♥ interview: amanda hanley of quivver.

a few weeks ago, nick and i had the pleasure of being seated with blogger/ DIYcrafter,

 amanda of the red jet, during our delicious dining experience at barrio .

over dinner, amanda mentioned that she blogged about her interest in do-it-yourself 

apartment adventures, but it wasn't until i got home and looked up her blog, 

that i saw that her interest was way more than an occasional crafternoon- 

her apartment is a marvelous masterpiece of DIY craftiness and 

her online shop, quivver, is unlike anything i've ever seen!

quivver was born out of amanda's desire and inability to find vintage arrows that weren't

outrageously expensive. she thought they would make a great display piece,

but could not find anything that suited her needs in thrift stores or on ebay.

so, she went to the craft store and with a bit of trial and error, her

much sought after/ hand-made arrows were brought to life!
and lucky for us, she shares them at her shop.

so without any further adieu, here is a short interview with the artist/blogger herself:

are your arrows purely for aesthetic use? yes, though they are probably capable of poking someone's eye out.

how do people display them? honestly, i'm not sure. (proudly, i hope?) i include a hanging cord with each one, so i imagine that's the easiest way, but i also took photos of them in a jar, taped to the wall, on my rack, and even attached to a tree to suggest that you can do many things with them. i'd like to come up with some kind of small table stands in the future, say if you wanted to have one on a desk or a mantel.

what were you making before that? i've always been a crafty person, but my previous venture was hand-sewn purses which i sold on etsy for a while. it was tough though - tons of competition and i was charging too little for my time and skills. With quivver, it's a more equitable ratio of price and effort, plus I was only going to start selling again if i could think of a unique idea. i still sew - pillows, curtains and the like and am starting to get into making and altering my own clothes. i also like to re-finish furniture, and have a massive art supply stockpile, so I'm ready for anything.

how did you come up with the name for your shop and your blog? i originally thought of Quiver, since it's the traditional case for arrows, but I thought it might come up in too many google searches and be confusing so i added the extra "v". had i done better research i would've realized there's a musician who uses the name too! (oh, well) When i started my blog, i really had no idea what I was going to blog about so I didn't want to name it anything specific. i just chose some nonsense words that sounded good together - red jet whistle. i've since shortened it to just the red jet and since i bought the .net domain, it's good and silly to say.

where does your craftiness come from? i think my family, even though no one else is an artist per se, i have lots of carpenters and crafters in my family, and everyone is very DIY when it comes to home projects. i learned an appreciation for doing things the right way from a young age and have no fear of taking on new projects. i also seemed to have a natural knack for it and went to art school for fine arts and graphic design.

what are your future plans with quivver and your blog? it's tough working full time and trying to have a small side business and a blog and you know, a life! my shop's nearly sold out right now, but i haven't started the next batch! ideally i'd like more time to make things and try to grow something bigger, but I think realistically the shop will probably stay small and I'll keep it going as long as I find it interesting. same for the blog i think, i'll keep going as long as it's fun!

will you be making anything else to go with the arrows- a bow perhaps? that's not a bad idea.....! i've been thinking about making some kind of stand, and am always trying to think of new ways to embellish them. 

all images via quivver.

thank you, amanda!