Folksy Celebrities - Kokokelli

Name: Kelly Johnson (aka Womble)

From: Oldbury, West Midlands UK

Occupation: Currently seeking work after being made redundant at the end of March 2010. I would love to craft as my job but I just don’t make enough money to be able to do so.

Favourite colour: I love Rainbow but I also love Turquoise/Teal too

Favourite animal: Womble! Haha!  I used to love pigs when I was younger but I love most animals they’re all lovely and cute.  I wanted to steal my boyfs sisters puppies when we had to dog sit last year cos they were soooooooo tiny and adorable (British Bulldogs) but I didn’t cos I’m a good girl plus they pooped for England! Haha!

Favourite band: There’s too many to choose from! I love Prodigy, Spacehog, Scissor Sisters, Pendulum, Sneaker Pimps, Kelli Ali, Coppe’, Goldfrapp, Glitterbug, Green Day, Kasabian, Kula Shaker, Mika, Spinal Tap, Pitchshifter and all the old stuff my folks brought me up on when I was a baby like The Beatles, Chicago, The Beach Boys, Electric Light Orchestra, Supertramp, Steely Dan, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Yes, Brian Eno, The Cars, Cream, David Bowie……. God there’s loads I can’t think off lol plus all the motown style stuff and loads from 50’s/60’s/70’s/80’s.

Favourite book: When I was younger I used to love ‘My Naughty Little Sister’ and ‘The Worst Witch’  but I don’t really read much now, I did love ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ series and I recently got into the ‘Dexter’ books too after watching the TV series.

Shop / Business name:
Kokokelli

What you make:
Handmade Jewellery & Greeting Cards (but I may start doing some other stuff soon)

How did you know you were crafty / artistic?
I’ve been creative in everything I’ve done ever since I was a child really. I was always good at Art, Drama & Music at Junior School and usually ended up in most of the school plays and the school choir. I then took Art at High, School which I loved and was always making and drawing things at home too. My mom always used to laugh at the cards I used to make for our family which usually consisted of a piece of paper folded up with a picture drawn on the front and a dodgy rhyming poem in the inside and I used to right ‘Kelly’s Killers’ on the back as my name heheheh.

What was the first thing you ever made?
Hmmmm the first piece of jewellery I made was a Necklace, Bracelet & Earring Set I made for my best friends birthday in January 2010 (I kinda used her as a guinea pig I guess) but she loved it and the card I made for her too.

Do you have any formal training or who taught you what you know?
I’ve had no training wotsoever!  I saw some stuff that a friend had made and thought to myself “yeh I could do summet like that!”. So I bought a cheap jewellery making set off ebay and bought some beads and went from there really. There was just a piece of paper in with it showing you how to attach calottes and how to make earrings but that was about it. Like I said earlier I’m just naturally creative in everything I do.

How did your craft business come about?
I would’nt really class it as a business really (even tho I am selling stuff ) cos its just summet I do on the side in my spare time. I only have a lot of time at the moment cos of not being able to find a new job. Once I do find a new job I’ll only really have time to craft of a night or of a weekend. I started off making things for friends and family for birthdays and for people to give as gifts and then they said “Y’know you might be able to make some money from this you’re really good!” so I tried selling a few things on ebay and some did sell but I was paying out more in listings and fee’s than I was actually making :o( then a friend told me about Folksy and how much cheaper it was to list on there so I opened a shop there and took all my stuff off ebay.

Where and when do you do your crafting?
I do my crafting at home in my parents house in my bedroom and sometimes in my parents office downstairs. Usually do a few bits in the week and some of a weekend.

Tell me something surprising about yourself:
I’m completely insane!!! Haha!
Although that’s no surprise you only have to look at my parents!  I met Bobby Charlton once at junior school doing a football thing and had my photo in the local paper. I also kinda have a 6th Sense and am abit psychic (yes that’s psychic and not psycho haha!) I can feel spirits presences sometimes although I’ve never actually seen one ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. I also am sort of a Wise Old Woman (even tho I’m only 29) as in people always come to me for a shoulder to cry on and to ask for advice and wombles words of wisdom even tho I’m great at sorting other peoples problems out I’m rubbish at sorting my own haha!!

Which Folksy / Etsy shop can you not get enough of?
I haven’t got a particular favourite at the moment cos I’ve only been on Folksy since June but I’ve seen a lot of nice things featured by NofkantsCurios, Adien Crafts, Cheerymishmash, StrawberryAnarchy and JAustenJewellery to name but a few.
Why is handmade / crafting important to you?
I suppose its kinda important to me cos obviously the things I’ve made are designed and handmade by my fair hands (even though I buy in supplies from ebay and other sites) and it gives you such a wonderful feeling when someone else looks at your work and loves it and then ends up paying money for it!  I think you also become a lot more respectful of other crafters work when you know yourself how much time and effort goes into creating something beautiful. I think a lot of people want something for nothing these days so they sometimes pull a face at some folks prices (even though they’ll willingly fork out a shedload of money for ‘named’ items which probably cost less to make than my stuff does.  At the end of the day if everyone stopped making stuff we’d have nothing to buy.

Is it just me or is crafting really hot right now?
I’m not sure about that cos a lot of sales seem to be quite low at the moment, I’m hoping things will pick up closer towards Autumn/Winter. I haven’t done too bad so far I joined beginning of June and have had 13 sales so far obviously more would be nice tho haha!!!

Tell me why I should buy something from you!
You should buy something from Kokokelli because a lot of my items are weird and wonderful, fun and quirky and even my friend said the other day that “you don’t find stuff like this in the shops”. Plus the other day I had a celebrity buy something from my shop!! The lovely Kelli Ali (Kelli Dayton ex Sneaker Pimps) bought my ‘Vintage Gold Cross’ Necklace and Earring Set!!! I was a happy bunny believe me!!!!

Ok you’ve got me convinced! Where can I find you?
You can visit my Kokokelli Shop on Folksy  you can also join my Kokokelli Facebook Group you can follow me on Twitter and you can join my Kokokelli blog if all else fails you can probably find me down a local pub!