Featured: Kate Koprowski of HandiCraftKate




Kate Koprowski of HandiCraftKate

Happy Halloween, creatives!  This feature comes with spectacular timing, since Kate's hats Halloween perfection.  From the first moment I stumbled across Kate's Etsy page, I was in love.  I absolutely adore whimsical and fantastical creations, and her felted hats are the epitome of both of those adjectives.  I was even more stoked to discover that there's even more to Kate than just her hats.  She makes garments, scarves, fingerless gloves, bags, pins, necklaces, and felting tutorials.  She's a felting wizard, with the hat to prove it.






Felting is one of those things that I have on my "must learn" bucket list (much like learning how to perfectly paint my nails and finally mastering the guitar).  Kate's work is inspiring me to make learning to felt my winter project, although I think I'll keep my expectations low considering how high the bar has been set by my felt-idol.

Kate took the time to answers some of my questions about her creative biz.  For insight into how she grew from trial and error felting to a successful business that sells to people all over the world, read on!

Tell me a bit about yourself and your creations:

I am 29 years old and am currently living in KY. I have been a fiber artist for 4 years and everything I have learned about felting I have learned through my own trial and error. Right now my most popular creations are my Wizard/Witch hats, but I also make felt bags, garments, scarves, slipper boots, pins, gloves, necklaces, and felting tutorials.





Why did you start your creative business?

I’ve always been a creative person and 10 years ago the only venue an artist had to sell their work was through local craft fairs or by commission in boutiques, but now we have online markets like Etsy that allow us, the artists, to sell without a brick and mortar store or the hassle of craft fairs. I can sell to people in the US, UK, China, Australia it is wonderful! So it was just the right time in my life to sell my work online and luckily I have been able to make a living off of my art.






Tell me a bit about your creative process:

I have a whole bedroom devoted to crafting, but really it has taken over my whole house. I block my hats downstairs in the living room, and dye them in the kitchen, my poor husband is really understanding and says one day I will have a whole studio to felt in so the house can just be a house! It is a day long process. I get up and start and don’t finish sometimes until 9pm at night.






What do you absolutely need to fuel your creativity:

I am addicted to Romance novels! I am home alone all day and it can get really lonely so I listen to books on tape and my favorite by far is the Romance genre! I also got to have my thermos full of ice cold water and my phone nearby to answer questions throughout the day from customers.







What is your favourite part of your creative process:

My favorite part of the whole process is editing the photos of the finished product. I love seeing the item all dressed up and ready to be shown to the world.





Where would you like to see your creative business in 10 years?

I would love to become a pillar in the felting community and be invited to different locations in order to teach felting workshops. I really love teaching and that was my day job before I became a full time artist, so to be able to teach felting at a school or college or even at a local event would be wonderful!






Who are your creative inspirations?

There are several fellow felting artists on Etsy that really inspired me when I was just starting out, I aspired to be like them in their level of skill, I am not there yet but I am closer everyday!




Thanks for spending time with us, Kate!  I can't thank you enough for letting us into your world for a brief moment to see the creative genius behind your incredible work.  Kate's creations can be found for sale on line in her Etsy shop, HandiCraftKate.  And if someone wants to buy me one of those hats, that'd be great, thanks. 

To get social with Kate, see the links below.



Get Social





All photos courtesy of Kate Koprowski

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  1. You are an amazing artist! I love seeing and reading about all of your work. You have such a unique gift and I cannot wait to see your continued growth. ♡

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