Art & Life with Vera Wirianta Yates

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vera Wirianta Yates.

Vera Wirianta, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Growing up I always love crafting, making things on my own. I tried all kind of crafting, and luckily my mom always supported me whenever I said, mom, I want to try to make this or that. Then, when I moved to the States, a friend invited me to a scrapbook class, and it was pretty much love at first class.

I came from a family that loves photography, and we’ve always been taught to take care of our pictures. And, even in high school, in my own way, I kind of already started scrapbooking without really knowing it. Scrapbook really captures my interest in preserving my family memories and my love for pretty papers.

Through that class, I also met a lady who introduced me to stamping. For the first few years, I focus more on scrapbooking and even taught scrapbook classes at a local store for a while. Then, when I start getting short in free time, I slowly switch to stamping/card making. The smaller scale allows me to be still creative and finish my projects in a shorter time period.

In 2009 I decided to start a card making blog. Then in 2010 just for fun, I entered a pretty well-known card making competition for Paper Crafts magazine, not expecting anything and it turned out that I actually made it to the final 5. This event totally gave me the confidence to take this craft more seriously. Now, nine years later, I have been blessed and lucky to still enjoying card making and designing for various stamping companies.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I make all kind of greeting cards using acrylic/rubber stamps, markers or watercolor. I love working with flower stamps, cute critter stamps, and colors. I love colors.

Making a card for me is a way to unwind and relax. My full-time job is fast pace and dealing with numbers. Card making helps me to stop all the rush and just enjoy the process of being creative. I take my time to choose what image I want to work with, what technique I want to use, etc. You’ll be surprised how much work goes into making a card. Yes, some can be simple, but often a lot of work and details go into it. Even for some that look simple. I also love making interactive cards, one that you can shake or pull, etc.

My hope is when people receive my card they know how much love and thought goes into making it. That it brighten their days and making them smile.

I’d describe my card making style as clean, simple & cheerful. Most of them are one of a kind as it is very rare where I make the same card twice. I only repeat the same designs when it’s special order. Other than that, I make that one card, and that’s it. So, each card kind of special.

In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
I think one of the biggest challenges that many artists face nowadays is in balancing marketing value & customer value expectation. Often what we think the value of our creations doesn’t match the customer expectation.

In our card making network we all have heard the comment, “Oh, it’s handmade card, why is it so expensive?” It’s pretty common that people expect a handmade card to be cheaper than a branded card, like Hallmark for example. They don’t take into consideration that it’s one of a kind creation, the time and work that we put into making the card. Yes, some cards can be done within an hour, but there are lots of cards that easily take two to four hours to complete (depends on the intricacy and details of the design).

I think this applies beyond just card making. Most artists have faced this question. How should I price my work? What’s fair, what’s right? As artist we’ll keep creating because we love it, we enjoy the process. But, when we’re selling our creations, we’d want it to be valued fairly & properly even if we had made the project just for fun.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I share my work mostly on my blog and on my Instagram account.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lingshappyplace.blogspot.com
• Phone: 832.248.1498
• Email: wirianta@hotmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wirianta/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vwyates

 Image Credit:
Vera W. Yates

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