Meet the Member - Illana from Zipandruth

Please introduce yourself. Who are you, where do you live?

My name is Illana Burk, I live in Sacramento, CA

How would you describe your work / style?

My two passions are finding things and making things. Typically, I hunt for the broken, the battered, or the hopelessly awful and work at it until I can make it into something lovely.

Who, or what, inspires you?

I am really fortunate to have a wonderful partner who challenges me to be interesting, and a wonderful mother who inspires me to be strong!

What made you decide to start selling your work? Do you have a website or blog address?
Necessity! I have always wanted to be a business owner, and the current business climate meant turning lemons into lemonade!

Do you have a website or blog address?

Yup.
Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/zipandruth
Website: www.zipandruth.com/
Blog: http://www.zipandruth.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zipandruth
My blog is a hub for promoting other artists, DIY tutorials, business tips, along with my own musings on life, craft, and happy living!

How did you learn your craft? How long have you been creating?

I have been creating for as long as I can remember. My mom is an amazing muralist and sign painter. She has photos of being seven months pregnant with me while painting the side of a bread truck. I really never had a choice about being creative (as much as I tried to fight it growing up).

Is there any other craft skill you would like to learn?

Anything but knitting! Everyone I know knits and they are always trying to talk me into it. I guess you could say I am an instant gratification girl.... knitting just takes too long! (though I totally envy having that much patience)

Anything exciting planned that you’d like to share?

I am working like crazy on a full line of upcycled leather handbags... stay tuned!

Have you had any work featured in magazines/books/galleries?

Does my inner monologue count? It keeps telling me that I am already wildly successful!

Has your work won any prizes/competitions?

I'm not much of a contest girl. Competition makes me twitchy.

If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be………

Really bored! No really, before I decided to do art full time, I was a business consultant. I have a Green MBA in Sustainable Enterprise and years in marketing, so I would most likely be doing that, which is really what I do now, I guess I would just be doing it for more $$:)

Describe your perfect day.

Sleep late (I'm a night owl). Kiss my boyfriend. Do things that make me smile. Show the people who love me that I love them back. Sleep. Repeat.

Describe your proudest moment.

I spent a long time helping a friend raise his little boy. Watching him grow was a thousand perfect, proud moments.

What do you do to relax?
I make things that are terribly ugly when I want to relax. There is nothing more relaxing than not caring how something turns out.

What animal would you like to be, and why?

I think being human is pretty great. I'm pretty attached to having opposable (sp?) thumbs! If I had to pick though, I would really like to fly....so being a bird would be pretty great.

What’s your weakness?

I can get pretty hard on myself sometimes, definitely much harder than anyone else ever could. I know it slows me down sometimes.