Carolyn's Iris

This was one of the first images I scanned from my mom's watercolors to make cards. I am slowly getting all 70 designs we have in my computer formatted into the cards we sell. Every time I add a new one to the card rack at shows, people snap it up! Sometimes they don't even send the cards, they frame them. At some near point we will be offering actual matted prints.


By the way, I have First Saturdays Open Studios tomorrow, October 6th from 12-5, come by and say hello! (See "Appearing Live" to the right for directions).

Open Studios!

Saturday and Sunday I participated in the city-wide Open Studios in Lowell, MA. It was a big deal and everyone at Western Avenue Studios had been working toward it for weeks and months.

I set up a little welcome station with a fruit plate and water along with a beautiful flowering mum my friend Mirja gave me as a birthday/studio warming gift.






I paid to be listed in the LOS literature and on the website. It seems like we had a good turnout though I don't know exact numbers.

We in the A mill were at a bit of a disadvantage being a new section and a bit off the beaten path from the main building. But Greg of Mill City Photography, Donna Berger and others helped make signage to direct people our way. I contributed a handpainted sign that I hope got people's attention.


I had plenty of items to fill my displays so I didn't have to scramble to make things. I did offer needle-felting demonstrations both days and that is always good because I actually make more flowers while showing people how I do it! In fact I ended up completing three pins over the weekend. My polymer clay eggs were a big hit along with the felty flower pins and mom's cards. But I got positive comments on all my items, which is really encouraging and very satisfying. Especially from other artists in the building! I find the other artists at WAS to be supremely friendly and helpful and I'm very much enjoying the camaraderie. Other artists also bought from me which is a huge compliment! Amber who spins and creates knitting patterns and knit sculpture bought a string of my handmade beads in the morning...


...and came back in the afternoon wearing a necklace she designed with her studio-mate who makes jewelry!


D came and kept me company for several hours and that was wonderful since I was missing spending the weekend with him which we really enjoy, even when we have to do things like buy groceries. Other friends and neighbors stopped in, I always love seeing a friendly face as well as meeting new folks. Overall it was very enjoyable and I wish it happened more than once a year! Luckily, I have first Saturdays to look forward to every month. Hopefully, as we are nearing the holidays, the attendance for those will increase.

Update on other shows: I did not get into Bazaar Bizarre, not bizarre enough I'm guessing. But that's OK! I have an application in to participate in stART on the street's holiday show at the Worcester DCU (the Centrum!) on December 9th. I really hope I get into that. I feel like the Worcester crowd likes my stuff and I would be sharing with Liz of Lush Beads again, we make a good team :) And don't forget I will be at the South End Open Market for their last show of the season on October 28th!

There's a lot going on

I got my knucklebuster yesterday!

Caught the UPS guy as he was leaving the lobby, D and I had been out for a walk. We are trying to fit in as many evening walks as we can before it gets dark too early. Anyway, got the machine and the plate, I'm ready to accept plastic in person! Line forms to the right, let's keep it orderly people.

This month's PCAGOE challenge was to create something inspired by a favorite book. My favorite published book is Quite A Year For Plums by Bailey White. One of the quirky characters is a wildlife artist who becomes obsessed with drawing and painting a picture of the lowly Dominique chicken. She dreams of its tighly patterned feathers and obsessively sketches its feet on napkins in the local diner. I made beads inspired by the patterns and colors of the Dominique and strung them into a necklace and earrings set.


Voting begins on September 26, but be fair, I'm not asking for votes, go see which one you like best! There are some great entries this month.

Here's a shot of the beads before they got baked:


Also, I finally got good enough photos to list mom's Tree card, which I am crazy about. I couldn't decide if I liked it better on papaya cardstock or leafy green, so I am offering a set of four, two of each background. This tree is in a field in North Tisbury on the island of Martha's Vineyard.


I have started to offer handmade beads in my Etsy shop, the first set is a group of swirl beads in black gray and white. Here is a quick shot of how I form the bead shapes with my fingers on a long pin.

I hope to add more and more bead listings soon!

Signed up to take credit cards

So a quick post to say I signed up with ProPay to accept credit cards in my studio and at craft shows! I found this Etsy thread really informative and helpful. I ordered a "knuckle buster" credit card imprinter from Mr. Imprinter on ebay but it looks like they have their own site too...

From reading lots of Etsy forum posts I understand that not only are you more likely to make sales because people don't always have enough cash or a forget to bring a check, but that people who were going to buy from you anyway buy more when they can put it on plastic.

I'll let you know how it goes or if I have any tips on what to do, what not to do. I want to post more about the process of starting a business so others can benefit from what I go through.

Big Success!

I did the Worcester street festival, stART on the street on Sunday, September 16th. Liz from Lush Beads had invited me to share her tent and I had so much fun! We had perfect weather, 60's and sunny. The show was well set up with lots of cool vendors. They seemed to get a great turnout and I had customers all day.

Liz at her table:

My display:


The crowd was varied in ages but almost all were savvy and modern, understanding the indie craft aesthetic. These were my peeps! I'm not quite edgy enough to lure in the girls with multiple piercings and tattoos, but I'm not so out there that I turn off moms with quilted handbags. Somewhere in the middle is my demographic and I made a lot of sales. Yay! My 3 beads for a dollar were very popular:


And I'm really pleased with the new tags I made for my flowers. I feel like people were more willing to pick them up and fondle them (in a good way) when they weren't on cards like I had them before:


There were bunches of Etsy sellers there, but I didn't get to check them all out because I was mostly at my table all day. I did take a quick spin to visit Peter and Eve who have a studio on the 4th floor in Western Avenue Studios and were doing their first outdoor show. Peter makes the most amazing and delicate glass creatures as well as teardrop earrings, Eve does elegant things with fused glass, making coasters I covet. Her newest item is a wine bottle stopper. I hope they had a good day!

Peter and Eve:


I did needle felting demonstrations all day and completed the felt part of one flower and most of another.


And people visited me! Candace of The Intuitive Garden came by with her husband, so nice to see friendly faces among the strangers. Pssst: Candace is currently the featured seller on Etsy! Great choice Etsy admin! I hope she sells out :)

Another visitor was Marianne from Lowell whom I had never met but felt I had since I've been looking at her beautiful photos on Flickr and following her blog for so long. In fact I gave her an enthusiastic hug like she was an old friend. (I should probably find out if people are huggy before I do that, but I just got carried away!) She was very gracious and we all agreed it would be great if Lowell could put together a show like that.

Marianne:

It was an overwhelming and exhausting day, I missed spending Sunday with D, and I could barely move on Monday but it was worth all the work and now I'm fired up to make more stuff!

I've applied to get into my dream show: Bazaar Bizarre on December 9th, it's juried and spaces are very limited so I have no idea what my chances are, I find out if I got in on September 28th. My alternative is to share a space with Liz again at the stART show on the same day in the Worcester DCU (the old Centrum). Either way I'll get one last show in before xmas!

I hope you'll visit

I have been going to the studio every weekday and I am totally addicted :) I have a show on Sunday in Worcester, stART on the street, and I probably should be making some flowers or earrings, but I got inspired and started making something completely new! I'm not chastising myself, I probably have enough felty flowers for the show, this item is the start of a new line for me and it's very exciting!


It's a scarf made of panels cut from washed and dried (fulled) wool sweaters. I am going to make throws, blankets and pillows from them too, but this was the first of my ideas made real. I didn't sew the sweater pieces together, I used loose wool roving and art yarn to needle felt the seams closed. I always keep my prototypes so I can see how they hold up over time.


At the end of the month, Saturday, September 29th and Sunday, September 30th, I will be in my studio for Lowell Open Studios 12-5 each day and I hope everyone who can will come and say "hi". I love it when I meet people for the first time and they say "Hi, I read your blog!" or "I know you from Etsy!" That's the coolest :) And if I've already met you, I'd love to see you again in my new location, A305, third floor of the Mill A annex which is accessible from halfway down the hallway of the third floor in the main building down a short corridor. Or enter through the Classic Elite Yarns entrance and take the elevator to the third floor, I'm straight ahead, the one with the bright orange door!

Opening the Door

I spent some time in my studio last week. I started painting the door. A lot of artists have painted their gray doors fun colors, and I wanted to join in. I chose Pumpkin Patch in glossy from Behr at Home Depot, but it's coming out way more Pumpkin than Patch. That's OK though, I love the bright door and it's sure to catch the eye of passers by! Next I must think of a clever way to put my studio number on the door.


I also took time to sit and craft even though there is still so much organizing to do. I seem to fall into an organic schedule when I spend time in my studio, happily drifting from project to project without anxiety. I generally prefer structure to my day, but since I know everything I am doing in the studio, whether making something or just sorting beads, is all a valid use of time, I am content to be less linear. Which is saying a lot for me because I am so freaking linear! Classic Virgo :)

So I made these new felt flowers and I am in love with them! I listed two in my shop.


The purple one has a shiny brass button which I selected with help from Candace of The Intuitive Garden fame. She came to my studio last week and we had a fun day of crafting together! She is also a Virgo and we get along wonderfully. We have enough in common to get along really well, and are just enough different to have a million things to say to each other. She is also unbelievably generous, as you know, and brought me craft supplies and promotional items she made for me with her badge maker, what a delightful surprise! Next week I will experiment with the new medium I have been very curious about that she gave me. I'll let you know if I make anything worth sharing :)

I'll be back in the studio Monday to put a final(?) coat of paint on the door and make more things for the upcoming stART on the Street festival I am doing on Sunday, September 16th with Liz from Lush Beads who invited me and is generously sharing her tent. She's another person with whom I always have a million things to talk about. I guess that describes Amanda as well! It occurs to me I may have made some really cool friends :)

I found out another couple of Western Avenue artists may be attending stART as vendors as well, that would be great! I'll be sure to take pictures.