By Sam Stoker
This issue we spoke with Krys Holmes who runs their online businesses from their home in West Yorkshire. Krys has two businesses that they spoke to us about.
POTN: Hi! Tell us a bit about your business...
Krys: My main business is Krystal Art. Here I mostly crochet seasonal garlands; I am creating a lot of snowdrop garlands at the moment but daffodil orders are starting to come in too. I crochet bags, hats, earrings and brooches as well. I am also part of the queer community so I crochet Pride garlands and have some gemstone Pride jewellery too. I actually started out doing metalwork jewellery but having a child meant putting that on the back burner. I am slowly starting to pick up creating with fine silver again so hopefully my Etsy will be filled with these pendants and earrings again soon.
Having a child led to the creation of My Little Dilophosaurus and Me. Named so because as a baby my child would sit in the bouncer and squeal like the dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park. I was making flashcards, posters and journals of things like Ogham leaves, zodiac signs, altar tools etc., for them, so I put them on Etsy too as PDF downloads. It also gave me a place for the moon calendars I've made and sold for years, and a chance to turn the notes from workshops I used to run into PDF book formats too.
POTN: What would you say your Pagan Path is?
Krys: Eclectic and nature based. I've been interested in mythologies from around the world for as long as I remember, so I struggle with the idea of just following one. I’m currently looking more into local folklore and mythology. I have also always been into herbs and crystals - which lead to being a practicing aromatherapist for many years. Life and health got in the way of me practising for others but I still use that knowledge at home, both for family and faith. I also feel I've been somewhat lax in my own faith since having a child, it’s very hard to do all the things with a small human constantly present and no childcare to give you a break. I’ve only recently been able to start going back to moots. In some ways I feel like I'm finding my path again after parenthood, and it will no doubt look different to how it did before.
POTN: Are your faith and business intertwined?
Krys: Yes and no. Yes because I use Pagan symbols on my jewellery. I want to create things I enjoy and that mean something to me. When I had to switch to crochet, I started making the garlands for myself to decorate for the festivals, so even these are linked to my faith but flowers and seasons are accessible to others as well regardless of faith. I also have pride items in my Krystal Art Etsy, while not really part of my faith it is part of me.
My other Etsy is also partly intertwined with my faith but not exclusively. I made many of those things as a way to introduce aspects of Paganism to my child. There’s also many items I made partly for myself, like my moon months calendar, following the full moon months starting with the new moon each month, and the herb and gemstone journals. I have other non faith based items there too, such as my home education journal.
POTN: Any tips for someone new to Paganism?
Krys: Read books by genuine authors, go to moots, ask questions. There is no such thing as a silly question, everyone started at the beginning at some point.
POTN: What can people expect to see from your business in the future?
Krys: For Krystal Art expect a comeback of fine silver jewellery. I have been brewing ideas for zodiac, chakra, Ogham, crop circles, and maybe a few dinosaurs. I am also hoping to design new garlands - flowers and Pride flags. For MLD and Me I'm working on some digital art dark moon month flashcards to compliment the full moon ones already available. I’m working on some PDF games - one about herbs and some to introduce coding. I'm also hoping to finish a children's Pagan book. It's written, I just need to illustrate it.
You can find Krys online at
and
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