This week we are headed to "
heart of a vivacious forest, in a secret valley above the glorious Methow Valley of Northern Washington."
Name: Jillian Lukiwski
Age: 31
Occupation: Metalsmith, writer and photographer.
Etsy Shop: The Noisy Plume
Tell us a little about yourself:
I'm a Canadian living in the USA. Because of my husband's
occupation (he's a smokejumper), we split our year between the Rocky Mountains
of Idaho and the North Cascades of Northern Washington. It's a good situation
and while moving twice a year can be a bit exhausting, we live in two really
gorgeous places. For the time being, I love our lifestyle. We have three dogs,
a cat, some hens, lots of houseplants, a 108 year old farm house and a 1965
Sovereign Landyacht Airstream trailer.
When did you start creating and how long
have you been on Etsy?
I've always made things, and I've always been a writer, ever
since I was a little girl, whether it was sewing, building forts with my dad's
scrap lumber, stringing beads, building with clay, painting or digging out
elaborate snow caves in the dead of winter. I've always made and built things.
Big and small. So with that in mind, I guess what I do now is generally what I
have always done. I started making jewelry about six years ago. I was a
librarian at an elementary school at the time. Selling on Etsy allowed me to
quit the librarian position and go full time with The Noisy Plume.
How did you come up with your business
name, is there any special meaning behind it?
I'm a writer. I put words together in pleasing ways. The
Noisy Plume, as a business name, simply fell into being for me like most of my
writing efforts do, I just put some words together. It's funny, people tell me
all the time how the name really suits me. It's a pinch of the natural mingled
with a dash of flamboyance, which may or may not be one of the ways my close
friends might describe me, some of the time.
Has your Etsy shop become your full time
job?
It's a part of my full time job. I'm also a writer and photographer. Everything
gets mashed up together under the banner of The Noisy Plume but there's a lot
more to it than the Etsy shop. Behind the scenes, there's a tornado-y universe
whirling around that hardly anyone ever gets to see unless they are directly a
part of my life.
How would you describe your creative
process?
I work quite
intuitively, that is to say, I really let the work lead. I rarely create a
finished piece that is the direct result of sketching. I just sit down and
slowly let things build until they feel finished. I approach writing and
photography the same way. It can be little chaotic but it's mostly amazing. I
highly value freedom in all avenues of life so it makes sense that my approach
to work is quite free and meandering.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Oh. Everywhere. Probably, mostly nature. I don't go to urban places very often. When I am in a city, I find myself searching for the tiny wild things that live there -- the plant that grows up out of the sidewalk, the bird who dares to build a nest in a tree on a busy road, the smell of the sea blowing in from the shoreline and erasing the stink that spills out of back alleys. I spend a lot of time outside on the land in Idaho and Washington and everywhere in between. I think, more often than not, you can tell I'm from the interior West of Canada and the USA when you look at the bulk of my work in metal. I like white. White animals, white flora, winter. I also love saturated color. I like the interplay of shadow and light that is all around us, all the time. Everything inspires but some things inspire more than others.
What is your most cherished handmade
item?
My grandmother hand quilts. She is still a prolific quilter.
I have a quilt she made for me when I graduated high school. I also have a
quilt I made with my mother that features some dresden plates my grandmother
prepared for a quilt but never used. My wedding ring is also a deeply cherished
object. There's an enormous and enchanting tale behind the making of it...and,
to be frank, it's utterly beautiful. Rob designed it. Also, our refurbished
Airstream is pretty dear to me. It's not truly handmade, but my husband has
been working on refurbishing it for a couple of years now and he has rebuilt
90% of it with his own two hands, so I suppose I would consider it handmade at
this point. Rob is amazing. A true jack of all trades. His efforts with the
Airstream allow us to be together all year long. I use the rig as a studio
space in the summer months when we move North for the fire season.
Apart from creating things, what do you
like to do?
I like to trail run, it's my meditation. I ski and skijor my
dogs in the winter months. I love the snow. I am an inexhaustible reader of
books. I do a lot of horseback riding when I am at home in Saskatchewan and
look forward to the day I have a horse of my own. I paint, for pleasure. I may
paint for work someday, but for now I'm very private and selfish about it. It's
creative work I do just for myself. I like hiking and collecting the bits of nature
I find when I am out: bones and skulls, feathers, weathered wood, lichens and
mosses... Honestly, I like to go outside and simply wander. I live in
landlocked areas but when I am at the sea, I can spend days and days beach
combing. I beach comb so much that I forget to eat. I like to make music with
piano, guitar and ukulele. I like to watch birds and wild animals. I am a bread
baker. I garden. I could be considered a professional bath taker. I love the
bath. I like to cook for our friends. I hunt upland game with my husband and
our two German shorthaired pointers. In the fall and winter I like to hunt for
empty nests. I have a nest collection. I love to swim in lakes and rivers. I
can swim for hours. If the dogs are with me, it's fun to swim across the lake
with my little wolf pack. I fly fish. I star watch. I see rabbits in the
clouds.
If you weren’t creating your craft, what
would you be and why?
I am generally
unemployable by the real world so I can't imagine what I would be doing! That's
the honest truth. Maybe I would own a bakery. Perhaps I'd have a herd of angora
rabbits and a wee wool factory in the loft of a barn somewhere. Maybe I would
occupy a fire tower somewhere in the Rockies, counting lightning strikes and
scanning the horizon for smoke...that sounds nice. Those fire lookout towers
are really lovely, large glass windows on all four walls and plenty of
isolation up high with only the red-tailed hawks and chipmunks for company.
Five years from now
you will be:
Probably doing what I
am doing now! Hopefully published, or working on a book, or a second book, or
writing poems in a patch of wild roses. Maybe weaving. Hopefully living on a
ranch in west central Idaho with a jersey cow and a few horses.
Describe yourself in five words:
optimistic, witty, direct, daydreaming, little
Carrying on with the five theme, if I
were to turn on your ipod, what five artists/songs would I see on your recently
played list?
Right now you would see The Cure, James Vincent McMorrow, Lucius, Lindi Ortega, Pocket Dwellers
Lastly, do you have any advice for
anyone thinking about opening their own shop or participating in craft shows?
Sure thing. Just do it. Begin. Open your shop and don't be paralyzed by
planning. You'll never be totally ready or totally prepared. I think it's
better to get the ball rolling and then problem solve as problems arise. Meet
the the needs of your studio and small business as the needs arise. Work hard.
Have fun. Don't take the interwebular world too seriously. Life is too precious
and short.
