I'm sitting in LAX getting ready to board my flight back from the CHA show. Wow, was it fabulous! I made a ton of great contacts and saw some really cool stuff on the trade show floor. I'll post some details about the free stuff I snagged and the cool things I made once I'm home, but for now I have a date with a red-eye flight!
Gator fans: Check out the orange and blue carpet at the Anaheim Convention Center!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
CHA here I come!
I leave for the Craft & Hobby Association convention and trade show at the butt-crack of dawn on Saturday. I'm super excited about it -- not the leaving early part, but the trip itself.
Not only will I have the chance to network with folks in the industry, I might even spot some craft-world celebrities like Jennifer Perkins, Kathy Cano-Murillo, Jenny Hart, and Faythe Levine. I'm so giddy I can hardly stand it.
My atomic eggbeater clock will be on display in the Indie Craft booth (Hall D, Booth 1309). Plus, I'll be doing a demonstration of my toothpaste vase (see photo) on Monday at 11 a.m. in the same booth If you're attending CHA, stop by and see me!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sewing classes in Gainesville!
*** NOTE: If you're looking for sewing classes in Gainesville and found this post through an Internet search, please check out my new studio, Sew Make Do, for the latest details on current classes that I'm teaching. Thanks! Kim ***
It's official -- I'm teaching two introductory sewing classes this spring in Gainesville! The classes are scheduled so that you can take them back to back, if you're interested. Here are the details:
Sewing: Learn to Use a Sewing Machine
Sunday, March 1 -- 9 a.m.-noon
Take the mystery out of sewing and learn how to use a sewing machine. Course is taught by Kim Taylor, aka “The Sassy Crafter” (http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com), who will teach the basics of threading the machine, winding a bobbin, straight stitching, back stitching, zig-zag stitching and other key topics. You'll even leave with a finished project!
Sewing: Learn to Work with Patterns
Sunday, March 1 -- 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
This is a great class for anyone who already knows how to use a sewing machine but doesn’t know how to work with patterns. The class is taught by Kim Taylor, aka “The Sassy Crafter” (http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com), who will teach you the basics of working with commercial patterns, whether you want to make clothes, crafts, or other fun things. The instructor will guide each student through making a pair of simple drawstring pants (great for casual wear or pajamas).
For full details and registration, visit the UF Leisure Course site.
It's official -- I'm teaching two introductory sewing classes this spring in Gainesville! The classes are scheduled so that you can take them back to back, if you're interested. Here are the details:
Sewing: Learn to Use a Sewing Machine
Sunday, March 1 -- 9 a.m.-noon
Take the mystery out of sewing and learn how to use a sewing machine. Course is taught by Kim Taylor, aka “The Sassy Crafter” (http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com), who will teach the basics of threading the machine, winding a bobbin, straight stitching, back stitching, zig-zag stitching and other key topics. You'll even leave with a finished project!
Sewing: Learn to Work with Patterns
Sunday, March 1 -- 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
This is a great class for anyone who already knows how to use a sewing machine but doesn’t know how to work with patterns. The class is taught by Kim Taylor, aka “The Sassy Crafter” (http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com), who will teach you the basics of working with commercial patterns, whether you want to make clothes, crafts, or other fun things. The instructor will guide each student through making a pair of simple drawstring pants (great for casual wear or pajamas).
For full details and registration, visit the UF Leisure Course site.
"It's a karma thing baby"
Margot Potter, aka The Impatient Crafter, just wrote the best darn post I've ever read about understanding crafters' intellectual property. Here's a taste of Margot's wise words:
"Anything that I post here that isn't attributed to someone else is under my copyright...You may make it for personal use, you may not make it and sell it on Etsy or at your local craft fair or anywhere else for that matter. You may not turn it into a class and make money on it without my explicit permission and a percentage of your fee! Now you might do it anyway and I might not catch you, but it's a karma thing baby." (Full post here.)
I often think about what might happen after I post images of my projects up on the internet. For example, a number of people have added this mirror as a favorite on Flickr. In a perfect world, they'll comment on the photo. But will anyone make the same mirror and blog about it or submit it for publication, claiming the idea as their own? Sure, people can come up with the same idea at the same time or put their own spin on a particular project, but if you saw it on someone else's site first then you owe credit where credit is due.
I recently started putting watermarks on some of my images, but I don't have Photoshop at home and haven't been able to figure out how to do it with iPhoto (anyone know?), so that has slowed me down. I think I'll take Margot's advice and add a copyright notice to the images I post on Flickr, as well as in the sidebar of my blog. It pains me to think that someone else could steal one of my original projects and publish it under their name.
One thing I have been doing to keep track of stuff like this is set up a Google alert for the terms "sassy crafter" and "the sassy crafter." Then I automatically get emails when these terms appear on pages. Of course, this won't notify me of anyone who lifts an image without attributing it, but it's still pretty handy to see where you or your work might be popping up.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Art amidst emptiness
I just got back from spending New Year's Eve in New Orleans. I got there a few days early to visit a friend who lives in the Lower Ninth Ward. She was gracious enough to let me and my other friend crash in her trailer on Tuesday night (her house is still under renovation). Then on Wednesday she cooked us breakfast and gave us the nickel tour of the area.
I hadn't been to the Lower Ninth since December 2005, mere months after Katrina. It looked awful then, given all of the flooding and destruction, but in many ways it looks worse now. In 2005 there were still houses standing shoulder to shoulder. Now, the houses have been torn down and the place is nothing but empty fields and roads to nowhere. True, there are a number of folks who have chosen to come back and try to start their lives over again, but the area near the Industrial Canal breach is eerily empty. It's an indescribable feeling to be standing someplace you know was once a vibrant community but now is just a whisper of its former self.
Several of the empty lots were selected as sites for Prospect.1 art installations, perhaps as a way to bring continued attention to the plight of the Lower Ninth Ward. Prospect.1 is an international art show that opened in sites across the city in October 2008. This particular piece is titled "Mithra" and was created by Mark Bradford. Bradford often uses materials he finds around Los Angeles. In this case, he used wood from the Lower Ninth Ward. I really liked the idea that the piece would continue to evolve as it was exposed to the elements.
My friend Miranda Lake also has a connection to Prospect.1. She was involved in the Prospect.EveryOne show and her piece "Swallows Whole" was a part of the Downtown Development District's Artification exhibit that coincides with Prospect.1. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go visit the bus shelter that was graced with her artwork. It seems like I never have enough time to do all the things I want to on my visits to New Orleans. Sigh.
I hadn't been to the Lower Ninth since December 2005, mere months after Katrina. It looked awful then, given all of the flooding and destruction, but in many ways it looks worse now. In 2005 there were still houses standing shoulder to shoulder. Now, the houses have been torn down and the place is nothing but empty fields and roads to nowhere. True, there are a number of folks who have chosen to come back and try to start their lives over again, but the area near the Industrial Canal breach is eerily empty. It's an indescribable feeling to be standing someplace you know was once a vibrant community but now is just a whisper of its former self.
Several of the empty lots were selected as sites for Prospect.1 art installations, perhaps as a way to bring continued attention to the plight of the Lower Ninth Ward. Prospect.1 is an international art show that opened in sites across the city in October 2008. This particular piece is titled "Mithra" and was created by Mark Bradford. Bradford often uses materials he finds around Los Angeles. In this case, he used wood from the Lower Ninth Ward. I really liked the idea that the piece would continue to evolve as it was exposed to the elements.
My friend Miranda Lake also has a connection to Prospect.1. She was involved in the Prospect.EveryOne show and her piece "Swallows Whole" was a part of the Downtown Development District's Artification exhibit that coincides with Prospect.1. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go visit the bus shelter that was graced with her artwork. It seems like I never have enough time to do all the things I want to on my visits to New Orleans. Sigh.
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