Deadline, schmedline

How many times have you heard about an event that would be *perfect* for crafty wares, only to find that you missed the application deadline by a day or two, or maybe a week, or maybe even a couple months? Well, I've got a secret for you... it's rarely ever too late.

This was my first year of doing the craft festival circuit. I've heard that, generally speaking, the festival world has been hurt by the economic downfall. As a result, there seem to be more openings (whether this is a result of artisans not being able to afford the fees, or finding the experience to be not as worthwhile is unknown to me...), which means that you, as a crafter, have a bit of leverage.  I've had the luck of being let in to festivals on three occasions whose deadlines were way past. I just found out yesterday that I was able to get into the Celebration of Craftswomen's festival, and I applied 4 months past the deadline!

The thing to do is just send a polite email expressing your interest. You never know! But don't let something as simple as a little deadline be a deterrent.

***Oh, one more thing: many festivals are open to lowering their fee for new or first time vendors. So, if there's an event you're excited about, but nervous about the investment, just ask if they'd be willing to lower the fee a bit.***

Tips for a Tuesday - Creative Ways To Fund Your Work

Say you've got a great idea for a new artistic endeavor - a new line of jewelry, a new series of paintings, a new documentary about some wonderful thing you've stumbled across - but you lack the necessary dinero to make it happen.

Starving, yet clever artist, meet kickstarter.com.

Kickstarter provides an ingenious way to leverage your existing network to help fund your project in exchange for a piece of what you make in return. This way, you can get the money you need without having to beg a bank for a loan, or feel like a big ole mooch. The process is something like this. Submit your idea to their editors. It has to be a creative project with a fairly specific and narrow scope. For example: "Help me Pay My Bills for a Year So I Can Keep Making Art" is less eye-catching to them than, say, "I'd Like To Travel The Country for a Year Painting National Monuments." If they like what they see, they give you the go ahead to create your pitch.

You also have to set a specific financial goal and a specific amount of time in which to reach it. Say, $2,000 in 30 days. This is an important part to give thought to, because if you don't reach the minimum in the allotted time, you don't get to keep any of what anyone has pledged. However, if people pledge more than your minimum, you get to keep the extra money. Once you've got that part all figured out, you create rewards to give your donors/backers in exchange for certain levels of funding. Again, the great part about this is that it incentivizes people to contribute because they're getting something out of your project as well.

The site gives you a place to post a video about your project, which it encourages making in order to connect you better to people you don't know. At any rate, if you'd like to know more about the process, their FAQ can be found here.

I just spent the past 2 days creating and launching my own project and found the site really easy to use. Even better, my project has been live about 8 hours and I'm already at 25% of my funding goal (29 more days to go)!

So go check out the site - check out some of the projects seeking funding, get inspired to create your own. I'm working on getting a trip to Costa Rica funded so I can experience first hand the interesting personalities of all the little critters there and create some art from the adventure.

What might you be inspired to create if you had the funding to do so?

Until next time,
Maggie

Tips for a Tuesday - Keep Calm and Carry On

Alright, I suppose by this point you've all had the saying pounded into you, but it bears repeating: Keep Calm, and Carry On. This post is dedicated to all of those people who've forgotten the other saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." 

Don't you love me?

We, as artists and craftspeople have the unfortunate distinction of being in a position of subjecting ourselves and our creations, as extensions of ourselves, to public scrutiny. Be it online, or in person, I'm always amazed at how cavalier some people are with their remarks. I was at an event a few months ago and had brought along some of the plush creatures I make. An older lady picked one of my goofy owls up, looked it over, and then gasped upon seeing the price tag ($52) and tittered to her friend, "How can she POSSIBLY justify charging so much for THIS!?"

Um, hello? I'm sitting right here.

So to clarify, my little critters aren't your average stuffed toy made with toxic materials by tiny, slave-wage, child-hands in some third world country. Nope, they're handmade by me, a Bay Area resident (with Bay Area rent!), no less, that survives off her art. They're hand embroidered, one of a kind, made from high quality and mostly green materials, and I basically come out close to minimum wage for what I charge for them. This little rant was what I wanted to respond with, but instead I just smiled and said nothing. Because this is the pill we all have to swallow in some form when we start pedaling our wares out in the flesh.  Now, to be honest, I've had handfuls more people say nothing but kind words of appreciation... but it's the zingers that seem to stick and contribute to that post-show emotional exhaustion.

 

A fellow crafter posted this blog post a few months back which include a few more of my favorite all too typical comments that we're lucky enough to hear out in show-land:

• This would look great in my bathroom.
• You should do/add/take out this next time.
• This is too expensive.
• I/my kid/my dog could do this.  

I'm sure you all have your favorites as well. By now, you're probably wondering, "So Maggie - where is the tip in all of this? When will this tirade of yours conclude?"

What Not To Do:  

 ~~~

Some Possible Alternatives:

 

{Deep Breath In} Ok, Now! So how do you deal with moments like these? I tend to remind myself that I'm doing what I love for a living, and that for every one snarky or inadvertently ignorant comment I receive, I get ten of support and thanks. I remember that people smile as they look at my work, and if that smile should again appear while they're viewing my art from the comfort of their toilet, well, at least I'm still bringing them a bit of joy. And I remind myself that chances are, they/their kid/their dog would actually have one heck of a time replicating what I do, and that if they were to try, perhaps that would just bring them a higher level of appreciation for what us artists are sharing with them. Of course, I'd still like to occasionally throttle some of my booth visitors, but in the end, I just repeat to myself, "Keep Calm & Carry On."

So, fellow artisans, do you have any other particularly fantastic lines you've received? Want to get them off your chest? Share! And feel free to pass this post along, and perhaps our craft-going friends will give that not-so-polite patron a slight whack the next time they ask you, "So, this is art?"

Signing off for now,
Maggie
 

Tips for a Tuesday (on a Friday) - Save Yourself!

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the delay. I've been in frenzied headless chicken mode, as I'm participating in the Live Oak Park Fair this weekend (you should come by and say hello if you're around!).

Anywho, I thought I'd borrow a very important piece of advice that Pikaland shared this week: Back Up Your Work! For me, I've spent hours photographing and editing my artwork, and if one day my computer decided it had had enough, the amount of work lost would be utterly devastating. I would also lose my website, all serious records kept of my business, marketing materials I've made, and on and on. As most of you know, I'm a big fan of all of the wonderful free or mostly free services the interweb has been kind enough to offer.

This week's plug goes to Dropbox. They offer 3 pretty reasonable plans depending on the amount of storage you need. Why do I prefer this to having my own external backup system? Well, for one, external hard drives can fail as well, or be stolen, or go up in smoke should your house burn down. Dropbox has the added bonus of being accessible anywhere you have an internet connection, so you can think of it as a portable network for file sharing.


Well folks, sorry for the brevity, but I've got to get back to the work production line. If any of you have any tips or comments, please feel free to share!

Have a fantastic weekend!
Maggie

What is it really worth?

Should you charge $27 or $39?

Hard to say. Well, unless you’re Ryan McGinness. Then it doesn't matter. You can eschew all formulas and charge whatever you like.

For the rest of us, here's my monthly attempt at making sense of pricing handmade.

Once a month, I will be covering pricing tips and strategies, unusual pricing tactics, interviews with artists (with a focus on pricing), social pricing experiments and pricing advice from around the web. Let me caveat this by saying I'm no economist (lucky me) or expert on pricing (seriously, who is?) but I am obsessed with the psychology of valuation, especially for something that’s hard to quantify, like creativity.

Thought I’d kick off this first post with a unique pricing strategy employed by New York artist Justin Gignac of wantsforsale.

Justin and his wife Christine think about what they want, paint it and charge the exact amount the item is worth.

A painting of a pizza slice $3, Nintendo Wii $239

'Buffalo wings' costs $12.99

'To see showgirls in Vegas' costs $250

Same canvas. Same whimsy illustration style. Wildly different prices. Blows my mind.

While Justin doesn't think he can use this strategy to make a living in New York City, his intent is to kick off conversations. Pricing for story telling. He has painted a check for a million dollars which he hopes to sell some day. Now that would make a great story.

Next month I'll share more thoughts on pricing and we can deconstruct, discuss, and debate. Fun times!

Vinit

The Whiteout (Junk Rescue)

Kaamchor (Art from stolen office supplies)