Otterson shows her craftiness through Wooden Roots Décor
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Belinda Otterson says if she didn’t start a business, her house would be so full of things she made that she wouldn’t be able to move around.
“I can’t stop creating,” she says.
Otterson, who lives in the Onslow area, just outside Truro, operates a small business called Wooden Roots Décor. She makes all kinds of items through her business, but signs are her focus and what she loves to do the most. Sometimes, however, she will still take an order to make a shirt or something like that.
Although she just started under the name Wooden Roots Décor in 2021, Otterson was in business for many years before that.
And her love for working began much earlier than that.
Otterson says she found her love of woodworking in her grandfather’s workshop when she was eight.
“I haven’t stopped since then,” says Otterson.
This connection to her grandfather helped her come up with the business name. Wooden Roots Décor came to life because that is where her love of woodworking started — with her grandfather.
Unfortunately, he passed away when Otterson was only 10 years old, but that is where she says she got her start.
Besides doing woodworking, Otterson says she has always been a crafty person.
“There has never been a time in my life that I haven’t been creating something,” she says, noting she has put sayings on shirts, wine glasses, and socks.
To learn how to make her crafts, Otterson says she is largely self-taught.
“I am constantly learning new things even though I have been doing this for a lot of years, there’s always something new to learn,” she says.
Out of everything she makes, Otterson says her signs are definitely the most popular item. This, she says, makes her heart happy because they are also her favourite things to make.
Otterson says her inspiration comes from the many lists where she wants her business to go next. She works hard towards those goals, she says. These goals are the motivator.
When deciding what to make next, Otterson says she doesn’t usually have to, as her customers guide her. She does a lot of custom work, so they are the ones who guide her to what she will next make and what the sign will say.
The customer sends her an idea and Otterson works to create their vision. They tell her what they are looking for and she will do a mock-up for them so they can see what their design will look like ahead of time before deciding. If it’s not perfect, she will make changes to get it right.
She says she works with customers so they can get what they want — from the roots up.
When not doing custom work, Otterson says she does take creative breaks every now and again where she stops making custom designs and makes that new design she had been thinking about constantly. Once she does that, then she can focus so much better on the tasks ahead.
Wooden Roots Décor has gone far and wide.
She said she thinks the farthest an item of hers has travelled is Texas.
“That was pretty cool to learn how far it went,” she says.
Recently, Otterson completed a sign for The Lotus Centre, a women’s resource centre in Truro. There was a lot of attention to detail in that sign as it was going up in the reception area of their building.
“Although there is always lots of attention to detail in every sign I make!” she assures.
Despite loving what she does, Otterson says there are some challenges with running her business. The most difficult part is finding the time and the price of lumber these days.
“Trying to keep my pricing affordable but striving for high quality is something I always aim for,” she says.
Otterson says she does not run Wooden Roots Décor on a full-time basis… yet.
It is her dream to do so, though. When not creating, she works part-time at a preschool.
Wooden Roots Décor can be found on Facebook and Instagram under the same name.