Meet Nikki Vice

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikki Vice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikki below.

Nikki, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

It isn’t easy living with mental illness. The bad days can be debilitating, and sometimes it can seem like my situation will never improve. But with the help of my support system and self care routines I’m able to see past the doubts, imposter syndrome, and negative intrusive thoughts to find something positive, however small, on even the worst day.

My medications, husband, cats and art all play a crucial role in my ability to get through each day. Without the love and support of my husband, who also struggles with his own mental health issues, I wouldn’t be here today. My cats bring a sense of joy and comfort and can make me smile on even the gloomiest of days. Also, taking my cocktail of medications throughout each day keeps me stable and staves off most of the worst parts of my various illnesses. Sometimes, the physical manifestations of my mental illnesses take their toll, and my team of doctors is there to support me, and get me back to helping others live their lives. Aside from my family, friends and the people I support professionally, the thing that drives me to continue every day is making art. As long as I am able to continue crocheting, sewing, and doing other arts and crafts, I know I can beat any obstacles in my way to make a better day.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Before I tell you about my art, I think a little backstory would be helpful. My life has been full of pivots. I’ve changed career paths many times, learning something new on each path. I’ve been in the food service industry, telemarketing and customer service, social services, law, finance, entertainment, and most recently home health care and owning my own craft business. Each path has provided me with the knowledge and skills needed to be where I am today. But it was my foray into the entertainment industry that best prepared me to pursue my dream of having a craft business and helping people live their best lives. I co-ran a burlesque troupe with two other dynamic and amazing women for 3 years, and later, was the board chair of a nonprofit theater and arts organization known at the time as The Haunted Basement. These leadership positions gave me the confidence and experience I needed to come out of my introvert shell and really give being a business owner a try. I know I’ll be able to succeed as long as I connect with the crafting community and surround myself with a strong support network. I’ve learned that no matter what path a person is on, as long as they have a community of people to help navigate and fill the potholes along the way, they will be able to keep going.
I’m a crochet artisan and seamstress specializing in amigurumi, wearables, jewelry and home decor. I got my start as a child sewing with my grandmother who was also an avid seamstress. My grandma taught me everything she knew about sewing, and I still use her vintage Singer sewing machine to this day. I mainly take odd jobs altering clothing for the elderly and disabled clients I have through my PCA services, but I have also been known to make costumes for a local theater and arts nonprofit called Catacomb Collective.
When I wanted to learn how to crochet a decade ago, she helped me learn the basics of that craft too. I try to include the skills I learned making vintage doilies in my jewelry designs today. After I mastered the basics, I moved from doilies to scrubbies to amigurumi. It was in making “amigurumi” or plushies that I found my niche. I have made plushies in all sizes from an inch tall to over 5 ft long and everything in between. My biggest sellers have been my LGBTQIA+ PRIDE flag cuttlefish plushies and keychains. I have made every Pride flag I can find into a cuttlefish so everyone is represented, and I try to include each new flag that comes out. Lately, I also specialize in glow-in-the dark/blacklight reactive plushies. However, I love to make a variety of things, and I especially love taking on commissions for original works. Some of my favorite original projects have been making memorial look-a-likes of people’s pets. Aside from the plushies, I also make blankets, pillows, Fingerless gloves, scarves, and am starting to expand into other clothing items as well. If you want something crocheted, I can make it happen! I started out selling my work at makers/craft fairs and flea markets. Now, I do my work mainly for commissions, themed art shows and by selling at conventions. I mainly get my commissions by meeting people at conventions or through my Instagram and Facebook pages.
Thing thing I love most about being a creative person is that it allows me to bring my ideas and the ideas of my clients to life in a joyful way. Seeing the satisfaction of my clients and collaborating with them on making their idea come to life through crochet, sewing and crafting gives me such an adrenaline rush. The special thing about Crochet is that each item is handmade with hours of love and effort, and cannot be replicated by machine. Each stitch holds a piece of the artist, and in this world of fast fashion and mass produced goods, that’s a rare find.
I love to work on a variety of projects, and I make sure to keep busy making anything my clients can think of, be it amigurumi (plushies), home decor, jewelry or wearables like clothing and keychains. It’s not only about my clients though. Sometimes I need to make something just for arts sake, so I apply to art shows to get my name out there and send a message at the same time. The next show I have upcoming is being put on by the Otherworldly Artist Collective and is called Gods and Monsters. It takes place in October, and I’m so excited about the pieces I’m submitting. Each piece is the personification of a negative feeling, specifically the feelings of anxiety and being overwhelmed. My followers on social media should be on the lookout for teasers of these projects along with the finished pieces later this month.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities that have had the greatest impact on my journey through life have been my sense of curiosity, my empathy, and my persistence. The best way to develop or improve on these qualities, I think is to surround yourself with a wide variety of people from all different walks of life. To seek out experiences different from your own, and to be open to listening to other people’s views. Having a connection with one’s community through volunteer work or even just getting out of your comfort zone by going to an event that you would normally shy away from is a good place to start.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel overwhelmed, I try to break down the thing I’m stressing about into multiple steps, and then take each step at a time. This helps me focus more on the “now” than catastrophize about what could happen. If I can just do one part of one little step, I often find I can build up a momentum to complete the step and keep moving forward. If that momentum doesn’t build, well, at least I’ve done something. I also try to give myself grace if I can’t find it in me to complete even a part of a step and say “I may be overwhelmed now, but it won’t always be this way. There is a path forward, and in time, I’ll figure it out.”

Contact Info:

• Website: Kinkidevicecrafts.com (under construction-working on sorting out the security certificate)
• Instagram: Kinkidevice
• Facebook: Kinki DeVice Crafts
• Other: Gmail: kinkidevice@gmail.com

Image Credits

Logan Vice, Nikki Vice