I’ve been interviewed!
No kidding! I told Marie of Craft Arsenal that even though I’m a webmaster for a big website and write blogs, I’m still not used to seeing what I write out there on the webernets. It’s so exciting!
Why was I interviewed? Crafting for charity and my Index of Indie, you see. If you read, you can also find out what I do during the day when I’m not blogging & crafting, and my attempt to explain why I do it. I don’t believe I’ve ever hinted where I work before on here … not because I don’t want to, I just don’t really think about it. It’s the title of the blog, isn’t it – it’s Crafter by Night, which by necessity excludes Fundraiser By Day … but the two are not mutually exclusive after all.
The interview is to be found at the Craft Arsenal blog, which was begun, as I understand it, in response to the Southern California fires … Marie, the author, was rather too close to the fires for comfort, and has started an Etsy shop (Witchfire) to bring in funds to help out. She sells donated items and there’s a raffle, too. Verrrry nice!
Marie also runs Marimello, where she posts about craft events and craft-related jobs, plus she keeps a calendar of crafty events which you can add to. Check it out 
Indie Thursday: A Handful of Design Blogs
One thing I’ve never done in regard to my fascination with All Things Indie is to look at design blogs … so over the next couple of weeks I’m going to look at some favorite posts from what I think of as “independent found object blogs” to illustrate what some of my favorite resources have to offer.
9 blogs that focus on independent design & handcrafted items are listed on the Index I made. These blogs, I’ve found, are the best way to sort through the immensity of independent wares on the ‘Net. I find them indispensable, the only way to try to keep up with what’s going on in the handmade/independent design world.
These blogs operate through daily features on things they find. They often use themes to give a range of options. They sponsor and are sponsored by independent artists/crafters/designers, and are one of the few places that provide reasonably priced advertising for them. Some have holiday shopping gift guides. But most of all, they’re just fun to read for all that great design and for the news they provide.
Whip Up: I remember shortly after I began blogging/reading I saw this post on knitting as art, i.e. the Knit1 Blog1 exhibition in Canberra last summer … in this case featuring a car covered in knitting (a car cosy, see left!) I remember thinking how interesting it was to see this nod to all the knitter-bloggers out there doing crazy things, even if you’re not too much into the idea of Craft As A Social Phenomena. The show is long over, but the post is an illustration of the sorts of newsy items you can find on upcoming events, some of which may even be near you.
PoppyTalk has a section I like called the Affordable Art Guide which includes such things as this very recent post on lovely painted trays (such as this sold out example from Etsy as featured on the blog, right). As an owner of trays I use for decorating purposes, I was pleased to see a guide to obtaining more such items. I love them so much, they inspired this post.
Modish – One category I like on Modish is their periodic feature on Eco Friendly independent designs & wares (I wish they would do this more!). Environmentally friendly designs and products often, from what I’ve seen, go hand-in-hand with indie. One example is the feature on Resource Revival though I still love the original eco post on tin flowers.
Miss Malaprop and I share an interest in social responsibility, and she frequently highlights causes she finds interesting that have an intersection with crafting/design. For example, the post on the Etsy for Animals group introduced me to a variety of vendors who support animal charities. For more information, see the Etsy for Animals home page. [The gold leaf magnet to the left is from Nature's Studios, a member of the group.] [Addendum! almost forgot the Nature's Studios link, oops]
Design*Sponge Paper Ornaments – they’re not on my Index because they focus more on design than on strictly indie stuff, but the group certainly supports independent design. I also enjoy reading their DIY Wednesdays, in which they featured this paper ornament in December. I made some for my office as mobiles, and they have attracted many positive comments.
So that’s the tip of the iceberg, there, just a few things from the 9 design blogs I have listed. Each blog has their own style and personality – some even have their own shops selling handmade items alongside their blogs, like Modish and PoppyTalk.
Handmade Consortium
I’m tempted to think that “consortium” sounds slightly shady. I don’t know why. I attended consortiums, or perhaps was in a consortium, when in grad school, I can’t remember which, and it seemed to involve quantities of kosher vegan food (I ate a lot of kosher vegan food in school) and occasionally cheap wine.
But this is not that consortium, and I digress. This is the Consortium that runs the Buy Handmade Pledge, and they emailed me a couple days ago to tell me that they were past the 10,000 mark – that is, more than 10,000 people have taken the pledge. I was, I believe, No. 639.
But also, there was an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine about the Pledge, which morphed into musings about Etsy (which has apparently topped 1,000,000 sales now), a few mentions of Craft and some confused contemplating of the whole craft movement and how it ought to be characterized. Hehe. I think it is fabulously interesting to see people who are not really connected with craft peek into this “movement” as it were and try to figure what’s going on.
I’ll also point you to the Flickr pool that the Consortium made of people creatively depicting their Handmade pledges. Some pretty interesting stuff in there, like this:
from Meu Pintinho Coloridinho aka Carola Rodrigues
