Fat and Crafty.com

As I stated in my preview post I had a couple of interactions with vendors, some good and some less then good. I think the best interaction I had was with a gal who made accordion photo albums.
I asked for her information because I loved her photo album and wanted to get one in the future. She shook her head and said “No, I don’t do that” I was a little surprised, but our conversation continued. She dedicates her craft work to the shows only. With children at home she doesn’t have the bandwidth to do orders or communicate properly, so she offers her work at the shows, take it or leave it. While I was disappointed that I won’t be able to get a photo album, I was impressed.

Too often in craft dealings you find vendors who overextend themselves and either have a shitty turn around, or shitty customer service or both.Her ability to assess what she could do and not over extend herself is outstanding. I wish more vendors would do that.

On the other hand, of the picks I had listed for this year, I ended up scrapping at least 3 of them for having empty etsy stores. While they claim its a hiatus, you just never know.

I had a couple of interactions with folks over pricing. One booth offered a grocery tote of sorts, 2 for $38. She also offered a small wallet for $40. This boggled both Melissa and I. While the wallet may be the same amount of work, I think it was over priced. On wallets, since they are small, I think you’d make more on quantity in the long run.
On the other hand another booth was offering handmade washcloths in the cutest flannel. $6 for 5. Way under priced. I let her know too. Both booths took my feedback in stride. It’s not that I’m an authority, I’m just a consumer and think its hard to step out of the vendor mind once you step in.

Lastly I had two “size” interactions. One was a pattern company who’s patterns went up to size 18. Melissa and I scanned the patterns, looked at the size and just moved on. I’m sure there is a lot of work involved in producing a larger size, and I’m not even sure if the patterns were true to ready to wear size or true to pattern company size.

The other size interaction was with Glam Garb, she had beautiful lingerie ,and I paused to look at her work. The sizing was based on bra size and i began poking around looking for a copper piece in my size. (The colors were fabulous) The vendor got up to help me and very quickly helped me “try on” the one thing she had in my size. A navy piece that was nice, but not really me. I don’t expect her to carry all sizes, in fact had she said “I don’t care above a X size but can do custom orders” or “I don’t carry above a X size yet, but take my card and maybe in the future”
But she kind of pushed me into the navy piece, attempting convince me it was what i liked. I’ll admit I was disappointed not to find more in my size in her great colors, but in the end the interaction was what bugged me was the “here this is your one choice your size, don’t you like it”
Ah well.

Anyway, best show yet. I can’t wait until December.

Yesterdays Urban Craft Uprising was probably the best on I have been to yet.
Not only was my goodie bag fabulous but the the mix of booths was better then ever, and the demonstrations were delightful.

One of the things that impressed me most was that there was more room for crafters as well as craft buyers. It wasn’t just about buying premade craft, but the demos, kits offered by Moxie for needle felting and the inclusion of “Creation Station” as a booth made it even more welcoming for those who craft.

I’d heard of the Creation Station up in Lynnwood and thought it was just for kids, but after seeing just a corner booth of their stuff, I’m convinced it has potential for a craft supply store. I’ll have to head up there soon.

Over all what I saw yesterday was unique, While there were some repeat booths, a number of them were fresh and new. Looking over my picks from last December, I noted that there were a number of booths from my picks that were no shows. Sadly Mishmashy of the fabulous bags was awol, leading me to believe that she has just given up on being a business.

So what did I like?

MudFlap Grrl Designs : Embroidered Items with a punk rock flair. I love the Neko Kitty design. She had it on a nice leather messenger bag that ended up on my wish list.

Zomsters Cuter then cute images on shirts , onsies, cards, buttons, magnets, and canvas.
I was very impressed with how well they were put together. Great booth design, great packaging, great statement about their company.

Sydney Designs Vintage Wallpaper cards. What a great use of something that would otherwise be trash. Very simple cards that allow the beauty of the papers to come through

Polymath I don’t think I can accurately describe what i saw at the Polymath design booth, beyond “Wow”. I’m not a jewelry person, but who could resist cuff links that looked like part of the periodic table, for an element called”geek”. Or a necklace that turned into a Spirograph.

Mugwump: Mugwump has found a way to recycle books in a unique way. Instead of just the “book turned into a blank journal” that is so common, she takes old books and makes them into bags, turns maps into checkbook covers and more. I was impressed with her work. Her bag including images from “The Five Chinese Brothers” ended up on my wish list.

Cake Spy Cupcake themed art that is cute as cute can be. The Seattle postcard pack was tempting for my postcrossing exploits. (And the owner is so friendly, I love to stop and just chatter with her)

Food! Actual packaged food take it home with you, small producer great products!

Secret Stash Sea Salts These were the most flavorful, most unique sea salts I have ever seen. With flavors like apple pie, black olive, and rosemary with lavender, its not what you would expect on your french fries. But warm pita with a brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of black olive salt would be divine.

Trixie Bakes
Sweet block of brownie goodness. The head baker was a doll, and offered me information on the commercial kitchen she uses. She said she was making “Skinny Blondies” I suggested she needed to come up with a “Fat Redhead” flavor.

From Blog Photos

It’s hard to tell you what a great time I had today. I’ll let two pictures suffice for the moment.
This one above? Its a needle felted me. It was done at the demo for the Feltique and was given by Nickola and Brookelynn the authors.

The other picture below is the stash from my goodie bag. See, again I got up early, with a friend this time, and waited in line with my fellow crafters.
This was my great reward.

Included is a pin and card from CakeSpy, buttons from Midori, fat quarters of fabric from Stitches, a business card case from randl, a lighter from yarnia, a bag of chalk from the chalkboard t-shirt people , a spool of ribbon, a vintage needle holder and pen from Pacific Fabrics

From Blog Photos

Lastly, here is a hair clip I made with Susan Beal of West Coast Crafty and Button it Up.

Susan was an utter doll, and I bonded with the crafter next to me as we worked together and chattered about our crafts.

From Blog Photos

I had a great time, I’ll do my typical write up tomorrow once I have sorted through the cards. I also had a couple of interactions I want to share with you, about sizing and pricing.

From Blog Photos

Tomorrow morning Miss Dreamingcrow and I will be off to the Urban Craft Uprising. As in the past I’m hoping to arrive early enough that we get goodie bags, and that we have some time to chatter before the doors open.
This time it sounds like there are some great Craft Demos that will be happening.
I hope to attend the one by Tonia Davenport of “The Art of Plexi Class”
and Susan Beal of “Button it Up”

I go to these fairs looking for innovation, looking for whats new and exciting. I do indulge in a little snark over the uninspired and the overpriced, but overall I appreciate the opportunity the fair allows. It’s a step up from the average craft fair even if I think some of the vendors are redundant. Ultimately i have to applaud them for getting up and sharing their craft, I’ve thought about it but never put in the effort.

Anyone else going to the Urban Craft Uprising this weekend? Any Vendors you think I shouldn’t miss?

Apparently my house and the White house will be sharing the adventure of a newly planted garden this spring.

I’m not a natural gardener. I’m not a natural at yard work in general in fact we pay 5 Men and a Mower to come out and mow our lawn. Yet this year when the seed magazines came from Territorial I moved to action. Perhaps it was the fact that my apartment dwelling friend did so well last year with her container garden. Perhaps it was the interest of involving the 7 year old in some gardening activities.

Up until Wednesday I didnt even have a good idea of where the garden would go.  But I’m excited. We’re planting this year. I’ve got peas and soybeans and zuhinni squash to plant, and tomato plants are on the way. For Miss Bits enjoyment we’ve got some sunflowers to plant too. I’ve got enough to get  a good start, then depending on how we are doing, we might add some more herbs from the edible plant sale in May.

Will you be digging in the dirt this year? Any tips I need to know?

I don’t know who “Miss Pen Pen” is. In fact I’d never read her before today. I’m not even sure how I ran accross her blog, but I’ve decided that I like her.

Reading her recent post about crafting had me bobbing along like an Ichiro bobble head. Important lessons like, price your product appropriately, make sure your product is unique, assess whether you want to be an ameture or a professional.

There are a handful of things that drive me nuts about the handmade movement. One is businesses not acting like businesses. Shitty customer service, long turn around times,  “missing shipments”,  Email problems. If you’re going to run a business, run a business. If you’re going to open an etsy store, put some effort into it. if you get bored and give up, close up shop!  The other is cthe copy cat issue. If you are going to do something, make it unique. The world doesnt need anymore sock monsters, or popsicle soaps or duct tape wallets.  Really crafters, you’re better then that. If you really feel the passion, find something inspiring , make something unique, price it what it’s worth and make a go of it.  I’m not saying that you have to do this forever, but when your run is done, plan a graceful exit, take the last order and sit back satisified that you did a great job. Propoganda soap is a perfect example. They were doing well, but  decided to take a break because they were losing the fun of what they were doing. They’re gonna rethink, retool and just may be back.

If I ever moved forward with my idea of selling soaps, I’d strive for that attitude.

But what really made me fall in love was this quote, from an earlier post

And most of all remember that everyone should be doing a bit of craft, everyday, for their mental health. We talk about eating the right food, drinking in moderation, excercising but craft is meditation and sensory delight, problem solving and the joy of creating all rolled into one.

I’m an erratic crafter. Sometimes I’m going 240 miles an hour and engaged in my craft. I’m knitting on the bus, stamping in the evening, writing during break. I’m engaged in research of new techniques,  buying new supplies, trying new things. Other times I want nothing more then to sit in front of my (now stolen) laptop and play Zuma.  ( Damn you thieves, I was almost done with that game. Damn you Popcap for making it addictive)   Crafting for me is fun, a diversion from the every day,  a means of expression . I’ve never thought of it as a form of self care, but it makes sense that it would be. To add it as a daily part of my diet, a goal of what to include.  Also to make sure that the Bit has some creative time as well.

It’s the balance that I like. Encouraging crafting, and engagement within the craft arts, but the expectation that if you’re going to become a professional, that you act like a professional. It’s refreshing.

I’d like to invite you to two events. Or at least pick your brain to find out if you are interested as neither have set in stone dates yet.

Craft Swap
Take an evening out and bring out your unloved, unused or gently used craft supplies.  Similar to the clothing exchanges that are popular you’ll put these out and get the opportunity to swap your old scrapbooking supplies for a passle of yarn, or to trade your yarn for a set of cross stitch patterns. It’s only limited by what you bring and what you want to trade. (I’d hoped to do this before the holidays but think its just too soon, so probably in early January.)

Craft Reception/Salon

Tired of hiding your crafting in a corner? Want to show of the sweaters you’ve made, sell your lipbalm, gift away some of your soap? Show of your prints and talk about best online photo printers?  Want to talk to others who are crafty in the area? Trade horror storries of snobby yarn stores? Bond over  the difficulty of finding lye on the shelves anymore? Find someone to share an order placed with your favorite soap supplier? Want to find a mentor  for that craft you’ve been trying to learn?
 Well this is your event. I’d like to have this happen in early February  and am looking for a space. I’m thinking someplace comfortable on a Sunday afternoon.  There wont be actual crafting, just work displayed chatting and maybe a potluck of some sort to go with.

What do you think? Would  you want to come to either of these events?

It’s October already! Time to start thinking of holiday crafts, holiday cookies, holiday fruitcakes, holiday cards! I’m going to be working on a mock up of our holiday card for the year before I set to making 50 or so of them.
In the meantime, there has been stamping.
I’ve made thank you cards, and Halloween cards
 

20 of the Thank you cards got packed into a card box given to church for a fundraiser. 20 Thank you, 10 Birthday, 10 Holiday, 10 Sympathy cards. They went for the price asked for, though I think they were valued a little low at $30 for 50 cards.

On the needles:

I’m still working on the Maple Syrup sweater, but have slowed down. I know I need more yarn and am just unsure about when I’ll be able to order it.
I’m also working on socks, as they are the perfect portable project as I bus back and forth to Bothell. I’m to the point where I know 2/3 of the sock pattern by heart.

My project today and tomorrow is to warp up my inkle loom, and Miss Bit’s inkle loom. It’s got me thinking of weaving and looms in general. I’m stilling pining away for a rigid heddle loom, but have tabled the idea of getting one until I’m back at work full time. Instead I’m still weaving on the box, working on the inkle loom and looking for other “outside the box” weaving projects.

I’m really interested in this pipe loom. The book, Kids Weaving, shows it being used to make pouches for example. While googling around the ‘net it also appears that these kind of looms can be used for tapestry weaving.

I’m still looking for card weaving classes, hoping to be able to figure out the getting started phase. Once I get started, I think I’ll be able to figure it out.

On that note, I wanted to share a new resource I found, Weavezine, an online weaving magazine. It even includes inkle loom projects, something that traditional magazines don’t include often

When knitting, I am often asked “What are you working on”
I usually answer… Working on x, if I ever finish it, I never finish projects.

That’s not entirely true.  I do occasionally finish projects.  I just don’t knit as fast as Leah nor do I work on as complicated projects as she does.  But I do finish. Right now I have three finished pockets bags by Noni sitting felted on my dryer. I just need to knit up and felt up some straps for them, and add the zippers. That sounds almost done doesnt it?
I’ve also finished a pair of socks. No really, I finished a pair of socks.
See?

From Blog Photos

Now that that is done, I’ve cast on another project. With one small problem. I don’t have enough yarn for it. I figure I’ll get a good start and then pause until I can pick up some more yarn. I’ll also start on another set of socks as those are oh so portable.