Search results (tags) for: "your handmade stories"

ThimbleScratch's Handmade Story: Video about her Eco-Approach to Making

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:56:00 -0000

Thimble Scratch makes clothing from old clothes, vintage fabrics and industrial remnants that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Each unique clothing item is created through experimentation and creativity (from my own drafted patterns and designs) - not mass-produced in a sweatshop. Made from eco and 'green' materials, such as industrial remnants, recycled, vintage, organic, and rescued fabrics.

She made this little video about her approach to eco-making. Check it out!

EGCG | Trashion | EcoEtsy | Environmentally Friendly Gift Guides | Earth Tones Series

Your Handmade Stories: ArgyleWhale

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:55:00 -0000

As part of our on-going call for Your Handmade Stories, Elise from argylewhale.etsy.com talks about how she got started on Etsy.

For other ruminations and inspirations from Argyle Whale check out Elise's Etsy shop ArgyleWhale.Etsy.com and blog argylewhale.blogspot.com

You too can get involved! To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series. Buyers are welcome to tell us why it's important to buy handmade too!

Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to Etsy's videos on Youtube.

Handmade Weddings: LoucheLab's Love Story

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:53:00 -0000

If you're following the Handmade Wedding Series, then you probably appreciate a good love story. LoucheLab and her husband Ned have a particularly handmade story of falling in love (well, it's high tech, too). Blogging, artwork, photography, webcams, artist books and international romance all converged to get these two souls together. Below, you'll find LoucheLab's account and photographs, as well as a special portrait video we produced with them (which does have some spicey mature artwork by the artists, so be forwarned if you are watching this with your child —this is an adult love story, afterall!).

Ned and I met by accident. (Which is a pretty big accident, considering that we lived about 7,000 miles from one another.) I was living in Tel aviv, Israel, and Ned was living in the Meat Packing District in New York and packing up his studio to move to Brooklyn. We had both started blogging 9 months before — after painful break ups. So Ned was surfing random blogs and got into mine, went to my flickr page and looked at my art and then wrote me an e-mail.

It was basically my art and his words that brought us together.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

[Music by Barry London]

We spent almost a year apart; then I flew to NY in Christmas to meet him for the first time. Before I came he said, "I want us to make art together while you are here." My art was always very solitary, so I asked, "What do you mean?," and he said "I don't know, but we'll figure it out."

And we have: we made graffiti and paintings and we took a lot of pictures of one another. After I went back to Israel, we kept on talking on webcam all the time; it was on 24 hours a day. He would wait till his midnight, which was my 7:00 AM, and we would talk before I would go to work, and I would rush home from the office to see him. It was like living in one apartment with a window into the other room where he was, without being able to touch one another — besides with words and art.

In the course of the months apart, we both created a lot, we expressed our love, the sexual frustration and the emotional roller coaster state with photography and paintings and street art and t-shirt making and computer art and so on. The whole relationship, between his blog and my blog and our flickr accounts, were very public and we had people all over the world encouraging us through the difficult times and happy for us, when finally, we made the choice of me moving to NY so we could start a life together offline.

[Me signing our Ktuba (illustrated wedding contract in the Jewish tradition). We wrote the text together and I illustrated it.]

We first decided to get married so I could stay in the United States, but as the preparation started, it became a very small part of it all. Because art was such a big part of our relationship, and because as a part of our relationship, we beat all odds and made the rules as we went along, it was really obvious to us that our wedding would also be like that — intimate and important and very art inspired.

[This is me working on the Hupa. It's a big blanket like thing that in Jewish tradition serves as a roof the couple need to get married under. I spraypainted about a 100 ravens on it and my hand was sore for about a week after. The stars in the middle are tattoos we got together, when I came to visit NY and meet Ned for the first time.]

The theme of the wedding was ravens, because of, well a lot of things, but also because they mate for life after having a relatively long period of just playing the field. (Below, you'll see me getting my wedding tattoo. I illustrated it.)

It was basically a Rabbi who is a friend and about 20 friends and family members in our studio in Williamsburg. A lot of what we made was a spur of a moment idea that took shape. Ned edited a cool music mix and we thought "this would be a nice give-away," which lead to me spray painting 40 CDS with a cool pattern and us burning copies till 5:00 in the morning.

Our Rabbi told us that although we didn't want rings, we needed to exchange something of value. So we decided to get rings after all, and on the train on the way to the store, we tried to figure out what they would symbolize for us — and what being married means to us. We talked about learning and making mistake and this being a beginning rather then a happy ending: we got both rings engraved with "Human" on the inside.

The idea of writing and illustrating our own Ktuba actually came from Josh the Rabbi, which I was really grateful about. I wouldn't have thought about it myself. Also, he suggested making some art or writing something to express how we feel about weddings and marriage, which is how the wedding book I made came to be.

We didn't have a DJ or a band or 300 people in fancy dresses or flowers or a white dresses: we had only people that we wanted there (including my sister on webcam from Israel). We had to deal with a lot of feeling and fears beforehand, rather than having too many arrangements to take care of. While the wedding was going I realized I forgot one of the decoration projects I wanted to do, but it didn't matter. After the ceremony, Ned's parents took everyone out to Union Picnic for dinner, which was at the time our favorite restaurant. Even still, we hear from people who were there about how significant and intense the whole event was, and how it's one of the most memorable events they can think of.

[Ned getting his wedding tattoo. He designed it.]

The handmade wedding theme caught on, and we got artwork from 3 or 4 artist friends as gifts and Ned's dad designed andprinted a book of the wedding pictures for us, which we show off to anyone who wants to know what the wedding was like.

I always hated weddings before. I used to work for a catering service and the way so many wedding are about food or about showing off was really repulsive to me. With the way things went with our wedding, I can say that this was the best wedding ever, which is cool because it was mine!

[Married!]

What an inspiring love story. Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Wedding Gift Guide | Wedding Category | Wedding Showcase | Handmade Wedding Series

Etsy Love Stories: Tinymeat & Mamadelic

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:39:00 -0000

Mona aka mamadelic and Michael of tinymeat met on Etsy and below, she dishes on how this crafting power couple fell in love love love! So romantic! You can check out all our Etsy Love Stories too.

Michael and I met on Etsy.com, where we both are sellers. It was June of 2006 and I was browsing the Etsy forums. I saw this crazy little pickle avatar with some really snarky comment posted next to it. I did a bit of snooping around online, trying to figure out just who this new person was. I found that he had blogged about one of my mamadelic bags a day or two before. I took this as a sign. I had to know more about him! I checked out his shop tinymeat. I was intrigued, I LOVED what he was making. So over the next week or so, I watched the forums to see if he was around and always made a point to comment on his posts. We'd banter back and forth. I felt a connection, but had still never really talked to him, so had no idea if he was feeling it too.

Eventually I mustered up the courage to ask him to meet me in the chat room under the guise of asking business related questions. We talked for hours ... and not about business. We sent each other links to our pictures in Flickr. Oh boy. I though he was HOT! He thought I was too, good thing! I couldn't stop thinking about him for days after that chat. I even ordered something from his shop, just so I could have something to hold that he had touched. (I bought this wallet in case you are wondering ;)

After a few days, we started chatting on instant messenger and then on the phone. Eventually we got to the point where we were both so overwhelmed by the feelings between us that we HAD to meet. I had already planned a trip to NYC (this was in September) and Michael decided to fly down to the city to meet me in person.

I arrived in NYC a few days before Michael. On the day he arrived, he went to his hotel to check in, then came over to the Jacob Javitz Center where I was working at a trade show. He called me to say he was there and I rode up the escalator to the entry. I saw him across a very long room, leaning against a coffee stand. He was so far away from me but I could tell immediately that he was the ONE. I started the long walk over to him. It was very uncomfortable for me. I was crazy nervous and felt like I was on display. I just knew I would trip and fall or something. But I didn’t. I made it over to him and he bent down and hugged me. He was so much taller than I had imagined. I mean, he told me how tall he was, but until you are face to face it's hard to understand the difference between 5'3 and 6'8.

He was just as he was in the pictures he'd sent me, big and tall and handsome with striking blue-grey eyes. We spent about 10 minutes in awkward discomfort. We tried to make small talk, but it was weird. The fact that I had completely lost my voice the day before and could barely manage a squeak did not help. I finally asked him if we could go out for a walk.

We left the Javitz and started walking into midtown. We spotted a coffee shop and I asked him if he wanted to get a drink. I had tea to help my throat. We sat at a table by a window and started talking. Things seemed to flow much better for us now. It was so surreal to be sitting across from the man I had been talking to online all these months. And in Manhattan of all places, how romantic! Michael made a few phone calls to some friends that we had plans to meet later that night. At some point, the reality of it all sort of overtook me and I reached out and grabbed his hand. I think I squeezed it tight, and maybe kissed it. He told me later that he fell in love with me right then. I told him later that I had already been in love with him for a long time.

That night we went out to dinner with our friends Emily Martin aka theblackapple and KateBlack. We ate at this crazy Japanese place in the East Village. We feasted on takoyaki and bull penis, mmmm. After our meal, we spun our own cotton candy. Emily headed home to watch Project Runway and Kate took us to a bar for drinks. We had a great time with them both. Once we left the bar at 1am, I realized that I did not have a key for my hotel room and could not possibly wake my boss so late at night to get it. I asked Michael if I could stay with him. He said yes of course!

I think I told Michael that I loved him that night. I'd never felt so intensely for anyone. I wanted to crawl inside of him and live there forever, as the same person. I still feel that way. The next morning we went to my hotel and moved all of my things out and over to his. We spent the next 2 days together exploring the city and loving each other. Honestly I think that the way we met and grew our relationship was the best. We got to know each other on an emotional and intellectual level before bringing anything physical into the equation.

The day we left New York, we road in a cab together to the airport. We were quiet and I think a bit sad. I cried as he got on his plane. I had no idea what the future would hold for us or how we'd manage to be together. We spent the next few months flying back and forth to Miami and New York. Finally we saved up enough money and Michael moved down to Miami to be with me. As soon he moved in we began our plan to move to Portland Oregon together. We've now been living in Portland for 7 months and could not be happier. We've been able to really expand our business since moving here. I feel like with the 2 of us working full time, we can bring it to the next level. We are getting ready to open a retail store in the front of our office and have hired a full time employee. Life together has not been without its challenges, but all in all, it's been great! Thanks to Etsy for bringing Michael and I together!

Etsy Love Stories: GreenSpaceGoods

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:00:00 -0000

This edition of Etsy Love Stories features Michael and Lani of GreenSpaceGoods. This is their story, from the Etsy Love thread in the Forums. Here's Lani.

Michael and I started our Etsy shop together. We've always worked together, even before we were dating. Everything in our shop is something we both contributed to. Our favorites are our ink blot collection. (Shown above.)

Not long after we started dating, Michael was moving into a new apartment. While helping him pack, I opened one of his sketch books and became incredibly confused. I couldn't figure out how he had gotten one of my sketchbooks! I turned several pages before realizing that they weren't my drawings. While I recognized the style and shapes, I didn't recoginize the complete images. It turns out we've been drawing the same types of images since before we even met. So, it just made sense to start drawing them together.

We sit down with a piece of bristol board and one person draws a shape. Then the other person adds a shape. We don't know what we're going to draw, it just slowly emerges on the page. (And it's all in ink from the beginning, so no mistakes, no changes!) I guess you could say that the ink blots represent two intertwining souls. We think of them like children. They might not be perfect, but they represent the twisted thoughts of two kindred spirits.

That's love. What's your Etsy Love Story?

Your Handmade Stories: Buttonhead

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:38:00 -0000

As part of our on-going call for Your Handmade Stories, Buttonhead submitted this great video. Thanks for saying loud and clear how you feel!

You too can get involved! To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series. Buyers are welcome to tell us why it's important to buy handmade too!

Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to Etsy's videos on Youtube.

About Us: Welcome Aboard, First Etsy Admin Baby

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:57:00 -0000

We are happy to announce Anda and Pete's little bun has arrived! Her name is Sidonie and she is mighty cute. They are resting in the hospital and they are all happy and healthy — except for Pete's car, which got towed! Anda was at work yesterday (now that's just crazy!). We'd been laying our bets down on weight and date. Alec won — though Michelle disputes this and is settling for bragging rights.

I was kinda expecting the wee girl to pop out in an explosion of diamonds and tears and for her to have a siamese twin, but nope. She's pretty normal and that's awesome. Danielle, Mary, and Christine and Lori went to go visit them in the hospital and took these adorable photos. More here!

Lots of love — Vanessa et al

Your Handmade Stories: momerath on Buying Handmade

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:15:00 -0000

momerath submitted a really interesting video in response to our call for Your Handmade Stories. She uses her "collection of Stick Figure Man photos" to illustrate her point about consumerism. She "photograph[s] informational/warning signs around the world." It has a kind of spooky effect. Well done, momerath. Very thought-provoking.

You too can get involved! To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series. Buyers are welcome to tell us why it's important to buy handmade too!

Your Handmade Stories: Giant Dwarf

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:16:00 -0000

GiantDwarf submitted this great video to the Your Handmade Stories series. Thank you! And hey, you have such a cool studio! Sue also has a neat flickr stream you should check out...

You too can get involved! To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series. Buyers are welcome to tell us why it's important to buy handmade too!

Your Handmade Stories: Gathering with tangerinetreehouse

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:25:00 -0000

Etsy seller and art jewelry-maker tangerinetreehouse, made this slideshow-plus-audio with a photographer, Russ Roca. It's a look behind-the-scenes at the creative process. Thanks, tangerinetreehouse, for submitting this to the Storque!
To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series. Buyers are welcome to tell us why it's important to buy handmade too!

Your Handmade Stories: shandke

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:20:00 -0000

The Buy Handmade Pledge continues, even after the holidays! In this video, Etsy seller shandke tells us a little bit about her shop, her future artistic plans and why she thinks it's important to buy handmade.

To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series.

Video Project: Tell us Your Handmade Story

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:23:00 -0000

We're launching a new Storque documentary project, my friends, in conjunction with the Buy Handmade Pledge. The names that are being collected on the BuyHandmade.org website are a powerful testament to the people behind the handmade movement. We also want to see your faces and hear your voices! Online video seems to be a great way to do this.

Our project has two veins: one for sellers, called "My Handmade Story," and one for buyers, called "Why I Buy Handmade." Any Etsian is free to participate by making a short video that expresses these ideas. One of the most powerful things about Etsy is the community. Each Etsian has a unique perspective, a special talent in what she/he makes, a genuine expression in what she/he buys, and a personal history that she/he brings to the collective.

So we're putting out an on-going call for short videos made by you. We're suggesting only a couple contraints in terms of format: sellers should be filmed in their studio/home/workshop and buyers should be holding/wearing/interacting with what they bought. If you're a seller, tell us how making things by hand or selling on Etsy has changed your life. If you're a buyer, tell us why you buy handmade. The videos that we think are the most extraordinary, compelling, unique personal stories will be featured on The Storque and integrated into the other ways Etsy spreads the word about buying handmade.

Guidelines:

Keep it short and sweet: Please keep your story to less than 1 minute. Ideally 30 seconds or less.
Have the rights: Please only use footage you own or that is under certain Creative Commons licenses. Please only feature people in your piece who gave you permission. By submitting to Etsy, you're giving us the non-exclusive right (you're free to share your video elsewhere!) to play your video on Etsy and when we're spreading the word about Etsy.
Sellers submit their "My Handmade Story" to The Storque by filling out the Storque pitch form via the "You Can Too" link on the Storque homepage. Make sure to include the link to your video, whether it's on Youtube, Vimeo, blip or whichever online video service you choose. We recommend that you tag it with BuyHandmade and Etsy.
Buyers submit "Why I Buy Handmade" pieces in the same manner.
Sellers should be in their studio/home/workshop and tell how making/selling handmade has changed their lives.
Buyers should be holding/wearing/interacting with what they bought and say why they buy handmade.
Participation is open to any Etsian with a username (nationality does not matter).
We kindly ask that you add English subtitles to your foreign language submissions.
Please do not use music in your videos (Etsy wants to integrate music we have the rights to).
We will publish videos on The Storque or other places at our discretion.
There are no prizes because this isn't a contest.
We'll be reviewing submissions on the 1st and 15th of every month. Be one of the first to get yours in (the first deadline is November 15)!
There is no fee associated with participation.
Participation is voluntary.

Further Resources:

We are inspired by Story Corps, a radio oral history project started by David Isay and Sound Portraits.
We are inspired by zine culture.
Jumpcut is a website where you can upload small clips and edit them online.
Youtube, Vimeo, blip are free video hosting services. The Internet Archive is great.
You can find some great, simple DIY video how-tos here.
How to Light, by DIY Network.
Tips from USC Annenberg.
Shannon posted these DIY Video Tips.

FAQ:

Q. I don't know if my story is compelling enough. Why should I spend the timing making a video?
A. Hey, listen. Why not give it a shot? We want to hear from you. As added incentive, consider this an excuse to make a video you can use to tell people about your work. Or if you're a buyer, consider it a way of showing your support for indie artists.

Q. I don't know how to use a videocamera. Can I have someone help me?
A. Of course someone can help you. This isn't a contest where you have to produce something all on your own. Plus, we're posting some quick and easy tips for DIY video.

Q. What are you going to use these videos for? Why are you doing this?
A. We want to get the word out about buying handmade. We use our faves in other promotional ways besides The Storque, such as playing them at conferences, including them in press pitches, and viral advertising for your shops.

Q. I want to add music because it will really spice up my video. Why don't you want me to?
A. If you add music (especially music we don't have the rights to), we can't play it on Etsy.

Q. What would be the best time to get it in, since there's no real deadline?
A. We review at the first and fifteenth of every month. We're eager to get started, so we hope you'll get it in soon (like before the holidays)! But we see this as an ongoing project and we continually want to collect links to your videos.

Q. I don't want to go through Youtube or one of those websites. Can I just email the movie to The Storque?
A. No! Etsy can't host video right now and we don't want our email server to be flooded with huge files.

Q. If I participate, am I giving Etsy the copyright to my video?
A. No, you're giving us permission to play it. You keep the copyright to your video and you can play it where ever else you choose.

Your Handmade Stories: Peeech

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:32:00 -0000

The Buy Handmade Pledge continues, even after the holidays! Etsy seller Peeech shows us some of her adorable polymer clay art and tells us why she thinks it's important to buy handmade.

To find out how to make a video, click here! See all videos from this series.

Your Handmade Stories: LeaKarts

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:30:00 -0000

Another Handmade Story! This video is from LeaKarts. Thank you so much for sharing!

See jelene's video here. See the Etsy admins' and Cubistliterature's here.

Your Handmade Stories: jelene

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:00:00 -0000

jelene reponded to our call for videos for the BuyHandmade Pledge. Here she is in her colorful studio in Columbia, South Carolina. She's been a member of Etsy since July 2005!

We want to hear YOUR stories and see you in YOUR studios, sellers! And if you're an Etsy-addicted buyer, we want to see you and your purchase and hear why you think it's important to buy handmade. Just check out this post for the details.

Buy Handmade Pledge Update: Why Buy Handmade?

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:50:00 -0000

Over 6500 people have taken the Buy Handmade Pledge! The Handmade Consortium has updated the BuyHandmade.org site to include a super page with lots of info on why buying handmade is important and links to further ways of getting involved in this sort of craftivism.

You'll also find a link to the flickr pool with your Buy Handmade self-portraits. Beautiful! Read how to add your self-portrait on this post.

We put out a call for "My Handmade Story" videos and are happy to share one with you: cubistliterature. Both buyers and sellers can find out more about making a video on this post.

Etsy admin have made a little video about why we buy handmade. We're serious about it, as you can tell from the black and white.

Buy Handmade Video from Etsy on Vimeo.