Finding the Best Craft Fair: A Guide for Artisans

Art Fair

Deciding to sell at a craft fair can be a great business decision. The next step is to find the best fair for you.

Craft fairs provide an excellent opportunity for artisans to showcase their creativity, connect with customers, and make sales. There are hundreds of fairs and many weekends to sell at, and choosing the correct fair could be overwhelming.

In this post we will guide you through the ways to find the best craft fairs to maximize your success as an artisan. Continue reading “Finding the Best Craft Fair: A Guide for Artisans”

August Creative Resources

Pencils

Creative resources for August 2021. This list includes a few free-to-watch classes on CreativeLive, a resource list from Artwork Archive, and an uplifting blog from Creative Mornings.

Below is our Roundup of August Creative Resources
Use Anytime

The Best Opportunities for Artists in August 2021

Artwork Archive has a great monthly roundup of opportunities for artists. This list includes grants, residencies, events, and much more. Bookmark their page to come back each month to find out new resources.

HEY CreativeMornings!: 39 Things We Wish We’d Realized Sooner

Need a little inspiration? This post is from the CreativeMornings website may encourage you to move forward with your art. What would you tell your younger self?  

Creative Mornings is an incredible organization just for us creatives. After you read the article, take some time looking through their website. They have an amazing creative community.

August 25

Blogging to Sell Your Products

Do you have a blog? Or maybe you use Instagram to help you draw awareness to your art. Either way, you are using photos, captions, and writing to sell. This CreativeLive course is taught by Megan Auman and will walk you through the best ways to write and sell. The class takes just over 3 hours and is free on this day and available for a fee after this day. 

August 29

Turn Your Etsy Shop into a Sales Machine

If you are new to Etsy or looking to revamp your Etsy store, this course will lead you through what you need to know to grow your sales. It is over an 11-hour class and gets into the details to optimize your store. The course is a few years old, and Etsy is updated its business model and what you need to do. However, this course will help you use Etsy as one tool to create a better business. This course is free on this date and available for a fee after this date.

Above is the list of the August creative resources. If you would like to be the first to see what we round up for September, feel free to follow the blog through WordPress Reader or subscribe to our newsletter.

Join us to get the newsletter for artist resources, events, and more. 

 

July Creative Resources

July

July creative resources to kickstart this month’s creativity. A few posts and classes I found across the internet to keep your creativity moving through the summer.

Use Anytime

The Best Opportunities for Artists in July 2021

Artwork Archive has a great monthly roundup of opportunities for artists. This list includes grants, residencies, events and much more. Bookmark their page to come back each month to find out what’s new.

Toolkit: How to Write Your About Page

This post is from Creative Mornings website. The about page on your website may be one of the most important pages. This post will guide you through creating one just for you, along with examples of pages they liked. Take a look and maybe spend a little time this month updating your about me page.

Creative Mornings is an incredible organization just for us creatives. After you read the article, spend some time looking through their website. They are an amazing creative community.

July 12

Start a Handmade Business

Kari Chapin gets into details on everything you need to know to start a handmade business. Even if you already have your business started, you will learn something new on this video series on CreativeLive. This course runs just under for 15.5 hours long and a half and is free on July 12 and is available for a fee after this date.  

 

July 20

Lightroom Classic: Essential Training

Mark Wallace teaches this class on CreativeLive. If you are interested in using this software, this is a great chance to learn about it for free on this date.

Here is the class description:

This class is a step-by-step walkthrough of Lightroom Classic, perfect for the beginner as well as those who have worked with Lightroom Classic previously. This class is everything you ever wanted to know about Lightroom Classic but were afraid to ask.

This class will give you an overview of Lightroom Classic and show you how to maximize its potential by creating a workflow for importing, keywording, adjusting, and exporting your images.

Want more creative resources, here is a look back to the last resource page and come back next month for the August resource page.

Join us to get the newsletter for artist resources, events and more. 

 

The Review after the Fair

Event - Art Fair

Do you do a review after your fair? Look at what went well, what didn’t go well. It may make a difference for your next event or the next time you come to this fair.

I worked for a Chamber of Commerce for years, and they put on world-class events. They had been doing this for years and had it down to a science. They had people in charge of each area of the event. They had volunteers under these people. Everyone had a job to do, and they all had someone to report to if things didn’t go well. Continue reading “The Review after the Fair”

Five December Resources for Your Creative Business

Online Creative Resources

Five December resources to give you a little help right before the holidays. A blog post with grants and show applications with December deadlines. Two video courses to help you with your online store. A blog post to get your Etsy shop up and running and a chance to sell online today with us. 

Here are your five December resources to help your creative business this week:

Use Anytime
December Monthly Art Opportunities 

Artwork Archive rounds up grants, competitions, and other art opportunities each month. The December listing is filled with opportunities for you to apply for. Take a look to see if there is one that will help you.

Quick Steps to Getting Started on Etsy Today

If you still don’t have an online store set up and don’t know where to start, this article will help you start today. Selling with Etsy is quick and relatively easy to get going. There will always be more to learn, but this will get your store setup today.

VIRTUAL MARKET:

The Art Fair Gallery started a virtual store, linking every product back to the artist’s website. We would love to have you join the market. It runs through December 15th and should take very little of your time to set up your products for sale. Email us to participate at catherine@theartfairgallery.com

December 6

optimize your creative store

Creative Live is running a class on optimizing your creative store. This class goes through setting up your home page, about page, SEO information, and more. It is free on December 6 and then available to watch when you have time for a fee.

December 10

simple email marketing for makers

Megan Auman’s class on CreativeLive will get you ready to hit send on emails to your customers. This course walks through all the steps to create an email that will get opened and clicked on. This course is free to stream on December 10 and available to watch when you have time for a fee.

Which of these December creative resources were most useful to you?

Here is a link to last week’s resources, with inspiration to get you through the holidays.  

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Creative Holiday Resources

Holiday Shopping Bag

Holiday creative resources – a few quick resources to help you get ready for holiday sales. Since we are rolling into the holidays, with black Friday, small business Saturday and Cyber Monday right around the corner.  

With this in mind, our resources are quick hits of information so you can continue getting ready for the holidays. Two of these items are repeats from last week, simply because they are timely, and I wanted you to see the grant opportunities for the month one more time.

Below are the creative holiday resources for this week:  Continue reading “Creative Holiday Resources”

Five More Creative Resources

Orange Mug with colored pencils from above

We are back with five more creative resources for this week and beyond. A few of this week’s learning resources you can use at any time. Some are time-bound, meaning do it soon.

Below are five more creative resources for this week: 

Use Anytime

November Monthly Art Opportunities brought to you by Artwork Archive. Artwork Archive rounds up grants, competitions, and other art opportunities each month. The November listing is filled with opportunities for you to apply for. Some of these are location-specific, some are medium-specific. Take a look to see if something interests you this month.

PREPARING FOR BLACK FRIDAY CYBER MONDAY: 3 EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Shopify has a post with experts giving advice on things you should be doing now to get your business and website ready for holiday shopping. It’s a quick read and will provide you with something to think about as you prepare for increased sales on your website.

TO BECOME HAPPIER, ASK YOURSELF THESE TWO QUESTIONS EVERY NIGHT

This article by Alexander Combstrong on Medium is a quick read. The two questions you ask could be about your personal happiness, but it could also apply to your business. It is all about taking small steps towards creating a better life/business. 

WHICH OF THESE 6 TRAPS IS EATING ALL YOUR TIME

This article by Ashley Whillans discusses six things that are consuming our time, which we don’t really think about. As we roll into one of the busiest seasons for creative businesses, who couldn’t use a little bit more time. Take a look at her list of time traps and see if you can’t come up with a few things to give you an hour or more or real-time to create!

INSTAGRAM TIPS FOR CREATIVES: OPTIMIZING YOUR INSTAGRAM PORTFOLIO

This article by Elaine Rystead on Later gives a deep dive into your Instagram Portfolio. This small bit of space on your profile shows your customers a chance to get to know, trust, and like you. Read the article, look at her examples of profiles she believes work well, and then spend some time upgrading your own profile. Your profile doesn’t need to be perfect today but upgrade it today. And I will state this again, include a place for your customers to buy from you!

Which of these five more creative resources were most useful to you?

Would you like access to the weekly resource guide? Join us to get the newsletter? Last week’s resources were about creating jewelry. Would you like to review last week’s list of jewelry resources?

 

If you are an artist or maker who sells through in-person events, we would appreciate you taking a brief survey. We want to be responsive to your needs and are wondering how best to help you.

 

Jewelry Designing Classes – How To’s

Jewelry - Silver necklace with purple sunburst

If you are interested in jewelry making or designing but are not sure where to start, CreativeLive has a series of classes this week you can watch for free! The classes take you through a couple of the art forms to create handmade jewelry.  

One is more fundamental, and the other assumes you have had experience in the art form. 

You can choose to watch just the one which interests you the most or binge-watch all of them. This week the courses are free! After this week in November, you will need to purchase them. 

The dates we have listed here are based on US time frames, you can go into CreativeLive to set up your own time zone, so you don’t miss them.

A suggestion – bookmark this page as a resource to the classes if you don’t have time this week to watch. 

Here is the listing of classes for jewelry making –

beginning wirework for jewelry making  

This course is By Raissa Bump. It is an hour-long series of videos to get you started in the art of metal jewelry making. The course description is: “Raïssa will take you through the ring, bangle, and earring making process, from start to finish, and teach techniques you can use for your future jewelry work.” There is also a guide for the tools you will need. The list is inclusive of everything required to complete the projects she shows. This class is free on November 9, and then you can purchase it for a fee.  

wireworking with beads for jewelry 

This is the second video in the series with Raissa Bump. She continues on from the first video, Beginner Wireworking for Jewelry, and shows how to add beads to your jewelry. This series takes approximately 45 minutes; she will walk you through creating chain links, adding beads, shaping and joining links, and finally adding clasps. Again, she gives a complete guide to everything you will need to complete the project she is showing. 

This class is streaming for free on November 10 and available for purchase at any time.

beginning stamping for jewelry –

In this short video series, Raissa Bump will walk you through the techniques to complete a stamped ring. Raissa will walk you through the stamping process from start to finish. You will also receive templates to create your own rings. 

This class is streaming for free on November 11, 2020, and available for purchase at any time.

foundations in metalsmithing bracelets

Megan Auman is a jewelry designer and has created this series of videos to introduce you to metalsmithing. This 5-hour series will walk you through the process of creating bracelets. This class comes with the assumption you have done metalsmithing before and know the basics of it. It also assumes you have the necessary tools needed to do it.

The class streams for free on November 12, 2020, and is available for a fee at other times. 

If you are brand new to this form of jewelry making, you may want to find someone in your area who does this kind of work and take a class from them. In the Detroit area, the Smith Shop runs workshops.

Explorations in metalsmithing – hollow fabrication – 

Megan Auman continues teaching metalsmithing in this almost six-hour video series. Again, this class assumes you have the correct tools and have some experience in this art form. But even if you don’t, it is a fascinating class to watch. The course will provide you with a list of tools and supplies you need.

The class streams for free on November 13, 2020, and is available for a fee at other times. 

EXPLORATIONS IN METALSMITHING – CREATIVE CHAIN MAKING – 

Megan Auman continues teaching metalsmithing in this five and a half-hour video series. This class builds your metalsmithing skills and, again, assumes you have the tools and some experience in this art form.

The class streams for free on November 14, 2020, and is available for a fee at other times. 

To review our list of jewelry making videos –

We have listed six different video series to watch and build your jewelry making skills. The first series is geared for the beginner looking to create jewelry for the first time. The metalsmithing series assumes knowledge of this media. Both types require an investment of tools and supplies to get into the art of jewelry making.

To avoid the initial fees, we would suggest finding a local art center or organization that runs these classes. This way, you can learn and discover if this is something you would like to pursue before spending your money on the tools. 

If you know of organizations that run classes, please feel free to leave their information in the comments. We would love to continue building resources for our community.

If you are interested in other types of resources, we have started a weekly series to give you creative resources for your business. You can check out last week’s resources here or scroll through other posts to see what else we have covered.

 

 

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