Life and Work with Katy VandenHeuvel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katy VandenHeuvel.

Katy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My love for arts and crafts started as far back as I can remember. As a young artist, I would always look for the next skill I could learn whether it be painting, drawing, scrapbooking, jewelry making, knitting or sculpting. My love for creating lead me to make gifts for my friends and family. I’ve always felt that giving a handmade gift was more meaningful than a store-bought one.

As I grew older, my appreciation for other arts grew. I fell in love with the written word. Reading a multitude of books from the classics to experimental, I wanted to experience it all. I took this love of literature and decided to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature with an emphasis on Literary Analysis at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I was able to spend my four years of college in the beautiful town of Boulder, CO, reading to my heart’s content. This intense study of the English Language only stimulated my obsession with diction, grammar, and how witty puns can be.

When I was in college, I was looking for a new skill to learn that wouldn’t break the bank and allowed my creativity to flow freely. That’s when I discovered embroidery and cross-stitching. It was an inexpensive way to pass the time creating beautiful patterns with thread and fabric. The typical patterns that were available didn’t appeal to my aesthetic or my sense of humor. I decided to combine words or phrases that I found hilarious with the delicate and beautiful intricacy of cross-stitching.

The juxtaposition between the highly decorative designs and the perverse nature of the sayings brought to light a need. I recognized a lack of options for home decor that reflected a younger sensibility and a crass sense of humor. When I started posting my designs online, I started using the hashtag I created #delightfullyexplicit to describe my work and the name Delightfully Explicit Designs was born.

My pieces consist of vinyl on wood or canvas to creat signs. I call them “sassy signs” and they typically consist of coarse language and pop culture references. I also created designs to be put on ceramic tile to create drink coasters called “crass coasters”. The coasters are a way to bring a more subtle edge to home, for example, they make a great topic of conversation when friends come over but can be put away when grandparents come over. My latest endeavor has been using vinyl to create greeting cards with an edge.

My friends and family started asking for commissioned pieces and where they could find my work. I started an Etsy store and a Facebook page. I also started showing my pieces in person at First Friday Art Walks and received a huge boost of confidence with the feedback my pieces received. Delightfully Explicit Designs is now a small business driven to make people laugh.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Delightfully Explicit Designs is relatively new, established in September of 2019, we are facing the strain of any new small business. Brand recognition, social media presence, and the establishment of a product line are the three main focuses on our horizon for the upcoming year. Personally, it’s been a struggle to turn something that I love as a hobby into a business. I love creating and coming up with new ideas, but with the added pressure of deadlines and creating pieces that I believe will sell well, it is tough at times to come up with new designs.

It is also tough to divide my time between my full-time office job, my business and my downtime. I operate my business out of my home and it can be difficult to put myself into the mindset for work on Delightfully Explicit Designs. One of the ways I found to separate my time was to create a separate work space for my business. I have a desk that is dedicated to working on the pieces for Delightfully Explicit Designs. This way, when I come home and sit at my work space, I am able to free my mind from other stresses and just create. I completely recommend this for other small business that also function out of their home. A work space and a great pair of headphones.

Please tell us about Delightfully Explicit Designs.
Through Delightfully Explicit Designs, I create hilarious home decor for the sarcastic decorator. I specialize in sassy signs, crass coasters, and cantankerous cards. I create designs using vector software on an Ipad Pro. When that design is completed, it is sent to a die-cutting machine which cuts the design out of paper or vinyl. That design is then weeded out and applied to wood, ceramic, or card stock depending on the project. I typically use a mixture of words and design elements to create each image.

For the sassy signs, these are real wood signs and no two pieces of wood are alike. All wood has natural “imperfections” such as knots, holes and/or scratches. I believe these add character to your piece along with variations in color and grain are normal. Each piece of wood takes stain differently. Due to natural variations in the wood grain, some areas may stain lighter/darker. This is the beauty of real wood and makes your piece one of a kind! For the crass coasters, the set of four coasters is made with a ceramic tile. The back of the coaster has been covered in cork to protect your surfaces. The top of the coasters have been coated in a clear glaze so they can be used for multiple uses without disturbing the design beneath. The cantankerous cards are vinyl on card stock, each one is packaged in clear plastic sleeve to protect it on the journey home. It also includes a logo sticker to seal the envelope.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
As a small business owner of a newer business, I haven’t run into many obstacles as of yet. I can honestly say that I have received so much support from friends, family and other female-owned small businesses that if there are obstacles on the horizon, I can’t see them yet. That being said, I think the nature of my business (creating and selling pieces of art) is not perceived as a serious business or more than a hobby. It doesn’t help my case that most of my pieces are very lighthearted in nature.

Pricing:

• Sassy Signs $20-35
• Crass Coasters (Set of Four) $10
• Cantankerous Cards (One Card) $4.50-6.00

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DelightfullyExplicit
• Email: delightfullyexplicit@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delightfullyexplicitdesigns/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delightfullyexplicitdesigns/

Image Credit:
Katy VandenHeuvel & Robert Barbeau

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