101 more reasons

just in case you're not yet convinced, here are 101+ MORE reasons to buy handmade this holiday season (and forever!) brought to you by the bursting-with-good-handmade-things poppytalk.
mine is #105, and i think they're still adding...

make their day

remember the other day when i mentioned that, when buying handmade, you could be someone's first customer? well, i've got two suggestions if you'd like to make that happen!


my delightful friend (and sometimes model) erika somogyi is an extremely talented artist, and she has just opened an etsy shop called Erika Since 1977 (which by the way i think is a brilliant shop name!). so far she's posted some hand-sculpted jewelry and salt-n-pepper shakers; i can't wait to see what else is in store!


another artist whose blog, little yellow birds, i recently discovered is joetta maue. she was recently lamenting on her blog about the lack of inspiring job opportunities out there for recent MFA graduates, and i (among many others, i'm certain) suggested she start an etsy shop. and lo and behold, just last week she did! visit Bird and Bear and you'll be glad. i find her work beautiful, touching, and funny. joetta was included in today's etsy Finds, so act quickly...

both of these makers, as of writing this, have O sales listed in their shops. i remember how that feels! but YOU could be the one that makes them into official Etsy Sellers!

why buy handmade?

i try to keep my rants few and far between, but sometimes i think i hold back a little too much. i mean, what's a blog for if not to express ourselves? but since it is Cyber Monday and all, and i am a seller of goods online, i am just brimming with thoughts that i need to share. i think about this stuff all the time, and most of my friends do too, as many of them are makers, artists, or designers as well. but i wonder about people who don't 'make a living making things'. are they as conscientious consumers as we makers are?

about three years ago, i pledged to myself to stop buying clothing made by corporations, basically all of whom use overseas sweatshop labor. i am a self-employed clothing designer, and live on a very tight budget. so the clothes i tended to wear were what i could afford; most frequently H & M. i would meet people and eventually it would come up that i make clothes, so the immediate question would be "oh, did you make what you're wearing?" and inevitably the answer was "no, it's H & M!" this began to deeply disturb me. it wasn't that i wasn't making clothes, but i felt it was more important to bring the pieces i made to one of my local indie boutiques, not keep them to wear myself. so i have been slowly trying to convert my wardrobe to self-made, other independent maker-made, or vintage. originally there were certain categories i considered exemptions, like jeans, coats, and underwear. but slowly i am coming around to the idea that i can make EVERYTHING i need! i would say i'm about 30% there, but i try to at least wear something handmade every day.

anyway, the point i really wanted to make today is this: if you can't make the things you want and need, at least carefully consider your choices when you hand over your hard-earned dollars. greedy corporations sell cheap products at the expense of others. we are all feeling the effects of the current state of the economy, but most of us will still shop more this month, to buy gifts for our loved ones, than at any other time of the year. try to shop locally and support small businesses over national chains. attend your local farmer's markets and craft fairs and buy directly from independent producers. consider buying one higher-quality handmade gift for each person, rather than lots of disposable items. be someone's first customer. when you buy from the hands that made the piece, there is a soul and a story behind it. we just saw how important it is to VOTE and that the result can change the world. most people don't think of shopping as voting, but it is. every dollar you spend is a vote of support, so choose your candidates wisely!

ok, i'll wrap this up since i'm not used to writing so much. check out the handmade pledge. etsy's gift guides are amazing; you'll be surprised what you can find there! and today is the last day of my free shipping/25% off promotion in the shop. thanks for reading and let me know what YOU think!

hodge podge cottage

most of you know that my clothing label, hodge podge, consists entirely of one-of-a-kind pieces. this has always been my philosophy: that there are plenty of mass-produced clothes out there, so my mission is to bring back an appreciation of hand-wrought, labor-intensive, often un-reproduceable, special pieces. however, this is also what slows me down (well, one of many things!) and for years i have struggled with whether i should do some styles in a more production-style manner.

so, out of this inner struggle comes the new label, hodge podge cottage (as in 'cottage industry'). i will produce a handful of multiples of certain items that lend themselves to it, for example the wraps you see above. these have been one of my most popular items since i began making them a couple of years ago, and the way the pattern works, a 3-yard cut of fabric yields two of them. so they are the first hodge podge cottage style, with more to follow! find them in the shop of course...

don't replace, repair!

in early december i was contacted by a woman who'd been given one of my hats last winter. she said that it was her favorite hat, but her dog had chewed a hole in it and she wondered if i could fix it...

i was thrilled to get such a request! in our disposable culture, too many people would have just tossed the hat in the trash; i am so proud that it was important enough to her to track me down and see what i could do. i told her i'd have to see it, and when i did, i was relieved that the hole wasn't too huge and the hat was made of a mix of yarns so it was fairly easy to find something that would blend in for the repair stitches.

i think my fix is pretty well camouflaged, don't you?

resolute

happy new year!
this is a mural near my house that i pass nearly every morning on my way to the Y. i saw it in progress while the girl who lives there was painting it, and it's made me happy ever since...

i am feeling very optimistic about this 2008. it occurred to me in the past week that 10 years ago, in 1998, i was 29 and determined to fulfill my dream of opening a store that year, before i turned 30 (and i did open patch 155 in september '98). well here i am, a decade later, just turned 39 and now it's time to fulfill the farm fantasy! i have been talking about moving upstate for like 7 (8? 9?) years, saying i'd probably do it in '2 or 3 years'. enough! then i realized that my birth year is 1968, so obviously the eights are good years for me! thus my new motto is... (drumroll) UPSTATE IN '08!

anyway, these are some goals for this auspicious New Year:

- to strengthen and develop sources of income that can be accessed regardless of location, such as online sales, magazine work, wholesale business, and textile design swatches

- to FINALLY get my actual website up and running, with archives of my work, services and classes i offer, etc. (this blog was started as a temporary place-holder until the site was ready, HA!) my friend xine and i have worked out a bartering deal (website for clothes) i just have to start putting together all the info she needs from me...

- to post here more regularly: i plan to assign each day a category, like 'etsy shop of the week', 'inspiring makers', 'works in progress', etc.

- to get, as george says, 'better, stronger, faster'! in other words, to work more efficiently, manage time better, be more organized, and procrastinate less. i am fully aware that we all think these same thoughts every new year, but does that mean we shouldn't try?

- to continue on the path toward eating more whole, organic, and local (and therefore seasonal) foods. i just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it is making me even a little more fanatical than i already was... i actually think i am going to give up bananas!

first etsy sale!!!

i am so excited i just have to share: i had my first etsy sale last night and it was a DOUBLE!!! she bought these two woolly wraps and i am just pleased as punch. now on my shop page it says '2 items sold' and i feel like a real etsy seller!

i've been rather enamored of etsy lately, and since i've taken the HANDMADE PLEDGE, intend to buy most of my holiday gifts there. have you checked out their new gift guides? and look, it's gertie!

i keep finding so many amazing designers by clicking around, and stalking The Storque, so i've decided to start a new column: Etsy Shop of the Week. this and some of my other grand plans may not really get going 'til january, when the holiday craft sale madness subsides, but stay tuned...

and speaking of sales, don't forget CRAFTACULAR is next saturday, december 8th! the mind-boggling vendor list is up, so take a pre-gander at what's in store.

maker fairy-tale quilt

one day when i was teaching a class at the etsy labs, i noticed this quilt on the wall and got closer to take a better look... and fell in love! each panel shows a scene from a story of a girl who was inspired by some artisanal, organic handspun yarn, and then (with the help of etsy of course!) took her knitting from hobby to business, and how happy it makes her, not to mention the Planet Earth and siamese twins everywhere!

on the lower half of the quilt is the Dark World of corporate mass production with its chemical additives, polluting factories, greedy overlords ('sew faster, baby!') and evil 'enormostores' like Mall-Wart, all of which make the Planet Earth very, very sad...


click on the pics to see them in all of their detailed glory. these beautiful drawings were done by the talented doyenne of the labs, anda, and silkscreened and sewn by her and the other lab technicians.

SAPLINGS unite!

years ago when i had my shop in the lower east side, patch 155, all of the designers whose stuff i sold used to tell me they wished i would organize a network so we could all know each other and share information, advice and resources. it can be a surprisingly isolated life when you are making things on your own, often out of our apartments... at the time i thought it was a great idea but i was just too overwhelmed with running the store to give it my attention. over the years most of these same designers have all become friends, and we bump into each other while participating in group fashion shows and sales. but since these events are so intense, we never really got the chance to sit down and tell our stories and share ideas... so finally last summer i decided it was time to put this plan into practice, and SAPLING was born! after much brainstorming and determination to come up with a really good acronym, that's what i came up with. it stands for Society for the Advancement of People Loving Independently Nurtured Goods! as our header states, 'the SAPLING society is a group of makers, designers, and artists trying to spread the love of all things handmade. we embrace sustainability and eschew mass production'. so we have all met about once every month or two, since last july, and it's been a beautiful thing, in my humble opinion. we've rotated around at different members' homes, studios and stores, and it's so inspiring to see where and how we all live and work. we've organized one sample sale and participated in two holiday sales together, discussed goals and ideas for developing and expanding our businesses, visited a cooperative women's sewing facility, and shared organic fabric resources and design advice. you can see the complete list of members and check out their sites on our blog... which we hope will sprout unto an online community forum of its own for independent designers and makers all over the globe!