~My Interview with The Graphics Fairy~

This months interview is with Karen Watson, owner of The Graphics Fairy. Karen has a gorgeous Blog with over 1,000 free vintage clip art images.  


(Karen’s answers are in blue)

1) Can you tell me when you started your blog and a little about where you find your gorgeous images?

I started The Graphics Fairy in August of 2007. I find my images all over really, Antique Malls, auctions,
flea markets, library's, Ebay, used and rare book shops, some I even inherited my from family, and also
a lot of my friends are antique dealers and they often lend me things.

2) Do you remember what first made you want to collect ephemera?

I collect a lot of things actually, besides paper, but I think what I really like about the paper is that it's
almost like a little memory that has been frozen in time. Each piece has a story to tell, from the image
itself to the little written notes on the back, to the postage marks (on mailed pieces) to the wear and tear
and crease marks. I also love that there is an endless amount of variety, there is just so much to choose
from. And lastly from a practical stand point, it doesn't take up a huge amount of space to store!

3) Did anyone specific influence you?

Yes, definitely my Grandmother! She and my Grandfather had quite a large home and it was filled with antiques, the most marvelous things! I spent a lot of my weekends at their house and I would spend my
days going through her attics, and china cabinets and old trunks etc, all full of treasures. She would take
the time to sit with me and tell me the stories of the different pieces, and explain to me where the things
came from and how they were used. I was completely in awe of all of it, even as a young child. She even
had two dressers full of gorgeous antique German dolls in the basement, she gave me  few of them and
I still have them today.

4) What are your favorite images/themes to collect?

Some of my favorite images include Birds, Eggs & Nests, anything French or European, Children,
Ladies, anything with beautiful Handwriting or Typography, and Advertisements like you find on the old Trade Cards, I also love old Religious pieces.

5) You recently opened your Etsy shop. What types of products are you selling?

That seems to change over time. I was mostly selling small vintage pieces for crafters to use, in the
beginning, but it takes a lot of time to find the really good stuff. Now I mostly sell newly made found
objects, like the enameled metal number tags that I sell, as well as some fun hardware type pieces and
metal tags. Also, I'm currently working on a line of digital downloads to be used in making DIY home
decor items, so hopefully that will be ready soon.

 

6) Can you tell me what future projects you are working on and any new things that we can look forward to with your website and Blog?

I'm working on adding some new pages to my blog. One that will provide some good sources for info on
Public Domain laws and copyright, as I get asked about that a lot. Another one will be a personal blog,
which I've never had before. I think it will be fun, but I'm not sure how much time I will have to put into it.
I'm also in negotiations with a friend to start an entirely new blog, that is completely different than what I do now, but I think it could be a very interesting topic to explore. We are going to give it a test run and see if it is a good fit for both of us first. So I can't say for sure yet if we will go public, but time will tell!

To visit Karen’s Blog and to shop for her beautiful products, visit her Blog and Etsy shop:


http://www.GraphicsFairy.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGraphicsFairy