What is a ‘Mystery Bag’?
A Mystery Bag is Sara’s Texture Crafts’s way of rewarding special customers. So if you find me at a fair and spend over a certain amount you will receive a bag as a ‘Thank you’ gift. Or if you stumble across my latest blog competition here at Crafts of Texture - Blogzine Giveaways you could be in chance of winning a bag as a runner up prize.
What can I find in a ‘Mystery Bag’?
A few free gifts handmade from some of my arty friends and a selection of business cards from my favourite on-line artists and crafts people.
How can I donate items to the Mystery Bags?
Simple... Here's what I need;
each seller provides some or all of the following;
-Business cards
-Small promotional samples/free gifts
– no breakables
Enough for 10-20 bags to start. Each item you send should be clearly labelled with your on-line links and all items should fit into a small bag approximately 15cm deep and 10cm wide.
Wanna send something? Then email me for details!
Sara x
Crafts of Texture - The Blogzine!
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
What is a 'Sara's Texture Crafts Mystery Bag'?
Friday, 23 May 2008
Off to the Fair!
My Craft Fair is tomorrow... 24th-26th May 2008, at Merton Abbey, Wimbledon (10-5pm). See you there!
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Little book of Etsy, a promo idea.
I stumbled across this great promo idea from http://www.artbymimi.etsy.com/ and thought I ought to share it with you. It's very similar in idea to my up and coming 'Mystery Bag', but none the less is a great opportunity for sellers to grab buyers attention...
Sara:What is 'The Little Book of Etsy' all about and how did you come up with the idea?
The Little Book of Etsy I feel is a great way of reaching the UK audience. Etsy is a based in the US and even though they do a great job advertising, sadly not many people (i.e. buyers), know about it over here in the UK.
The Little Book of Etsy will be presented professionally inside a drawstring bag (handmade of course), along with a little promotion item.
It all began with me wanting to figure out ways of encouraging people to start spending at the craft fayres.
Lately with all the money worries of 'the crunch' going around the UK and also I think most of the world, getting people to spend money, (in person and online) is a major issue for all us sellers.
I looked into getting something made for me with my etsy address on it but nothing felt right or made me think that it'll encourage people visit Etsy, let alone my shop. So I stopped searching and did a bit of thinking.
What I really wanted was to help people on Etsy reach out to the UK audience.
Every time I mentioned Etsy to someone at the fayres, they just looked very confused. I can easily recommend stall holders/sellers to visit Etsy but trying to convince buyers is another matter.
So the next idea was to give away little promotional items from other sellers: every time someone spends over so much at my stall, (because everyone loves a freebie!) they would get a goodie bag with the freebie inside.
I thought this would benefit all: I can encourage people to spend, while the promos will advertise others on Etsy.
After about 6 Etsians joining I was struggling to find any more. I could understand that not everyone could give away their items or pay for the shipping to the UK but I still wanted to help advertise others and include those who couldn't send the promos.
While talking to someone about this matter, I had a sudden idea. Within about 2 seconds flat I came up with an idea of a promotional booklet.
I had the image of a professional, informative booklet, full of Etsy shop's business cards. This way I could give out other people's business cards but without them being loose in the bag and annoying my customers, which usually would end up with them throwing the cards away any way.
I live in Cornwall, which is right at the very tip of South England. Being very touristy place; well know for its sea, sun and surf so we get lots of visitors from all over the place. So in one small place we could have visitors from the next county (Devon) to the visitors from the highlands in Scotland. Ideal for advertising!
I suggested this idea in a reply to this particular seller to who I was having the conversation with at the time and to my amazement, she loved it! So I started working on 'The Little Book Of Etsy' and it's been going great ever since.
Sara: So how many members are there?
From the 6 members original members, numbers soon grow to 64 Etsians being involved with The Little Book of Etsy!
I have received within the last couple of days 8 members' promos and business cards. The postman is going to love me over the next few days ;)
The great thing about The Little Book Of Etsy as well is, even though I have got many sellers involved from the USA and all around the world, a majority of these sellers are based in the UK. Which I think will appeal to the UK audience to Etsy.
Sara: How do you see this idea developing in the future?
Well...because there are so many of us now and I needed to keep track of everything while keeping everyone up to date with how things are developing, I have set up a blog: http://www.littlebookofetsy.blogspot.com/. This is a great place for members to meet and I have had some great positive feedback so far.
I hope to start giving these little booklets away at a major village craft fayre happening on the 24th of May and see what happens from there.
If successful and everything goes to plan, I hope to recruit more members and help get the word of 'Etsy' out with a second edition.
But I am just going to go along with it and see what happens. It'll happen if it's meant to be. But it's been a pleasure working with everyone so far and thanks to everyone for all the encouragement received.
Sara: Thanks Mimi for this wonderful opportunity... I hope the show goes well and let us know how your little book of Etsy idea goes.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
The Textile Directory, a DIYer’s Resource
I came across The Textile Directory about 2 years ago now, when I was starting my own business and have always thought it to be a wonderful resource site for DIYer’s in the UK and even those abroad. I interviewed Sara Drinkwater, Editor of The Textile Directory on-line to help fill us in on what the directory is all about.
Sara Millis: What is The Textile Directory and how did you get started?
Sara Drinkwater: The Textile Directory is an interactive textile community for everybody with an interest in textile art, craft, fashion and interiors. The website includes a fully searchable directory of textile artists, suppliers, exhibition organisers, courses and a range of other textile-related companies; latest book reviews; local, national and international events; a bookstore and much more. The directory was originally set up in 2002 by Sue Richardson and for 6 years was published in book form. Sue was hoping to set up a company offering fabulous weekend breaks with well-known textile artists in luxury country house hotels. While doing her research for the business plan for Creative Escapes, Sue started to look for resources such as suppliers interested in sponsoring the weekends, artists to teach on the courses, colleges at which textile students might be interested in the opportunity, etc. It was in the early days of the internet and there appeared to be no printed resources of any kind. So, having spoken to various textile people that she knew, Sue decided to put one together. The first Textile Directory was published in October 2001 and consisted of 60 pages. It was initially focused on providing people with information about educational opportunities, so most of the suppliers listed were people offering courses or evening classes. It was sold for £5 at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, London and was a huge success. As soon as it came out people started sending us information about contacts we'd missed and it grew from there. In 2002 the book was more than double the size of the first one and in 2003 we launched the website. As more and more people wanted to be included we realised that soon it would become like the telephone directory! We also learned from a major customer survey we did that the web version was more useful and easy to search than a book could ever be. So we decided to put all our efforts and resources into developing The Textile Directory online and since that time the running of the directory has been my responsibility.
Sara Millis: What are the key features of your resource site?
Sara Drinkwater: The searchable directory is the key feature of the site, where people can find the contact details for the people they are looking for, whether this be to commission an artist to do a piece of work or to buy supplies for their latest project. We also have lots of other features on the website including book reviews, diary dates and our book shop, which sells hundreds of specialist textile titles. We also have a range of options for artists to showcase their work, which is proving very successful. We are incorporating new features into the site all the time, with our latest development being project pages that will hopefully go live in the next couple of months. Our plan is to feature a different project for our visitors each month so that they can try out new skills. We have also very recently launched an open competition, where people are invited to design a textile or fashion piece based on the theme of magic. We have a fantastic prize of £1000 to spend on Pfaff products for the overall winner and will also be holding an exhibition of the 30 best entries in the early part of next year, so everyone here is really excited by that.
Sara Drinkwater: As well as publishing The Textile Directory for 6 years we also help other authors to publish their own books through our publishing company Word4Word. Many of the titles we publish are textile related and we decided that the website gave us a fantastic opportunity to sell our authors books. The next logical step was to invite other textile publishers and independent authors to list their books too. Everyone we invited chose to join us and we have now developed one of the biggest stores for buying specialist publications on the internet. We launched in November and now have more than 700 titles, with more being added every day.
Sara Drinkwater: Going forward we would love to see The Textile Directory really embrace the new social networking culture of the internet, which has massive potential. The textile world has a fantastic community and our vision is to make the website a central place for artists, hobbyists, suppliers, teachers, gallery owners and anyone with an interest in this fascinating art form to meet and support each other as they move their careers and businesses forward.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Laura Sollis, an artist feature
Stumbling across a new artist is always exciting and when I found Laura Sollis’ work at the Knitting and Stitch Show I new I just had to share my find with you…
Sara: Please tell me a bit about you and your background?
Laura: On graduating university last year I was selected as one of the finalist for the ‘Knitted Textile Student Award 2007′ where I was able to exhibit as part of the ‘Graduate Showcase’ at the Knitting and Stitching shows around the country. Since then (at the age of 21) I have set up ‘Random Button’. ‘Random Button’ came from a demand from friends and family to put my degree to good use and make them all kinds of textile pieces like handbags, purses and clothing. The name comes from the fact that I like to add embellishment to whatever I’m creating and most of the time my pieces feature quite a lot of buttons. Ever since I can remember I have had a love of buttons, I’ve continued to collect them and now I have a huge collection sitting waiting to be attached!
On the website I have an online store where people can purchase my unique pieces and I also take commissions and create bespoke pieces. So feel free to drop me a line at http://www.randombutton.co.uk/!
Laura: From childhood I have always been interested in being creative especially when it came to fashion and textiles. I was taught how to knit at a young age by my mother after spending countless hours watching her and my grandmother create. I still to this day have my first attempt to knit still attached to the needle and I’m glad to say that I’ve certainly improved since then! For years I used to churn out the classic knitted scarves and when the collection of scarves became overloaded I thought it was about time I used my creativity to create something a bit different.
Laura: I went to college and took an AVCE Art and Design course in Oxford and then went on to do a BA (Honours) Textiles and Surface design course at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College where I specialised in Knitted Textiles.
Laura: My main inspiration comes from looking at vintage fashions and fabrics. I try to find inspiration wherever and whenever I can so I always keep a pen and paper with me to note down any ideas that come along - my bag is full of scraps of fabric and samples of yarn that I’ve collected along the way. Like many other designers I also find inspiration from looking through countless magazines and books. Recently my work has been inspired by Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ story especially the tea party theme where I have incorporated cutlery and crockery into knit to produce both couture fashion pieces and installations.
Sara: Ooooh that sounds wonderful… I will have to take a peek at your store once we’ve finished chatting!
Laura: My latest collection of pieces includes a range of unique hand knitted handbags and purses. These pieces rely on texture to form the detail on the outside contrasting with the patterned inside. Throughout most of my work I have used my vintage influence and mixed it with a quirky modern touch. With these useable pieces and my work in general I want to try to help hand techniques like knitting and crochet to get away from the stereotype everybody has of the craft.
----------------
This review can also be found at as part of my contributions on DIY City Magazine
Monday, 19 May 2008
DIY Magazine - London Issue Summer 2009
Hi Guys,
As one of the board of Editors for DIY City Magazine I have been asked by Deb and Wendy to spear-head the forth coming London Issue, to be published in July 2009... I am looking for indie designers and DIY shops based in London (UK) to feature. The selection of features will be based on people's/shop's modernity, style and appropriateness.
The categories are;
Indie Designers/Craft makers - based in London
Article number - 96... Subcategories - Anti Factory (handmade Fashion), DIY Media (Photographers/reporters), Eco Remix (Eco, reconstruction, vintage designers), Fabric Constructions (anything involving textiles, including plushies), Pigment and Paper (illustrators and artists), String me Along (Knit and Crochet Designers), Top it Off (accessories, hats and bags), Side Trips (those outside London, who would be a great UKer to include)
DIY Shops - based in London
Article number - 88... Anywhere where people buy and sell handmade items or resources and supplies for our DIY.
Markets/Shows and DIY Events - in the London Area
Article number - 24... Anywhere where people show and sell their handmade items. I would also like to include a few resource markets.
DIY Projects/Tutorials - Location does not matter.
Article number - 10... DIY projects to share with our readers, from knitting to jewellery making I am looking for unique content that can be attributed to you the Designer.
If you are based in London and would like to grab your free feature, then please email me at Sara's Texture Crafts Email and include the following in your email;
Email Title: 'DIY Magazine London 2009 Issue - Interest'
Add a bit about you/the shop and what you do/sell, or details of your tutorial idea
2 pictures of your work/shop for consideration
A link of where I can find you on-line
Shops Only - your address, so that I can visit you.
There is also an opportunity to buy advertising space in the on-line magazine and you don't need to be UK based... for full details please contact Deb and Wendy at diycitymag@gmail.com
I am also looking for a small group of correspondents who will help write some of the articles for the magazine. For this each correspondent will be listed in the front of the magazine under 'contributors'. If you are London based and would like to be involved then please email me at Sara's Texture Crafts Email and include the following in your email;
Email Title: 'DIY Magazine London 2009 Issue - Correspondent'
How much time can you contribute to this project per week/month?
Where in London are you based?
Ideas you may have on articles already.
Once approved I will also require a 50 word bio, an image for you for the magazine and a link to your website/store or DIY blog.
Let celebrate London's arts and Crafts!
Sara x
My existing magazine articles can be found at http://diycitymag.com/blog/category/diy-with-sara/
Friday, 16 May 2008
Sara's Texture Crafts - Work Shops!
You may have remembered reading in my final Diary of a Textile Crafter - The Exhibition about my future plans for Work Shops... Well I am very proud to announce my very first dates!
Felted Bead Art (Practical Project)
The Knitting and Stitching Show
Alexandra Palace, London.
9th and 10th October 2008 at 1pm
Each class last for an hour and has room for 12 students.
'As one of the oldest forms of textile creation, feltmaking is now seeing a revival. Using wool fibres to create 3D forms we will explore focal beads and their application for modern jewellery.'
Each student will receive their very own kit with full instructions.
It's a little early to buy tickets for the class at the moment, but you can find out more about the show itself at Twisted Thread as soon as I hear tickets go on sale I will add an update and full links.
