Search results (tags) for: "podcasting series"

Hello Craft Podcast: Your Stories Wanted!

2008-11-07T16:40:00Z

Hello Craft has put out a call for your handmade stories. The Hello Craft Podcast lets crafters call a toll free voice mail line and leave their stories for an episode. Learn how to contribute here.

What is Hello Craft, you say?

Hello Craft is dedicated to the advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement by empowering small business owners, educating the public to the benefits of buying handmade, and teaching the joys of making.

Conceived in the summer of 2008, Hello Craft is the brain child of four indie crafters with leadership roles and ties to the local and national handmade arts and crafts communities. Founding members include famed craft blogger and podcaster Tina Seamonster, Kelly Rand, writer for DCist.com and Crafting a Green World, and Sara Dick and Kimberly Dorn, both Festival Directors of the East Coast's largest indie craft event, the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair.

Through the foundation of its website, Hello Craft aims to bring together crafters and makers to learn and grow as a community. The public is encouraged to take an active role by sharing their crafting history through weekly reader-generated podcasts. An event blog, product testing, business workshops, and mini-events add to the wealth of crafting information and education that Hello Craft has to offer. In 2009, Hello Craft will host its first summit in Washington, D.C., aimed at advocating and advancing the handmade community.

Hello Craft is a unique resource for those who make their living from crafts, shoppers who buy handcrafted goods, and anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of the handmade movement that is sweeping the nation.

Check out Hello Craft's Etsy favorites. (You can build an Etsy Mini for your website, too!)

Podcasting Series | Top 10 Gifts for Radio Listeners | Posts by tinaseamonster

Fan Art Talk in the Virtual Labs: Special Guest Professor Henry Jenkins

2008-10-31T12:22:00Z

UPDATE: This is the podcast of the conversation with Prof. Jenkins that took place October 16, 2008 in Etsy's Virtual Lab.

All Etsy podcasts are published under Creative Commons licenses so please feel free to embed audio and video on your blogs or websites.

For other Etsy videos and podcasts please subscribe to our channels in iTunes and Youtube!

Please share your thoughts in the comments!

[The following was originally published on Oct 10, 2008.]

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Professor Henry Jenkins accepted Etsy's invitation to participate via webcam in a Virtual Lab talk about fan art. All are welcome to participate (all you need is an Etsy username, and it is free to register). Please join us in the Storque room of the Virtual Labs (Etsy's interactive chat room), Thursday October 16, 3-4pm EDT.

Fan art is a fascinating example of the intersection between art, pop culture and commerce. In fact, some fan artists sell their work on Etsy. Due to the nature of fan art, there are many intellectual property issues. Etsy is a venue and, as such takes very seriously issues of copyright and intellectual property. See our policies here. However, this talk is not meant to address the many legal issues concerning fan art, offer legal advice to artists or to talk about specific items on Etsy. Rather, Professor Jenkins will give context and history to fan art and speak about its transformations in the digital age.

Fan art — what is it and what is its history? Where did it come from and why did people start making it? Professor Jenkins wrote a seminal academic book — "Textual Poachers" published in 1992 — about fandom — television and science fiction fans and their art, writings and fan culture. His book challenged much of the theory about spectatorship and the consumption of popular culture, and he presented a new model — one in which the audience plays an active role in creating meaning from entertainment and cultural properties.

Much has changed in the world of media and fandom over the past 15 years. Whereas much of fandom used to exist largely through the exchange of zines through snail mail and face-to-face meet ups at conventions, today many fan activities and communities have moved online and sought immediate though media-ted relationships with each other and to the authors and corporations that offer stories and characters — often very immursive worlds — to consumers. Professor Jenkins's recent book "Convergence Culture" (2006) details some vivid accounts how these 21st century media properties connect deeply with fans and how in turn, fans are seeking deeper, more participatory relationships with those works. These present challenges both to fans — who are now more visible and therefore vulnerable to media giants' lawyers — as well as to companies and authors who have legitimate rights to protect their properties but at the same time don't want to alienate their fans.

These are really complicated issues! The goal of the talk is to give creators and customers reference points and a deeper understanding of those complexities. We're so excited to welcome Professor Jenkins to share his knowledge with us and fuel some lively discussion about the role of fan art in our society.

We're looking forward to it and hope you can make it!

Etsy in Action: Upcoming Events

2008-05-14T13:10:00Z

UPDATE: Here's the podcast from the Industrial Complex talk!

Fine furniture and fancy fleas? That's right! Check out what's happening this week in Etsy-sponsored events.

First up, the American Craft Council kicks off its Summer in the City Salon Series, with furniture designer Tyler Hays, founder of the Brooklyn-based company, BDDW. On the agenda: a discussion of handmade work and its relationship to industry. The talk is called "The Industrial Complex" and it's happening at the Council Library located at 72 Spring Street, 6th floor, New York, NY.

If you can't make it to NYC, join us in the Virtual Labs as we broadcast live, this Thursday, May 15, 6-7pm, EST. While you're at it, mark your calendars now for the next ACC Salon Series' events:

Thursday, July 24, 6-7pm, Connect/(Dis) Connect: Chanel Kennebrew, aka junkprints in conversation with jeweler Bruce Metcalf as they "explore the complicated relationships among the broad spectrum of craft makers today."

Thursday, September 18, 6-7pm, The Politics of Craft: KnitKnit's Sabrina Gschwandtner, Knitting Nation's Liz Collins and New York Times's columnist, Rob Walker weigh in on craft's "role in addressing issues of urgency in our world today."

Visit the American Craft Council for more information and, if you're in the New York area, details on attending these events in person.

Next up, May 17 & 18, are Etsy Days at Artists and Fleas, one of the hippest indie shopping venues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This weekend's market will be chockful of fabulous Etsy vendors. Stop by to shop and chat with local New York Etsy sellers from 12-8pm each day. Click here for directions.

(Since this weekend signals the start of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, see below for a sampling of fine contemporary housewares and furniture available on Etsy.)

Podcasting, Anyone? Life Changing Teamwork

2008-03-10T16:01:00Z

As part of our Podcasting Series, two Etsy sellers ilysaart and studiobijou have written about their experiences starting a podcast for their Team, the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy.

On December 26th 2006, I (ilysaart) made a post in the Etsy Forums asking if anyone wanted to start a polymer clay street team, and to my surprise, the response was overwhelming. That day, the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy was born. Today there are members all around the world and we have a very active group.

As membership grew I thought we needed to have a website to represent us as a group and to help get the word out. Again I made a post asking if any of the members would like to help build us a website, and Kira (studiobijou) answered the call. Kira built the PCAGOE website and still maintains it today.

As we started to work together, we discovered we only lived 5 1/2 hours away from each other. During this time I had purchased a video iPod and started listening to podcasts and videocasts and was really enjoying them. I got the idea that I wanted to produce a weekly podcast and videocast on learning to create with polymer clay, and I thought Kira would be the perfect person to help bring it to fruition.

We met up for a weekend in Orlando, FL, half way between where we live. There, we hashed out the plan for Polymer Clay Podcast & Polymer Clay TV, which are part of Polymer Clay Productions. Eight months later we are still going strong, and we have had a new show every Friday for forty weeks.

[Ilysa doing an interview at Synergy]

We have found the show to be great publicity for ourselves and for the PCAGOE guild. We announce the monthly challenge and the goings on of the members of the guild and feature members on the show and on the website. I have been told by members that they found the guild through listening to our podcast and decided to join us. We also have a newsletter for the guild and for Polymer Clay Productions where we keep everyone informed and share all of the members' accomplishments.

Podcasting is very inexpensive to get started. All you need is a microphone and the knowledge to get going. There are free hosting options and a free sound recording and editing program called Audacity. As you start to use more bandwith the free solutions may not be an option, but you can still do it for a small fee.

We started the podcast and videocast with no prior experience of podcasting, nor any knowledge of how to produce one. With lots of research and determination, here we are eight months later, with a show every week since we started. We often get products, magazines, books and DVD's sent to us by companies to review on the show. We have been invited to film major events, retreats, trade shows and conferences and are given press passes to attend these events around the country. We also have the chance to interview and meet numerous artists who have inspired us over the years. We use Skype to do our podcasts and interviews, and we are amazed at the contact names on our lists!

[Kira doing an interview at CHA]

Here's Kira, aka studiobijou.

I will be starting my dream job working as a videographer and copywriter for the school board of Broward County as a direct result of my experience with Polymer Clay Productions. During my interview, I told everyone how I just "winged it and figured I would learn how to do it AFTER saying yes when Ilysa asked me to join her in the podcast/videocast venture. I knew that if other people were doing it, it couldn't be that hard. There is a lot of information on the internet if you are just patient and search it out. If you are interested in starting your own podcast, feel free to convo me and I'll answer questions as best as I can.

We can't even begin to think of all the possibilities that the future holds with podcasting, but we know if it could change our lives, it can change yours, too.

Read more articles in the Podcasting Series. Also, we've showcased some of the polymer clay creations of Etsy in the related items below! Tell us your schemes for using podcasting to promote your team or art form in the comments!

Audio Treats: Etsy on National Public Radio

2008-03-09T12:33:00Z

UPDATE: Here's the link to the story on NPR. We just got word from Jon Kalish that NPR postponed the airing until Sunday, March 9th. Please tune in then!

Back in January, Jon Kalish came to visit the Etsy Labs. Jon is a radio producer for NPR, and he was creating a series about DIY culture, and recording the sounds of people making things. He captured the sounds of our tinkerings, and conducted a few interviews as well. All of Jon's hard work will culminate this weekend in a story on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. (You can check the schedule here.) We're all very excited to hear how it turned out. You can also read about the story here.

Tune in this Sunday, March 2nd, from 2:00 - 9:00 pm Eastern to enjoy the sounds of Etsy. Look here to find your local NPR station. And if you miss Sunday's broadcast, or would like to share it with the world, you can get it here. A special thanks goes to Jon and a general kudos for NPR; keep America smart!

Podcasting, anyone? Public Radio Folks Join Us in the Virtual Labs

2008-03-08T22:21:00Z

Jones Franzel aka RadioJones, Jaimita "Jay" Haskell aka sweetz1122, and Kiera Feldman aka radiokiera will be joining us in the Storque room of the Virtual Labs for a special Wednesday Online Workshop. They'll be beaming in via webcam from Maine and Providence. Live, at the Etsy Labs, we'll have Jaimita, a youth radio producer who participated in WNYC's Radio Rookies program. We'll be dicussing making DIY radio and podcasting and emerging online venues for indie radio producers. We'll also be chatting about our favorite radio shows and podcasts to listen to while making things. No production experience required and all radio-lovers are welcome!

What: Podcasting & DIY Radio Online Workshop
When: Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 1-2pm (Eastern time)
Where: In the Storque room of the Virtual Labs on Etsy.com
Why: For the love of sound files, of course!

Anyone can join us the Virtual Labs! All you need is an Etsy username (it's free and easy to register). Here's a post explaining how to use the Virtual Labs and a list of all the events we've had in there.

Podcasting, anyone? DIY Radio tips from the Public Radio Exchange

2008-03-05T14:34:00Z

As part of our podcasting series, we invited some radio producers and youth radio community organizers to share their passion and expertise. Kiera Feldman aka radiokiera and Jones Franzel aka RadioJones will be joining us Wednesday, March 12th, 2008, in the Virtual Labs for an Online Workshop. They'll be taking questions about how to get started in DIY radio and tricks of the trade. You can learn more about what makes them tick here.

But first, they wanted to point newbie podcast-makers to these helpful tutorials. They picked out some that are technical and also ones that will get you inspired when asking yourself, "What in the world could I make a podcast about?" Here's Jones and Kiera...

Generation PRX is a project of the Public Radio Exchange to support, promote and distribute youth-produced radio. If you've ever wondered how to get started in radio, Generation PRX can help. While the site was started for youth radio producers, new producers of any age can visit the site for DIY tutorials, online audio workshops, and resources. Like Etsy, it's a place where a community of people who love to make things share tips and advice.

Once you've learned some of the techniques, go to Public Radio Exchange to post your work for listeners to review and for stations to license and broadcast. Post in the comments below to let us know what you think!

DIY Tutorials to get started:
From Youthcast host Kiera Feldman, a soup-to-nuts video tutorial on how to make a podcast: http://genprx.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=825456%3ATopic%3A9121&xgs=1

Want to make a story that is entirely sound? Sam Greenspan gives the lowdown on non-narrated stories:
http://generation.prx.org/group/diyradioproject/forum/topic/show?id=825456%3ATopic%3A9142

"Even the most stubbornly wallflowered can rock the airwaves." Producer Lena Eckert-Erdheim with sage advice on being brave for radio:
http://generation.prx.org/group/diyradioproject/forum/topic/show?id=825456%3ATopic%3A9684

Further Resources:

You can subscribe to the Youthcast podcast Kiera is running in iTunes: phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=91643624
RadioDiaries has free online Handbook.
Transom.org is also a great website to explore if you're interested in DIY radio and podcasting.

See previous posts in this Podcasting Series.

Podcasting, Anyone? Craftypod interviews LittleputBooks

2008-03-04T11:36:00Z

This past installment of Craftypod with Sister Diane features Ryan LittleputBooks. Click here to listen.

Craftypod is a series of audio interviews, tutorials, and other crafty content with crafty person Sister Diane, who lives in Portland, Oregon and also runs a chapter of the Church of Craft. It comes out biweekly and she's been consistently posting since 2005. She focuses this interview on marketing, using Ryan's advice and real life experiences. She asks the question, "Why are we afraid of marketing?" And Ryan feels that this is a fear of failure, which cuts doubly deep when you've made the product yourself and put yourself into it.

Sister Diane also asks useful questions about photography and listing descriptions, to which Ryan gives insightful answers. The two also discuss Etsy's drawbacks (the site hasn't reached a mainstream market yet and it can be difficult to get noticed amongst all the sellers).

See LittleputBooks' articles on the Storque, including some tips about keeping up with the holiday rush and a Success Story. Check out more posts in our Podcasting Series.

Podcasting, Anyone? New Voices are Changing the Public Radio Marketplace

2008-03-03T00:30:00Z

In this Podcasting Series, we'll be cross-pollinating with a community of independent radio producers. What do we have in common? A love for making things and expressing ourselves, a desire to connect with other passionate people, and a variegated cross-section of people ranging from amateur to professional and everything in between. We're also ambitious and want to change the status quo!

Public Radio is in a period of dynamic experimentation, trying to capture the energy of the Web 2.0 by crowdsourcing content from user-generated contributions and reaching out to hear new voices. In the interview below, I spoke with radio producers and community organizers Jones Franzel, Jaimita Haskell and Kiera Feldman, who will talk with us about their adventures in independent radio in an Online Workshop on March 12th. The piece below is sprinkled with some links to favorite shows. Post more of your faves in the comments below!

Vanessa: Let's start this off on the right foot...Why do you, Jones, Jaimita and Kiera, love radio?
Jones: What other medium puts you right smack in the middle of a story, lets you see and hear and imagine and experience it, without actually showing you a single picture?… Plus, radio is fun and relatively inexpensive to make, it’s also compelling, honest, and interesting. A good radio story can change your life.

Kiera: I'm finishing college right now, and I find that radio has led me to all kinds of new interests. There’s a quote from Gwen Macsai that sums up my feelings well. She hosts Re: Sound — a terrific show on Chicago Public Radio. On a DIY radio site called Transom, she writes, “Radio is my first love and like a first love, no matter how far you stray and no matter how badly it ended, your heart still skips a beat when it walks through the door.” Isn’t that great?

Third Coast has a yearly radio conference and competition. You can sample some of the emerging talent on their website.
Transom is a website where radiophiles and podcasters gather to talk shop.

Jaimita: Wow… why do I love radio? It’s different... It’s a different type of connection – radio forces you to listen, it forces you to think about what you’re hearing and actually see it in your mind and feel what you’re hearing…After all these years, people still come up to me and say, “I really appreciate your story.” I want to say, “That was 6 years ago!”

The Kitchen Sisters produce radio documentaries — and they have this way of choosing the most amazing, unexpected topics. Give Hidden Kitchens a listen.

Vanessa: Jones, Can you introduce yourself and explain what PRX and GenerationPRX are, for those who don't already know? What is the relationship between Radio Rookies, YouthCast podcast and GenerationPRX?

Jones: The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is kind of like Etsy for radio — it’s an online marketplace for distribution, review and broadcast of public radio programs. It’s also a social network of producers, stations and listeners collaborating to reshape public airwaves. GenerationPRX takes these tools and dedicates them to supporting, connecting and distributing youth-produced radio. We work with over 50 youth radio groups (including Radio Rookies) and hundreds of teens and teachers who are making new, different and engaging radio, and we help get these heard. The YouthCast podcast is one way we help share some of this radio with a larger audience — it’s curated and hosted by the amazing Kiera (who also runs the YouthCast podcast), and goes out through alt.NPR.org This a long way of introducing myself as having a dream job! I’ve been the project Director of Generation PRX since it launched in 2004. (to get more detail on Generation PRX, please see read this).

Vanessa: Jaimita, Please introduce yourself. What is your background with the Radio Rookies program and how did you get involved? What was your experience with radio growing up?

Jaimita: I got started in radio when I was in high school... When I was in school, Czerina (Patel – former director of Radio Rookies) came to my journalism class. She came in to present, and when someone comes into present and you’re a teenager, you hear “blah blah blah.” I filled out the application, but it was real short, and Czerina said, “Fill it out more in depth.” I did, but I wasn’t accepted into the program at first — someone dropped out, and then she called me. At the time I was like “No, I wasn’t your first pick!” But my mother said to do it. The experience was crazy. I was the only black female that was in my group and the reason why I say this is that the people in my group and I ... never ever ever spoke before [we got involved in the program], but all the people who went into the program had a really good bond.

Growing up, the only thing with radio was music to me and 1010 WINS here and there, I never knew — NPR, what? It wasn’t brought up in my household, though music was very important to me. I was always listening to the radio, but if anybody told me I would have been into this when I was younger, I would have said “yeah right, sounds boring.”

Radio Rookies, a youth radio project based at WNYC since 1999, matches mentors to teens. Listen to the Radio Rookies pieces and read more about the project here.

Vanessa: Kiera, can you give us the low-down on the YouthCast? How did you get involved in radio? Can you tell us about how you came to KBOO Youth Collective, in Portland, Oregon?

Kiera: Each YouthCast podcast features just one example of all of the exciting work that’s bubbling out of the GenerationPRX hot springs. I like to say that YouthCast is a glimpse into the Magic 8 ball of radio’s future (and the outlook is good).

Like most “how I found the thing I really like to nerd out about” stories, I kind of stumbled into radio. As a freshman in college I went to an open house at Brown Student and Community Radio where I met a formidably talented producer named Kathleen Ross. We hit it off and started a humor show called Gladiators of Awesome. Kathleen was an alum of Blunt Youth Radio in Portland, Maine. Home in Portland, Oregon for summer break, I wanted to learn editing so I showed up at the KBOO Youth Collective’s weekly meeting and said, “Teach me!” The amazing Erin Yanke (youth advisor) basically replied, “Sure! This is how you edit sound. Go make whatever you want!”

The moral of the story is that community radio is a beautiful thing. You can learn production skills, plot collaborations, and, most importantly, have a space to produce for fun.

Radio Diaries does series (Prison Diaries, Teenage Diaries, AIDs Diary) where they give equipment to people who record their lives, and then Joe Richman, the producer, shapes the tape into documentary pieces. They also offer the incredibly useful Teen Reporter Handbook for free (and it's not just for teens!).

Vanessa: Jones, can you speak a bit about the GenPRX platform and its role as a marketplace? How do you see the internet changing the face of radio?

Jones: With the internet anyone can make audio stories — once you’ve got access to a computer, download Audacity, take a free online tutorial (like this one from Kiera) and boom! You are a podcaster. In the same way that Etsy showcases various items, GPRX curates audio to direct visitors and stations to pieces that match their interests, and users can rate and review pieces for others to see. The review function has multiples purposes — it lets users identify pieces, helps producers improve their work for air, and creates a conversation between makers of radio.

Download Audacity and get right to experimenting! Audacity is a free, open-source audio editing program. You can also record into your computer if you have a line in, or just use Skype to conduct interviews.

Vanessa: Jaimita, did you have a moment where you realized the impact radio had on your life? Or the impact your radio pieces had on others? Or was it a gradual thing, or a thing that always made sense to you?

Jaimita: Yes. One of the impacts radio had was that it separated me from everyone else in high school. I had a story where I had to bring my Marantz recorder into school — which was very embarrassing (they called it a karaoke machine) — but it set me apart and made me different before my story was even finished.

One of my friends actually listened to my story one time, and she looked and me and was like, “I never knew you felt that way.” The story was a way of communicating with another peer, even though she was close to me she didn’t know that I was upset.

StoryCorps is a project that enables everyday people to make a recording of an interview: it's like a radio oral history project for the Internet Age. The project sets up recording studios in places like Grand Central station or the public library in Nashville, and anyone can sign up, go in, and record an interview with a friend or family member. Find out more on the StoryCorps website and get their podcast here.

Vanessa: Any other suggestions for listening — especially shows that work with user-generated content or bring new voices to the airwaves and people's iPods?

Jones: Many many of the groups on GenerationPRX also have their own podcasts you can find through their websites, and you can always start your own. Vocalo.org is an exciting new project at WBEZ that’s working almost entirely with community-generated content. The internet has also opened up new ways to find radio personalities. Last year PRX ran the Public Radio Talent Quest, a hugely popular competition with an open call for submissions.

Kiera: Check out Tell Me More to see how new shows on NPR are starting to involve audiences in the production of the show, by blogging about upcoming shows and integrating audience input from comments.

See other articles in this Podcasting Series. Post your favorite radio shows and podcasts in the comments below!

Podcasting, anyone? Craftivism and Radio Open Source

2008-02-28T15:21:00Z

RadioOpenSource is a smart and wide-ranging podcast and blog with host Christopher Lydon. The concept was to create a public radio show that would exist as a podcast, radio broadcast and blog, and that it would hinge on the conversation between listeners and producers. I worked for the show's blog for a summer while I was in grad school in 2005, and it was the type of work experience where one's head explodes on a daily basis — in a good way, with tons of new ideas. One of my first posts on the RadioOpenSource blog was about a knitting Craftivist named Grant Neufeld, and now that I think about it, this was around the same time I first heard about Etsy. And since we're doing the Storque Podcasting series, I wanted to re-post the piece below.

I recently contacted Chris Lydon to see if he'd be interested in podcasting a RadioOpenSource show live from the Virtual Labs as part of our Storque Podcasting series. He's into it! Ever the brave frontiersman, Chris — along with Berkman Center for Internet and Society fellow David Winer — is credited with being one of the "Neil Armstrongs" of podcasting. So I guess that would make a radio show from the Virtual Labs some sort of space station.

Our introduction to knitting activism was through Grant Neufeld’s photo set on flickr.

Residing in Calgary, Grant has been an activist for most of his life, and a few years ago, he become a knitter. I spoke with Grant on the phone and he told me how knitting and activism first intersected in his life.

While brainstorming protest maneuvers for the 2000 World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, one of Grant’s fellow protesters mentioned a European activist group that had incorporated knitting into their demonstration. Grant was impressed.

"The protesters spent the day standing on the corner knitting. At rush hour, they had knit together a huge net and they threw it across the intersection, stopping the traffic. It was such a strong image. Forceful but peaceful. That sort of contrast was very exciting for me. These kinds of jarring contrasts can get people to think.

Although I started the Revolutionary Knitting Circle in 2000, I finally put in the time necessary to properly get the hang of knitting in March, 2002. Since then, I’ve done many projects ranging from scarves, hats and socks to peace armbands and protest banners. I’m also an organizer of the Calgary Knitting Meetup."

Grant Neufeld, Flickr profile

Grant’s Revolutionary Knitting Circle website promotes peace and the right to protest. That exciting contrast of which Grants speaks not only serves to catch people’s attention but it also makes members of the Revolutionary Knitting Circle approachable.

"Instead of me trying to go out and engage people, when I’m knitting in public, people come up to me and ask me what I’m knitting. I tell them it’s for a peace banner and it’s a way of starting a conversation that’s not just 'how’s the weather?' ends up being about political or community issues."

Grant feels that the mainstream media in Calgary has not been very kind in its coverage of protests. But, he points out, “It’s really hard to see someone who’s kntting as a scary terrorist.” Many people who might have political views in line with Grant’s often feel uncomfortable or scared at protests. Revolutionary Knitting Circles are a way of being less in-your-face or easing into full-on demonstrations. According to Grant, knitting is helping to brake down the image of protesters as “hooligans destroying property.”

Is there something about knitting today that is inherently political? It seems like knitting with other people instantly elevates the activity to something greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps not necessarily political, but at least community oriented, knitting stands as a great example of social networking.

If you care to get involved, you can find a Knitting Meetup in your area. Meetup.com is a website that facilitates real-life social activities, activism, or in this case, knitting circles, according to your geographical area. For instance, I just put in my zip code and found that there’s a Boston Knitting Meetup Group with 260 members. Knitting.meetup.com also informed me that United Knitting Meetup Day is the third Wednesday of every month. And “It’s big. It’s everywhere. It’s soon.”

[microRevolt has a free web service that converts images you upload into patterns]

I find that both these knitting activities—political activism and taking the time to meet up with other knitters—both relate back to what Lisa Williams said in her post. Activists like Grant take up knitting in direct response to the industrialization of the textile industry as it relates to global economic policies. However, Lisa points out the irony in this.

"Knitting at this time is very definitely a luxury — it’s impossible for me to make a sweater for less than I could buy it for… Women were the first targets of outsourcing and globalization — clothing, for example, was one of the first big markets for industrialization…Of course, making stuff for yourself has a value that’s not quantifiable in market terms."
Lisa Williams, post on Open Source blog

Grant admits that the materials are expensive these days. But he sees knitting as a decision to “slow down” and a conscious choice not to buy into corporate entities. There is a history of textile protest: Gandhi weaving his own clothes in protest of British control of the Indian textile industry being the most notable example. A Marxist reading of knitting would cast it as a reaction to the co-option of leisure time as a resource diverted to more capitalist consumption. Lisa also shares with us the term “time porn.” Meetup.com could be seen as flying the face of time porn because you’re actually taking the time: to meet new people, to be part of a community, to do something. What this comes down to is how we, citizens in post-capitalist Western society, spend our time.

[Sonia Eemnes, blog da soni@]

And knitting seems to slow time down. Or at least, makes it pass more smoothly. Grant explained to me how knitting has actually changed the quality of time at activism meetings and events.

"They [meetings and events] tend to get really intense and talk heavy. But with the knitting, it’s calming and I find I listen better. Other people have commented on how meetings are calmer with a knitter present. Sometimes meetings get frustrating because you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything, but with this, at least you get some knitting done. It makes things nicer."

Other Politically-minded or Open Source Knitting Websites
Free patterns under a Creative Commons license at Stitch for Sanity

Steal this Sweater wants you to “Get all cozy and radical”

microRevolt has a free web service that converts images you upload into patterns to be used as anti-sweatshop activism

Flickr’s Crazy for Knitting group shares photos of their handiwork [see the ones we’ve tagged “radioopensource” for our favorites]

About.com, the web’s largest archive of free knitting patterns

Barb Hunt’s antipersonnel knitting, anti-war art

More coverage of MicroRevolt on the Storque too.

For me, this was the first time blogging, radio, and crafting intersected. What was your first experience making radio? I was a shy college radio dj! Any pirate radio folks in the house? Comment below and share your favorite things to listen to as well! Are there any craftivism podcasts you know of?

Podcasting, anyone? Tinaseamonster's How-to Produce a Podcast (Part 2)

2008-02-27T16:42:00Z

Making a podcast is relatively easy, technically speaking, and below Tinaseamonster will walk you through how to do it. This is her second installment in our Podcasting series.

We're excited for other, related goings-on. Later today (Wednesday, February 27, 2008) brepettis — the resident New Media person here at Etsy — will be holding an Online Workshop in the Virtual Labs all about RSS. You can read Tina's previous post in this series which tells you how to listen to podcasts, and we'll also hear from studiobijou and Ilysaart on how their Etsy Team uses podcasting to promote the appreciation and awareness about their art form. Public radio producers and community and youth radio organizers will be chiming in too. And we're feeling so pumped because the Etsy podcast was just featured on iTunes. Be a part of this revolution in sound, DIYers!

Of Headphones and Microphones: Podcasting, Part Two
I stumbled into podcasting on a cold February night in 2005. I was newly pregnant with twins and just wanted to sleep, but my husband brought the laptop to me and said, "Let's start a podcast." That night, we recorded our first show in which I told a story about how I didn't know what falafel was and I was hooked. Since then, we have produced nearly 50 episodes of 3 different shows from our small apartment. And I have totally fallen in love with the medium, which is like a cross between the old days of radio and the new days of blogging and can be completely DIY and engaging to both the listener and the creator.

So you wanna podcast?
My first advice to anyone who wants to start their own show is to have a topic. Shows about nothing tend to go nowhere fast, so have a plan! Second is to have a cast. Some shows can work with just one person with interviewees, but adding a few more regular voices can increase your fan base. Having a few differing opinions or a few personalities is always fun. Our current show, Television Zombies, has a 4 member cast. Three of us in the "studio" which is actually our kitchen table and one phoning in via Skype, a voice communication service that lets you have voice conversations with people over the Internet for free. Skype is an awesome service that let's you create "conference calls," sort of a voice chat room, where you can patch in everyone on your show. This essentially makes it so that you can have guests or regulars on your show who live a block away or an ocean away.

Once you have your topic and your cast, you need to think about how consistent you think you can be. The number one thing that makes podcasts successful and gather up listeners is consistency. The way I see it, the world is full of people who are bored at work, sitting in their little rooms all alone. These folks need to count on friends who will be there regularly! Decide how often you are going to record and also how long it will take you to produce and post the show. This determines how often you will realistically be able to post. Make this information clear to your listeners. Our TVZ podcast records every Sunday night. We just do it, it is part of our week. Our listeners know that our show is weekly and know where and when to find it. Building this consistent relationship makes it so that your listeners make you part of their day or week or month and this is important!

Now to the technical stuff. Our first podcast was literally recorded on an old iBook using free software and a built in microphone. The sound quality was so sad! But it gave us the opportunity to get used to being recorded and editing a show. It was a perfect way to start and learn. You can also spring for a $20 microphone to attach to this kind of set up. For the shows that we currently produce from our dining room, we bought a mixer, professional mics for live participants in the studio and use a laptop to patch in people on Skype, while recording the whole thing on our PC. Spending only about $300 (not including computers) for the new equipment. I think our new shows sound great!

At the bare minimum, you should have the following for your show:

A mixer — although your cast can crowd around a single microphone, it's not ideal. Everyone needs their own microphone, and the audio levels for each person needs to be adjusted so that they are all more or less the same. A mixer enables you to take sound from different microphones and the audio output on a laptop and "mix" them all together with good, professional quality sound. We use a cheap Behringer 802 8-Input Mixer ($60 from Amazon). It's not the best in the world, but it does the job. It will also allow you to monitor your recording with headphones – it's very important that you hear what your voice sounds like while you record. Monitoring your sound recording with headphones while rolling also saved you the anguish of recording a whole session and then finding out the mic was turned off.
Professional microphones — these are essential for getting the best audio quality possible. They don't have to be super expensive, but they should be designed for voice, such as the affordable karaoke microphones you can get from Radioshack. We purchased a couple Shure C606WD mics ($30 each). The desk stands ($12.00 each) are also very important — you don't want to be holding your mics the whole time you do your show (and don't forget to buy the clips ($3) that actually attach your mics to the stands, most mics and stands don't come with them out of the box)!
Good headphones — any pair old of headphones will do. You'll also need a headphone splitter so that multiple people can monitor the sound at once – we use a cheap three-way splitter we picked up from Radioshack.
A laptop for patching in a theme song, music, Skype calls, sound effects, etc. This is not the computer you will be using to do your recording. We use an old G4 iBook – it's a little slow, but it does the job. Most older laptops can run Skype and sound playback software such as iTunes reasonably well.
Cables — you'll need a special cable, Stereo Mini Male to 1/4" Phono Y-Cable, to output the analog sound from your mixer to your PC, Mac of other dedicated recording device. You'll also need a standard Stereo Male to Dual RCA Male Y-Cable to plug the laptop you're using for Skype into the mixer (most music fans probably have some of these laying around). Also, you can't go wrong with having a few spare 1/8" mini - to - 1/4" adapters laying around. Many, if not all of these cables, can be found at very affordable prices at your local Radio Shack.
A recording device of some sort to capture the sound from your mixer — We use a Windows PC with Sony Soundforge to capture the audio. You could use any computer with a line-in or mic jack, and any digital recording software. Audacity is a free solution and extremely popular among podcasters. If you're feeling like going the completely professional route, most sound engineers swear by Pro Tools. You can also use a dedicated digital recorder, such as the excellent solid state or hard drive records made by Marantz. They can be expensive, however.
A Website and online storage space for your files — There are many, many excellent and affordable hosting options available on the Web. Most hosting companies will even install Word Press, Movable Type and other blog software for free, so you don't have to be too technical to set up your site. This kind of website can run you about $50 a year to start. Once you get a fan base and lots of people downloading shows, you will need to upgrade this. If you don't think you are ready to put up your own web site for your show, there are also online services that will help you to publish and distribute your content. LibSyn (their tag line is "Podcasting Made Easy") and Blip are two examples.
An RSS feed so you can publish your podcast to iTunes and other podcatchers — You can either write the RSS yourself based on the iTunes published specifications, or you can go to a free site like Feedburner, that does the RSS feed for you.

Finally, Tutorials about encoding, editing and preparing your MP3 files for the web are a quick Google search away. We recommend using 64kbps mono, 44.100 kHz MP3 files, as they offer a good balance of file size and audio quality. But this part of the job takes some trial and error to learn so save a copy of your first show in case you mess up! Over all, I would say that we spend about 8 hours a week on our podcast. Recording takes about 1-2 hours, editing and posting takes about 3 hours, preparing takes 1 hour and marketing and blogging another 2 hours. Spread some of this work among 3 or 4 people and it is totally doable.

Perhaps this all sounds scary and technical, but once you get it set up, a podcast can be a really rewarding way to reach a large audience of people. Have fun!

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at www.ilikeseamonsters.com and podcasts at Television Zombies. Jeff Barrus helped with this part of the series.

Comment below and let us know if you have more questions! Let us know where to hear your podcast! And stay tuned for more tutorials in this series.

We're on the Front Page of iTunes!

2008-02-27T13:05:00Z

This week, we're one of the new releases on the front page of iTunes' podcasts! Hurray! If you haven't subscribed in iTunes, now's the time to get set up and subscribe and get all the Etsy Etsy Etsy video and audio podcasts for free! - Subscribe Link

See the Multi-Media section of the Storque for all the latest videos embedded in our posts.

Podcasting, Anyone? Tinaseamonster Introduces the Wonderful World of Listening

2008-02-26T15:23:00Z

We're super excited about audio podcasting, both for listening and as a new medium for Etsians to get the word out about their creative processes and the handmade lifestyle in general. DIY and pirate radio has a long tradition and now that same diy radio spirit is on the internet. Audio stories and the sounds of making things and good old conversation aren't in the hands of just the big radio stations. Anyone who has a story to tell can give it a shot. So, today we're kicking off a Storque series all about podcasting!

For those who have heard about podcasting but aren't sure how to listen to them — nevermind make one — this series will help you get your ears and voices acquainted with each other. And for those of you who are already podcasting and DIY radio whizzes, we hope you'll come out of the woodwork and share your links to fave shows and your disembodied voices with us! Starting us off, tinaseamonster, an artist and mother of twins *and podcaster,* gives us an intro to listening to podcasts. On Wednesday, brepettis — the resident New Media person here at Etsy — will be holding an Online Workshop in the Virtual Labs all about RSS. Tina will continue her series on how to make a podcast, and we'll also hear from studiobijou and Ilysaart on how their Etsy Team uses podcasting to promote the appreciation and awareness about their art form. We'll also hear from public radio producers and community and youth radio organizers.

To get a sense of it, check out Etsy's podcast we publish on the Storque. Right click and "save as" this tchotchke battle mp3. Also, here's a post from Rokali from a while back that has audio file players embedded in it.

Subscribe in iTunes and get all the Etsy podcasts downloaded automatically.

Hang on to your ear-buds! Here's Tina...

Of Headphones and Microphones: Podcasting, Part One
I stumbled into podcasting on a cold February night in 2005. I was newly pregnant with twins and just wanted to sleep, but my husband brought the laptop to me and said, "Let's start a podcast." That night, we recorded our first show in which I told a story about how I didn't know what falafel was and I was hooked. Since then, we have produced nearly 50 episodes of 3 different shows from our small apartment. And I have totally fallen in love with the medium, which is like a cross between the old days of radio and the new days of blogging. Podcasting can be completely DIY and engaging to both the listener and the creator.

Podcasting 101 – How to Listen
First, don't be afraid. You don't need an iPod. All you need is an internet connection and speakers. A podcast is just a radio show on the internet. It is just an audio file that can either be played on your PC or Mac, or downloaded and played on an MP3 player such as an iPod or Zune. If you know how to click on a link, you know how to listen to a podcast. Most good podcasts have web sites where you can listen on the site via an embedded player. Others will let you download an audio file to your hard-drive and listen with your favorite audio player.

The complicated part comes in when you add subscribing to the mix. This is also part of what makes the medium better than regular old radio. Podcasts are made up of audio files and something called an RSS feed that allows you to subscribe to a podcast (join Bre for his Online Workshop all about RSSing). If you use iTunes, you can easily subscribe to thousands of shows via the iTunes Music Store for free. I find that this is the best way to manage the shows that I listen to. Apple has a great resource page with more information.

The brilliant thing about audio podcasts versus video is that you can listen while you do other things. I have talked to many crafters and artists who tell me they listen to podcasts while they work/create. I find that I listen to shows while I work, go to the gym, silk screen, make lunch for my kids, etc. I can pause or tune them out when I need to and yet still feel connected to the world of the show and the information being presented.

How do I find good podcasts?
Once you know how to listen, the big question is, "How do I find good podcasts?" This is totally trial and error, but I have found that the best shows, the ones that I really love, I have learned about by word of mouth.

For me, there are two different types of podcasts. First are the really professional ones that are just audio files of other mediums, like say, HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, or NPR's Fresh Air. While it is really cool that they make this content available as podcasts, I love finding smaller, indie shows.

I listen to about 10 podcasts weekly and I find that my favorites are definitely homegrown. I really dig Croncast, in which married couple Kris and Betsy talk about their life in Illinois (moving from cool to cul de sac) with honesty and humor. I also love fancasts like MuggleCast (even though the Harry Potter series is over, these guys still find lots to talk about) and The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. Some of the more "pro" shows that I listen to include This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte and Smodcast in which filmmaker Kevin Smith opens up his life to his listeners (Wwarning! This one has a lot of swears!).

In an Etsy Forum post, we asked members to tell us about their favorite podcasts. Here is some of what we got:

But not surprisingly, the bulk of the shows mentioned in our Etsy Forum post were about crafting. They all bring something different but are all fun and inspiring.

    * Pixie Purls (a knitting and spinning podcast)
    * Lime and Violet (very funny podcast for the yarn obsessed)
    * IndieBizChicks.com (marketing strategies for small indie businesses)
    * CraftSanity (A blog and podcast for those who love all things handmade)
    * CraftyPod (great interviews)
    * Threadbanger (video podcast about do-it-yourself fashion)
    * Insubordiknit (yarn!)
    * Craft Magazine Podcasts (video podcast with how-tos)
    * Cast On (a podcast for knitters)
    * Craft Revolution (aims to help creative business owners)
    * Make Zine
    * Crafting Voices (the Story of American Craft)
    * Craft Mutiny (interviewing indie crafters)

Besides iTunes, you can find new shows on Podcast Alley, Digg Podcasts, Podcast Pickle and many more!

Etsyians with Podcasts
I was surprised by the small number of us that podcast (according to the forum thread), but have been excited to listen to shows by my fellow Etsy sellers. I bet there are more! Please post in the comments below if you are making a podcast!

studiobijou and Ilysaart (both in the Polymer Clay Artists Guild) do a show about creating with polymer clay at Polymer Clay Productions (they've written a piece for this series, too). Seller Gettig and her husband do an interesting coffee podcast called Coffee Convo. OrangeWillow interviewed magicjelly in the first episode of her podcast (Download podcast here). She's taking a break but hopefully will be back soon!

We currently have two podcasts being produced at the Tinaseamonster house. First is Television Zombies, where each week we talk about the best and worst in cult/sci-fi television. We talk about Lost and Doctor Who and stuff like that. I also work on the Craft Mutiny Podcast in which we interview indie crafters. The most recent episode interviews Etsy seller SpookyDaddy and should be out soon. Old episodes of our first show, the awkwardly titled Restaurant Fuel/I Like Seamonsters Podcast are also still available.

So, as you can see, the world of podcasting is huge and exciting. I hope you find a few shows that you like! Please let us know in the comments about any sellers with podcasts that we need to know about! Also let us know what you listen to. In Part Two of this series, we will talk about starting a show of your own!

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at www.ilikeseamonsters.com and podcasts at Television Zombies. For previous articles on podcasting, go here!

Tchotchke Battle Audio Podcast

2008-02-25T19:10:00Z

Tchotchkes are those little things that have little or no practical value. Yet we need them and we love them and today they do battle.

I walked over to Danielle and Mary's desk and little did I know that I was walking onto a battlefield. These two awesome Etsy admins have impressive tchotchke collections and without any prompting a tchotchke battle erupted!

Listen to the podcast and learn who won!

Subscribe in iTunes and get all the Etsy podcasts downloaded automatically. If you'd like to just get the mp3, just right click and "save as" this tchotchke battle mp3.

Do you have what it takes to triumph on the tchotchke battlefield? Take a picture of your tchotchke or tchotchke collection and upload it to flickr. Tag it "Etsy tchotchke" and put it in the totchke challenge flickr group. There are no prizes... just tchotchke glory!

Multi-media Visitors to the Etsy Labs

2008-01-11T14:45:00Z

One of the things we love about the Etsy Labs is that it's a fun office to visit: we lure in guests and get to meet interesting people that way! Sometime these are local Etsians who come by Monday Open Craft night, like these crafters who are interested in fiber arts. Or CubistLiterature, who is currently visiting NYC (we're doing a wee video interview with him, so stay tuned!).

Sometimes these folks are members of the press and indie media-makers. Last Monday was our usual Open Crafting Night but we had a special visitor: Jon Kalish, a radio producer for NPR. He came to the right place — and it's not just the acoustics! He's doing a series on the sounds of people making things. We will let you know when his piece that features Etsians' audio is set to air.

Today, we hosted VenusZine for a photoshoot. Justina Blakeney, their DIY editor, wanted to use the space as a backdrop for an article coming out in their next issue in March. We can't tell you what the article is about yet...You'll have to wait and see!

["Yeah, that looks good...Real good."]

Audio Interview with Diana Sudyka

2007-10-05T09:04:00Z

I first met Diana Sudyka at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago when I was interviewing silk-screeners about artwork they had created for the bands at the event. Her hand-drawn posters immediately caught my eye and drew me in with their mysterious and eccentric characters. After learning that she was also illustrating a children's book (The Mysterious Benedict Society, a series following four orphans with special powers as they try to save the world from a miserable end), I was curious to learn how Sudyka juggles silk-screening, illustration and her own work. Click on the link below for an interview with Diana about how she started on her path as a professional artist and her process in creating off-beat worlds for children and adults alike.

Rokali's Ironing-board Chat (Podcast 1)

2007-09-28T16:11:00Z

Last week I posted in the forums, asking for questions about Etsy which I'd answer in a Podcast. Well, here is that Podcast. It's the first one I've done so there's not much fanfare or effects.

You can listen to the entire Podcast here:

Or you can listen to each segment below. I chose 3-5 questions for each the following six categories, plus an Intro and Outro:

Etsy as a Company

Etsy as a Marketplace

Etsy as a Website

Etsy as a Community

Etsy's Policy

Marketing and Etsy

If there are more questions you'd like answered, please post them in the comments here and I'll get them into the next podcast of my Ironing-board Chat.

Sew Useful Contest: Interviews with the Winners & OLPC

2007-09-26T08:35:00Z

This past summer, Etsy and Instructables held the Sew Useful Contest. It was a pretty intensive process to enter: contestants had to list a useful handmade item on Etsy and create an accompanying how-to on Instructables. The main thrust of the contest was to put your creativity and know-how forward for the greater good.

Etsy and Instructables also worked with OLPC (One Laptop per Child) to donate proceeds and how-tos. OLPC gives $100 laptops to children in developing countries and we had the chance to interview Lauren Klein who works for OLPC to collect education content for the machines. (Burdastyle is in the interview too, talking about an open-source sewing pattern for laptop cases!)

Following the Sew Useful Contest, Alison and I got in touch with the winners and interviewed them over the phone. What follows here are the stories behind their entries.

Turns out John, aka BlondietheBlond, entered the contest to impress a girl. Unfortunately it didn't work, but his Rain or Shine Solar Charger sure does! Listen:

La, aka caballera speaks about her motivation for sharing creative process behind the Fire skirt: bringing a little beauty into the world "Everyone should have a glow outfit." She actually got a marriage proposal from all the exposure she got from the contest. She politely declined. Listen:

Kerri, aka kerri9494, talks about her drive to make everyday, useful objects for her son. The Hearing aid drying pouch came out of his needs at summer swim camp. Listen:

donovanbeeson explains her compulsive paper-hoarding and her inspiration for the Envelope book. Listen:

Elli, abitabite links her motivation for making the Plushie Personal Boom-box / Goodnight Pillow back to when she was a kid. Her mother had to separate abitabite and the many foster kids they had growing up into two rooms: one for those who liked music while they fell asleep, and one for those who needed quiet. Listen:

Julia of pauljuliadesigns speaks about her drive to help elderly and share her Walker Bag designs with the world. Listen:

We also interviewed Darren of djlz about his Emergency Recordable Bag, which he decided to make after watching the confusion after Katrina. Many people lost their prescriptions, important phone numbers, etc, and the recording device would allow people (especially people who cannot write) to audio record a few quick messages as they weather a storm or disaster. The design ranked high in the voting. Listen:

We were also big fans of rabbitears27's Print Faux-co, her take on the Gocco printer, and wanted to find out how she figured out her design. Listen:

Big congrats again to the winners! We hope you are enjoying your sewing machines.

And congrats to my sister-in-law Kim, aka vanfan, whose entry ranked up at the top but was removed from the running for being a relation. She sold one of her Insulin Pump Garter Belts which are sew useful for diabetics! Oh, and she had a healthy baby girl, my new niece Ramona!

See the original announcement of the Sew Useful Contest winners. You can see all the entries still listed by searching with the tag sewuseful.

CraftyPod #29: Craftypreneur Roundup #1

2007-09-21T12:00:00Z

Sister Diane has graciously allowed us to syndicate some CraftyPods. More about CraftyPod, from Diane:

"CraftyPod is a bi-weekly podcast that’s all about making stuff. Sometimes it’s about project tutorials. Sometimes it’s an interview with someone craftily fascinating. Sometimes it’s the history behind your favorite craft supplies. Always, it’s a big, crafty geekfest.

CraftyPod is made by me, Sister Diane — aka Diane Gilleland. I’ve made things my whole life, and would gladly give up most household chores for an afternoon of serious crafting.

When I’m not crafting, I produce podcasts, and make zines, and write and blog about crafts, and organize a chapter of the Church of Craft.

I live in Portland, Oregon - the coolest city ever."

You can contact Diane at craftypod@deepideas.com.

Click here to listen:

About this podcast, CraftyPod #29: Craftypreneur Roundup #1

- The first in a quarterly series: The Craftypreneur Roundup.
- Interviews with four indie crafters who are making their own businesses.
- Interesting stories, great ideas, and inspiration for people who have entrepreneurial dreams.

Our Featured Craftypreneurs:

Button Arcade
Chicaloo Photography
Miss Misa
Glamscience

All of these crafty businesses are contributors to The Sampler.

Other Craftypreneur Links:

Crafty Synergy: a place about crafty women and their businesses

Make It: a blog for craft entrepreneurs

Betsy Greers Crafter Documentary project

http://www.craftypod.com/?p=35

Get it through iTunes

The Storque's flickr set