Shalena Callender is quickly becoming a favourite when it comes to finding that perfect little gift for loved ones. The love and dedication that goes into creating one of her pieces easily make them a one-of-a-kind statement piece at special occasions.
Among the crafty pieces she creates are necklaces, including the two-in-ones that can be detached to be worked as a short necklace or a long one, bracelets, keyrings, book-marks, coasters, and novelty items such as pens and other tokens. Shalena also makes badge lanyards/ holders which are among her most popular items for sale. Her clients like that she customizes the lanyards to suit their personality.
While her business, Shelli’s Handicrafts, was established in 2018, Shalena began practicing the skill in 2013. A passionate young group leader at her church, Shalena began making crafts through this group. The artisan shared that back in 2013, a missionary was visiting from the Philippines and had brought along with her materials to make the trinkets but because of her limited time, she was unable to teach the children to make them. As such, Shalena stepped in to do so. While it was easy to teach, not many of the children had the patience to make the intricate pieces so overtime, Shalena began making them mostly on her own and she sold them at fundraisers to provide money for the youth group.
She came to realize how much she enjoyed making the items and that she could make and sell the jewelry and tokens as a side job. Aside from this job, the artist also works full time as the Human Resources Officer at the Guyana Shore Base Inc.
According to the woman, she has always had a passion for art ever since she was little. Even her family members dabbled in art. Her younger sister liked graphic designing and painting while her older sister liked drawing pictures. Her dad made and sold leather items at one point.
Shalena said that growing up, she and her sisters were homeschooled. Her younger sister began attending a public school when she was a fifth grader while her older sister started school in form two. Shalena started school three months prior to the commencement of the Common Entrance Examinations, but because she was a year older than the recommended age, she could not write the examination and was placed in a community high school. However, she was later transferred from the community high school to an A-list secondary school.
Attending school for the first time in her life was not exciting as Shalena was in for a culture shock. “It was pretty rough experiencing the different cultures, and realizing that I was far behind in school though I was a year older than the children in my class. I was unable to grasp from the experience right away,” she said.
By the time she began attending secondary school, Shalena’s hunger to learn saw her reading any and everything that she could and she excelled. She noted that both of her sisters also did well at school with one of them topping the region at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams.
Shalena subsequently went on to finish a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources at the University of Guyana. She also pursued bible studies. Her studies were part of the reason she did not establish her business earlier.
Shalena donates a percentage of the profit from her business to the youth group. The rest of the profit is usually reinvested in her business. She is unable to teach as she would like, so she has a small group of youths visit her home sometimes to learn how to make the trinkets and tokens.
One of her challenges is getting raw materials to make her pieces. While she gets the wood and beads here, other materials like the semi-precious stones, the jewelry fittings and the tools for the job all have to be imported.
Shalena pointed out that one of the disappointing things is that not many Guyanese are appreciative of the local craft industry. Her father, a rastafarian who made and sold leather crafts, was excited when she took up crafting and making jewelry. He had been encouraging her to get into leather crafting and she has been hesitant because of locals not being as keen about leather craft. Nevertheless, she does believe there is much that can be made from leather and is certain that there is scope for the leather industry with the expansion of the tourism industry.
Sometimes it can be frustrating working on her pieces especially when time is limited or when she has bulk orders to fulfil. Some pieces take up to five hours to make, though not all at once. There are times, though, when she is so engrossed in what she does that she just has to finish the item in one sitting. The longest she has ever worked on jewelry in one sitting was three hours when she made a really intricate necklace. However, most of the time she feels happy when her pieces turn out to be just as she envisioned them. The necklaces and keyrings are her favourites to make.
Challenges aside, she likes that she is able to do what she loves, along with the opportunity to make a new design every time; it also allows her to give back.
Along with her local market, she also has customers from the US and Canada. Many of her customers in Guyana, she said, do not live in the city but in Berbice and on the Essequibo Coast. Sometimes, these customers are her very own colleagues. Shalena enthused that sometimes when she wears one of her pretty designs, her colleagues would be all wide-eyed about it and then their requests would start to come in.
The artisan loves travelling around Guyana. Whenever she travels, she takes along some of her trinkets and tokens, even as far as Lethem. Recently on a trip to the Essequibo Coast, she dropped an order off for a customer living there. She is also requested to decorate events from time to time.
Shalena said COVID has affected her social life, work life, her busi-ness and even her health. In January, she and her family contracted the virus. Sadly, she lost an uncle to COVID-19. It has also affected her pop-up shops. The last time she held one was in December of 2019. She plans to have two this year, in August and November when she takes her leave of absence. Some of her pop-up shops in the past were held at Giftland Mall and at other places.
Shalena had partnered with a friend to make face masks which they distributed to nearby communities, to places in the interior and at a GTT breast cancer event. Subsequently they were contracted by several bigger companies to make masks for their employees.
Not soon but in the future, she hopes to be able to do her craft business full time.
Shalena is not big on socializing. Whenever she has free time, she likes to watch cartoons and comedies.
This Leo has an obsession with the colour green which is reflected in her work.
Depending on whether materials for her pieces can be found locally or need to be imported, customers can place their orders from one day to two weeks in advance.
Shalena can be followed on Facebook at Shelli’s Handmade or on Instagram @shelli’s_handmade. She can also be reached at 692-2167.
