the BIG crafty...so big!

The big crafty was this past weekend, and as always we were a frantic mess.  Despite my blog entries about preparing for a craft fair we were not prepared.  When we got there almost everyone in our area were already finished setting up, although there were a few other "late screw-ups" too :P.  We are very used to being the late people, and we had plenty of time to set up!  This time I thought our table looked a lot better, and less cluttered than before.  See what you think.  We didn't make the mistake of putting out everything this time.  So all in all I think it looked a lot better.

We didn't have samples to give away this time.  Last craft fair I think it brought a lot of people to our table, but I'm not sure how much that translated into sales.  I think we just ended up giving a lot of our merchandise away.  The crowd was incredibly huge at the Big Crafty.  I wasn't prepared for how enormous it was.  They filled all of Pack Place and also blocked off the roads surrounding it.  It's amazing what a crafting presence there is in Asheville, and how interested its citizens are in the arts.

The other thing that Rachel and I have been talking about is that we have too much variety in our products.  In a craft fair that big, I think it's important to be recognizable.  We're still trying to figure out what that realization means for our business.  I'll certainly keep you posted!

All in all I think there were a lot of lessons to be learned at the Big Crafty, and I'm pretty sure we've only realized a few of them.  I think that both Rachel and I had too high of expectations.  We had done our first show, and we thought that we were ready for the big leagues.  I'll just say, I think that is still in our future.

craft in history--subversive embroidery

Subversive craft is all the rage right now. In order to keep a safe distance from our grandparent's generation new trendy crafters use irony to differentiate themselves. I would argue that to a large degree this is because we craft in a different context and for different reasons. Today's crafters have a diy attitude not out of necessity but instead to claim something we feel has been lost and also to provide an alternative to what the mainstream commercial world has to offer.

 not necessarily "subversive," but these are certainly not your grandmother's embroideries!

Click here to take a closer look

Although it may not look as subversive as the embroidery of today, the embroidery by Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th was far more subversive than any embroidery that I have seen.  Mary Stuart was queen of the Scots while her cousin, the infamous Elizabeth the great was queen of the English.  As in all the stories of royalty there were a number of power grabs going on between the two monarchs.  The "stuff you missed in history class" podcast mentioned that had Mary and Elizabeth not both been women they would have been married to one another in order to consolidate power, and prevent the continuous grabs for power.  The subversive embroidery comes into play when Mary's husband, an Englishman named Lord Darnley mysteriously dies in an explosion.  Mary is suspected of being involved in the assassination, and after marrying one of the murderers (under duress) looks even more guilty to the Scottish people.  The couple is imprisoned in Scotland.  Mary escapes to England, where she hopes her cousin Elizabeth with protect her.  Elizabeth instead imprisons her for her supposed crime.  Elizabeth fears Mary's claims to the English throne.  Elizabeth is the offspring of Henry VII's second marriage which many, especially Catholics claim to be illegitimate.

During her time in prison Mary had little to do but work on her embroidery.  The pieces look to be innocent enough often featuring animals.  However, there is said to be hidden symbolism in the embroideries, representing the life and times of Mary.  The symbolic embroidery that I heard about was was the one named "A Catte," but there are a number of other interesting pieces detailed here.

photo from http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/embroidery.htm

I love how in this age you could pretty much spell things however you wanted.  I think it gives writing a little personality (darn you Webster).  Mary's embroidered tapestry shoes a cat playing with a mouse.  The ginger colored cat is meant to represent Elizabeth, who still, as in her day is recognized for her ginger colored hair, while poor trapped Mary is meant to be represented by the mouse.  She is implying that Elizabeth is simply playing with her by allowing her to stay alive.

What strikes me about this piece of embroidery is that it was done at the time.  It was not done after the fact to be an historical reference, instead Mary was putting her feelings down on cloth.  Whether Mary was conveying what she really felt or trying to get a message to the outside world, Mary's embroidery certainly made a statement.

After a number of plots to get Mary on the throne were uncovered, Mary was sentenced for treason.  Elizabeth signed an edict for Mary's death, and she was executed in 1587.

Here's where I got my info.  Check them out for more on these royals:

http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/marystuart.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/embroidery.htm
http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/mary-queen-of-scots.htm

creativity overdrive

TangleCrafts Zine that sounds helpful with

a layout of the author's time, to-do lists, 

and patterns.

I've seen a lot of blog posts in the handmade community about what to do when you encounter a creative block. I certainly think that this discussion is relevant and important. However, the struggle I find that I encounter far more often is way too much creative ambition. Often I want to do everything and I want to do it all at once. I have this great fear of losing my ideas in the great recesses of my head because I could never have enough time to complete all of them.

For me, this experience can sometimes be crippling in a similar way to a creative block. There are far too many exciting things to do, so I find that I can't really settle on anything.  Sometimes I will even end up working instead on an old standard because I feel so overwhelmed. I've attempted to deal with this using an
information ribbon and to-do list, but those (along with most of my historical organization attempts) have fallen by the way-side. Perhaps this process is really a factor of filtering out non feasible or generally bad ideas. I think that is what I am going to choose to believe!

never too old for a bib

 

1. purple hydrangea 
2. brown tones 
3. rose bib hinged 
4. french connection 
5. paper flower 
6. mask stone 
7. rosebud 
8. adieu tristesse
9. handcrocheted black
   
   Bib/statement necklaces are everywhere these days, and have become especially prominent on etsy.  I initially had my doubts, and there are still a lot handcrafted bib necklaces that go way too far in making a statement.  I have noticed a number of really gorgeous necklaces.  These are only a few of my favorites.
   
   The bib necklace simply by sense of scale gives the crafter a lot more space to express their creativity.  One of the problems is that as with many crafting trends, I feel like I've seen a lot of people expressing someone else's creativity.
   
   It's certainly difficult to work within a trend, and also make it your own.  The successful crafter takes a little bit of a chance with their creation, engaging in some give and take with the trend.
   
   Finally, I have to comment on the tag "statement necklace."  It seems to me that the point of jewelry, even more than clothing is simply to make a statement.  It seems like a bit of a "no duh" phrase, but in a way I like it in the way it acknowledges what should be obvious.
   
   I've decided to try my hand at the trend.  Here is my newest creation:

banner

I finally made a banner for the craft show.  It took me such a long time to even start because I had such high hope.  I had it in my head that our banner needed to be EXACTLY like our current banner/logo.  I've finally conceded to myself that it doesn't have to be that way.  As a result, I've created something that I really like, and I feel like it engages the spirit of our branding, even if it doesn't replicate it exactly.

I tried to use the same font and general color scheme as our original branding.  I also took the sparrow.  I'm hoping that it will tempt at least a few buyers to our table at the big crafty.

It's still not completely ready.  I haven't figured out what would be the best way to hang it yet.  I'm thinking that using ribbon would be nice, either to hang the letters individually, or to glue the letters across a piece of ribbon.  I'm still thinking...