EVERETT — When it comes to small businesses, they don’t get much smaller than this. Last year I got the chance to speak with nine crafters from in and around Snohomish County who turned their passions into a business, and I’ve got a whole new batch of folks to highlight this holiday season. I spent the last 12 months combing through the online retail site Etsy for local businesses with digital storefronts that stood out due to the unusualness, specificity and quality of their crafts. The following is a brief look at each one. Enjoy!
Kattie Blu, of Granite Falls, and her husband Jeremy Custer sell glass drinking straws. The most popular design Custer makes are his straws with glass ornaments of plants, animals and other figures attached. (Photo provided)
Drink Straws.Glass — Granite Falls
Kattie Blu wants to make a positive change in the world, one drinking straw at a time. To do that, she and her husband, Jeremy Custer, sell a glass alternative to plastic straws to reduce waste entering landfills.
The Granite Falls couple set out in earnest around 2011 to turn a side business into a full time endeavor. Today, their business Drink Straws.Glass has products carried in more than 1,000 stores worldwide.
“We’re pioneers in the glass straw area, which is kind of crazy to think about,” Blu said.
Custer, 42, is a self-taught glass artist who makes all their straws by hand. The basic glass straws are $7.99, but more complicated designs sell for more. Their most popular straws are the sculpted designs, with glass figures of ladybugs, daisies, sea turtles and others attached, starting at $22.99.
Blu, 41, manages business administration and marketing. She also uses an industrial serger sewing machine to create portable straw carrying cases made from cotton fabric. The cloth sleeves, along with a lifetime guarantee, are an added touch.
“We really think about all the little things in our company,” Blu said.
Prior to the business, Blu was an office worker at a trucking company and her husband did various jobs while glass making was a hobby. The straws, made of borosilicate glass, were originally something made for friends and family until the couple began selling them.
They couple worked out of their Granite Falls home until about six years ago when they outgrew the space. Today they manufacture everything on a family member’s property near Yakima.
“I know, deep in my heart, we do have the best reusable straw,” Blu said. “And the more people that know about it, the better.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/DrinkingStrawsGlass and drinkingstraws.glass
Watercolor artist Elizabeth Person, of Everett, specializes in painting maps, mountain ranges and other educational illustrations. (Photo provided)
Elizabeth Person Art & Design — Everett
Elizabeth Person calls maps “the ultimate informational art.” The Everett artist has made a career for herself creating them along with other infographics and educational illustrations.
While some people may expect the 39-year-old to utilize a more modern digital approach, she opted to paint maps with watercolor. It takes Person 15 to 40 hours to complete a map, and the process involves extensive research to get the image just right. For her, the end result justifies all the effort.
“Watercolor really suits maps, because watercolors are from natural pigments from the earth,” Person said. “And there’s something about the way they blend that mimics the landscape really well.”
Person previously worked as a graphic designer for a decade. In 2012, she started experimenting with watercolors, which for her, “was like a little revelation.” She transitioned to making art full-time in 2017.
“Watercolor is a little unforgiving. It has a mind of its own,” Person said, and adds “it’s a really interesting medium that will take a long time to ever feel like I have any mastery of it.”
Person calls herself a commercial artist as she doesn’t take individual commissions, instead getting contracts to produce images for businesses and local governments while also creating pieces she believes will sell well on her online stores. On Person’s website she sells prints of her paintings of mountain ranges for $22, while her maps are $25. She sells her original paintings for hundreds of dollars.
She also does the “Everett Sketcher” series. Person’s depictions of various locations around Snohomish County have been published quarterly by The Herald’s “Sound & Summit” magazine. The Herald also profiled Person in 2019 for her work illustrating the children’s book “To Live on an Island.”
Person doesn’t think she’ll run out of places to illustrate anytime soon, as “there’s just endless things to map.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/elizabethperson and elizabethperson.com
Scott Lelikoff, of Camano Island, sells herb grinders with laser etched artwork. (Photo provided)
Graphic Grinders — Camano Island
For about five years, Scott Lelikoff sold bike-mounted leather pouches that held beer growlers and wine bottles. When demand slowed, he set his sights on the growing marijuana industry.
Lelikoff, 44, of Camano Island, etches designs onto cylindrical herb grinders used to shred cannabis flowers into smaller pieces for smoking. He sells about 2,500 grinders a month, mostly wholesale. Prices range from $18 to $50 depending on the size.
“When COVID hit, the sales started jumping up quite a bit,” Lelikoff said. “I think people were home and partaking in that stuff a little more than before.”
Lelikoff buys blank aluminum grinders and then etches the artwork with a laser machine housed in a warehouse near his home. Instead of using stock images, Lelikoff commissions artists for original pieces, and so far, has utilized more than 100 designs. He also takes custom orders from businesses for grinders printed with their logos.
Previously, Lelikoff worked at a design-build firm before quitting to run his business Green Star (His Etsy shop is under the name Graphic Grinders). Back then in his spare time he sold homemade leather bottle holders under the name Pedal Happy Design. It was a hobby turned business that led to his current enterprise. Lelikoff had used a laser machine for his pouches and in 2017 turned his attention to grinders. Now he’s his own boss.
Moving forward, Lelikoff wants to branch out into selling odor eliminating candles and re-launch his leather business, rebranded as Arbor & Hyde.
“I enjoy the challenge of it,” Lelikoff said. “I could probably work less if I worked for somebody else, but there’s quite a bit of freedom that comes with working for yourself.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/GraphicGrinders and shopgreenstar.com
Woodworker Frank Thompson, of Edmonds, creates cutting boards, charcuterie boards, butter boards and trays. He and his wife Marilyn Thompson also collaborate on building birdhouses. (Photo provided)
Impressive Wood Works — Edmonds
Frank Thompson does the woodworking. Marilyn Thompson manages the online store. Together the Edmonds husband and wife run an Etsty shop offering homemade cutting boards, charcuterie boards, butter boards and trays for sale.
The two started the hobby while quarantined during the pandemic. With time on their hands Frank, who had dabbled in woodworking, decided to revisit the craft. He soon got requests from friends and family for cutting boards, and when they encouraged the couple to sell them, Impressive Wood Works was born.
“It’s been a great activity to keep us active in retirement,” Marilyn Thompson, 69, said.
For his boards, Frank Thompson, 66, likes to combine exotic with domestic woods. He’ll alternate stripes of Zebrawood with Walnut for contrast. He cuts, glues, sands and then applies a food grade beeswax and mineral oil to the wood for a “silk smooth finish.”
It takes him about two weeks to complete a cutting board. He said the work is “relaxing” and something he’s always enjoyed.
His wife takes photos, writes online descriptions, handles shipping and collaborates with him on building birdhouses.
Bird houses are $57 and cutting boards are $149. The couple said some customers like their products so much that they end up only using them as decoration.
Frank previously repaired gas stations for a living until retiring last year. His wife worked as a project manager in the printing industry before retiring. Now they spend as much time as they want on their business.
“This is a hobby, it’s not a job. When it becomes a job it’s going to be a bigger issue,” Frank Thompson said. “I’ve had a job for 42 years at one place, so it’s not what I want.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/ImpressiveWoodWorks
Jenny Graham, of Gold Bar, wears costume ear cuffs made by Shannon Zuanich, of Gold Bar. This pair is from Zuanich’s woodland faerie series. (Photo provided)
Pixie Ear Wings — Gold Bar
Shannon Zuanich didn’t plan on starting a second business. She said “it just kind of happened.” The bartender turned hula hoop maker initially sold costume ear cuffs on the side. Now her Pixie Ear Wings are taking flight.
“I didn’t expect that they would take off the way that they did,” Zuanich, 45, of Gold Bar, said. “I was just adding something extra to my booths, and they became as popular as the hula hoops.”
Zuanich takes inspiration from bugs, birds, bats, fairies and dragons for her cuffs, which consist of an adjustable aluminum wire, allowing it to conform to most ears, and a fake wing made of recycled material.
For some pairs she uses plastic from Costco muffin containers donated by local espresso stands as a base. Trinkets, sourced from yard sales and second hand stores, are glued on. Most of the feathers she uses are collected from the outdoors by friends and family.
To date, Zuanich has made thousands of ear wings for customers looking for a unique item to complete their Halloween costume or cosplay. Prices range from $22 to $35.
The wings were something Zuanich initially made for fun as she sold homemade hoops at fairs and farmer’s markets under the name Pixie Dance Hoops. She explained in a 2018 Herald profile how her passion for the plastic rings was sparked after coming across one hanging from the rafters at the nightclub where she worked. Now she sells homemade hoops at summer events and her ear wings in the fall and online.
Zuanich launched an Etsy shop for her ear wings around 2020. She plans to continue crafting them for as long as she’s having fun and feels inspired.
“It gives me the perfect excuse to look to nature to create something,” Zuanich said. “They’re whimsical and fancy and fun. There’s absolutely no way that I could ever get bored doing them.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/PixieEarWings
Kim Winfrey, of Camano Island runs The Pottery Nook art studio in Arlington. In her spare time she paints planters like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left, and Frida Kahlo, right, along with other characters and celebrities. (Photo provided)
The Pottery Nook — Arlington
Kim Winfrey calls painting pottery “my jam.” So after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020, to honor the late Supreme Court Justice, she decided to paint one of a few planters she had lying around to resemble the Notorious RBG.
After getting a positive response, she added it to her online Etsy shop “and she kind of took off.” Winfrey has since expanded to hand paint character planters like other celebrities including Lucille Ball, Frida Kahlo, Elvis Presley, Elton John and the superhero Wonder Woman.
It takes Winfrey three hours to paint the six-inch-tall clay planter she buys, then eight hours to heat in the kiln and twelve hours to cool before shipping. Prices are $50 or $55 depending on the design.
“Painting pottery is my favorite part of what we do in my business,” Winfrey said, “and so I just found a way to turn it into just another income stream.”
Winfrey, 56, of Camano Island, owns and operates The Pottery Nook art studio at 3131 Smokey Point Drive in Arlington. Opening it in 2013 marked the start of a new chapter in her life. She previously worked in the telecommunications industry for 22 years until getting laid off. Now she runs a venue where folks can paint, fuse glass and work with clay.
Winfrey also has a line of peacock feather-themed stoneware for sale at the Schack Art Center in Everett, but her planters are only sold online. She is working on a Ziggy Stardust design and considering crafting a Rosie the Riveter planter too.
One figure she won’t be referencing again is deceased Pop music icon Prince. His recording studio Paisley Park sent a Cease and Desist Letter.
“So no more Prince,” Winfrey said. “Yeah, his brand is pretty tight. It’s hilarious that they are out there actually looking for little people like me.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/ThePotteryNook
Brad Raynor, of Everett, uses a laser machine to etch designs into wooden binders and bottle cases he constructs. (Photo provided)
Raynor Shine Designs — Everett
Naval officers and witches: two groups that probably don’t have a whole lot in common but are some of Brad Raynor’s biggest customers. For the past decade, Raynor, 65, of Everett, has used laser cutters to create personalized engravings on wood, glass and acrylic products he assembles.
His best sellers are wooden binder covers used for cookbooks, scrapbooks, and charge books, a type of personalized advice guide passed down by officers in the coast guard and navy. Raynor has also received lots of attention for his witchcraft and spell book themed designs, which he began making due to the demand.
“That’s popular, and I don’t understand why. I mean I do, but I don’t,” Raynor said. “It just says spells, potions and it has a cauldron on the front, and it’s very gothic looking.”
Raynor started his business in 2013 to keep himself busy after retiring from his job managing a car dealership. He originally wanted to make pad printed ink designs on glass, but it proved too difficult to pull off in his garage workshop. His sister introduced Raynor to laser cutters, and he learned the craft through trial and error.
“At first some of the stuff I came up with, I look back and it was kind of stupid,” Raynor said. One of his earliest products was collectible coin stands. He sold none. “My sister still has one on her shelf, and I laugh every time I see it.”
He found a niche in binders and boxes for wine and whiskey. Each week he gets about 25 orders and is currently booked solid through late December. From start to finish, it takes him two weeks to finish a binder and his prices for all wares range from $80 to $110.
Raynor enjoys experimenting with new designs and seeing what sells. He said most of the work is “actually quite boring to be honest with you.” Aside from playing tennis, this hobby keeps him from spending all day sitting around watching TV.
For him, success isn’t measured by money, but by “what you get out of life.”
Online store: etsy.com/shop/RaynorShineDesigns and raynorshinedesigns.com
Eric Schucht: 425-339-3477; eric.schucht@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EricSchucht.
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