Posts from — March 2008
Church of Craft
So what is the Church of Craft anyways?
It’s an organization that promotes this idea, that making things could be good for your soul. Trismegista Taylor and I started it together in the Fall of 2000.
Really, you started your own church?
Well yeah. You can, you know. We couldn’t find one we wanted to join so we decided to start our own. This is one of the freedoms most Americans take for granted, actually.
Okay, wait, so back up. How is this a church, I mean what do you do?
We have regular meetings and chapters and ministers just like other religious organizations. Most of the meetings are pretty free-form. Folks drop in with whatever project inspires them and we all hang out and make stuff in each other’s company. We all get pretty inspired! And we also have a really great community of makers who come – all kinds of people. Sometimes we have workshops or other special events. There are chapters all over the country and the world! Each chapter is basically independent and runs on its own steam. But we all hang out at the .org together.
Hm, this is all really interesting. Do you have a chapter in my town?
Maybe, and if not you can always start one. Check out the list of chapters and sign up for the email announcement list of the one nearest (or dearest) to you.
March 31, 2008 No Comments
Crochet Lessons (And Knitting)
I learned to crochet at age 6 when I was a Brownie.
It is my joy and pleasure to teach all comers how to crochet and knit. Private lessons can be beginning, intermediate, or advanced and are tailored to each students needs. I love to teach individuals, groups, and at special gatherings (like a baby shower!). I am a very patient and understanding teacher. Contact me for rates and availability.
I also teach group lessons at Downtown Yarns.
I’m always open to special projects, patterns, designing, and writing.
March 31, 2008 4 Comments
I Tie Knots!
Even though I am an not your average wedding officiant, the ceremonies I perform are legal, meaningful, & personal. Each wedding, like each marriage, is unique. We draw from your personal values and cultural traditions, and use my experience to create a ceremony that reflects what is important to you. It is my privilege to officiate all kinds of weddings, from the very traditional, to the very original.
Please contact me for availability and rates. Your initial consultation and meeting is always free and without obligation.
I’ve been officiating weddings since 2000 when dear friends did me the honor of asking me to perform their ceremony. I knew from that moment that this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I co-founded the Church of Craft in part to allow me to serve those who did not necessarily affiliate with an existing faith. I really believe that everyone deserves to be married in exactly the way they want, and my role as the officiant is to facilitate that.
March 31, 2008 1 Comment
Rad Bags
I make these great bags by hand in my Brooklyn studio out of cast-offs and scraps. See what I’ve been making lately, or buy one through my Supermarket or Etsy shops.
March 23, 2008 No Comments
Leslie's Bag
All this bag stuff started years ago when my friend Jane Dickson saved a few of her canvas scraps for me, because she knows I’m crafty & recycle-y. I tucked them away and some stray moment months later pulled them out and started thinking about them. Folded this way it’s like a bag side, folded this way it’s like a bag strap and if I cut and sew here then there’s a built in pocket. I pulled out a bit of upholstery vinyl for the bottom and decided I liked it so much that I should make another one! In just a few hours I had these two simple, comfortable, machine washable bags. They were somewhere between a high slung messenger bag, a tote, and a shoulder bag. And it was almost my friend Leslie Baum’s birthday! One of fashion’s early adopters, I suspected it would be right up her alley. It was! She proceeded to take it to yoga twice a week and and every trip she took for the next three years.
I used mine just as much if not more. I would often get stopped on the street and asked about my unusual bag and enjoyed cooing that I had made it my self thank you!
I would even have people suggest that I really should make and sell them. I dismissed these suggestions as idle flattery. And besides, everyone knows that handmade just doesn’t ever pay what it should for the time it takes to make, right?
It wasn’t until years later when I had finally let go of my last client (I used to do business management for artists and small creative businesses) that my thoughts turned back to Leslie’s bag. I was exhausted of making other people’s creative dreams come true, only to come home to wiped out to even turn on my sewing machine, let alone try to wrap my mind around making Art.
I needed to change my way of making money to something(s) that I really loved doing, and I didn’t want to work for anyone else any more. Why not just try it, try making and selling something you really love? I made five more bags in different sizes took photos of them and posted them to my new free Etsy Shop. Then I gave them to my friends for field testing. It took a few months, but I finally sold a bag on Etsy! Elated. Then I sold another!
Leslie finally requested a new bag in leather please, but otherwise exactly the same. Delighted, this was what I came up with:
March 22, 2008 No Comments