hate cars, really HATE cars).

Soaps or documentaries?

Both: Frontier House on PBS.

Bath or shower?

Shower. I always want to read a book in the bath and wind up dropping it in the water, thereby expanding it to 10 times its original size and rendering it unreadable. So, sigh, shower.

Dress or jeans?

Jeans. Though I used to do everything in long black moody skirts, including paint and climb ladders. But that got old as I got old.

Your favorite material?

Metal. No, stone. No, metal. No, plants.

Do I have to choose?

What brought you to Etsy? Tell us about your shop.

A friend set us up on a blind date, and we clicked immediately. My shop McFlashpants was born in April 2009 and is pretty happy and healthy. I carry silver jewelry and small housewares, am a member of EcoEtsy, NewNew, EJAG and FAM, and recently made it onto the front page. But I missed it as apparently it happened early in the morning.

How is your shop eco-friendly?

I have three lines of eco-friendly work. My Eat With Your Hands series is made entirely from recycled (upcycled? reused? repurposed? the subtle nuances of these terms escape me) flatware, though I have recently expanded into chafing dishes and teapots. I’ve also been known to use stove burners and porch banisters; and have great and lofty plans for a large collection of olive oil cans. With the scraps and dust leftover from EWYH, I make my Greenpieces, which are interlocking puzzle piece pendants. And my final line — Living Jewelry– comes straight out of my front yard. It’s a collection of small aromatic plants and herbs that you can wear as pendants or pins made from forks, hollow knives, and reused ginseng bottles.

Do you sell anywhere else?

I have a case at The ARTery in Milford, PA (www.arteryonline.com), as well as small samplings of my work at the Barryville Antiques Emporium in Barryville, NY and the Serendipity Boutique in Exeter, NH (www.serendipityofexeter.com). You can find a treeful of Living Jewelry at The Cutting Garden in Youngsville, NY (www.thecuttinggarden.org), at Cottage Consignments online, and at my friend Alice’s farmstand at River Brook Farm in Cochecton, NY.

What’s the favorite item you’ve made so far?

Definitely the Living Jewelry. I can’t plant any more trees on my land, so I’m trying to green up the world by planting on people instead.

What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learned (about Etsy) so far?

Representing yourself honestly and clearly in your photos takes you a lot further than elaborate explanations.

How do you see your store developing?

I hope someday to take over the world. Or at least start making enough sales to support my new farming habit.

What have you been doing today that I’ve interrupted?

Drywalling, so I’m covered in white dust VERY glad for the break.

Where can see contact you?

www.mcflashpants.com

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