SILKFAIR Blog – March 2009

Every year, when spring comes with a rebirth of nature, the human spirit itself enters a romantic mood. The following items are dedicated to all those romantic spirits

1) Garden Passions Necklace A long time ago, when gardens were romantic getaways and teatime was a dress-up occasion, this lariat might be draped casually around your neck.

2)Rose Bath Bomb. Romantic and pretty and fresh, leaving your bath water and skin super soft!

3)Silk Satin Rose. These lovely silk satin roses and French ribbon leaves are beloved by both men and women.

4) Dainty Blue/Gilded Demitasse Cup and Saucer . Very elegant and rich looking, reminding us of another time.

5) Sweet romance Necklace with Brass Pendant and Carnelian Beads . A dramatic necklace, adorned with red Carnelian Beads and crystal Copper rounds, to fulfill the dramatic but romantic look.

Image courtesy Nomad Crafts

The coming of spring always inspires creativity, colors, cleaning and a fresh start to the summer season.  Cold and dreary is on its way out and a world in bloom is on the way in.  Here a a few suggestions for shedding the winter gloom and stepping out into the warmth of spring.

Be Colorful
Add a little bit of color to your wardrobe and your garden.  Spring is the perfect time to dress up in color.  Go one step further than merely accessorizing with colors, brighten up your wardrobe by purchasing a few coordinates in colorful palettes.  The black, white and gray backdrops should be accented with a bit of orange, green and blue.

Likewise its time to return to your garden and spruce it up with the bright welcome colors of annuals.  A few colorful flowers go a long way to brightening up a dormant garden.

Be Open
Freshen up your home by opening windows, cupboards, closets and doors the circulate some of the spring air.  The cool air of spring not only helps to circulate some fresh air into your home, but it serves to rejuvenate.  Nothing is more invigorating than the crisp, cool, fresh spring air.  You be surprised how inspired you become by circulating some spring air into your home.

Clean Up Your Act
Remove the clutter.  Winter often causes a build-up of clutter in our homes.  We spend so much more time indoors in the winter, that we tend to accumulate, collect and store.  The spring is perfect opportunity to go through closets, drawers, garages and trunks to remove any extra clutter.  An easy way to shed winter clutter is store your winter clothing and replace it with your spring and summer clothing in your closets and drawers.

Personal Growth
Spring is a time to grow, especially in your garden.  Annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, bulbs and trees can be planted after danger of frost.  There is nothing more rewarding than growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs and preparing your own fresh and organically delicious meal.  No yard, no garden, no problem, there are plenty of indoor varieties and most veggies and herbs grow beautifully in pots on your window sill.


**Blue Flower photo courtesy of Eternal Images.  Visit the store for more beautiful spring themed stock photos http://eternalimages.silkfair.com

ByHand is an ideal resource for those who buy,  sell and support handmade.  We were so impressed with the efforts of its founders that we thought our users might want to know more.   Silkfair interviewed Rebecca Dillon for an introduction to the site.  The interview was both personally insightful and informative.  The handmade revolution continues, read on.

Tell us about the story of byhand.me and how it came to fruition.

ByHand.me was conceived and created by my husband, Adam. Frustrated with handmade venues that seemed to advertise only to sellers and not to buyers as well as social networking sites that seemed steeped in nothing but seller spam, he wanted to create an environment where artists could showcase their work and at the same time really get seen. We feel ByHand reflects an answer to these issues. Front page blog posts are carefully monitored for content and we also actively advertise to buyers as the bulk of advertising.

Who are the folks behind the scenes at byhand.me and what are their backgrounds?

M. Adam Kendall is the creator, designer and programmer for ByHand. He currently works full time as a programmer for an independent company in Arlington, VA. However, his background growing up was very different from this and another reason that ByHand was created. Adam actually came from a lower income family with three other brothers and a sister. His dad lost his job at one point so he is very familiar with what it is like to struggle through a hardship. He also, unfortunately, remembers what government cheese and powdered milk taste like. Adam’s mom was a seamstress who worked at her craft to pull in extra money to help support the family. It’s because of her that Adam gained an appreciation for arts and crafts and the reason he knows how to sew. He also learned woodworking from his dad and metalworking from his grandfather. You can read Adam’s whole story on ByHand under Our Story. http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/Itemid,272/id,1342/view,article/

Myself, Rebecca D. Dillon, I’m from a pretty average American family. I grew up as part of the struggling middle class in the 80s with a mother who was always trying to give my brother and I whatever we wanted and therefore living a bit beyond our means. My mom was always doing arts and crafts with me and taught me how to bake. I attended college locally at Roanoke College where I studied a bit of everything including photography, screen printing, graphic design, pottery, 3-D design, drawing, painting, art history, poetry and even writing. It took me seven years, but I eventually managed a BA in fine arts. I do a lot of the basic customer support for ByHand members, the advertising and marketing. I also work up the artist features and interviews.

Together, husband and wife make a pretty good team.

Why handmade? Why do you think supporting handmade is important?

Handmade is the backbone of America. Pretty much everyone who immigrated to America came here to work for themselves doing whatever it was they knew how to do. Handmade is [also a piece of] women’s history, [including] baking, cooking, sewing, and crafting - all those things women did before they were allowed to do anything else.  Before we could work and actually make a living at it and before we could vote, it was a woman’s skill at these things that helped us through the wars and clothed a lot of families through the ’50s. So, handmade is really important. It’s part of America’s culture. We should be supporting artists here at home and abroad who work for themselves, not a factory that mass produces items at the expense of their workers.

Additionally, the artists who produce handmade typically care about what they are making. They are going to be more stringent about the quality of their products than someone who is working on a line everyday for
someone else.

Let’s say that I am an artisan and I am brand new to byhand.me. What is the best way to navigate the site and use it to its fullest?

To use all of the features on ByHand you need to be a member. So signing up is number one. Registration is simple and free. You can then find everything you need by visiting the main tabs at the top of every page.

Community includes the forums and clubhouses - both places that offer a way to share ideas with others and get any help you might need. You’ll also find Site Help there which gives you a basic run down of all ByHand’s features and how to use them.

Shopping is primarily for buyers, but many artisans love this section as well. This is where you go to get to our Handmade Search, member created Spotlights, to enter our handmade contests, find members in the Artisan Directory, and most importantly Wishlists. Wishlists are perfect for buyers as they allow members to add an item to their their list on ByHand from any of eight handmade venues without ever leaving the site they’re on. Wishlisting is as simple as one click from your toolbar and that’s it. ByHand users can then go to their Wishlists and create individual lists from their items as well as email their list to friends and family. The lists are a great tool for artists because every list that gets sent links back to the list on ByHand. This brings more buyers to ByHand and gives all of our artists a better chance of getting additional exposure. Of course it’s even better if they’re on someone’s list!

Our Story is where you can read the background behind ByHand, find buttons for your website and our invite feature.

My Stuff is the big deal though if you are an artist. This is where you can find and fill out your profile, create Spotlights of your work to be seen in Window Shopping throughout the site, write blog entries for the community blog, and manage your Wishlists!

ByHand also provides a run down of all the features available at the top of the homepage under Benefits for co-op artisans.

What does one have to do to become a member? Do you only restrict users to handmade artisans?

To become a member on ByHand all you have to do is register. It’s as easy as that.

There are no restrictions on joining ByHand. Everyone is welcome. You can be an artist, a venue, a reseller, or just buyer. We welcome everyone to become a member and celebrate handmade. The only restriction we have set forth is that only handmade artisans can list their shops in the Artisan Directory.

With the current downturn in retail spending and the economy in a recession, what have you noticed in trends for handmade products and online selling sites? Is handmade suffering or thriving?

Online sales for handmade seem to be up. I’m not sure if this is because more people are turning to the internet to supplement their income in poor economy or if it’s because it’s easier to find and buy handmade with all of the options that are rapidly becoming available. I know that for me locally my soap sales dropped 50% the last quarter of 2008. However, my online sales for soap made up for that 50% that I didn’t make.

That being said, I think it’s easier to sell handmade items that are $20 and under. I also believe that more luxury oriented items, such as fine art, are currently suffering in this economy with sales that way down overall. So, in my opinion I think it all balances out. If you try to appeal to all price ranges in your market you can succeed at selling online even in this economy. It does take a lot of work, though.

Read the complete interview on our external blog http://silkfair.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/a-big-step-in-the-handmade-revolution-an-interview-with-byhand/

Recycling is a word we've been hearing for more than 10 years now. Processing and reusing used materials has now become part of our lives as a simple way of preserving nature and environment. For some people, recuperating and transforming old materials into new, beautiful and useful things is also a business.

Recupe Fashion is the shop of one of our members. With Reuse. Recycle. Recuperate as motto, the bright mind behind the store shared her struggles and how she got to work with recycled materials in an interview.

1) What do you create?
I create upcycled products and here is a short description of my shop which says it all

I have an earth friendly shop. I take old, unwanted and end of the line material and turn it into new items for your utmost pleasure. You will find up cycled handmade sewing, jewelry, crocheting and paper goods. Worth a visit.

2) Every great seller has a great name. How did you come up with yours?
Recupefashion: Recupe for recuperating and Fashion: for as in fashion,fashionable

3) When and why did you decide to start your business?
About 4 years ago I started to make new clothing out of unwanted clothes and I sold in 4 boutiques on concessions and it was pretty good, but a lot of work , you know , as each season came it took a new line of clothing and on and on. And I was alone to do everything. Then I go operated in the back and had to change to something with less work and so I turned to the internet and to smaller projects. But I kept the same name

4) What are your future plans?
I would love it if my name would be recognize more around the internet ecologically wise, so that people would come and buy more, I have this shop that has asked for some tie purses from Kentucky and I put them in her shop on concession, we're trying that for a while. But my main goal is for my 4 shops to sell regularly. I love variety and I love to create all the time so I would love for my customers to be more aware ecologically too.

5) 3 words for anybody new in this business
disciplined, persistent, hard working,

6) Which of the tools you use is a personal favorite?
serger

7) What keeps you motivated?
Feedbacks of my customers, hopes of making a sale today, strong believer that my time will come.

8) Inspiration is not sold at the market. How do you stay inspired? Do you have a secret muse?
That's a good one, I do get blanks, but then I go out and do something completely different, and it comes back, but it never stays for very long, as soon as I touch beads, the inspiration comes, when I play with fabric I know how I'm gonna place it with the other one so I'm never at loss of inspiration for very long, But the trick is to turn away and do something else.

9) How do you promote your business?
I chat in the forums a lot, I chat in the friends threads, I promote in my communities a lot, I'm on Facebook, twitter, plurk, plumdrop. etc, and you have to keep at it all the time,

10) Are you content with your business?
Actually I'm innovating all the time

11) Who are some of your favorite sellers?
http://chesapeakebaygiftbaskets.silkfair.com/
http://oldantiqueprint.silkfair.com/

Thanks for the story and for adding a piece of you and your world under Silkfair's skies.
Check out RecupeFashion shop for great and affordable recycled products.

As you may have read in our forums we are going to be launching the custom store feature during the month of March.  http://www.silkfair.com/forum/thread/674

What is the custom store feature, you ask?

Silkfair has designed a method for sellers to develop their own custom shop, with a dedicated url of the the sellers choosing and customizable templates.   The store will have all of the capabilities of any selling site, minus the headaches and exorbitant fees.  Additionally the custom store will appear to be completely separate from the SIlkfair site.

Why a custom store?

Developing the custom store feature is just one more way that Silkfair is empowering sellers.  We provide the tools for sellers to do what they do best and to alleviate the stress of having their own site.  We want them to be able to take control of their own success.  

We're excited about the prospects!.

Allowing sellers to be all they can be, with as little expense and headaches as possible?  Now that's innovation.

Interested?  Let us know.

Hook, Yarn & Inker has been with us since the 26th of January 2009. Selling One of a Kind Crochet Wearable Art and Unique, Beautiful Journals and Stationary they share the love for handmade with a couple of Indian friends.

My Stationary is 100% made by hand from 100%recycled cotton from my friends who live in India. Nothing is mass produced. Each item is individual and no two items are exactly the same.

The story behind Hook, Yarn & Inker lies in the following lines, in the interview we were so happy to take with the mind behind crochet art and unique stationary.

What do you create?

I create crochet fashions for women in particular - mostly different kinds of hats. but i crochet sweaters and ponchos for custom orders. this past year i started crocheting slippers and they were a big hit.

Every great company has a great name. How did you come up with yours?

Hook, Yarn & Inker came from my friends sitting around at a craft show throwing around ideas for my name. of course the hook and yarn are for crocheting and the "inker" part is for the journals that i sell for my friends who live in India.

When and why did you decide to start your business?

I've been crocheting for many years but decided in 2004 to try and sell my creations. mainly because i had so many things sitting around the house and i kept giving things to my friends and family members and i was spending too much money on the yarn that i thought i should try to recoup some of that money. =) also we had just returned from living in India for 3 years and wanted to sell the journals as well.

What are your future plans?

I would like to keep creating and selling because my daughters are all at the age where they're leaving home and i have to have something to do.

3 words for anybody new in this business

Don't give up

What keeps you motivated?

Not wanting to get fat. =) i watch a lot of tv and movies and if i don't do something with my hands - i eat - so i crochet all most all the time when i'm watching tv.

Inspiration is not sold at the market. How do you stay inspired? Do you have a secret muse?

Not really - just my kids and watching what they like to wear.

How do you promote your business?

By word of mouth, repeat customers, doing craft shows, spreading the word and business cards at work. mostly through personal contact

Are you content with your business?

Can always use more business - more sales

Thank you for sharing with us more than just the obvious. For lovely items, handcrafted with love, take a look and check out the shop: Hook, Yarn & Inker