• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Christen Largent. I live west of Toledo, Ohio in the middle of nowhere called Monclova — it’s not a town, it’s a township. I am married to a wonderful man and this year we’ll celebrate our 15th year of marriage!! I can’t believe it! I have 2 awesome kids - Meghan and Liam. I’m a member of the Etsy Street Team ‘AJC’ (Art Jewelry Collective) and my Etsy Shop is “bddesigns”.

• Please describe your creative process

My creative process is a bit scattered and unpredictable! I’m a mom, so as such, you never get a moment to have 2 logical or creative thoughts in a row during waking hours, so a lot of my designs come to me in dreams or in that half-awake state, when my brain has time to process what I’ve been mulling over throughout the day! It’s almost eerie how that happens, but it works for me! I do a lot of my creating during the late hours of the night into the wee hours of the morning, again, because I’m a mom. But it works for me! I do all the things that I need to concentrate on — design elements, most of my soldering functions that take concentration, etc. while my kids sleep and then while they’re buzzing around during the day I get the “production” functions done, like patina, sanding, polishing and the like.

• Where do your ideas come from?

I live in the middle of the woods, and always have from childhood on up, so I’m a nature girl! The things that inspire me the most are “oddities” in nature…like a “weird” bug, or a plant that just spring up out of nowhere in the middle of my flower garden, or the shape of a seed pod I haven’t seen before. I tend to notice everything (much to the dismay of my children) and it all gets trapped up there in the great beyond that is my brain, and then it somehow finds its’ way into my work. I also love words! I was an English/Lit major in college and even though I don’t claim to be a writer, I still am fascinated by the way writers, especially classic poets, string words together and make what sounds like music when read. That has also found its’ way into my work.

• How did you get into your craft?

I have always worked with my hand — product of growing up on a farm and having a father who can do EVERYTHING from plumbing a house to bricking a wall! When you grow up in Lancaster County, PA, you naturally learn that if you can make it, don’t buy it! So I got into jewelry about 10 years ago - stringing and then wire working and then one day my Dad gave me some jewelry that he had metals method in high school and told me that this was where I was headed! And I said NO WAY! I don’t want to buy expensive equipment and take the time to learn how to use it! He wore me down — and gave me my first lesson on how to solder a few years ago. I since have studied with a fabulous artist in Atlanta - Helen Blythe Hart - who opened a whole other world of fabrication to me! She really is a rock star! She gave me a lot of the tools to do what I do now!

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I am a SOLID perennial gardener! I was well trained by my mother! I not only know how to make perennials grow and come back every year, but I can identify a whole lot of plants in general! She was a great teacher and inspired me to be creative in the planning and planting of all my flower gardens!

• How do you promote your work?

My husband calls me a “Walking Etsy Billboard”! I talk to EVERYONE about Etsy! A friend of mine who owns a print shop designed my business cards and they are GORGEOUS! I learned a LONG time ago that your business card is the least expensive and most effective form of advertising and I wholeheartedly agree with that. I’ve tested the theory for about 10 years. This is my 2nd business that I’ve started in my life and my first one was just as prosperous and a lot of that I attribute to my handing out business cards. It may seem laughable, but it works! I don’t just hand A SINGLE biz card to someone when I bump into them….while singing the praises of Etsy, I am grabbing 4 or 5 biz cards out of my easily accessible pocket in my purse and handing them to this poor, naive person who doesn’t know it yet, but will soon be hopelessly addicted to this fabulous site! I ASK each person to give one of my business cards to their best friend, mom, sister, co-workers. I ASK them to do that! You will not receive unless you ASK!!!! It really is the key!!!

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