Etsy Seller Interview with Mary of Mareziedotes

How Mareziedotes got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Hi, I am Mary Dauphinais. I am the owner and founder of Mareziedotes on Etsy. I began selling hand-embellished nylon dog collars back in 2013. Those quickly evolved into hand-tooled leather dog collars. I worked at a dog kennel, grooming establishment, or pet shop then. I sourced my collars through the pet store and made custom collars for my customers. I did quite well on Etsy with that for a couple of years, but making custom collars was too stressful for me, and I was curious about using my vast stamp collection in clay instead.

I had befriended a wonderful artist by buying her stamps that I found on Etsy. She does all sorts of amazing art! She works in part with clay. I told her of how I used to take ceramics class with my mom and grandma when I was in my teens and twenties. I used to paint and glaze the ready-made greenware, and the teacher would fire everything. Sunny (my artist friend’s name) taught me what kind of kiln to purchase, what kind of clays she liked, and what glazes were her favorites. I purchased those supplies, and the rest is history. I have tried many forms of crafting in my 62 years. I have tried tole painting, wood burning, painting wood signs, embroidery, rug making, leather tooling, crochet, knitting, sewing... My mother was very good at many crafts and taught me to crochet and knit. I still veer off every now and again and put my little clay pieces on a crocheted cord or a denim piece of fabric. My one focus that has kept me enamored, though, is ceramics. I love working with the clay and watching how the glazes react to the end product! And the fact that they make excellent essential oil diffusers is a huge benefit for me and my customers. I have had quite a few of my customers tell me how happy they are that they can carry their favorite oils on my pieces.

I originally started selling on Etsy on the advice of my daughter-in-law and my son. My daughter-in-law had a shop on Etsy back then, before they started their family, but she became too busy with their sons. My son suggested that I make my shop name personal to me and not the craft I was working on at the time because he knew that my craft would change! Mareziedotes stems from a nursery song from when I was little! "Mares eat oats, does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy! A kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?" Whenever I attend an art or craft fair, I get comments from people who are my "vintage" about the name of my shop.

I create all of my "one of a kind" items with a lump of clay and glazes that I usually buy online from "Clay King" My husband has made me boards to roll out my pendants, and I use rubber stamps to make the impressions in my clay. I support Etsy shops to source my stamps, cord, and findings. I am a rubber stamp addict. I love looking for new stamps! I use old printer trays that are hung on my studio walls to store many, and I have drawers full of many more! My husband, Robert, is my sounding board and shipping assistant. I bounce ideas off of him all the time, and I try my bracelets on him to cater to his bigger wrists.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite items in my shop are my stones, my bracelets, and my pendants.  My stones diffuse a pretty soft scent and can be placed on your desk at work, your bedside table with a little lavender oil for drifting off to sleep, your counter in your kitchen with a little lemon oil or other fresh scent, or somewhere in your bath.  I sell quite a few of those and they are shop favorites.  They are fun for me to make because some of them are large enough to need big stamps!

I sell many pendants and love to try and figure out what people will like for those.  I am always making new different pendants.  My customers tell me that they love being able to wear their favorite scents without directly wearing them on their skin.

I am also always trying to come up with the most wearable bracelet idea for my ceramic pieces.  Bracelets are not my best sellers and that presents a challenge for me to find the perfect design for them.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

Custom dog collars were attractive to customers. So when I switched to custom leather-tooled collars, I received sales pretty quickly. I did like making the collars, but having so many variables to consider in each collar and the fact that if I made a mistake, a collar was wasted was a big factor in my discontinuing those. I love dreaming up my clay pieces, and if I make a mistake with the clay, I just ball it back up and start over!

I am not really great at the social media promotion of my shop. I have a small presence on Instagram, and I have a personal page on Facebook. Most of my sales are from repeat customers and are Etsy-driven.

Managing Mareziedotes

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I am the sole maker and manager of my shop. My husband used to make wood signs for me to decorate, but they didn’t sell well enough for us to continue, and as I said before, I love the ceramics! I don’t use any apps to run my store. I hand-make everything from clay. I use rubber stamps, clay tools, clay cutters, glazes, my adorable little kilns that are located in my barn, imagination, and a lot of love!

I print all my labels at home, using my Canon printer and paper. I use 98–100% recycled and recyclable packaging. I cushion my pieces with a small piece of bubble wrap, which can be recycled at your local grocery store. I would say that it is 100% recyclable, but I am not certain that everyone has access to a store that would recycle the bubble wrap. I use brown kraft paper and cardboard boxes to ship.

The future of Mareziedotes 

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I plan to continue with my Etsy shop just as it is!  I love making my ceramics and I love my customers!  Some months are much busier than others and I have learned to go with that flow!

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

My advice for new sellers on Etsy is to pick something that you enjoy doing! Don’t expect to have instant massive sales, especially if you are like me and make everything by hand. Pay attention to your SEO and try to grow with the changes there. Also, take the best photos of your products that you can. I have an outdoor "photo studio" on my front porch. I like to take my photos in natural light. This means that in the northeast, sometimes the weather is beautiful for taking my photos, and sometimes I freeze out there!