Becki Cooper, director of Avant Garde Art & Craft Shows, was interviewing me and posted this little article on their blog.  We will be at the Columbus Avant Garde Art & Craft Show on August 19th from 1:30 to 6:30pm.  We will be there along with 125 other local artists and crafters.  It is at the Greek Orthodox Church in the Short North.  The location more specifically is The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral-               555 N. High St, Columbus, OH 43215.  Admission is $3 and proceeds benefit Local Matters, a non profit that educates people about healthy local foods & produce.
Hope to see you at the Columbus Avant Garde, and now here’s the blog interview…
Meet Karen Buoncristiano from Crafty By Nature…
I can’t stop making my own ceramics, lotions, and soaps. After I got married and no longer had a wedding to plan, I became stir crazy and needed a new challenge.  Most years for Christmas, I began making gifts by hand for at least a good portion of our gift giving. About 10 years of dabbling in all sorts of various arts and crafts, I narrowed it down to two categories I truly loved: ceramics and handmade bath & body goods.
    I am married to a wonderful husband who also loves making pottery on the potter’s wheel and he is doing great, picking up lots of skill. We spend a lot of time with our two loving dogs, hiking around for some fresh air and to immerse ourselves in nature.
I have been a potter for about 8 years. I have been a lotion & soap maker since 2009. I have been creating a wide variety of art as well as crafts since about 1992. Before that, I spent my entire childhood drawing, sculpting things, and painting.
My creativity is such a huge part of me, that I think it has always been there. My parents were both artists and showed me a lot of encouragement for doing art. I was definitely raised with the idea that art has a lot of value and appeal. I thank my parents for that.
I started making ceramics in the early 1990s and have always loved it. There is only so much of your own handmade pottery you can fit in your house, so I began selling my work. The reason I got into making my own lotions & soaps was curiosity. I wanted to see if I could make lotions & soaps, and I found out I can!
How I got into selling my craft.. One year for Christmas gifts, I decided to make up my own recipe for gardener’s hand salve and include it in a garden themed gift basket. People LOVED this hand salve and insisted I make more, and asked me if I would begin selling it. I said yes and the rest is history!
My creative process.. Sometimes I just make something on the potter’s wheel and I feel like “it” decides what it is going to end up as. Other times I plan ahead. For lotions and soaps, I try to think what would smell really great and yet be very moisturizing at the same time. Sometimes it takes several attempts at a soap or lotion recipe before I get it good enough for my standards.
I think my most favorite item so far would be my “little bird” teapot.  I really love how that turned out and it makes a great cup of tea!
I am hope is to one day be able to leave my full-time job and do Crafty by Nature full-time. I’d love to be in many more retail stores, do more craft shows, and make much more ceramics. Time is sometimes a constraint for me at the moment, but nothing will hold me back from creating!
Lastly, I’d like to thank my husband for the faith he has had in me and especially the patience he has displayed when I said “I just bought a potter’s wheel,” and “I just bought a seven cubic foot kiln that weighs 280 pounds!” He has been very patient with me living my dreams, and he has even become a potter himself too! Thanks Nick!