August 5th, 2010

Kids Craft Camp came to a close a couple of weeks ago but we can’t stop talking about how much fun we had with our 13 campers every day. All of these exceptionally talented young ladies, ages 8-12, learned new skills and took their projects far beyond what we anticipated. Workshops in sewing, embroidery, zines and comics, mixed media art journaling and jewelry making kept everyone busy no matter what their skill levels were. We’ve had lots of requests for another session in August (which is just a bit too soon for us to plan), but don’t fret, we are already planning for a Winter Break craft camp with more information to come!

Congratulations ladies on all of your super crafty achievements!!

July 16th, 2010

April Winchell, author of Regretsy, hosted Club Etsy last night and it was an amazing turnout! The club night is usually about celebrating what people create and in a way, last night was about that too. It was also about poking fun at the ways we sometimes take ourselves and our ideas too seriously.

The most frequently asked question I get at our club nights is “how do I get my Etsy store noticed?”

One of April’s main points during her presentation was that while her website and book draw attention to people’s creations in a critical way, the response from people who embrace what is featured on her site often brings more attention to these artists and crafters than they might receive on their own. Personally, I’ve always been fascinated with counterculture and its ability to blur the line between low and high art.

April is no stranger to outsider culture herself. She hosted a radio show for several years, sharing unconventional music to her listeners that may never have been heard on a large scale. She genuinely appreciates what she points out as weird or terrible and in fact, her presentation included a slideshow of over 20 items featured on her site that now sit comfortably in her home.

If you haven’t picked up a copy of her book, we have several autographed ones for sale in the store! We even made April a gift in true Regretsy form. Just before we got to take a staff photo with her, April let me know that our gift to her had been “mysteriously stolen” during her book signing! While I wish we could have gotten a group photo with her wearing it, luckily, we snapped several photos of her right when I presented the very special gift, one of which you can see below.

Thanks again to April and everyone who made it out last night! We hope to see you at upcoming Club Etsy meetings on the second Wednesday of every month from 6-8pm.

July 9th, 2010

Last night we held our FIRST EVER sock monkey class at the Urban Craft Center! Each participant brought with them a pair of socks that were transformed into these kitschy little creatures. The studio space was full of creative energy and conversation as we worked into the evening. Everyone in the class went home with a new friend and the know-how to create their own sock monkey in the future! Be sure to join in on our next sock monkey making madness on August 25th from 5-9 pm!

June 26th, 2010

I am the first intern here at the Urban Craft Center. I am currently a senior studying textile design and art history at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, PA. I grew up in Idaho and while I love living on the east coast, felt like I needed to return to some open space. I decided that the perfect place for me to spend a summer would be in sunny California. Luckily I stumbled across the U.C.C and what can I say, it was love at first sight! I feel so very lucky to be chosen as the intern and was ecstatic when I got the call. I love the wonderful ladies who work here, the beautiful and inspiring space and the feeling of community that the combination of these two elements create. Look forward to a weekly update of projects I am working on for the U.C.C.

Along with interning at the U.C.C this summer, I also had the opportunity to travel to Nepal. While there I worked with a woman’s empowerment group called the Chetana Women’s Skill Development Project. This project in Pokhara, Nepal provides underprivileged women with an opportunity to learn design, weaving and sewing skills. With these skills the women are able to find work and therefore provide their children with better education and health care. I spent a month working on the project with the founder Tara Tilminshina. I worked to help them develop their product designs, improve the working conditions for the women and develop a marketing strategy. I will be launching a website for the project in August. It hasn’t even been a week yet since I have been back in the US. While my body is here, my mind still seems to be with the women and children of the CWSDP.

If you are interested in reading more about this project and my travels to Nepal and Africa to empower women through textiles, check out my blog: http://loveoneanothertoday.blogspot.com/

June 25th, 2010

May 13th, 2010

Thank you to everyone who came out to Club Etsy last night! A big special thank you to Deanne Destler from Deja Vu Vintage who gave great advice to everyone and even helped critique some volunteers’ Etsy shops. This time we had our studio projector so everyone got to see Etsy up close.
Join our online Club Etsy to find out what next month’s topic will be!

April 17th, 2010

We had a great Club Etsy night last week with guest host Polly Danger. Polly gave valuable advice to everyone about making the most of craft fairs, involving yourself in the community, and maintaining a successful Etsy store. Everyone shared their own experiences and left energized and totally inspired! Thank you to everyone who came out – keep an eye on our Club Etsy page for announcements about next months meeting!

March 11th, 2010

Last night’s Club Etsy was another great opportunity to meet other crafters and talk about the different goals everyone has for their Etsy shops. This week we discussed the ins and outs of setting up, maintaining an account and experimented with product photography. I set up the studio photo box and flood lights (available for you to use with studio time!) and a couple of attendees brought in products to photograph using our digital camera.

One thing I’ve learned about having an Etsy store is that quality photos of your products are just as important as the quality of what you sell. While it might be tempting to throw a towel on a bed and take a quick picture to get the process over with, you’ll be much happier and have better customer response if you take a little time to learn how to take a crisp, clear product photo.

Fortunately, Etsy offers a variety of valuable resources and tutorials for every aspect of your Etsy store. You can find articles, forums, videos and more by visiting The Storque, in the blog section of their website.

Here are a couple of photos taken at our club night yesterday. Don’t they look great?!

(above: http://www.etsy.com/shop/eroweboat)

If you didn’t make it out last night, you can still join our online Club Etsy group HERE. Add photos of your products, ask questions in our discussion forum and find out what special topic will be offered in next month’s meeting. We hope to see you at our next Club Etsy, Wednesday April 14th from 6-8pm!