Metro Art Exchange – Artropolis

The Regional Arts Commission PresentsMetro Art Exchange
in collaboration with
Artropolis at Chesterfield Mall
curated by Heather Haymart

“Metro Art Exchange – Artropolis” features 22 artists, including four from here at Fusion; Melissa Villadiego, Bob Vavra, Jeffrey Johnson, and Dana Diaz de Leon.  We’re all really excited to have our artists featured, and look forward to seeing the show.

The Regional Arts Commission create Metro Art Exchange, a collaboration with local arts organizations, in order to give local artists the opportunity to exhibit their work in special shows at the RAC building on the second floor.

The show runs from May 3 to August 2, 2013 at the Regional Arts Commission, and the opening reception is on Friday, May 3 from 6:00 to 9:30 pm. It’s free and open to the public, and we’d love to see you all there.

DATES AND TIMES
Exhibition Dates: May 3 – August 2, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 6:00-9:30pm (Free and Open to the Public)

Exhibition Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm
Saturday, noon-5:00pm

Exhibition Location: Regional Arts Commission,
Second Floor
6128 Delmar Boulevard in the
Loop St Louis, MO 63112
(Free parking is available in the lot behind the Pageant. Metered Street Parking)

17 Questions (Because 17 is Better than 10) with Wanda Honeywell of Crafty Wanda

Have I mentioned lately how many great artists we have at Fusion? Have I mentioned how many of them are also great people? Have I ever mentioned the possibility that we have a Cyborg working at Fusion? I’ve said it before, and I’m sure that I’ll say it again… I love meeting new artists as they come into the shop. That’s part of why I always try to make it to our Open Houses, because then I get to get to know them as people before getting to know them as coworkers. Wanda was the first new artist that I met in the new year, and was immediately friendly, interested and ready to be involved. In fact, I think she actually helped set up for the Open House that night. We’re all so happy to have her as part of the group, but seeing all the wonderful new product she brings into the shop regularly has led some* to speculate, wondering whether Wanda is a.) Part sewing machine, b.) a cyborg or c.)Some sort of evolved being that doesn’t require sleep. The world may never know the answer to these questions, but we were able to get the answers to 17 others from her.  So, with the help of our friend Jessi at I Am What I Am on Main Street (who I’ve shamelessly stolen a lot of these questions from), and friends from the crafting community, I’ve compiled this list of questions to get the ball rolling, and introduce you to our friend, Wanda.

What do you create?
Oh no, where do I start?  ‘If You Can Dream It, I Can Sew It.’
I create an array of products. American Girl and matching girl clothes, tote bags of all sizes, hanging hand towels, clutch wristlets, custom requests of the sorts, crocheted items, and more.

What is your bestseller?
Currently, American Girl and matching girl clothes have got the lead. Everything else is in the running.

If you had to describe your crafting style in three words, what would they be?
Original, detail, meticulous

What goes into making your creations?
Enjoyment, dedication, and detail

How long does it take to make your product?
Oh no, not again!  Time varies as it is dependent on the product, design, fabric, and delivery.

Are there any materials that you have used in your products that you think may be unexpected?
No, and it is always a thrill to find new materials find a way to include in products.

Why handmade?
Having and/or creating that extra something special.  It is a joy to create and/or own a product designed, and hand crafted by a skilled artisan.  It too supports and motivates an artisan’s creativity and share with others.

What do you think differentiates crafting from other types of business?
Handmade and being supportive of originality.

What do you enjoy most about selling your handmade goods?
The enjoyment and positive feedback received from buyers.

What personality trait do you possess that you think helps you the most as a professional crafter?
Attention to detail.

Do you take custom orders?
Absolutely, provided a custom dream can be sewn.

Who are you outside of the business?
I am a loving wife, mother and grandmother; friends to many, and volunteer of charity drives.

Do you buy handmade, and why?
A design and craftsmanship that speaks to me is a must have.  Again, having that one- of-a-kind item to share with others and promote an artisan.

Do you have any short-term goals?
Find my market and identify four primary products.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years? 10?
To be ahead of where I am today.

Where can we find you to see more of your work, ask questions, and give you our money?

• Fusion store at Chesterfield Mall
• www.craftywanda.com
• www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyWanda
• Annual Craft-A-Ganza at my home
• Annual Children’s Festival – “Paws for the Cause to Stop Child Abuse” – April 14, 2012
• Coming soon to Pinterest and Facebook

Who shot first, Han or Greedo?
Han.

Is there anything I missed, anything you’re dying to know about Wanda, her projects, sewing, or being awesome? Leave us a comment, we love hearing from you all too!

Thanks, and We’ll talk again soon!

*Our friend Andrea Lammle asked on the group facebook board a couple of weeks ago, and got a cryptic response. I just hope John Connor sent her back, and not SkyNet.

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

St Louis Etsy Craft Party

I have one thing to say about about the Upcycle Exchange. Actually, I have a few things to say, but I’m going to start out with they know how to throw a crafty party. Just in case you haven’t heard about this awesome shop, The Upcycle Exchange offers the St. Louis creative community post-consumer art and craft supplies at pay-as-you-wish pricing. They also offer credits for in-store material drop-offs.

Are you looking for some amazing vintage fabric, yarn or ephemera? How about some frames, painting supplies or even photo equipment? Do you have any supplies stashed away that talented makers could transform into something amazing? Go check out the wish list to see what the Upcycle Exchange carries and collects!

This past Friday nite instead of having the monthly Crafternoon at Fusion, we decided to go to the St. Louis Etsy Craft Party.  Sponsored by Etsy, the local ShowMe Etsy team and the Upcycle Exchange,  the party was “A Global Celebration of Meeting and Making.” It was so much fun hanging out, meeting new people and trying out some things that I don’t normally do, (I actually sewed! and the turn out was great!)

So, what does one do at a Crafty party? Well, first off we drink beer (or wine I guess, if that’s what you’re into) and make crafts. The theme of this years Global Etsy Party was “Wish You Were Here” and each party was encouraged to do crafts that related to their city or region. Thank goodness we don’t live in… okay, I was going to make a joke here, but I’ve got nothing.  Let me just tell you about our crafts.

Inappropriate name tags, you know because it’s easier to chat when you know who you’re chatting to. One of the great things about starting off with your name coupled with an expletive is that there’s nowhere to go but up. There were some truly awesome embellishments on those tags too.

Next up was the homebrewed hops pin.  If there’s one thing St. Louis is known for, it’s the Arch. But if we were pressed to name something else, it would be that St. Louis is the home of Anheuser Busch, makers of classics like Bud Lime, Natural Light and Busch. We take our beer seriously here, so we made pins out of felt hops to wear our pride boldly.

I’m not a native St. Louisan, so I don’t understand their pizza, and I don’t really get Toasted Ravioli. Sure it tastes good, but it’s an awful lot of trouble. All that aside, it’s another thing that we’re known for, so we made Toasted Ravioli Hand Warmers. This is where my undeniably pathetic sewing skills came into play. Lucky for me, I was in a room full of ladies who actually knew how to set up the machine so I didn’t end up in the corner crying.

Finally, we made Wee bound books using chip board covers, upcycled maps and pamphlets and scrap paper. If you’ve never made a Japanese Stab Bound book, you should give it a try. They’re super easy and fun, and make great handmade gifts. One of the girls was getting autographs and contact info in her’s to remember the nite. What a great way to use a miniature handmade travel journal!

We all had a great time, and I’d like to wrap up by saying thank you to Autumn and the crew of the Upcycle Exchange for putting together a great party, and for all the other things you all do for the St. Louis crafting community. Even though I always have to find change for parking meters when I come to the city to see you all, it’s always worth it.

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

What’s the deal with Social Media?

Since this article is on the interweb, I’m going to assume that you are too. Which means that unless there’s there’s some special kind of magical, digital rock you’ve been hiding under, you’ve heard of this thing called Social Media. If you haven’t heard of it…Welcome to the future! This week, I gave a presentation on Social Media to our awesome friends at ShowMe Etsy. I thought I’d go ahead and expand on my notes a little bit, and share them with my reader here on the Fusion blog too!

One thing that I’ve learned about Social Media over the years is that you really do get out of it what you put into it. If I want people to look at my work, and comment then I really have to be out there kissing hands and shaking babies. Adding to other people’s conversations will make them more willing to add to mine. It’s also important to do great work and be genuine about it. When I care about what I’ve made or written I like to think that people can tell, and that they respond to it. And when I’m feeling blech…well the work kind of comes across that way too. I’d much rather go to a site because there’s a picture of George Washington fighting Skynet from atop a pterodactyl than because somebody was begging me to do it.

There’s a lot of different providers out there, and I’ve not used all of them, nor is there really time here to talk about them all. So I’m just going to cover some of the big ones that I use on a regular basis…I’ve also collected a bunch of articles on one of my pinterest boards, if you’d like to read more about it. J http://pinterest.com/redherringjeff/social-media-presentation/

FACEBOOK: Sometimes I try to talk my brother into joining FB. He adamately refuses, saying that he doesn’t care about friends from high school or what kind of sandwich his coworker had for lunch. Fair enough. There are a lot of great things about FB though, especially as business owners.

• FaceBook is very organized. All the information is laid out in a linear manner, and it’s easy to pick up and add to conversations.
• I’ve met a lot of people through group boards and gotten to know them on the internet. When I finally meet these people at shows, events or on the street it’s not like meeting a stranger, but more like meeting an old friend for the first time. Professionally, it’s a great ice breaker.
• Usually the first thing I do when I get home from a show is go and “like” the cool new shops that I met that day. This is something to remember as many of our customers would like to continue the “conversation” with us as shop owners and keeping in touch through FB is a great way to do that.
• FB gives us tools to keep our customers informed about new products, what show’s were going to be in and to offer incentives to come and visit us again.
• It also creates a space where we can develop a dialog with our fans, allowing us to find out what interests them as well as create some “buzz” about what interests us.
• Likes: I try to be very careful of the things I publicly like…especially on my FB fan page. It’s totally okay if, for instance, I’m listening to a lot of Iron Maiden. That doesn’t fit into the story of Handmade Family though.
• I understand wanting to keep your life private. I’m a sharer, maybe even an over sharer at times, but I don’t want even the best intentioned person just showing up at my doorstep. So I keep my personal facebook profile locked down pretty tight. With one exception, in the about tab my website and facebook business pages are all listed. People need to be able to find where to buy your stuff.

Something I didn’t talk about is Facebook’s edge ranking system. In a nutshell, it’s how FB decides who sees what, based on how much they interact with a page. Melissa assures me that she’s working on a post all about edge rank, so I’m going to leave that to her.

TWITTER: If Facebook is a meeting, wrapped into a family reunion, then Twitter is more like the after party…complete with boxes of wine and kegs of PBR.

• Like a party, there is a lot of “chatter” on twitter, with conversations and parts of conversations streaming through the feed all day. The set up may seem a little disorganized and overwhelming at first, but it allows you to join new conversations and make new contacts really easily.
• I like to think of my tweets as free-form Haiku’s Hashtags are used to make your content more searchable or to give them a context using a minimum amount of words.
• Hashtags increase your audience, because they also group or categorize tweets. This adds you to a world wide conversation about (for example) #ghostbusters, without having to be friends with EVERYONE who likes ghostbusters.

PINTEREST: Pinterest is like the coffee table book to the modern age. It allows me to curate a collection of projects, recipes, inspiration and interests so I can look at them later and share them with others.

• One of the things that I like about Pinterest is that it gives me a general overview of what my friends and the people that I follow are into, what’s going on in their lives, and what they’re working on.
• I pin a combination of things that I would like to do and that I know I’m capable of and things that inspire me to try to do something that I’m not sure that are possible for me.
• Ideas don’t form in a vacuum, and Pinterest is a great tool for helping us stretch our abilities.
• Pinterest is also a way to help promote your friends. I have a board called “I Sure Have Talented Friends” where I pin cool stuff made by my friends in an effort to move more traffic their way too.

INSTAGRAM: Great way to share your more personal stories, as well as works in progress and shows “as they happen” For me, being an independent crafter isn’t just about what I make. It’s also about my lifestyle, and the things I see and experience every day.

• Thinking about and capturing the every day in a way that’s meaningful and timely helps make us stronger image makers, and story tellers as well as helping to make us more relatable to our customers.
• One big advantage we have over a big box store is the ability to give very personalized customer service as well as tell a story that isn’t just about making money.
• If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas or getting into the habit of using instagram as part of your brand, a great place to kick off is one of the many photo-a-day projects out there. I do the one featured on the fatmumslim blog.

BLOGSPOT/WORDPRESS BLOGS: I use my blog to bring all the little aspects of the rest of the social media outlets together, editing all the little stories into a larger weekly (or bi-weekly) narrative.

• Blogs give you an opportunity to really talk about the things you know and love.
• They are where we can establish ourselves as an authority on our particular craft.
• Things that I might cover on my blog include:
  Daily Life stories
  Illustrations
  Tutorials
  Observations about the nature of our community or tips on being a part of it.
  Works in Progress
  Things that I’m into
  education
  goals
• The meat of our dialog happens here, and it can be lonely, especially at first as it seems like you’re shouting into the void. I’ve had people recognize me at shows lately though, and comment on things that I’ve written in the blogs. Which is always pretty great.

Thanks for joining me as I explore some of the possibilities in the landscape of Social Media? Was there anything I missed, or you’d like to know more about? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Links to more Resources:

• Using Instagram to help your business branding: www.indiemade.com
• Working at your business vs working on your business: www.scoutiegirl.com
• Personal Branding Websites (Like an online business card): mashable.com
• Using Social Media to start conversations by Brave Tart: bravetart.com
• Is Twitter the Newest Form of Literature? youtube.com
• The importance of Community, and the future of content: gigaom.com
• Using Pinterest for Business infographic: infographicjournal.com
• Getting Noticed on DeviantArt (or anywhere else, really): www.deviantart.com
• Photo a day: www.fatmumslim.com.au

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

For The Love Of Creating

“No one wants to climb the mountain anymore. They’re all just looking for the elevator.” – Brian McDonald

I call this “looking for the Holy Grail”. Trying to find that perfect How-To book, Pencil, or Glue Gun that will make it all click and allow us to be a member of the crafting A-Team.  While I firmly believe that anyone who has the hand-eye coordination to write their name legibly is able to learn how to create, the fact of the matter is that it also takes a lot of interest in doing it as well as good deal of work. Most people get started when they’re too young to know they’re working so hard at it, so it’s always been fun for them. So how do we expose kids to art and get them interested at a young age?

I think most everybody who took high school English in the last twenty years has seen the movie “Dead Poets Society.” The intention I think, is to inspire students to be creative…or maybe just show that one-hundred year old poems and stories still have the power to move and help us grow even today.

The problem I always had with watching the movie is that while it excited me to become involved, to write and talk about art, it didn’t give me the tools to put these new ideas and feelings into practice. The subversive aspect to learning about and being active in the arts is part of what makes it exciting. How do you teach subversion, though?

Giving kids ideas is important, but so is giving them the tools to use and explore them. One book that is popular around our house is The Dot, by Peter Reynolds.

Such a simple, expressive story that illustrates the possibilities of exploration and showing interest in the potential of our young people. More importantly, it gives kids the tools to explore and to share those tools with others. I love the end where the kid has the courage to ask Vashti about her art and she shares the “secret” with him.

I love hearing people who are passionate about what they do, talk about it. Often when I’m on the way home from Fusion on Saturdays, I’ll listen to “From the Top” on NPR. I like music and have played it for a long time, but couldn’t tell you the difference between a technically great performance and a brilliant one. The thing is though, in the commentary on the performances the excitement and passion for the music being created really comes across. It gets ME excited about the music in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t be. Teaching by example and sharing the excitement of the kids you’re trying to inspire goes a long way.

This Friday, I’ll be participating in the Arts for Kids event at the Shawnee Comunity College in Metropolis, IL. A couple of months ago, I was talking to my five year old nephew and told him that I get paid to draw pictures. He gave me SUCH a look of disbelief. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to talk about my work, and show kids that art is something that you can make a living doing. I hope that they get some of the excitement that I feel.

I Love it when a plan comes together.

*Update – we just recieved word that the event organizers decided to cancel the event due to the number of artists that are not going to be able to make it. We are very sad, but apparently they are going to have a new event at the school in the fall. The kids will still get to have their artistic experience and I am super thrilled

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

Getting The Work Done

This week, I’ve finally managed to make some headway on long standing projects, and had a minute to think about writing a blog post. So June is almost over, and for a lot of us that means two things: 1) The summer show season is coming into full swing so we’re super busy making product and hitting the fairs like a bunch of gypsies, and 2) Christmas is only 6 months away and we’re freaking out about not having enough inventory. How will we get it all done? Will there be new product, or will we go to the end of the year with the same product line. I have a couple of mantras to get me through these times, and now I’m sharing them with you. You’re welcome.

Saying “I’m gonna’…” always makes me cringe. What we usually mean is something more along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” The first step in getting everything that needs to be done is listening for when you say “I’m gonna’…”, and then just doing it. If you want to do it, then it needs to be done. I’ve found that techno dance music goes a long way towards getting me moving when I’d rather be wishing for the magic craft fairy to fill up my inventory. Like Yoda meant to say, “Do or do not. There is no I’m gonna.” Punch that phrase in the face. It’s not your friend.

Yoda is Copyright Lucasfilm

“Perfection is the enemy of completion.” There comes a time in every project where you just have to finish it and move on to something else.  This one is hard, because we want what we do to be the best and maybe it just doesn’t fit the picture in out head, or we don’t have all the right things to display with it, or it’s the wrong season, or… this is what happens. It all ends up being an excuse to not move on to the next thing, and give it the time it deserves and then move on. One of the lessons that I’m slowly learning is that perfection can’t be seen in one thing or moment. Usually the last thing I did is as close to perfection as I ever got, and if I don’t move on to the next thing, then I won’t be able to get closer. That’s partly why Steven Spielberg went on to make Schildlers List, and a ton of other movies and George Lucas is still tinkering with Star Wars. Both of them wanted to make something new and better than they already had, not settle for a standard of perfection.

I’ve been making a list of things to work on for the next month, one of the big ones in the 11 days of Pinterest project. You can check out some of the projects I’m featuring and making on the Fusion Pinterest Board.  So what are some of your “I’m gonna’s…” for the last half of the year? Let me know in the comments, and then go out and MAKE them! Be sure to visit again so I can see what you did too. I always love seeing new, cool things, and hearing about the people who made them!

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

17 Questions (Because 17 is Better than 10) with Melissa Villadiego of Villa Design

We have a great bunch of artists working and showing here at Fusion, and it’s really exciting for me to be able to share them with you all!  There’s always things we wish we could ask artists when we are looking at their work, but often they are not around to ask.  One of the things I find difficult when I meet artists at our Open Houses or at shows is finding that first question to get a dialogue going. As I’ve gotten to know my artist friends though, the questions just sort of build on themselves.  So, with the help of our friend Jessi at I Am What I Am on Main Street (who I’ve shamelessly stolen a lot of these questions from), and friends from the crafting community, I’ve compiled this list of questions to get the ball rolling.

Following up on last weeks discussion on branding, our featured artist today has been with us since the beginning, and is responsible for a lot of the look of the shop.  Melissa Villadiego of Villa Design is super busy, between graphic design work, working with and coordinating artists at Fusion (which can be a little like herding cats), involvement with the St. Louis Craft Mafia, as well as making stunning glass jewelry and doing shows. On top of all that, I make her read all my posts to make sure everything’s spelled right and I don’t embarrass anybody. I don’t know where she finds the time to sleep! At any rate, It’s great to introduce you to her, and I’m glad that she was able to take even MORE time and answer some questions for us.

What do you create?
I create unique jewelry by making my own lampwork glass beads and sculptures, then using upcycled materials and incorporating metalwork. I like to say my jewelry incorporates vintage details with a modern twist.

What is your bestseller?
I sell a lot of necklaces, especially the Glass Acorn Pendants.

If you had to describe your crafting style in three words, what would they be?
colorful, organic, detailed

What goes into making your creations?
More than people think! With the glass work, I sit in front of torch that’s somewhere between 1200-1500 degrees. I’ve burned my fingers a lot. I’ve had glass shatter and hit my neck. I’ve even had hot glass go down my shirt. Not pretty.

Then, the glass beads go into a kiln and I have to wait at least 8 hours before I can check if a bead survived or at least turned out. Sometimes it’s hard to translate what’s in my head to a physical bead.

There’s also different techniques I use to make my jewelry, including copper etching, copper electroforming, silver precious metal clay, enameling and metalwork. Hmm… that’s a lot.

How long does it take to make your product?
I always answer this question in years (and I love the blank looks I get). So as of today, it’s been 8 years of trial and error to learn about manipulating glass and learning what defines my style.

Are there any materials that you have used in your products that you think may be unexpected?
Maybe the vintage glass cabs. And old buttons.

Why handmade?
Crafting, and handmade in general, supports your local community.

What do you think differentiates crafting from other types of business?
The creativity. The craftsmanship and hard work that goes into each item. Passionate artists.

What do you enjoy most about selling your handmade goods?
Interaction with fellow artists/crafters and with the public, which is why I love doing art and craft shows! It’s a lot of prep work to get ready, but on the day, it’s a lot of fun for me. And a lot of laughter.

What personality Trait do you possess that you think helps you the most as a professional crafter?
Detail-oriented. Maybe to a fault.

Do you take custom orders?
To a certain extent. With glass beads, I don’t because every bead will be different. One torching session will produce different results than an other.

Who are you outside of the business?
I’m a graphic designer. Foodie. Vintage lover. Amateur photographer. I’m also a geek and a great lover of cupcakes.

Do you buy handmade, and why?
Definitely. I’m supporting the local community that’s why.

Do you have any short-term goals?
Build my wholesale business.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years? 10?
Still doing what I love.

Where can we find you to see more of your work, ask questions, and give you our money?
Too many to count, so just go to my website, www.villadesign.org. And like my FB page, follow me on twitter and check out all the pretties I pin on Pinterest. Go!

Who shot first, Han or Greedo?
Who? (I’m kidding! I sense my fellow geeky friends will strangle me) Han!

Not funny, Melissa…Not funny.   Thanks again for talking with us today, Melissa!

Is there anything I missed, anything you’re dying to know about glass beads, jewelry, frits or being awesome? Leave us a comment, we love hearing from you all too! Also, don’t forget that in just four short weeks it’ll be July, and the year will be half over. I’m planning on doing eleven projects inspired by pins on pinterest in an 11 days of pinterest feature to mark the halfway point to Christmas…It’s never too early to start making junk to give away to the family, is it? If you’d like to see some of the things that I’m planning on, or would like to suggest a pin that I might love (or hate) to make you can check out my 11 days of pinterest board or leave me a comment in the comment section.

Thanks, and see you next week!

Links:

• Melissa’s Website: www.villadesign.org
• Facebook: villadesign
• twitter: @villadesign
• Pinterest: TwentyThree

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

Classroom 101: Branding, Pulling It All Together

I’ve been talking a lot over the last couple of months about branding, looking at what it is, and why I think it’s important. It’s a subject that sounds so simple, but which has turned out to be very complex and varied. Exploring it with you has given me a lot to think about with my own branding, and I hope that some of it has been helpful to you too! Today, we’ll be wrapping things up by talking a little bit about Fusion’s story and the thoughts behind it’s concept, beginning, and of course it’s branding. First though, I’d like to thank Jessi, Melissa and Winnie for taking a minute out of their busy schedules to answer my questions. With out them, this shop, and probably this article wouldn’t exist.  Thanks ladies!

In an effort to breathe new life into the property, Crestwood Court launched its ArtSpace initiative in November 2008.  The mall filled almost half its existing retail space  with outlets for culture and creativity such as art galleries, dance studios, and sculpture and pottery work space. While we’re now located in Chesterfield, the seeds for Fusion were planted in the ArtSpace in Crestwood. The original group knew each other from the local Etsy team, ShowMe Etsy. Since Crestwood was offering discounted rental rates for artist spaces, they felt that the time was right to move forward and created a handmade shop, ShowMe Handmade.

When asked why they decided to open as an artist Co-Op, the answer was quick and underlined the community aspects that are so important to us. Everyone worked full time on top of running their craft business, and knew that there was no way they would be able to take on such a huge task on their own. Combining their creativity, talents and time seemed like the best way to go.  The handmade goods at ShowMe Handmade were split between working artists who all had a say in the day-to-day operations of the shop, and consignment vendors who were included to fill a niche in the shop.  While everyone seemed to love the idea of all local work from all different artists, mediums and price points, ten different ideas about how displays, marketing and policies should be handled made it difficult to form a chohesive brand. “We’re all so different in terms of style and tastes”, says Melissa Villadiego.
In early 2010, the group decided to close up shop in Crestwood Court, and move to Chesterfield Mall. The move to a new, bigger space with new artists after a little over a year of experience under their belt was a perfect opportunity  to rethink some ideas about what they wanted the shop to be, add some new ideas about what it could do, and what could be included. Adding local musicians to the mix, and becoming more of a fine art gallery were things that now seemed possible. These new ideas and a need to represent the co-op idea better prompted a name change. So how did they come up with the name, Fusion? Melissa Villadiego had this to say:

  We wanted a place that incorporated the arts, music and educational classes. I remember we tossed around the name “Muse” since the name had a thespian bent. Artist muse, music muse… etc. We decided on Fusion, because we were blending together art, music, and classes in one shop.

I remember the question being thrown out to the community on facebook as well, using “the mob” as a sort of sounding board. The consensus was that Fusion was that while Muse was definitely classic, it conjured images of people in togas, playing the lyre, while Fusion sounded more modern, sleek and classy. The original logo was designed with the tagline “Art + Music + Life” so that was pulled into the logo with 3 leaves representing these important elements of our lives. The leaves were also a good symbolic fit as we are growing and building a community.

Moving into the new retail space in Chesterfield Mall, the group were presented with a blank canvas and decisions needed to be made to make it feel like a cohesive store, as opposed to a group of vendors sharing a space. The shop was huge and quite overwhelming.  On top of that, there wasn’t much money in the budget to improve the space and pull it all together, so ideas had to be simple, cheap and necessary.   “The biggest way we tried to tie it all together was to get artists that looked like they were of the same caliber and then we also tried to merchandise by department,” says Winnie. The original mission was to support the local art community while helping each other grow. The shop itself was never meant to make a profit but was intended for the individual artists to interact and succeed. Keeping these ideals intact as the concept and brand has evolved into a carefully curated mix of indie-crafts and fine art, has been the focus as we meet new artists and continue to refine the internal brand through displays, marketing materials and online presence.

Be honest with yourself about what you want to create as well as what story you want to tell, and be friendly and reliable to your customers. Branding is about telling a story, your story, and drawing people into it. One of the great things about being in a mall is that I can walk around and look at all of the shops, asking myself what story they are trying to tell. This gives us a great springboard when sitting down to figure out our own.  Have you found your voice or story, or are  you still looking? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear them!

Links:

• Alexandras Jewelry: www.alexandrasjewelry.com
• I Am What I Am On Mainstreet: www.iamwhatiamshop.com
• Villa Design: www.villadesign.org

Writer Jeffrey Johnson

Stay-At-Home Dad and freelance Illustrator, comiker, crafter and urban homesteader. Jeffrey  and his wife Amy work together at Fusion as Handmade Family, making back to basics toys, gifts and decor for growing families. You can find his work and personal blog at www.handmadefamily.com or around the web as redherringjeff.

Classroom 101: Branding Your Name And Mission Statement

I started this series on branding thinking that it would be just the one post about how important it is, and some general thoughts.  I either underestimated the size of the topic, or my willingness to talk about it, but here it is three weeks later, and I still have things to say. Ha-ha-ha! This week, I’d like to talk about what I feel are the two core items of any brand: The name, and the mission statement. These two things  not only tell who you are, and what you do, but they also are your most portable marketing tools because they are essentially just words and ideas. I can talk to somebody in the lift about Fusion and within 30 seconds she will have enough information that she can tell anybody who is looking for a unique, handmade gift exactly where to go.  These core ideas are also the seed that your visual style will grow out of, and having what you want to say makes what you want to show easier.

Names are important. Any filing system relies on names to locate information, and our brains are no different. There’s a reason we agonize over what we want to name our kids, our dogs, our bands…it’s because we want the name to ROCK fit. We don’t want our son Ted to go through life with everyone feeling like he should have been named Bill. The name of your business can be as simple as your name. Some of the biggest companies in the world did it, just look at Disney, Warner Brothers, Lucasfilm, even Wal-Mart is basically the name of the guy who started it. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. A name can be a made up word like Kodak or…okay, that’s the only example I can think of off the top of my head but  maybe this will set you apart from, well pretty much everybody, Ha-ha-ha! Finally it can be a name that describes what you are or do like Pepsi, Pixar, Super Save-A-Lot or Wyld Stallyns.  As with anything we do, the name should tell a story about us. It will be memorable and linked to us based on it’s fit. Just don’t let your story never begin because you never stopped searching for a title.

Just what is a mission statement? In a nut shell, it’s what you want to do, and before you ask, “make money” is not a mission statement. If you were to ask Bill and Ted what theirs was, they might say “Be excellent to each other”. It’s short and to the point, and it tells a story about what’s important to them. To show that I’m not just making this up, and looking for excuses to talk about an excellent adventure, here’s an actual example I pulled from the interweb, for Pixar:

Pixar’s objective is to combine proprietary technological and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable character and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.

Put it all together and you have a compact idea that makes it easy to tell people who you are, what you do, and why you do it.

I hope that this shed a little bit of light on getting started in your branding. What do you think the core of your branding package is? Do you think your mission statement tells a story about you? Let us know in the comment section, we love from hearing from you! While I’m on the subject of comments, we’re coming up rapidly on summertime and I have an idea for the blog to help break up the year a little bit, have a little fun, and try some new things. The first half of July, I want to do a series of posts called “The 11 Days of Pinterest”. The idea is that I will do 11 different projects found on Pinterest, trying some new things and document them for the Fusion blog. Hopefully I won’t mess things up too much, and hopefully when I do it’ll be hilarious. Ha-ha-ha! So what are some of your favorite projects from pinterest? You can either leave me a comment with a link here, or tag me in the pin (@redherringjeff). Thanks for stopping in, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Links:

• Paul Frank: www.facebook.com/paulfrank
• Pixar: www.pixar.com
• Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure: www.imdb.com

17 Questions With Shelah McClymont of The Foundrie

When I first walked into the Foundrie, I was struck with just how cool a shop it is. Not just cool, but rich…like a dark chocolate mousse, or the smell of aged and oiled leather. There’s a feeling of caring craftsmanship that permeates the whole shop, from the window dressings all the way down to the smallest handmade item. Wait! Did I say Handmade!? Why yes I did! Our friends at the Foundrie stock all local handmade and vintage items.

Recently, they decided to move to a new storefront in Chesterfield mall, and (from what I could see by peeking through the windows) it is going to be even better than before! I thought it would be great if I could tear Shelah McClymont away from preparations for the grand opening on April 18th to ask her 17 questions about herself, the shop, the community, and of course Star Wars.

How did you come up with the name for The Foundrie?
I wanted a name that helped convey that we sell found/vintage items and a carefully curated selection of handmade wares. A foundry is typically a place that makes metal castings and parts so I thought the name was fitting. However I didn’t like the way Foundry looked so I chose to spell it Foundrie instead. Then I searched for the domain name and once I found that it was available, I knew I had a winner.

If you had to describe the mission of the Foundrie in three words, what would they be?
Support small business.

What does handmade mean to you?
Handmade for me has a more broad definition than it did several years ago. To me handmade is something that is being independently produced by a single person or a small group of people using handmade elements in their products. It is people using their creativity and drive to carve this niche for themselves in the business world and I am so proud to be a part of this community of people.

What do you enjoy most about selling your handmade goods?
The opportunity to connect with like minded individuals who want to support local artists and small business owners.

Why do you think it’s important to buy handmade?
Being involved in the handmade movement over the past 5+ years has honestly shaped my path in life and allowed me to pursue my dreams of owning my own business. Without handmade and a following of great people wanting to buy handmade to support local artists and designers, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love for a living.

What do you think differentiates crafting from other types of business?
The crafting “community” is much less cut throat than other types of business and we all want to see each other succeed. There is a lot of sharing of information and resources and cross-promotion to help ensure success for everyone who wants to be involved.

What personality Trait do you possess that you think helps you the most as a professional crafter?
Stubbornness? Or I guess a gentler word might be tenacity? I like to do things my own way and I always have. Working for others has always been a challenge for me and although I learned so much as a visual merchandiser for big box stores I am so happy to be my own boss these days.

I noticed that you carry both Handmade and Vintage goods in your shop. What do you think it is about these things that make them go so well together?
People who appreciate handmade items like the one-of-a-kind nature of these products and I think vintage items are the same way. When you find something vintage you never know if you will ever see another like it and you love the uniqueness of the item. It is also a way to keep parts of our history alive and buying vintage is about as eco-friendly as you can get, which is super appealing to the handmade shopper.

You have a great storefront, but you also pack up and take the show on the road to do shows. How are the two different, other than the obvious change of venue?
It is always a challenge to scale back our displays and booth setup since we are spoiled to having the space, tools, and time to create amazing in store displays. But we love traveling like gypsies from show to show and getting to meet new people, spend time with crafty friends, and find new handmade product for the shop so we keep applying to bigger shows and always do a little happy dance when we get an acceptance email. Our next big show is Renegade Craft fair in Brooklyn, NY this June and we can’t wait!!

How do you find and/or select new artists?
As mentioned above we scout artists at craft shows and we also stalk Etsy and invite favorite artists to apply to consign. A lot of artists come to us through our website and friends who help spread the word when our applications are open for consignment.

When selecting artists to consign have you ever come across an application that made you go “What the, what?!”
Of course. That is the nature of “art”. Everyone has their own aesthetic and sometimes it isn’t what we have in mind or our shop. All art has it’s place but you have to work hard to find the place where it fits and will sell. We had a painter/sculptor apply recently and although their pieces were cool and interesting it didn’t fit in with the aesthetic of our shop and the price points being between $500 and $1500 were just too expensive for a shop in a mall. Their reply to not being accepted was, “You fools. Your loss.” That had us much more shocked than anything so far.

How many different artists do you have showing at the Foundrie?
This summer we have over 50 consignors.

Running a store front sounds like a lot of work. Do you still find time to make anything yourself?
It is a lot of work. I find myself working on my own jewelry in the couple of days leading up to a big craft show because when you have the expenses of traveling and booth fees the only way to make your money back is to sell your own work. And then I get to bring the leftover inventory back to sell in the shop so it all works out pretty well.

Do you have any short-term goals? Where do you hope to be in 5 years? 10?
I am definitely a one day at a time kind of gal and thinking too far in the future freaks me out a bit. Our short term goal is to get the store re-opened in our new location by April 18th. This summer we are looking to hire a couple of interns to help grow our business. I think we just want to take it slow and steady and see where this road takes us. I hope 10 years from now I am still doing what I love surrounded by a supportive group of friends and family.

Where can we find out more about the Foundrie, your artists and show schedule?
Our website is being updated as we speak but you can always find all of the info at
http://www.thefoundrie.com
.

If you could go back and do it over again, what would you do differently?
Not a thing. I feel like everything is a learning process and a chance to evaluate past decisions and experiences and use them as a platform for change and growth.

Who shot first, Han or Greedo?
My husband was only slightly disgusted when I asked for his help with this question and he said, “You know it was Han, right?? Right??” So I guess I am going with Han.

Thanks so much for taking a minute to talk with us today, Shelah! We’re all looking forward to checking out the new shop on its grand opening on the 18th!

Links:

• The Foundrie: www.thefoundrie.com
• The Foundrie on Facebook : www.facebook.com/thefoundrie
• Renegade Craft Fair: www.renegadecraft.com