Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisnelli Santos.
Hi Francisnelli, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started sewing when I was 15 y-o and I have worked in fashion as a beader for couture garments and later as a pattern maker.
In my mid 20’s, I moved from fashion to costume and worked in big musicals and films back home in Sydney, Australia.
In my late 30’s, I ran away with the Circus, well Cirque Du Soleil, to South China where I lived for four years. I ended up meeting my husband there and we moved to the US in early 2011. He wanted to be close to his family and I am a nomad by nature but I think I finally found a place that I will live for a long time… or will I?
I still work with costumes and because of my love for hand sewing, I taught myself embroidery and discovered that I could join my two passions, hand sewing and animals, so I started embroidering custom embroidered portraits of animals of all kinds.
It took me years of practice to get to where I am now and I’m very proud of all the embroidery skills I have gained through courses and try and errors and today, my animal embroidery portraits are as realistic as they can be.
Some animals are harder to embroider and quite stressful in a way, however when I see the final portrait, I know there is very little that I can’t embroider these days.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think it ever stops to be a ‘rough’ road when you own a small business and especially when you run it by yourself.
It is only me, myself and I here.
Every doubt I have, every question on ‘how tos’, I have to find out myself because, as what I do is so unique, I will probably never be able to employ someone or pass stages of my art onto someone else.
Since moving to LA, I have met amazing small business owners specially through Unique Markets, that like me are one-woman business whom I can talk and share ideas with as we all get it.
There are stages of my work that I will eventually pass it on like marketing, website maintenance and social media however, I am not quite there yet. There are too many aspects of my site that are very personal to me and that I enjoy doing, even if that means taking time away from embroidery.
Loneliness is also a thing. It is lovely to be able to work from home and have this type of freedom but it is also amazing to have someone to talk to from time to time. My dogs and cat won’t hold a conversation between their naps!
Another downside it is that working from home, you work from the minute that you wake up to sometimes very late at night. I’m very glad that I am very good with my time management otherwise I’ll be pulling hair off my head literally.
I still work on a costume shop from time to time so I can have some human interaction which makes my life a very busy but mainly happy one.
The amazing people that I have in my life and that support me make it all possible and kind of ‘easy’.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I embroidery custom animal portraits.
The process is quite time-consuming. It starts with a good-quality photo of an animal and from there, I draw and embroider it. I used to draw by hand but these days, I use a computer program called Inkscape.
The custom portraits are available from tiny 14mm to 8″ and I also offer custom sizes and they are very realistic and get more realistic as they get bigger as I have more canvas to work with.
As my customers will say, the love that I have for animals shows in my art and they also praise my communication during the whole process. I think it is very important to keep my customers update on how their friend’s portrait is turning out so I tend to send pics of my progress at least once a week.
My art has been featured in the LATimes twice, VoyageLA once before, LAist, VegNEWS, VegOutLA and ShoutOutLA among others and that is certainly something I am very proud of.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Get yourself in a network of mind-liked people. It doesn’t matter if you make the same things or not. It is amazing how your mindset improves when you have a whole bunch of people that understand the aspects of small businesses like yours.
Don’t be afraid to invite people for a coffee and ask them questions. Shopify has an amazing support “office” in Downtown LA where they offer a lot of workshops and events. I haven’t been to any yet but I intend to connect to more mind-liked people.
I have reached out to many people on Instagram whom are embroidery artists like me. Through them, I got suggestions of better material to buy (aka embroidery hoops that actually hold the fabric tight!) and tips on how to improve my own skills.
Just ask! What’s the worse that can happen? If they don’t reply, you move on and ask the next person!
I’m a resilient person so I keep on trying until I get someone that is willing to help me and trust there are people that love to share and help out! (like me!)
Pricing:
- Animal Studs are priced as $50 (not custom)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://myprettybabi.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/myprettybabi_shop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyPrettyBabi
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/myprettybabi/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/myprettybabi
