Silver and polypropylene. Amy Chan … an exploration of structure and movement.

Ihanna’s ironed on face doll

planeta hilda’s doll lineup

treefall design’s patchwork lamp cover

I love to sift through my bloglines checking out crafty goodness in blogland. Do you have a cool link to send in, an idea, a tutorial or just something fantastic that you have made or have seen somewhere? please email me.

Sorry everybody, this one’s a bit long.

If you’re intending to sell your stuff to stores, it’s very helpful to consider things from the boutique buyer’s perspective. Products make it to our shelves in one of two ways: We have either purchased them at a wholesale price from a manufacturer, or we have accepted them on consignment from a (usually local, but not necessarily) designer. When we purchase outright, the product is ours to sell, and ours to keep if it doesn’t sell. It’s always a gamble that we take, so we try to think carefully about the purchases we make, and that thinking involves many things: What do our customers want? What can we offer that will surprise them? What is unique to our location? Is the price point right for our customers? Do we have room to display it? Do we have other things like it? Do we love it? We may like and want lots of things, but we are limited by some of the above criteria. You shouldn’t take it personally when a store says no to carrying your products. You should also learn to edit the advice you receive quite carefully. Success involves both flexibility in the marketplace and integrity; don’t automatically sacrifice either when someone rejects you or tells you to change. All of us must, in the end, find our own way, and no one has a crystal ball.

But when you approach a store with the intention of selling us your knitted baby bibs, it’s important to think like a buyer, and recognize that the above questions (maybe a few more, maybe a few less — this is just how I think, after all) are paramount in that buyer’s mind whenever they are considering carrying a product. We really aren’t thinking about you and how long it took you to make that thing. We aren’t thinking about how much it cost you (financially, emotionally, physically), how many bills you have to pay, or your hopes and dreams at all. We are thinking almost exclusively about ourselves, and whether we’re going to be able to sell your product at the price point you are suggesting. I hate to be mean about it, and I’m not being: But understanding what is going through the mind of the buyer considering your product will help you have more success with the transaction and ultimately more success with your business, I think.

Nevertheless, there are certain things you can do before the buyer even sees your product that will help you curry favor. Here’s one: Research. When people start out selling their handmade things, they usually start with local stores in their city or town. If you’re not a big shopper and you aren’t familiar with your local shops, take a day off and get out there. Look at what they carry, how it’s displayed, what the general aesthetic and price point is. Take a business card. Buy something, and get a feel for the climate of the retail staff, how they package things, what’s emphasized among the product lines they carry. Don’t walk right in to a place you’ve never been before and introduce yourself as a local artist looking to sell your baby bibs! Nothing, and I mean nothing, will result in an icier reception. I can’t say exactly why this happens, but it happens. Resist the temptation to introduce yourself. Pretend you’re Veronica Mars and just spy. You’re doing research here, remember? You’re trying to save yourself the ultimate pain of approaching stores that are completely inappropriate for you and having them say, “Lady, do you know what we sell here?” Some buyers might be nicer than the ones I know, but why find out? Do some research.

I have great compassion for people who muster up the courage to pound the pavement. Trust me when I tell you that no one who loves sitting alone in their studio knitting baby bibs can possibly have the same Myers-Briggs personality type as someone who loves selling . . . anything. You are not alone in not wanting to do this. I promise you. But this is how people start out. And there are certain ways not to do it. I can’t tell you how many people we’ve never seen before come into the shop with a bag full of stuff and expect us to drop whatever we’re doing to consider their offerings. They may be out there, but I don’t know of a single buyer who appreciates this. Please don’t make this mistake — it is the surest way to make a buyer think you are unprofessional. Unless you’ve got some cupcakes for us in that bag, too, we will talk about you behind your back if you do this. On principal, we never buy things from these folks, and I can’t think of any book on business I’ve ever read that suggests it as a tactic. It is an inconsiderate and amateurish approach, and sends up warning flags to your potential buyer that you will be inconsiderate and amateurish to work with in general. Amazingly, it happens all the time!

Instead, try this. Research the stores you think would be potential candidates to carry your products. Make sure they are in different neighborhoods, or that they aren’t in direct competition with each other; stores want to be unique, and they don’t want their customers to feel like they can get the same stuff on every corner. If the store has a web site, go to it and read it. Discover whether or not they are strictly brick-and-mortar or if they also might sell your things on line; be prepared to have an answer if they ask you where else you sell your things, or whether you make them available on-line.Know your pricing. Don’t expect your potential buyer to figure this out for you.

In addition to your wholesale/suggested retail prices, this is what else your buyer will want to know: Where else are you selling your stuff? What is your turnaround time? What are your terms (i.e.: how and when do you accept payment)? What is your minimum opening order amount (i.e.: how much do we have to spend to make it worth your while at all)? What is your reorder amount? If you’re just starting out, I think it makes sense to set your minimums fairly low. This gives a store more incentive to take a chance on you, and reorder when/if things sell without risking a bigger investment. It is lovely if you take the time to think about these things before you make contact with a buyer; it’s even lovelier if you’ve typed it all up along with your contact information, price list and some really good little pictures of your products (also called a line sheet).

Now you’re ready, baby. Put on those walking shoes and hit the pavement!

Two cool ways to decorate that space between your hand and your arm:

Necktie Bracelets at Carly Couture

Tennis Ball Watch at Refinding (link found via: Great Green Goods)

…is in Perth, Australia and it sure is a lovely world she lives in. I am really glad that she has begun to share her art related work with her readers. She recently posted her artist statement and some examples of her work.

I am exploring the worlds of pattern/textiles and home or comfort zone in conjunction with the worlds of medicine and science. I find the paradox between these two areas very interesting, as one is soft, furnished, cluttered and welcoming, and the other cold, clean, sterile and white. … I do like to work with opposites and I am very interested in the fact that by isolating and examining these textiles in a scientific manner, not only am I highlighting the virus-like effects of nostalgia, I am also suspending these traditional textile processes in time. read the rest here

The theme for week 6 is colour to go with the great colourful prizes we have on offer

And the winners for week 5 are…

there are 3 prizes - the first three get a prize and the last three have a special mention. Of course this week there were so many great entries, from complex to simple all great.

mummy jo with her botanical flower

hometownless with the greek coffee cup warmer

unplanned musings and the recycled sweater

Special mentions go to

pink chalk studio and the yarn farm

lemonade sandwich with the wrapped up doll

and editors pic goes to this simple yarn and bead necklace from magfly

thank you to the great sponsors for keeping us going!

Alison at the blue blog has organised another great sock event, some fab outcomes, I really love the mini flipflopsocks that Flinke Nadel made

oh goodie - a pattern - it is a pdf file

Hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn is all the rage now and I for one give this trend a HUGE two thumbs up as I have many of these spun works of fiber fetish in my stash to prove it! Now, let it be said that these wonderful warm and fuzzy works of art usually weigh-in at minimum, worsted, to maximum, bulky. So what’s thread head like myself to do when she wants that hand-dyed look in a teensy, weensy weight fiber for her next doily or crocheted eyeball?

She takes a trip across the world wide web over to Artfabrik, that’s what! Proprietor Laura Wasilowski gifts to the world her wonderful hand-dyed threads in 58 COLORWAYS available in sizes 3 - 12. Then when your finished shopping for thread, make sure to peruse her hand-dyed fabrics and quilting patterns as well. A-mazing stuff!

Do you keep fabric scraps, no matter how small? You just can’t bring yourself to throw them away? Yep, me too. I came across this very cute tutorial by Mixi for using them to make a necklace. Pictures here and tutorial here.

Via Craft Sanity, Episode 16.

kiddley - a new blog for parents, family and children filled with crafts and activities, run by Claire from loobylu. See projects like making these juggling balls and lots more.

There have been several mentions of podcasts on whip-up lately, but I just finished listening to the great CraftyPod/Craftsanity podcasts about podcasting, and thought they deserved some more time in the sun.

For those of you who don’t know what a podcast is yet and are too shy to ask, check out the wikipedia entry. Basically, podcasts are like little radio shows that you can make using your own computer on whatever topic interests you, and post it online for others to listen to. You don’t need an ipod or anything fancy to listen to podcasts, you can listen to them on your regular ol’computer, like I do. Craft related podcasts often include great interviews with crafty people, instructions on making things, general advice and resources, as well as plenty of inspirational ideas.

In episode 14 of Craftsanity and episode 24 of Craftypod, the two ladies behind these great podcasts, Sister Diane and Jennifer, had a discussion about why they podcast, how they got started, and what kinds of challenges and joys they face in making their respective podcasts. They provide a lot of great information and inspiration for anyone who might be thinking of starting their own crafty podcast. Craft podcasts do seem to be popping up all over, which is great, but I think we need even more because I just can’t stop listening to them!

Julie has posted a few times (here and here) on the great fiber related podcasts that are out there. Here are a few others related to crafts and creativity to try out:

CraftyPod
CraftSanity
Design*sponge
CraftyChica
CraftBorg
CraftCast
CandieCast
CraftLit
Cut out + Keep
Off the Record, with the Richmond Craft Mafia
CollageArtist

If there are others that are favorites of yours that I have missed, feel free to give us a heads up in the comments!

Reprodepot now sells marimekko! woo-hoo!

Along with a ton of other wonderful new fabrics, these just blow my mind! Perfect for summer. The teatowels would make great handbags, I’d say (or of course, aprons.)

Ok, here’s my own tutorial for making a skirt from old t-shirts. Please excuse my choice of t-shirts but this is all i could manage to get from my husband, where DID he get that pink t-shirt?!!!

Ok, pick 2 t-shirts

cut up the sides and across the top, both front and back making sure all 4 pieces are the same size , unless you want the side panels smaller.

Sew together alternating the panels. You will notice that you don’t need to sew a hem, bonus! Now, fold over the waistband twice and sew in place (making sure this chanel is wide enough for your elastic to fit through), feed through the elastic and TA DA!!! you have a new skirt

please excuse the photo, and the socks! Hehehehe!

Amazing detail and skill, Camille Allen’s miniature and life size freehand clay sculptures are so mesmerising. Link to further info about Camille, who’s just a bebe herself at 25 years of age.

Via One Good Bumblebee.

There are some Modernists (you know who you are) who, like Adolf Loos in 1908, equate ornament with crime. One interior designer we know, is proud that he designed an 8-year-old girl’s room in all taupe. “Now that’s a crime,” I thought. That’s when I knew that I wasn’t one of them. But I also knew that I had no tolerance for doo-dads or designer names mindlessly attached to things.

I think it was moving to our 1914 Arts and Crafts bungalow that helped me make peace with ornament. Here’s where I am now: If you’re going to have ornament, something that says “Hey, look here. A little closer. I have something beautiful to show you.” If you’re going to have that, it has to be really well-designed and well-made ornament to warrant the extra look.

Laura Foster Nicholson’s exquisite ribbons fit the bill. I first saw them when she came to our studio to rent our long-arm quilting machine. I immediately thought that I had to design something to use them to their best advantage. Now that’s good ornament for you. Good ornament is something that you want to design around. Laura’s ribbons are beautifully designed and woven, befitting an artist of her caliber.

I’ve put them on backpacks, purses and luggage tags so far. I’m planning some on pillows as well. They are so lovely they begged to be used. I try to design something to avoid having to deal with cut edges, but when that’s not possible, Fray Check can be applied to the cut edge.

Our daughter fell in love with these bug ribbons at a local fabric store and we made her this cool messenger bag with a ladybug lining to show them off. And by the way, her bedroom is a beautiful shade of robin’s egg blue and has Marimekko curtains.

Michael grew up in Houston, Texas and now lives in Dallas. He has two dogs and two cats and at any given time up to two thousand caterpillars! You see he raises silkworms and reels silk from their cocoons.

As a child he learned to sew and crochet from one grandmother, to draw and paint from the other.

“I taught myself to knit. My mom’s mother made a valiant effort when I was a child, and I managed to pick up sewing, crochet, and embroidery, but my hands just wouldn’t do the motions required for knitting. I was probably six or seven or eight; I remember trying it a couple of different summer vacations. Years later, having learned to weave and spin, I decided I wanted to figure out knitting, and I picked up a book and slogged my way through, English style. I did a scarf and some swatches, then put it away. After a reallymagical trip to Peru, where *everyone* knits, crochets, weaves, and spins, I was inspired to pick it back up again, and figured out Continental knitting with the help of knittinghelp.com (then valleycafe.com) and lots of practice.”

When asked about his most significant project so far, Michaels replies:

“For me, it has been a little amulet bag that I am working on, made from hand-spun wild Polyphemus silk. These moths live across most of North America, eating oak and beech and birch trees, and they spin a tussah-like silk that spins into a golden-beige sparkly yarn. I’m not done with the pouch yet, but the thing that’s special about it to me, is the completeness of the process - raising the moths from eggs, degumming and carding out the silk, spinning it, knitting it on 000’s.”

Michael has page after page of tutorials on the entire silk process from reeling to dyeing on his webpage (link below). Also be sure to read his article published over at Knitty about silkworms. More recently Michael was seen dancing in a Willie Nelson video; find a link to the video on his blog. He will also be featured on HGTV’s show “That’s Clever” this fall/winter (date to be announced).

Michael’s Website
Michael’s Blog
Knitty article written by Michael

June 10th is World Wide Knit in Public Day or WWKIP Day. Find out if there is a get together in your area or sign up to host one! You have until May 29th to submit your group to the organizers.

If soccer is more your speed, join the World Cup KAL which begins June 9th (my completely un-sports minded self is assuming this corresponds to the beginning of the soccer tournament). As always, check for new knit-alongs at the handy-dandy 2006 Knit-Along website faithfully maintained by keeping me in stitches. . .

Week 5.
theme is YARN
I have three yarn related books to giveaway
not much time left to enter your link in the comp -

1. Teach yourself visually crocheting - by Kim P. Werker and Cecily Keim, (Donated by Wiley publishing)

What am I doing reviewing a crochet or knitting book anyway? I may have only basic skills in this area, but I know what I like and I know if I can understand it or not and I know if I want to make it. However as technically this area of craft is not my forte, I let a very experienced yarn person (my mother) who has knitted, crocheted, spun, felted, anything else to do with yarn for more than 40 years, look over the following three books and give me her opinion.

Teach yourself visually crocheting, from my perspective seemed like an excellent book, great diagrams and easy to understand intructions. Lots of advice on materials, technique and patterns, and for those of us who find instructions difficult, the visual nature of this book is very useful. But is it a good crochet book? I gave it to my mum for the once over and she came back saying that this is would be excellent if you had never crocheted before, as the instructions etc are so very good, really well illustrated and labelled. Next she discussed the fact that even if you were not a beginning crocheter then this book still has much to teach, lots of different stitches and patterns make this book good for experienced people who love to crochet as well. So good on all areas, excellent book, great instructions, well laid out, and easy on the eye.

2. Holiday knits - by Sara Lucas and Allison Issacs, 25 great gifts from stockings to sweaters (Donated by Chronicle books)

This book from my beginner knitter perspective seemed like it might have fun patterns to try, interesting and not too challenging for a first project. Such as baby booties, hats, pillow and scarves with enough variation but not too taxing. From an experienced knitters perspective these patterns would be a pleasure to knit, simple and interesting for a little light knitting in front of the telly at night or to take travelling. The name of the book, holiday knits, does explain many of the patterns, mostly christmas related, the sort of gifts you might give in a northern hemisphere christmas, as well as christmas decorations and ornaments and a couple of variations on the christmas stocking. All in all a well laid out book with simple patterns good for gift giving.

3. One skein by Leigh Radford (donated by Interweave Press)

This book has received a bit of hype in the blog world, with a knit-a-long and a secret pal exchange as well as a podcast interview. For a sneak peak check out the website. So what is with all the hype, is this book any good?

It certainly is luxurious to look at, the projects are all yummy. Leg warmers, singlet tops, as well as the requisite gloves, scarves and cardigan. There is some variation with patterns such as knitted purses, bath mats and felted bowls. Quite a bit of variety and enough to make a die hard non-knitter pick up the sticks. I had my mum look over the book, and she is a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to knitting practical items, she doesn’t go in for frivolous, but even she was impressed. The patterns are well laid out, easy to understand, good instructions, and while she wouldn’t bother with knitted bibs or cupcakes or candy wrappers, she did like the look of the neckwarmer and socks, and she does like a good baby cardigan pattern.

A few thank yous are needed - to Jon for the challenge manager plugin for wordpress that he wrote for me and is still making modifications on - he has made it available for download if anyone is interested in finding out more about it go to his website.
Thank you to the readers and participants for making this challenge interesting and worthwhile and to the authors and publishers for donating prizes and thank you to the great sponsors for keeping us going!

“I think I am hooked on crochet, knitting and jewellery… I diversify my work with gold and sliversmithing. A whole range of plastic and rubber animals are waiting to be cut in pieces to be turned into jewellery or a jewellery like object.” Felieke van der Leest

2003, Tree Frog with Knickerbockers, brooch, synthetic, gold, textile

1999, Baby Spermhearts boyish girl girlish boy, necklace, textile, metal

2000, Charm bracelet “Maritime”, textile

2004, Flamenco Deer Señor Señorita del Sol, brooch, textile, synthetic, gold

selection of weekly quilts, each 6″x8″, copyright Jeanne Williamson 2005

Like our most recent Quilt Artist of the Week, Jeanne Williamson makes journal quilts. If Ms. Moll is showing us how time becomes a blended, multitextured blur, Ms. Williamson is on the opposite extreme, reflecting the passage of time in concrete, discrete measures. From 1999-2005 she made one small quilt a week, for a total of 365 weeks. The result is extraordinary not only for the sheer discipline involved, but for range of colors, techniques, and
themes at work, and how the individual pieces work together as a whole and show the evolution of her voice as an art quilter. Each year she inagurated new dimensions just to shake things up and deal with new design challenges. Shortly after beginning the project she began writing notes on the backs of the quilts as a reminder of the events and thoughts that influenced their creation.

Orange Construction Fence Series #38, 49″x30.5″, copyright Jeanne Williamson 2005

You may notice that the project started out with more representational quilts, and that 2005 is largely abstract. The repeated oval and rounded-square shapes that begin to appear later in the project are explored at a larger scale in her stitched monoprints: they are actually made using construction fences! These works are whole-cloth, monoprinted with fence sections then painted and stamped with other forms and shapes. Asked about why she uses this ubiquitous material in such an unusual way, she told me, “I love grids, and I was instantly attracted to the construction fences when I first noticed them. After seeing that there were many sizes and shapes of the grids, that the orange plastic sagged in the heat of the sun, and cracked in cold temperatures, I was hooked on them. Each time I finish one piece, I have at least one or two more images in mind for my next pieces. If I run out of ideas, I’ll stop, but for the time being, I have way too many ideas to stop now.”

Ms. Willamson’s “Orange Construction Fence Series #29″ won Best of Show and the McCarthy Award at Quilt National 2005, and was featured on the cover of the Quilt National 2005 catalog.

See a solo exhibition of Ms. Williamson’s work at the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, Massachusetts through June 4, 2006. She is also in a couple group exhibits (more info on her website.)