Etsy Seller Interview with Tiina of solekoru

How solekoru 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?

In my Solekoru Etsy shop, I sell handmade jewelry, which is mostly made of clay, beads, and copper. I'm from Finland, have an archaeologist background, and I've loved drawing and painting since childhood. The inspiration for my creations usually comes from northern archaeological finds, mythology, and nature. My jewelry is about mythical animals, Finnish and Scandinavian mythology and history, runes, and ancient runic inscriptions.

I started selling my jewelry on Etsy in 2011, only a year after I began to make it. I have taken some courses about silver jewelry, but otherwise, I’m self-taught. At first, it was more one-of-a-kind pieces made of beads and copper. Later, I took some ceramic courses, bought my own ceramic kiln, and started to make ceramic jewelry and small series. I love clay because it is such an ancient and organic material, and you can create things from scratch with it. The common thing between my first item and these is their rustic, ancient-like, organic look and organic materials, as well as their source of inspiration.

Favorite items

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

I love making my "ancient runic inscription" pendants where there is an ancient runic text from an archaeological find sometimes carved inside a snake similar to the ones that can be found on Scandinavian rune stones. These inscriptions can be very romantic and touching, or they can aim to bring good luck. They probably were very important and meaningful—even magical—to their original owner in the past, so the customers seem to love them too.

My carved swan necklace is one of my favorites. It has the protective rune Algiz and a swan that holds her wing up. I love it because of the story behind it. It was inspired by a stone age grave where a woman and a newborn were buried on a swan wing.

My mythical animal necklaces are the pieces that sell most, especially ravens and bears. There is a story, a myth, behind all these animals—a story of what they meant in Finnish mythology. They are affordable, and there’s an interesting story behind every one of them. They suit all genders, are easy to wear, eco-friendly and vegan, and thus probably easy to buy for a gift.

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?

I had my first sale on Etsy about a month after opening the shop. I had been writing a blog about my jewelry for a year and had some followers there. It was one of my followers who made the first purchase. I also got some five-star reviews at the beginning, and I think that helped me make more sales.

When opening the shop, I set up a Facebook page and later an Instagram and Pinterest account. I think my Instagram account is the most effective way to attract people to my shop. I have occasionally done some advertising on social media and Etsy. I also have a webpage, but I haven't been writing my blog for a long time.

Photography and photo editing are my other passions, and I try to make my pictures as good as I can.

I also think that good SEO and finding pertinent keywords are important for being found.

Managing solekoru

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 do everything by myself: designing, jewelry, taking and editing pictures, social media and marketing, customer service, and shipping.

For photo editing, I use now Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. For a long time, I used GIMP, which is free for editing, and it was good enough, but I wanted to learn more and go deeper, so I now use Photoshop.

For video editing, I’ve been using some free apps like InShot. My video editing is very minimal at the moment but I’m going to learn more about it.

Grammarly is a great tool for checking the spelling and grammar of English when you are not a native speaker.

The future of solekoru

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

I will probably go where my intuition and inspiration tell me to go. I've been thinking to add pictures or digital products to my shop. I'm just not yet quite sure what they might be.

Advice for new sellers

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

For the shop listings, I think quality pictures or videos are essential, as well as good SEO and keywords. It is important to tell the story behind the shop and every item too in the description, especially if they are something like my 

And when the shop has been there for a while, it’s good to re-evaluate it every now and then—the photography, descriptions, keywords, items, and so on. I even once bought a shop evaluation from someone on Etsy, and it helped me a lot with the descriptions. I used to have very short and technical descriptions before, listing mainly the materials of the items.

To be found, you can probably get customers by advertising, but I prefer to get free traffic through social media. For products like my jewelry, I think visual kinds of channels like Instagram are the best.

I also emphasize friendly and fast customer service. I'm sure it helps a lot if you have five-star reviews on your shop. I've never asked for them, but I guess it's a good option to remind your customers that good reviews matter a lot and would be appreciated.

Doing what you love and are interested in makes things easy and fun, and that way it's easier to find like-minded people who might be interested in your products. For many years, I stayed very anonymous behind the jewelry. Bit by bit, I’ve come out on social media and started to show more of myself and the values that are important to me, like nature, environmental issues, animals, and equality. I believe it helps to find the right people too.