Off to Meet Medusa!

I'm off to Medusa's Craft Menagerie from 11 am to 7 pm today. It will be spread out throughout the 3100 block of Cherokee Street and will include the participating shops: Fort Gondo, The Archive, Peridot, STL Style House, Snowflake Gallery, Cherokee peach. You can also find my stuff at Peridot among all of the other great handmade goodies on consignment.

I'm not real sure what to expect from the day so I'm prepared for just about anything. I'm bringing Kai to help out and keep me company. I know that there will be lots of entertainment including a fashion show, live music, and a fire performance of some kind.

So if your local I hope you will come out and say hi and partake of Medusa's wonderment.

Change in Plan

I recently found out that I did not get into the Rock n Roll Craft Show this year. I have to admit that this was a huge disappointment to me. There is a $40 jury fee that you don't get back for one thing. I was also counting on it being my other big venue since it was my best show last year. I sold a ton of scarves there last year and made more in one weekend than I've ever made at a show before. I thought that since they got a 15% cut of that amount that I would have a good chance at getting in again but I was wrong.

I looked at the vendors that did get in and the knitters appear to make big cowls or use higher priced yarns. I guess that they are trying to make it more like a high end boutique event but I don't think that they are going to make as much this year because of it.

So I've been scrambling around the last 2 weeks trying to come up with some alternatives. After talking to my Mom about it I think I now have a partial plan. I have decided to do the big Holiday Bazaar in my hometown of Rolla. My mom and I used to go to this together pretty regularly and it is my first memory of a craft show environment. It is obviously a more traditional craft show than I have been doing for the past few years but I think that is ok. I just need to whip up a bunch of lower end scarves in the next month to get myself ready for it.

My mom knows just about everyone in the town so I'm going to have her sit at my booth with me. Mike thinks I will have a lot of sales from the locals who stop to chat with her. They will see something they like, and because it is Joyce's daughter they will go ahead and buy it when normally they would have walked away. So yes, I plan on pimping my mother out for my business.

I am also looking into a few other alternatives that will be a better venue for my more creative work. I really hate having to rework my plans this late in the game but you have to go with the flow. I've been really lucky so far about getting into the shows that I have wanted so I shouldn't be too discouraged but that is easier said than done.

New Friends and Strange Trading

I was truly blessed this year with the perfect conditions and location at the Strange Folk Festival. I was located right next to the stage so I had one quilt rack on the far end of the table and the other on the steps. I set my chair up on the stage so I was queen of my domain and could see everything going on below me. This shot to the right is from my perch with a few customers browsing my table.

I was also blessed with the friendliest vendor neighbors you could possibly ask for. Directly next to me was Lisa from Cornflower Press seen above. I was captivated by her original linoleum block art of rural images that reminded me of my childhood. I bought a plaque with the white barn house image as it reminded me of my Nana's old house. By the end of the weekend we were laughing like old friends and I hope to stay in touch with her. She has been making a living from her artwork for many years and I found her quite inspiring.

Straight ahead of me was the utterly tempting Dyeabolical Yarns. I always enjoy visiting with Rachel and drooling at all of her colorful fibers. I actually got one of her amazing handspuns in my favorite fall colors in a trade for one of my organic cotton creations. Trades are actually as good if not better than sales in my book as you get something that you probably wouldn't have bought otherwise to remind you of the day.

I also traded a hat for a set of all natural beauty products from Erin. I got the anti-aging lotion, the blemish treatment (how sad is it that I need both of these at my age), the mosquito repellent that uses catnip of all things and smells really good, and the cut and scrap balm.

I traded for a very cool fused glass plate from ArtLady Designs that she made out of a recycled shower door. Turns out she lives in the next town over from me and her husband works for the community college.

My goofy trade of the day was for a floppit from Tindlebears. I always need to get one item that will make my husband question my sanity and that will remind me of the inherent strangeness of the event. She also makes some really adorable teddy bears that would make great Christmas presents.

I bought a Christmas present for my Mom from Three Strands who does hand embroidery of nature images from rural Missouri. She is an ecologist from the parks service and I admired some of her photographs she was selling on notecards. One was of a controlled burn and when I told her that my Dad burns every year she got way more excited than a person should at that news. I love when someone is really enthusiastic about things other people don't think about so I instantly liked her.

And finally I once again enjoyed the yummy concoctions of the Hot Cookie. She was my booth neighbor last year and even though she was at a much healthier distance this year I couldn't resist her double fudge drops and Lemon Tarragon Sables.

Meeting unique people and making new friends really is the best part of Strange Folk each year, and is why I look forward to it more than any other event of the year.

Strange Folk Wrap up!

I've mostly recovered from this weekend. I would have to say that this was my favorite Strange Folk Festival yet. I had a perfect spot in the covered pavilion right next to the stage so I could spread out more than those in the center aisles. I had the best booth neighbors, which I will talk about more tomorrow. Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day in the upper 70's with huge crowds most of the day. I had a perfectly acceptable number of sales but nothing spectacular. Sunday was a rainy, cold, and somewhat miserable day and guess what. I had my best day ever at Strange Folk!

On day one I didn't sell a single hat. I sold mostly lower priced scarves and a whole lot of wristcuffs which I had marked down. On day 2 I sold over half of my hats, most of my higher priced scarves, and several of my higher priced scarf/hat sets. What a difference 15 degrees makes. I felt terrible for the vendors in the tents on Sunday as many people just weren't venturing out into the park with the rain and cold. People were taking their time in the covered pavilion and those who hadn't worn a scarf that day were buying them off the rack and wearing them around. A couple of nice folks said they were leaving the tags on them for free advertising for me.
I really had some of the sweetest customers this year. My absolute favorite was the girl in this shot (posted with her mother's permission.) She bought one of my favorite hats and she had her own quirky style which I loved. I actually made 3 in this style with the tufts of Ozark Mountain Handspun sticking out every 5 rows. I will probably end up keeping the one that I didn't sell for myself. This girl fell in love with the hat as soon as she tried it on and her face just lit up. . But her Mom told her she wanted to look around to make sure there wasn't one she liked more. An hour later the girl comes running up to the table and says "I tried every hat in this entire place on and this is the perfect one." I couldn't resist taking a picture since the hat really was made for her with her little curls poking out.

My second favorite customer was a little girl around 7 or 8 who came up with her sister. They tried on every one of my wrist cuffs. She picked out a wire wrist cuff, which is the most grown up item I sell, with Eiffel tower charms, probably the most grown up of my wire wrist cuffs. It fit her barely but she had made up her mind. She got her wallet out and handed me her $7 so grown up like. I was a little worried about what her mother would think. Around 15 minutes later the whole family comes up and the mom says I just wanted to tell you that she had been shopping all weekend long and your bracelet was what she chose to spend her money on. I told her how special that made me feel and we chatted for while. The mom had bought a scarf from me the year before and I think she was a vendor.

My last customer of the day was my biggest sale of the weekend, just like the first year I did Strange Folk. It was about 15 minutes before closing time and a family came up in a flurry. Her daughter picked out one of my most expensive scarf/hat sets and the mom chose one of my $30 scarves for herself. If I had started to pack up like many of the other vendors, she probably would have passed me on by. Mike had come to help me pack up and he was sitting on the steps next to my booth. The sister sat down next to him and he was sharing his popcorn with her and they shared a moment. When the family was leaving the girl gave Mike a big hug which everyone thought was so cute.
I was pretty happy with the booth display. I sold way more items off the table this year than last year. The display items I talked about here were much more effective than the shelves I spent so much money on last year. I didn't change much from day 1 to day 2 except putting out only one head since I got tired of taking things on & off of the heads all day long Saturday. I also arranged the quilt racks by color on Sunday and not price. I ended up pricing things as $15, $20, and a few $30 scarves.

I'll share more about the weekend tomorrow, including the great trades and friends I made.

Strange Folk Here I come!

I'm getting so excited for this weekend's Strange Folk Festival. I can't believe that it is almost here. I thankfully took Friday off so that I can get myself fully ready. If you let me know that you are a blog reader I will give you 15% off your entire purchase this weekend!

Here are the details from their press release:

The 5th annual 2-day Strange Folk Festival happens September 25 & 26 in O’Fallon Illinois from 10am to 6pm both days! There will be 150 indie crafters and artists from across the country. Live music, good food, activities for kids, and you have the Heartland’s largest outdoor indie art festival. Just 15 minutes from downtown St Louis, easily accessible from both sides of the Mississippi. Family-friendly Strange Folk offers free admission and was voted "best craft festival in St Louis" by the River Front Times.

Log on to www.strangefolkfestival.com to see a preview of vendor crafts! Other highlights include a wide variety of food and drinks, The Upcycle Exhange, Authors Pavilion and book signings, live blogging stations, performance art, sewing demos, hand-on crafts and demos, alpaca petting zoom, animal rescue booths and more!You can also meet our good friend Brian Katcher, author of two Young Adult novels, on Saturday afternoon in the Writer's Block booth.

It looks the weather is going to be perfect, knock on wood. I'll be under the covered pavilion so if we should get another rain shower like last year I won't have to worry. I hope to see you there!

Craft Revolution!

This weekend is the St. Louis Craft Mafia's spring craft show called the Indie Craft Revolution. "Over 65 vendors will show off their fabulous wares within the historic and beautifully preserved St. Louis Artists’ Guild and Galleries. The event takes place Saturday March 13, 2010 from 10am to 6pm and Sunday March 14, 2010 from 10am to 4pm."

I will unfortunately be unable to attend but there is an amazing roster of vendors, many of whom I have either seen before or worked with at other shows in the area. Indie Craft Revolution is also going to be the first collection event of 2010 for Upcycle Exchange!

I thought I would showcase a few of the vendors I'm familiar with and admire.

South City Studio is obviously very proud of her roots in St. Louis as the necklace above reflects. She's a member of both the St. Louis craft mafia and ShowMe Etsy. She sells cute jewelry as well as fine art prints many of which were taken here in the St. Louis area.Courtney of TwIsTeD makes the coolest bracelets out of 100% upcycled telephone and data wire. They are so colorful and fun especially when you wear them in a bunch. At the last show I did, the Big Ass Indie, I watched her go through her inventory with piles of her wire jewelry in bundles stacked up all around her. I was going through my scarves at the same time so I understand how much work goes into keeping her inventory up to date. Her booth at the Strange Folk Festival was also the most memorable and interesting of all I saw. It was a real inspiration to me and I hope I will be able to up my game for next year's show.



Beqi clothing is probably the most prolific and recognized crafter in the St. Louis indie community. She makes colorful creations in gorgeous color combinations and isn't afraid of bold patterns. I'm always amazed at how many different mediums she works in . I've helped separate inventory at three of the indie boutique style shows now and her pile is always the most varied at the end with pieces coming from the accessories, clothing, and even housewares sections.

The lotus at dusk top is a hand made kimono top with sizes up to XL, not just the tiny sizes you see in most handmade clothes.
She sells her jewelry line on etsy as Beqi.

If you are in the area I hope you will come out and support the St. Louis handmade community. I'm always so inspired by the talent and creativity on display at these events.

I am an Island?

One of the main things that came out of this year's craft show season is that I probably need to get more involved in the indie craft movement in the St. Louis area. I don't know about other parts of the country but we have a very strong underworld with a lot of different tentacles and ways to get connected. The above shot is one a friend sent me from the first day of Strange Folk that I just recently discovered. The little girl is Sophie, Brian and Sandy's daughter.

I was talking to a vendor at one of my shows and she asked me what groups I belonged to after finding out I had gotten into the three main indie shows of the season. I told her I was completely unaffiliated and she looked surprised. She said, "Well, I guess you don't need to be in them if you are getting into the shows on your own." I took this as a compliment but also as a word of caution.

Being a free agent, so to speak, does put me in a vulnerable position. I am known for being a very prolific knitter and I think that has gotten me into a few of the shows as they know I will be bringing a lot of inventory. I'm sure they like me as this nets them a bigger percentage of my sales than someone who doesn't have as much inventory to bring. But I can't count on this working forever. If another prolific knitter enters the scene and gets herself involved with the different groups than I could very easily be on the out list.

The big indie shows like Strange Folk, Rock N Roll Craft Show, and the Big Ass Indie Show are definitely my bread and butter. Of the three only the Big Ass Show is fully run by the Craft Mafia. After chatting with some people in the mafia at different shows I feel a little less intimidated about applying to join. I know a few people that are in it relatively well and am facebook friends with a few. They just had a membership drive and are not accepting new applicants until next year but I am definitely considering applying. They are doing a lot of good things in the community and have a much more up to date website and even a zine that they do seasonally. It could bring some good promotion opportunities and I wouldn't have to worry about getting accepted into any of their shows as members are automatically in. There are dues and meetings that I would have to attend but it would be good for me to get out there more and socialize with some like minded crafty types.

This year I participated in the Upcycle Exchange at Strange Folk and I've signed up for their new program which I talked about here. This is not so much a club although they do have a membership fee which gives you access to the donated items on certain days of the month. I'm excited to be a part of it as it will get me some cheap yarn but also will get me better known in the community. Autumn runs the Exchange and also organizes the Strange Folk Festival so it should help my chances at getting into the show next year. It's no guarantee like the Mafia gives you but than there isn't as much involved with joining so you get what you put into it.

The other possible contender for my time and devotion is the Show Me Etsy Street Team. The description on their site says that it is: "a business minded group of Etsians that have come together to promote handmade through local craft and trunk shows as well as helping each other to make our businesses grow and thrive. " This sounds most like what I'm looking for. They have dues and monthly meetings which you have to attend a certain number a year. I'm acquaintances with the current membership recruiter and talked to her for awhile at the Big Ass show. She's also a knitter and I used to consider her competition but as I've gotten to know her she's a real sweetie. They do some smaller shows and lots of other things in the community and being involved with them would help bring me more name recognition to the events I apply.

A lot of the same people are in both groups. This just isn't really an option for me. Most of them live in the city or South County so that is were the meetings tend to be. I also work full time and just can't spend multiple evenings a month driving 40 minutes to a meeting. It sounds like Show Me Etsy does the meeting in multiple areas of the county which is nice. They also don't feel as intimidating to me or as difficult to get into. You do have to apply but knowing someone inside makes it easier for me.

It is hard for me to put myself out there. I am definitely an introvert but I have extrovert features with people I know well. I can be really shy in social setting that I'm unfamiliar with and with people I don't know. The whole process is intimidating to me but if I want to take my little business to the next level and keep making connections in the indie movement I feel like I will have to take the plunge.

What do you think? Do you think I should take my chances and stay a free agent, test the waters with Show Me Etsy, or I could try to get myself into the Craft Mafia sometime in the new year? Have I also mentioned I'm terrible about making decisions.

Big Ass Wrap Up

I took no decent pics from the Big Ass Indie Show yesterday but they have a whole photo montage on their Facebook page here if you are interested. The above was my view from my perch yesterday afternoon as I guarded the dressing room. This was a rack of mostly my scarves. I think it was a good show, not necessarily a great one for me but I really can't complain at all. I haven't seen my actual numbers yet but just reviewing what I didn't come home with I can estimate how I did.



It looks like I sold over 10 of the higher end scarves which is what I was hoping to move at this show along with the majority of my lower end scarves. I think I sold only 2 scarflettes which was surprising to me until I started thinking about it. They had the majority of them buried in a wheel barrow that they were using as a display instead of arranged on a table so I really don't think people were willing to dig through it. Not a big deal since I need something to keep my Etsy shop going until I can get more pictures taken.

I started the season with 2 large tubs and 2 medium tubs stuffed to the brim with my inventory. After my last show I could probably fit everything into the largest of the tubs if I stuffed it tight. I'm very happy with how it all went and couldn't have asked for a better 3 shows for my work. I'll do a more complete wrap up later with my thoughts on how to improve things for next year.









There were some really amazing vendors at this show including a few that I'd never seen before. I got a Flesh doll by Michael Baird that I'm absolutely in love with. Mike says it is probably the weirdest thing I've ever bought which is really saying something. It has the coolest eyes in it with a long tail that I can use to hold it while I hit Mike in the back of the head, only when he deserves it of course. The leather is so soft and smooth I actually found myself cuddling it last night while laying on the couch watching TV under my blanket.

I always go into a knitting funk after my last craft show of the season. It's like I get all the frantic work done and I don't know what to do with myself after it's all done. I've knitted a few Christmas gifts and I'm going to give myself 1 week to not knit and then hopefully I will get some inspiration back. I really am wanting to work on some hat designs for next year and hopefully that will get me going.

Big Ass Indie Weekend!

The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show starts tonight and if you are in the St. Louis area I hope you will come out this weekend for some Big Ass fun. There will be entertainment and refreshments to go with your shopping until 11 p.m. tonight. The Craft Mafia always puts together the coolest displays and visuals.

It is St. Louis's biggest collection of alternative art and crafts.

The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show showcases St. Louis's finest artists and crafters! FREE admission! Friday Saturday and Sunday.

As I was dropping my inventory off one of the girls checking me in recognized my work from the Rock N Roll Show. She asked me if the Bud Light scarf had sold as everyone had been talking about it when she was there. I told her that surprisingly it hadn't so it must be meant to be hers. The Mad Art Gallery is literally in Anheuser-Busch's backyard so hopefully the scarf with little Bud Light beads will find a home this weekend.

The Upcycle Exchange will also be there the whole weekend led by their fearless leader Autumn. If you bring items to donate you will get complimentary gift wrapping in addition to contributing to a great program. Lucky for you I chose not to volunteer at this table as my gift wrapping skills are comical.

I talked about the Upcycle Exchange as it related to the Strange Folk Festival here but there have been some interesting changes made since. Here is the new description, "a “co-op junk shop” that will now serve as our central sorting and distribution center called Finder’s Hive. The Upcycle Exchange will still be collecting at area events, in addition to new drop-off locations to be announced in January 2010." There is going to be a $15 seasonal membership fee that will allow you to be a part of the distribution of the donated supplies. I'm seriously considering becoming a part of the program and getting my hands on some cool supplies for next to nothing.

Rock N Roll Show Wrapup

As I mentioned yesterday the Rock N Roll Craft Show was my best show yet. I took a few quick shots of the accessories area with my pocket camera. The table behind the two ladies in the 2nd shot was mostly my knitting and there were also scarves hanging from every available means with my scarves mixed in among other vendors. I like the department store style show for the most part. It's much easier on me and my time. I dropped my stuff off, they did the displays and I showed up on Sunday to work my shift and then took my stuff home.

Both of the shows that I've done like this I have scheduled myself for the last shift which has its pros & cons. I don't have to make another trip which is nice since these shows are mostly in the city. But it is always the hardest shift to work since it includes the breakdown and separating by vendor. I ended up working more than an hour over my shift helping them get things separated and displays broken down. This really isn't such a bad thing since it makes me look good with the organizers and they will hopefully remember me when jury time comes next year.









Everything was well displayed and professional. RRCS is probably the most well known of all the indie shows in the area. I think my style goes pretty well with their aesthetic. My wire wrist cuffs were a big hit and I sold all but a handful of them. I had several other vendors comment to me about them and their popularity over the weekend. Making them smaller definitely helped I'm sure. I was making them between 7 or 8 inches, which fits my big wrist, but I started making them between 6 and 7 inches this time around.

The other hit was wool scarflettes. I sold 11 of them and a few other fiber ones as well. I sold a few $30 scarves and a ton of $15 ones of course. They almost cleared me out of my low end wool inventory, over half of the acrylic low end sold, and just 1 cotton. I need to time my production better for next year and have all the cotton ones ready for Strange Folk in September and then focus on wool for the later shows.

I am definitely going to make hats for next year also. The organizers said that there were many people asking for them and just a few from one of the other vendors available. They also said that the 2 sets of fingerless gloves from another vendor sold almost immediately so I will be looking into expanding into that territory.

I really need to spice things up in my knitting this year and not let myself get stagnant. I have generally avoided making hats since I don't really like knitting in the round but I did the baby hats for the shower with a flat pattern with a seam that I could adapt for adults. I can do some different embellishments to hide the seams like buttons or bobbles or who knows what all.

The main disadvantage to these kinds of shows is that you don't get the interaction with customers or the instant feedback. During the first hour of my shift I got to just hang out in the accessories section which was nice. I chatted with a few customers and get some of the compliments that make doing shows so reaffirming. My favorite customer was the woman who bought 2 of my scarves that day and then asked me if I would be doing the show next week. She said that she would be getting the coat colors down this week and then come next weekend prepared to shop for Christmas presents for all of her friends. I also enjoyed watching a group of women spend over an hour trying things on and playing with all of the accessories. They walked away with at least 4 of my items and several things from other vendors.

I'm actually looking forward to this weekend's show. I've done the Big Ass Indie Show before so I'm not as nervous about how it will go. If I do as well as I did last year at it I will definitely be able to splurge on the DSLR camera that I've been coveting.

Craft show Ideas

Thanks everyone for all you sweet words in my last post. I'm doing what I need to do to get balanced again. I know it seems early but I am starting to plan for next Fall's show season which gives me something to not only work towards but look forward to. As I've said before I did 3 shows last year and I did a post with my thoughts right after the season was over. I would like to raise that to 5 shows this year. It is not easy deciding which shows are worth your time but let me tell you the thought process I go through when considering a show.

For me it is all about Fall. Spring and summer shows are not worth the time and energy for me. Knitting is inherently a Fall/Winter craft. On this note I really prefer indoor shows. I have one outdoor festival that is the exception but I choose to do it in the covered pavilion. I don't want to have to deal with setting up a tent and keeping my scarves dry and clean outdoors. There is a big advantage to setting up in a tent if you can find a cheap one like my sister in law, Gray Eyed Scorpio, did as you can spread out and can control the display more. She found a very reasonable tent on Craigslist that is supposed to be easy to open although she still needed her husband the first time. Here was her booth at last years Strange Folk Festival in all of its glory.

Weather can be much more of a factor with outdoor shows and if you are set up next to a food vendor you may come away with inventory stinking of BBQ, yes it happened to me once. I did a street show with a few friends just to get a feel for it 2 years ago and I decided that wasn't my scene pretty quickly. These outdoor street events often have entertainment that you are competing with not to mention the resellers peddling their Avon and non-handmade items. Many of the festival goers are there with their kids to enjoy the day and aren't thinking about shopping for handmade.

Another thing to consider when choosing a show is whether it is juried or not. Personally I prefer juried shows since it keeps the resellers out but there is the stress factor of waiting to see if you got in. I am not in the league to consider the high end art shows but if you are than you need to plan pretty far in advance and be willing to put out some bucks in fees. The most I've ever paid for a booth fee is $90 but I have heard of shows that cost in the hundreds of dollars that attract a high end clientele. Shows that have been around along time and have a built in clientele are worth the investment in most cases. You should consider how long they have been doing the event and if possible find out how many attended the year before. I've never done an event that charged attendees to enter but I've been told they bring out people really ready to shop.

The show that I did for $90 was the Lindbergh show which is the largest one in the St. Louis area. It is a more traditional show held in a sprawling High School and draws up to 10,000 a year. I did not make quite as much last year as I had hoped there but I am doing it again this year as it was a good way to connect with a different audience. I got at least one large sale after the fact from it on-line by passing out my cards. It was for 2 days which I really prefer since I feel that if I'm going to devote a weekend to a show I'd rather have it be the whole weekend. You may feel the opposite and there are any number of one day events at schools and churchs with booth fees under $50 that you can use to get your feet wet. I plan on doing one of these in my local area this year so that people at work and friends can come without having to travel too far.

I'm lucky that in my area there are several groups that promote very good indie shows. These events bring out a younger crowd with more dispensable income, always a plus. My scarves/scarflettes have been received well by this market and I consider them my target at this point. It can be harder to find these events if you haven't done them before but you can look into your local craft mafia as they are often behind many of these shows. Indie Craft Shows is a directory of national indie events. It doesn't have any of the ones listed here in MO that I know of, but it is a place to start.

Missouri has a site called MissouriArtsAndCrafts with a list of events and I'm sure your state probably has something similar. It is not complete and many event planners may not have started submitting their Fall shows for this year yet. I will sometimes go back to the year before and see what was offered and then do a google search to see if I can find any info on something if it sounds interesting.

I just discovered a new site called Craft Lister with over 50,000 events listed across the country. You can sign up for free but to access all the details and reviews of the shows it costs a fee. It is $20 for 2 months which should be all the time you would need. You can also get some time for free by giving reviews or referring people. If you are interested please let me know and I will send you an e-mail and if you sign up for the free account I get 14 days of full service for free!

Another comprehensive site is Festival Network Online. You can search events for free here but to get full details and other services it costs $49 a year. This is more than I can justify paying but I do use it to search and then I google events that sound interesting to see if I can find more details.

The Artsy Crafter is a favorite blog of mine that focuses on art and craft shows by an artist that has many years in the circuit to share. If you are just getting started it is good to attend some shows first to get a feel for it and talk to some vendors to get their ideas. Some people will be open to helping while others might be more reserved, especially if you are in the same category. I know there is at least one other knitter in the St. Louis area that I see around and consider my "competition" for shows. Would I share all of my secrets with her, probably not, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have about shows.

Handmade Nation Review

It only took me a little over an hour to read the actual text of Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimer but who are we kidding I didn't buy it for the text. It's all about the pictures with pure crafter's porn on every page! Page after page of crafters in action at indie craft shows around the country, working in their studios, or modeling their incredible creations. There is nothing I like better than learning about other artisans creative process. I love reading how they come up with their ideas and seeing how they organize and decorate their studio spaces. And getting an inside view at some top indie sellers booth designs is priceless. I put a lot of thought into my booth space and seeing other crafter's displays, even if it is a total different medium helps me to come up with my own inspirations for next year's shows.

The book was inspired by the rise of the indie craft movement at the turn of this century. It covers indie designers all over the country and there is also a documentary that just came out last month. Here is the website for the movie. I can't wait to see it as soon as it makes it anywhere in the St. Louis area. There are interviews with designers and crafters were they share their ideas about the handmade movement. Here were some of my favorite quotes:

page 26, Sabrina Gschwandtner of Knitknit.net:
"I love making things. I love writing about aesthetic objects and their makers. I love conversations about making things. I love thinking about making things."

page 80, Annie Mohaupt of MOHOP.com:
"I think people want things that are unique. As the world becomes more and more homogeneous, handmade things become more precious. Also, as people become more aware of issues like the environment, workers' rights, and toxic ingredients or materials in products, they are more drawn to artisan-made goods, which are purchases they can feel good about."

page 125, Susan Beal:
"Indie craft fairs have defined a generation of women and men who value the nature of handmade and innovative goods.... I have never felt more at home than in an indie craft fair. It's a place where our hobbies, our ideas, and our worldviews are packaged up into a tangible object to share, to be admired, and to start new relationships between people."


Many of the people interviewed described themselves as makers not crafters. This is a term that I think is starting to become more popular. I like the DIY connotation and it has a broader context than crafter. The article about indie craft shows by Susan Beal was one of my favorite chapters. It shows the progression of how the new indie shows started out in small ways and morphed into a movement all over the country. The Strange Folk Festival and the Craft Mafia shows here in St. Louis are the best representations of these shows in this area and I was proud to be a part of them last year.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about art and design but more importantly wants to see some amazing pictures of fellow handmade advocates around the country.