My name is Heather Wehland and I live on the beautifully foggy northern coast of California with my husband Thomas and my house of knick knacks. If my husband were to describe me in two words, they would probably be "multitasking" and 'hoarder.” I started my Etsy shop Tiny Octopus Designs three years ago (I hate to think it’s been that long) to make the best of these two traits.

Whether I’m lazing on the couch with a bowl of noodles or watching an episode of Fringe with Thomas, I feel the irresistible urge to multitask. I know, it’s a bad habit, but it’s an itch I need to scratch and crafting was just the cure. Now instead of paddling around Facebook while working on homework I make tiny polymer clay creatures to fill my shop with! As for the hoarding, were it not for Etsy our home would be swallowed in the aforementioned creatures and Thomas has never been one for knick knacks. Selling my creations allows me to multitask, scratch the creative itch, decorate temporarily with knick knacks, and then send them on their way when the time comes.

As far as I can tell, there is nothing more exciting than sitting down with a hunk of polymer clay and creating something lovely and new out of it. Sometimes I’ll make something just to crush it and make something else in its place. It’s the process of creating that really drives me. The sale comes second, though that’s not to discount the importance of customers. My thought is that if I would want to wear something or display in my home for any prolonged period of time then hopefully there is someone else out there who feels the same. I make these pieces for myself and for that person out there who I know will brighten up when they see the listing and know it’s meant for them.

I love what I make and I make what I love. Each and every item in my shop has been lovingly hand sculpted, painted, and packaged because I feel that every customer deserves the very best I can give them. Part of the creation of my little Sculpey critters is naming them. I figure that if they have a face then they deserve a name and the personality that goes along with it. The name can arrive at any point in the creative process and is whatever’s first to pop into my head that hasn’t already been used. This, of course, results in names like Boogie, Little Tomato, and Peanut alongside Barney, Carla, Glen, and Doug. But hey, that’s what makes life fun right?

I wish I could say that I do my work in a beautifully upkept studio with full light and neatly organized materials, but that would be such a big lie. My husband would be the first to tell you that when I craft the whole house gets in on the action. I couldn’t tell you how this happens, but somehow there are paint brushes in the kitchen and sculpey in the living room with bottles of paint and sculpting tools scattered in between. My art zone just sort of expands as I go and I love it that way.

My main material of choice is Super Sculpey. My favorite tools are dental picks and the handle of a paintbrush. And everything I make is baked at 240 degrees in a little Black & Decker toaster oven which my friend helpfully named Mount Doom. I wish I could work on a schedule like so many successful Etsy sellers do, but I’m just too unorganized.

I mentioned earlier that the crafting comes first and the sale second, but my customers and potential customers are what really keep me going. I’m a sucker for the customers. I’m flattered any time someone says they like my shop or my products so I tend to get overexcited and chatty with them in the hopes that maybe we’ll bond. Maybe it stems from my own giddy excitement when I’ve “liked” a favorite Etsy seller’s product and they send me a message thanking me for my interest, or maybe I just want to be buddies with everyone. Special commissions are also fun for me so I like to offer to make pieces catered precisely to my customers’ requests.

To finish up, I’d like to give credit where credit is due I’m constantly inspired by other sellers on Etsy. I’ll spend hours just browsing through shops and getting myself worked up into a creative frenzy. There are so many incredibly creative people out there that I feel like I need to constantly strive to achieve talent comparable to everyone else. If I’m ever feeling down or in an artistic slump, I just take a cruise around Etsy (or DeviantArt) and get inspired. Tiny Octopus Designs is my escape, my love, and my hobby and I hope I can keep it going for years to come.