Dorchester business puts a bow on it
BY ROSS PATTERMANN
THE TRIBUNE PHONOGRAPH
People start businesses for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s a desire to be their own boss, sometimes it’s because they believe they can do a better job on their own, or sometimes it’s because they followed a passion that blossomed into something else.
Trisha Colby-Schwantes, and her clothing and fabric business Cluck Cluck Craft, is an example of that last one. A native of Abbotsford, and current resident of Dorchester, Colby-Schwantes is a preschool teacher at the Colby School District. It’s a position she’s held since 2017, though her time as an educator goes back even longer, with a start in the Abbotsford School District in 2011 as a K-5th grade art teacher.
It’s that connection to art that led to Colby-Schwantes to create Cluck Cluck Craft, an online bow shop that also sports a limited clothing line. Trisha began Cluck Cluck Craft in January of 2020 not necessarily for money, but as a way to get back in touch with her art, and to reconnect to her past.
“My mom was in crafts for as long as I can remember. We always went to craft shows and all that fun stuff, and I think that’s what made me want to get into the art part. I always liked to make things, and they tell you when you go to art school don’t stop working for yourself. Keep making art for yourself.”
Of course, that was easier said than done. Colby-Schwantes graduated from UW - Milwaukee with her art degree in 2005, but until Cluck Cluck Craft came along, she had made just one work of art, an eagle that adorns one of the trucks of the Abbotsford Fire Department.
Years went by, and Colby-Schwantes got married, had children and started teaching and raising her family. But somewhere along the line, she became acutely aware of the need to create art.
“Last year, right before COVID hit, I had made some bows for a shop,” Trisha explains. “I just wanted to make something, anything really, and they went over pretty well.”
Trisha then met Kiersten Hoeg, the owner of Threaded Love, a local fabric store that makes clothing. Hoeg spoke with Colby-Schwantes about taking that next step, and making her art into a business. But it turned out to be more complicated than it seemed at first blush.
“She started talking to me about being a small-batch manufacturer, and compliance rules, and all that fun stuff. I just went ‘Whoa, I just know the other part of things.’” Trisha did have some background in business. Her father operated his own business for years, and Colby-Schwantes helped with payroll and taxes. Knowing that, she set about learning the other components of running a small business.
Hoeg took Colby-Schwantes under her wing, and while at first Trisha was only making bows, it soon became something
