Saturday Spotlight | Introducing A Touch of Blu Designs

 

It’s time to shine my spotlight on another talent that I met on Periscope. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and meet Colette, the talent behind A Touch of Blu Designs

 

1.  How long have you been crocheting and who taught you? I am a self-taught crocheter.  I have been crocheting for just over 2.5 years.
2.  I to am a self taught knitter. Wow, only 2.5 years, I wouldn’t have guessed that. The name of your company is A Touch of Blu, is there some significance to that name? My favorite color is blue, various shades.  I wore so much of it, in some form or another, that “Blue” became my nickname.   A Touch of Blu Designs came about when a friend and I were preparing to go out. In her mind, I was missing some final component to make my outfit complete.  “You know, how you always do it. Just that little touch of Blue you put into stuff.” So when I was contemplating business names A Touch of Blu, minus the ‘E’, kept circling through my head.
3. I like that, I should have Orange in my title somehow. LOL How long have you been in business and what do you offer? I have been in business under the name A Touch of Blu Designs for 5 years.  I initially started out as a jewelry designer, making custom pieces for friends, which I still do on occasion, by request. Crochet has been my primary focus for 2 of those years. To date, I offer wearables, from Winter gear to shrugs.  However, my passion, is creating dolls. While I offer a variety of skin tones, I find a majority of my orders are for Brown and Black dolls.
4. You all totally blow my mind with these dolls. I can’t even imagine making a doll. During those 5 years what challenges have you faced as a small business owner? The biggest challenge I have faced as a small business owner is making myself visible to those outside of the fiber arts community.  People are always amazed when they see my crocheting a doll in public.  ‘Oh!! I didn’t know that you would crochet a doll!  I thought that was only for blankets and scarves.”  Referrals from returning customers has fueled my growth this last year.
5. Well I have seen you more on social media, so that should help with the exposure. if you could change on thing about your business what would it be? If I could change one thing about my business, I would change the time it took me to get started.  I had always wanted to learn to crochet and it wasn’t until I was in my mid-30’s that I decided to bite the bullet and learn. I appreciate the growing pains, as I think they’ve only served to make me a better artist.
6.  All that matters is you learned and are thriving. What is next for AToBD, do you have plans for the furture? My plans for AToBD evolve daily.  I would love to be able to create full-time, but until that happens, my plans are to continue to improve upon my techniques.  To get comfortable putting myself out there to gain the growth that I want to see.  I am eyeballing a few local craft fairs for the summer so if you are in Southeastern Michigan, you may spot me.

A touch of Blu

 
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I wish you all the best in your business. Fiber family you all can follow Colette on Instagram 
GG

7 thoughts on “Saturday Spotlight | Introducing A Touch of Blu Designs”

  1. Love your style. Keep up the great work! I enjoyed all the May scopeaday on periscope. Thanks for sharing, inspiring and just being you.

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