Today we’d like to introduce you to Dee Marie.
Hi Dee, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My whole life, I’ve loved art/creating things. I was that kid who went above and beyond when designing a project for school, in college, I took multiple photography courses, and as a preschool teacher (now former) art was a daily occurrence in my classroom. Over the years, I’ve made things for family and friends, but in 2018, I decided to try and sell the things I made.
I had ordered some small wood rounds from Amazon, with a plan to paint them (family portraits, Christmas trees, etc.) and sell them. Not even 24 hours later, I saw a pyrography (wood burning) kit in my husband’s and my Amazon cart. He didn’t know my plan, but figured he’d surprise me with it! From summer/fall 2018 to early spring 2020, I practiced designing things with the burner.
When I lost my job in the early spring of 2020, my entire world felt like it was standing still. In order to pass the time of being at home all day, I decided to do some wood burning. It started with two cutting boards that I decided to design for my parents. From there, I got more and more orders and began selling at vendor events. Now, I’ve even added clay into the mix-to add an extra element of fun to some of my jewelry pieces!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road, but without some bumps along the way, I don’t think I would be where I’m at now. One of my very first goals was to be in a store. I tried it, but trying to create designs for the store, custom orders, and vendor events (once they started happening again), was a lot. I do literally every design by hand, and some of my more detailed designs can take five or more hours…for one design start to finish.
When I pulled from the stores I was in, I was able to sign myself up for new events. At these events, I was able to meet people who not only are customers and now friends, but I’ve also been able to collaborate with other small businesses! Another bump in the road was the prices of products. I work really hard to find the best wood pieces to design. When wood prices went up, I had a hard time finding quality wood at a price that wasn’t ridiculous. Clay was also hard to find, so that made certain design ideas I had difficulty with. Thankfully, it’s a bit easier now, for both things.
Lastly, I’m my own worst critic. Running my own small business has its challenges, but thankfully, I have my husband, family, and my sweet friend (who’s my small business mentor) on speed dial for those moments when I need help or a pep talk.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a pyrography artist, it is such a joy to create unique designs for customers-things that will be gifted/displayed in someone’s home. That saying about how ‘every time you buy something from a small business, a real person does a happy dance’-that’s so true for me.
My goal is always to be transparent with people, show them Christ’s love through me-to be a real person, but also professional. Also, it’s always to give each person a great customer service experience, as best as I can. My favorite thing about what I do is that I do everything by hand. I do take images (wedding portraits, family portraits, pets, etc.) and transfer the outline to the wood, but all the burning is done by hand.
Since my work is done by hand, each piece is unique, even if they are the same design idea. My sweet husband though is the reason I have hooks/hinges on the pieces that need it. He’s also a second set of eyes (checking for imperfections) on a design before I consider the design complete.
What does success mean to you?
When my business grows or I accomplish a new challenge that’s my definition of success. It’s not always about sales (even though selling my designs is a goal). It could be that I added clay into the mix of some jewelry pieces, I was able to collaborate with another artist/small business, got all my custom orders out on time, upgraded my packaging, learned a new burning technique, etc.
Contact Info:
- Email: Deelightfuldesignco@gmail.com
- Website: https://deelightfuldesign.company.site/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Deelightfuldesignco/
