Today we’d like to introduce you to HALI Englert.
Hi HALI, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I enjoy my day as an artist in the same way my 13 year old self thrived during summer vacation. I follow whatever colors are drawing my eye and allow bits and bobs from my surroundings are pulled into each piece I create. Who knew that the happiest and most creative self I could be simply needed to find the fun in each day?
I’m not at all saying that my bachelor’s of arts in geology wasn’t fun, or that receiving my MA in Earth Science Education from the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Graduate School wasn’t exciting and challenging, or that teaching high school earth science in Brooklyn, NY as a 21 year old from the Midwest wasn’t fun and life changing. Nor to say that taking the 2 train to Madison Square Garden every day to experience the beautiful and exhilarating sport of muay thai wasn’t fun in it’s own way. I’m grateful for the path that threw me headlong into a city of beauty, power, and a demand for the individual to add to the mosaic we witness block by block.
I will say MORE fun found its way into my experiences once I had the idea that all of my mma, muay thai, BJJ, and boxing friends would love to carry their furry friends into the ring with them. They generally only spoke about anime, food, and their pets–while we share the energy of camaraderie on the mats, it’s fun to be able to point at a patch on someone’s thai shorts, or gi and be like “I understood that reference!” or “Omg is that your cat?”
July of 2020, I persisted in purchasing first machine, then threads, then flash drives, then digitizing software, then more flashdrives, then stabilizer, then googled a tutorial, bought a $70 digitizing program on the spot, overall committed to the idea of getting my cats into the ring with me, without their asocial selves needing to leave the house. I traced, digitized, sewed, and posted day after day, my excitement in getting better and idea after idea blossoming as I grew to understand the mechanics and capacity of embroidery.
Almost immediately my muay thai and my BJJ community began asking for patches of their pets, and I quickly found I needed an official selling platform, and created an Etsy. Not even a day after officially posting, I received my first order of Willy the Dachshund and created his visage in thread to be my first patch to leave the country–off to Canada where I hear he gets to go on every motorcycle ride in his stitched memorial.
My popularity online built slowly, but surely through the Frenchy Dog Moms of Instagram, and I found that the majority of my orders included adorable wrinkly faced pups–zero complaints from me, living the dream of seeing cute puppies and cats all day, then creating art, and sending basically GIFTS for people to enjoy. Real Simple Magazine found me Early 2021 and published The Pawfect Patch in their August 2021 issue. I continued to EXPLODE with orders and requests to embroider every kind of pet on the planet, to the point I left teaching and set out to run my business on my own.
As many artists realize at one point or another, trusting that the best can happen for your business is difficult without support. I’m proud of every step I took, throwing myself into the unknown, and landing back into a safe space of teaching middle school here in Minneapolis. I am beyond grateful for my experiences back in the classroom with the most creative (albeit sharp and pointy worded) of 11-13 y.o. beings who inspired me to embrace my creative, kind, and curious self.
I’m now back into creating all things dangly and woven or fiber wrapped, all things delicately embroidered in the brightest colors of flowers or bejeweled butterflies, creating multi-functional and beautifully, consciously constructed embroidered jewelry, and continuing to learn new techniques through digitizing that allow me to capture the light and beauty I see in the world around me.
I get to keep writing my story each day, so why not make it colorful, kind, curious, and creative?
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve experienced plenty of events that were not preferred–all truly relating back to not having trust in myself or valuing myself and my creations. The biggest ways that I’ve grown from underpricing my art, is that now I know what happens, the purchasers I attract, and the negative emotions I feel when I feel my efforts are unappreciated. Now I know the person I can make happy, entertain, and love my art thoroughly is myself. I now charge what it would be worth for me to part with a piece of myself–the price at which I feel they respect my art for what it is worth, and I feel they will steward my art with joy in their own lives.
Something that also changed the way I interact with my art and embrace my creativity, is displaying my art at all times around me, regardless of whether or not it’s for sale or to-stay. I prefer to surround myself with beauty and kindness, and often my embroidery includes positive affirmations. I love the freedom of decorating my space to reflect every facet of my passions. Everything gets to be art, and it removed the barrier of perfection and needing things to remain as they are. For me, a piece is never done until it leaves, and even then, I know my energy is bound to each fiber and if it needs me. it will find its way back.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m most known for my custom embroidered pet portraits, although I will say adhering to the title “Custom Pet Embroidery Artist” felt stifling to the rest of my creative flow. True that I pioneered the custom embroidered pet portrait craze on the internet and plenty of business have copied suit since I started in 2020. But animals and pets primarily exist in neutral colors of beige, brown, black, white, a range of green and blue for eyes, and various pinks for lolling tongues. I needed more color. I thrive with color. I began treating my embroidery machines like 3D printers and soon went viral on TikTok for sharing the range of earrings, bookmarks, tools, and designs that people had never conceived could happen.
Funny enough, I’m more proud to have broken out of the title and broken back into celebrating the rest of my passions through my embroidery and other art. I would rather be known for finding the sparkle and light in the objects around us, and combining them through fibers, literal ties of connection that we humans crave in a deeply entropic world. I’d rather be known as an artist and a human who takes action and just GOES for it, all the while wearing my literal heart of hearts on my sleeves, shoes, ears–you name it and I’m finding ways to stitch my personality into my attire. I want to be known as an artist who will pick up a challenge that lights her up and stitches that light into every detail with care and reverence of one who loves who she is most as she creates.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My friend you NEED to create your art for you. Do you feel good while creating it? Make it. Do you feel good after making it? If you don’t like it, most likely it isn’t finished or you’re too attached to a particular outcome. Give yourself permission to create “ugly, imperfect, unfinished art.” sometimes a piece isn’t meant to be completed at a time your critical mind is demanding of it. Art is created and best shared as overflow, not through survival. I also cannot recommend enough that you wear your art EVERYWHERE. You have the ability to express yourself through your art, why not use it to help your external match your creative internal?
Pricing:
- $500-$1000 – Heirlooms Stitched with Love, Science, & a Little Chaos ✨ Every portrait includes: A recorded 15-30 minute Zoom “Story Session” (shared on YouTube!). A Ruff Draft for your approval 2-week turnaround from start to finish. Your pet’s essence captured in hyper-detailed thread
- $3-$25 – Embroidered Patches so you can Wear your Heart on your Sleeve
- $15-$300 – Free Standing Lace Embroidered Jewelry and Accessories- Light and Nature inspired oddities to add some color and sparkle to any fit.
- $40-$1500 – Fiber Art Wall Hangings – Woven, embroidered, knotted, or otherwise assembled mosaics of thread, yarn, natural organic bits, paint, and possibility. ,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thepawfectpatch.com
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@thepawfectpatch
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepawfectpatch
Image Credits
Rebecca Nicole Photo (boxing glove photo with my cat Magma on my thai shorts)
