All about the writer, Michelle of MKC Photography

My thanks to Lynne for asking her contributors to write a bit about themselves – of course, I’ve no end of things to say until it comes to writing about me! I’m honored to be a part of this blog: as a photographer and writer, it lets me combine two things I love. So, a bit about me: I think I was born writing stories, many of which have actually ended up in print (and many, many more have not! Does anyone know a good literary agent??). I also have a master’s degree in Women’s Studies (which was a good way to weed out potential suitors…did they run the other way when they heard what I was studying? Cross ‘em off the list!). I’ve lived in several countries, travelled to countless more, and have always done so with camera in hand (or in boat, as many of my shots have been captured mid-river while my team mates kept the shell balanced).

My life is a little less glamorous these days as I’m changing diapers and walking dogs and trying all the while to continue writing and working on my photography. I started my Etsy shop this past fall because I’d had a run of good luck in 2008 – many of my pieces were chosen for various exhibits in Philadelphia, where I now live. At the encouragement of my husband (“honey, what are you going to do with all this?”), I decided to balance the “art fairy” with the “business fairy” and offer my artwork for sale.

While I’m not paying my mortgage via Etsy any time soon, I have been incredibly lucky and honored that folks have bought my work to hang in their homes: I think, as an artist, it is the highest compliment. I’ve also started creating custom work for people who wish to commission a certain piece, and I’ve found this to be such a joy. I love to write about the stories behind my photographs, and I try to post something new every week on my blog. Being a stay-at-home mom can feel incredibly isolating at times, so being able to connect and work with people all over the globe has been fantastic (and I do it all in my fuzzy bunny slippers…). The best news? I just found out that a gallery in Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia) is going to carry my more whimsical, child/nursery friendly prints and greeting cards, so maybe I will have to change out of those bunny slippers soon.



Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll keep coming back to learn more from Lynne and the rest of the crew here at Autonomous Artisans!

Written by Michelle of MKCPhotography

All about the writer, Jon of Hyperloop Hoops

I'm Jon, the boyfriend and helper of Lynne, feeder of Weapon X and Widget and general all round nice chap. I've lived with Lynne now for two years and will hopefully continue to do so for the rest of my life. My hobbies are mainly World of Warcraft and taking things apart, but also enjoy juggling, fire spinning and all manner of slightly odd things, though I hardly have any time to do anything any more. I have just started working for a major I.T. company and think that I have a bright future ahead of me there. I'm about to start the second of three weeks of training and am already loving it. I suppose that computers are also a hobby, and I'm more than able to take them apart and put them back together with my eyes closed.

Lynne made me put up this Action photo of me spinning flag poi

Regular (or old time) readers of the blog will know that my favourite sandwich filling is egg, bacon and ketchup, and that one of my favourite biscuits are Jammie Dodgers. The other favourite being any with chocolate on! Meal wise, I'm really into my lasagne, as well as curry (favourite meal is Chicken tikka masala, lemon rice and a keema naan) and my favourite beer is Kronenbourg 1664. I also drink a fair amount of coffee, though will never touch instant coffee as it tastes like mud.

I was "diagnosed" with ADHD at the age of 10 or so, which made it hard to make friends as I mainly just annoyed them so much they didn't really want to be near me. For example, from the age of 10, I was not invited to any of the boys at school's birthday parties until I was 16 and had calmed down a bit. As a result, I'm more than happy to work or play on my own for long periods of time and am quite self sufficient unless I'm dealing with something I have no knowledge or experience of, however, I'm more than happy to get stuck in at the deep end. I'm happy to say that I now have a very large friend base, including people all over the world. It's my own unique and full of mentalness that makes people like me I think. That, and the fact I try to be nice to everyone I know, unless they have done or said something that makes me treat with disdain.

This is me in one of my previous day jobs

As Lynne said in her "About me" blog, we are aiming for a tyre or straw bale house that we create ourselves. I'm really looking forwards to doing this, as I cannot wait to have a house that I have designed myself as it will be crafted to my specification. I am very lucky to have spent just over a year living on a houseboat (widebeam canal barge) that was on a major English canal, and it is by FAR the best place I have ever lived. I loved that fact that it wasn't a "bricks and mortar" type of house, but didn't like the distance we had to walk to the train station everyday to get to work! It was between 20 and 25 minutes each way. I'm really looking forwards to the idea of being self sufficient, however the only thing I worry about is getting a good Internet connection! I can't live without the Internet these days, I use it (or a computer) in some way every single day. I embrace technology and love gadgets. I don't like pointless gadgets I won't really use though which I have received far too many of for Christmas and birthday presents!

That's all I can really think of telling you that isn't incredibly boring really. I hope you feel that you know me a little better now.

All about the writer, Lynne of Pirate Pixie Crew

For the next few weeks I am going to invite each of the writers of this blog to tell the readers a little bit about them self, so that you readers can get to know a little bit about us, what we do and how we came to be writing for Autonomous Artisans. So, I guess I better be the first.

I’m Lynne, I am the maker of all the goods in my Pirate Pixie Crew shops and co owner of Hyperloop Hoops and I make most of the hoops and wick covers. I started Autonomous Artisans to give exposure to people, who like me, hand make goods, produce artworks, recycle/upcycle goods. I was finding it so hard to get people to view my on-line shops and realised that lots of other people were in the same situation as me. Autonomous Artisans grew out of the need to connect buyers with sellers and to champion people that were doing it for themselves.


I strongly believe that human beings need to find a less damaging way to live on this planet before we cause the environment to become so hostile to our species that we can’t survive. The earth will go on, with or without human beings, so I’m not trying to save the earth; I’m trying to save the environment that my loved ones need to stay alive. Handmade, recycled goods and buying as local as possible all fit neatly into my vision of making things better.

So who am I? I'm not sure the answer to that question is very simple. I'm everything and nothing. I'm a dreamer, but realistic. I'm creative, yet love to take things apart. I'm full of ideas, but can't convert 90% of them into reality. I'm told I'm a strong person, yet I feel lacking in strength. I love life and the adventure, but sometimes I don't feel I can live any more. Small details thrill me, small minded people annoy me. I spin fire poi and hoops, yet fire frightens me. I dance in puddles and sing in the bath, but deep water scares me. Bright colours thrill me, yet I mainly dress in black. I'm a hoarder yet long for neat, clean lines. I adore wide open, wild and windy places, but hate to feel cold. I guess in total I'm really a 6 year old child living in a 41 year old body that's struggling to come to terms with the world being not exactly as I dreamed it should be.

I guess a lot of people would class me as a bit of a tree hugging hippie and I wouldn’t take that as an insult, so I guess I am. I’ve had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis for over 20 years. I have a relapsing form and can spend years in fairly good health, but I do also have many months of being pretty ill. I started out my working life in microbiology and moved from that to retail as my health was declining, but a sudden down turn my illness has lead to me being all but unemployable for the moment, so I’ve taken all my hobbies and expanded them all into a way of making a bit of money and spreading my love for certain things, like hula hooping and hats.

I live in South Wales in the UK with my supportive sexy partner Jon and our two misbehaving monkeypunk cats. We have mountains behind our home and the sea is only 20 minutes drive away. The countryside around us is gorgeous. Being it is Wales, which is mountainous, we do get a lot of rain, but that keeps the grass and trees green and the rivers flowing. Our big dream is to build ourselves a self sufficient home from recycled car tyres on a big enough plot of land to be able to grow most of our own food. The aim is to get off the national electrical grid by the use of solar and wind power, and to be self sufficient in water and waste disposal. This dream is a few years away yet, but the plans are growing and we are researching and collecting ideas all the time.

So that’s a little bit about me and my life.