Hi Eline , how nice that you want to tell your story! Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Eline. As a creative, slightly chaotic person, I'm almost always cheerful. I enthusiastically threw myself into this clay-and-now-much-more adventure, dragging my husband and children along. Whenever I have a few minutes or hours to spare, you'll find me in my attic office, often at my desk by the door. I'm increasingly joined here by Ezra (4.5) and Salomé (2.5) (who often serves as a source of inspiration with her colorful personality). My attic office is like a candy store for me (and the children) because I have clay in every color of the rainbow, but also beads, stainless steel parts, and all sorts of cheerful packages and bags in which I ship the orders.
How wonderful! What exactly do you do and how did it all start?
I make earrings from polymer clay. It's a wonderfully versatile process that allows me to express my creativity.
When I launched Like the Clay on May 1, 2020, I was one of the first to offer polymer clay earrings in the Netherlands. And that's precisely what inspired Like the Clay: you could only get these kinds of earrings from abroad through Etsy at the time.
Let's go back to the very beginning: when I saw such cool earrings on Instagram, and they could only be bought from abroad at high shipping and import costs, I thought: I can do that myself! So I bought some polymer clay online and on a Saturday afternoon in April, I whipped up some earrings. I didn't have any fancy tools yet, so I used various caps I could find around the house as cutters. I flattened the clay with a wine bottle, and with some tools from the shed, I assembled everything. When I posted this that same evening, I received so many enthusiastic responses that I decided, almost head over heels, to launch clay earrings as a jewelry label under Stralend (my webshop for greeting cards and, at the time, birth and wedding announcements). Within two weeks, I converted the webshop and launched my first collection.
I still find it unbelievable how enthusiastically this was received, with 100 orders in the first half hour alone (not a smart way to go about it as it was too much to handle haha).
What a nice story! Are you on your way to this success pitfalls encountered ?
Absolutely. It all went wrong right from the launch. I wasn't working with existing inventory (made to order/on demand) and hadn't set a limit in the webshop. For the next two weeks, I felt like I was working day and night—our daughter was 6 months old, so I was up irregularly and often found myself back in my attic office making clay at 5:00 a.m. before the kids woke up—to fulfill all the orders.
Furthermore, over the past few years, I've been constantly searching for a healthy balance. Precisely because this hobby, which has gotten out of hand, doesn't feel like work at all, and I can do a lot of work from the dining table or the kitchen, it flows so easily into my daily routine. Precisely because, for me, there's also a great deal of relaxation in the creative process. Just enjoying the hands, and not so much the mind.
Now I'm curious how much you sales t/earns per month ? Would you like to share that with us?
Oh, that really depends on how much time I allow myself to create. And that includes not only the claying, finishing, and assembly, but also the presentation, photography, and filling the webshop.
But generally speaking, my monthly order volume is between 100 and 250. In months with lower sales, this is mainly because I work in small batches and therefore don't have a large inventory. Because during shop updates, the webshop is usually 90% empty within one evening, but an inventory of 50 or 200 pairs of earrings certainly makes a big difference in what can be purchased.
Revenue depends on the above. The highest monthly revenue I ever generated was around €5,000.
Wow, that's fantastic! Is Like the Clay your profession or side hustle?
Although I can make ends meet with Like the Clay (I did LTC for four months last spring), I've been working 24 hours a day on the side since September because I love the people (colleagues, that is!). This does mean I have less clay time, as we're a young family, so I'm a mother of small children and have lots of other fun things to do.
So it's a hobby that's gotten out of hand and, given its size, would provide full-time entertainment, but I love the combination with my job in the communications department. So now it's a side hustle =)
Can you describe 'your customer'?
90% of my customers are women between 20 and 55 years old. 10% are men (and I find that incredibly special!) who, as far as I know, give earrings as a gift to their loved ones. Often, there are lovely explanations in the order notes. I think 70% discovered Like the Clay through Instagram and follow them, and that over 30% of customers come through word of mouth (or rather, by seeing earrings on other customers). It's incredibly rewarding to hear from customers about the wonderful reactions they receive to my handmade beauty, which they proudly wear.
Do you have any tips for other enterprising women who would like to sell polymer clay jewelry?
Just do it. Really! Just start, and your skills will naturally develop. Now that polymer clay is much more widely available in the Netherlands, it's much easier to get the materials you need to quickly create beautiful things.
I see a lot of new shops (often selling through Insta) popping up on the 'explore' and I really enjoy seeing that even though many of us work from the same range of cutters, for example, many still have their own signatures.
That last one is precisely the biggest compliment I regularly receive. That people, so to speak, see a stranger walking by and recognize "my" earrings. So nice to hear.
Thank you so much for your wonderful story! Of course, I can't resist asking what you think of Sieradenstraatje :-)
Sieradenstraatje is such a great asset to the Dutch market in this area. I'm a huge fan of your cutters, and the bead rollers and textured rollers (which I used to buy on Etsy) are also so beautiful. Your strength lies in offering everything: you can find everything at Sieradenstraatje. And because of my search for the best materials and clays over the past few years, it's so nice to have just a few regular suppliers where you can get everything you need, instead of having to go to countless suppliers.
Want to admire Like the Clay or are you interested in her earrings or other fun items? Then visit her webshop at: https://stralend-online.nl
You can also follow her on her fun Instagram action page!
