Renegade 2010!

My friend and I managed to zip through the Renegade Craft Fair in an hour. The weather today was beautiful and the fair was insanely crowded (good for vendors, vaguely homicidal for me) so I was less than thorough, but I grabbed a lot of cards, coveted a lot of clothing, and saw a lot of handmade "taxidermy."


Very pregnant Circa Ceramics and Foxglove Accessories had side-by-side booths. With due-dates approaching, I was surprised to see either of them, but Nancy of Circa Ceramics was her usual energetic self with her show apron tied around dad-to-be Andy and her latest creation in the "kiln." She and Foxglove's Betsy both have more shows scheduled in the weeks to come and I wouldn't be surprised to see Betsy with a display rack of earrings in the maternity ward. (You guys rock!)

Paul Friedrich drew me a business card, complete with his star, Onion Head Monster. Check this guy out. I think he's fantastic.


Last week I made a treasury of "Hounds and Houndstooth" that included a sweater by Beantown Handmade. Without realizing it I'd met owner Anne and willing companion Mike at the panel on Friday, and today they were at the fair with their wares (which are even cuter in person). My friend and my dogs would never stand for the hats, but we were lucky enough to witness the modeling and purchase of a "blossom dog hat with button strap." Even in the heat Briana and Edie (owner and dog) both loved this lovely cold-weather accessory.

Sparrow Collective and little ocean were stand-outs in the clothes-I-want-to-own-right-now category.

I also want a SuperJumboDeluxe clock. What's the opposite of buyer's remorse? When you don't buy something?


Art: little plate kewpie cabeza by Circa Ceramics
Tear Stamp Earrings in Blue by Fox Glove Accessories
Onion Head Monster Fish by Paul Friedrich
Photo of Edie the dog in a Beantown Handmade hat by JillHannah (me)
Multi clocks by SuperJumboDeluxe

Etsy Success Panel

Last night I attended the Etsy Success Panel, held at the Kenmore Live Studio in Chicago.

The studio itself is fascinating, like a glass aquarium television studio all at once modern, bright, white and filled with Kenmore appliances. When I arrived the sign advertised "Be on TV!" and a live cooking demonstration from 7-9. Felted acorn pie with whipped soap frosting? Rotisserie owl in cabochon sauce? I signed in on an iPad and found Daniellexo, Etsy admin extraordinaire (formal title: Seller Education Coordinator) whom I first met in person at the 2008 Chicago Renegade Fair.
The panel was hosted by a woman from the Kenmore studio and Julie Schneider (julieincharge) of general EtsyLabs awesomeness. No cooking (though the Bleeding Heart Bakery cookies and cupcakes served after were amazing), just a good discussion about business plans, marketing, shop improvement, craft improvement, getting to where you are today and getting to where you want to be in the future.
We "studio audience" members watched a short introductory video (same as above) on the giant wall between the oven and the refrigerator, and then panelists Danny Orendorff from Renegade Craft Fair, Emily Hamma Martin from Orange Beautiful, Daniellexo, and Ali Marie from DolanGeiman spent 90 minutes talking about all things art, craft and business.
For me, the most important (and least-discussed everywhere else) points were:

• Have a business plan. Set tiered goals. Where do you want to be in 6 months? a year? 5 years? For the millions of things you want to do, from buying a better camera to setting up your own website to having your own brick-and-mortar shop, give yourself priorities and a time-line. If five major retailers aren't carrying your product in exactly three years, that's ok, but set those benchmarks to give yourself direction and incentive.
• Keep track of customers. They bought from you in the past, they are more likely than the average shmoe to buy from you again. Make nice and stay in contact with short, interesting, regular newsletters. Reward them for returning and they just might.
• Market to bloggers. Not just any bloggers, bloggers with good readership that is likely to want your product. Send the blog's author a personal email, make sure you've actually read the blog, and try to ask for something specific like to take part in a giveaway.
• Stay aware of trends. Be yourself, but stay fresh.

After the panel was the meet-and-greet. I shmoozed with other indie sellers including Caitlin M. Peters of Wanderlustings and Mitsu Gee of Brown Sparrow's Nest, and the other two fabulous Etsy admins who were there, julietgo and ThisIsMark. I also ate too many cupcakes.

Tomorrow: Shopping Renegade! The weather is supposed to be decent.
When I woke up this morning to cold and rainy, I felt bad for the people selling at Renegade. At least it's better than...what year was it?..when the wind and the rain came in sideways and everybody's stuff got knocked over and ruined and foot traffic was abysmal.


Art: "lida" pendant by Wanderlustings, photo by Cari Ann Wayman
Motivate Notecards by Orange Beautiful

Sweet Mother of/at Renegade!

and Father, too.


The Renegade craft fair is a big deal in Craftland. Started in Chicago in 2003, blah blah blah, now also in Brooklyn and San Francisco and four times a year in each place (I think). Here's their website for all the accurate primary-source information your heart desires.

I didn't feel ready as a vendor to apply in time for this one, but I wasn't about to miss going.

Car's still in the shop. Raining like the dickens (whatever way the dickens rains) all weekend. Wicker Park is half wayish between my apartment and my parents' house, so I thought it would be a lovely thing to do with them if we could meet there. But since I'm still automobilicly impaired, they agreed to pick me up from my acupuncture appointment, which was at least 20 minutes closer to Renegade than my apartment.

I called them after I finished getting poked. It was still very cold and wet outside, and they had apparently decided to go shopping for stools for their new kitchen this morning in the exact opposite direction from their house, Renegade (farther), my acupuncturist (even farther) and my apartment (farthest). They were caught in traffic still closer to the stool store than anything else so after much discussion and debate over the various routes and possibilities afforded to me by public transportation, my mom told me to go eat lunch somewhere and they'd come and get me.

I did and they did.

To be honest, it took a few more frazzled phone calls from them, but they found me and we found Renegade.

Renegade!
Highlights:

• ■ Meeting the human behind my first ever Etsy purchase (I only bought six and gave them as presents, but she doesn't have six as an option right now)
  
• ■ Seeing Betsy (aka Foxglove Accessories) for the first time since she got back from her honeymoon and meeting Mr. Betsy.
• ■ Seeing the other "core" members of the Chicago Style Crafters who were there, in action: PixelParty and Cookoorikoo (another Mr. and Mrs. pair, but without a neighboring tent, they were having a hellish time with wind and rain and a persistently un-Velcro-ing tent side), Something Beautiful's warm-smelling if not warm-temperatured space, Donovan Beeson/16 Sparrows looking put together yet sarcastic as always, a probably cranky but definitely smiling CrankyPickle, and I barely snuck in a friendly hello to CircaCeramics as they seemed to sell things as fast as they could wrap them.
  
• ■ My dad insisting we come see this shirt he really liked, then him buying it for me. I really like it, too. All graphic and branchy, and then there's the monkey! I was just thinking the other day that my long-sleeved shirt wardrobe sucks. Now it is one shirt less-sucky.
• ■ Meeting Daniellexo from Etsy. I have no idea what I thought she'd look like, but I was surprised somehow that her particular face went with her particular person. Not in a bad way or anything, more like when you first see and hear Kevin Clash and find out he's Elmo.
  So Danielle, if you're reading this, I just called you Elmo. You gonna take that?
• ■ Seeing things in person that I recognized from Etsy (MikeandMary and RainyPrints come to mind)
  
• ■ Being totally awkward and weird as I said, "Oh! You know Diana Baumbach!" to the proprietors of Tugboat Printshop. Backstory: when I first began my Etsy obsession, my "BFF" from elementary school (Diana) mentioned she had friends on there and sent me their link: tugboatprinshop.etsy.com. So when I was walking by their booth, I stopped and made a dork of myself. Go me.
• ■ A few other noteworthy booths from which I made sure to get cards:
  ▪ foldedpigs. Fabulous dinnerware with brains, hearts, roaches, etc. Delicious. My mom was really tempted to get a roachy serving bowl for Thanksgiving, but our usual Thanksgiving guests are a bit on the conservative side for that. Pity.
  ▪ up in the air somewhere. Really great ceramic semi-functional sculptury design pieces. I want someone I visit a lot to own them and display them in an appropriately design-conscious environment. That person will never be me.
  ▪ huzzah! Video game nerd t-shirs in their most brilliant and pure form. I have to get The Blueprint T-shirt for my friend for Christmas. It's just too perfect and too him.
  ▪ Pink Kiss. Again with the clay, but these are more "pottery" and much prettier with words and images that look almost like they transferred when wet paper was left sitting on the piece before it dried. I liked the look and I liked a lot of the readable text and the unreadable text, too. I like text as art. Suck it.

I need to get my application together for Holiday Renegade. Sell my snarky card crap and dog sweaters in December. That would be swell.

Wow. I've completely degenerated into sleepyhead stooopid mode since I started writing this post. Think I can get images on here before I pass out and electrocute myself by drooling on the keyboard?