Make It

Out of Sight Out of....

It's interesting to think of where I am this year with Rifferaff compared to last year.

This time last year, I had just moved to Michigan and was unemployed (but looking), so I had entire free days to work on my small business. Couple that with the fact that in our old apartment, my craft storage and work table took up about 50% of the living room and it's not hard to see why I dedicated much time and effort to Rifferaff. I didn't have anything else to do and couldn't produce any worthwhile excuse to avoid it.

Oh but this year, excuses are plentiful.

My craft supplies and table now have a room of their own. For the last three years I've eagerly awaited the day when I could get my projects out of my face so I wouldn't have to see them (and the resulting mess) all the time. But now that that day is here, it actually might not be such a great thing. When I'm not confronted daily with the sight of projects-in-progress, I've found it TOO easy to ignore them. Was it actually better for my work ethic to have my work table in the main living space?

It also doesn't help that my interest level in craft and design is...waning. I guess this is what you could call feeling uninspired. I'm calling it bored. So bored, that this summer I started working on another long-term project that has nothing to do with craft or design. I don't plan to blog about that until the new year, but if you've been following my Twitter, I've dropped some hints. Right now this project is infinitely more appealing to me (and so I'm dedicating more time to it) than screenprinting or soapmaking, which feel like chores. Is this want I want Rifferaff to be?

Another blow came today when I received notification that I wasn't accepted to a winter craft fair for which I thought (quite conceitedly) that I was a shoe-in. Craft fairs aren't my favorite thing in the world and I've certainly put out enough negative energy regarding my experiences at them, but i have to admit, I was feeling cocky and assured of my acceptance to this fair. The rejection came as both a blow to my ego and a wake up call: You're not putting much effort into Rifferaff right now though it may have been hidden before, it's now obvious to those around you.

So, what's next?

I do want to come up with a collection of things for the holiday. I think new items will energize me and get me more active on the blog again. Lord knows I already have plenty of supplies on hand, just waiting for some alchemy to take place.  The best way to get inspired is probably going to be just to get into my work room, unpack some sh*t and get to work.

Luck is where opportunity meets preparedness

I tweeted about the above quote today but I thought I'd cross-post it here for some additional discussion. I found it on a blog and a quick Google search turned up alot of different results so I'm not sure who it's initially attributed to.

In any case, I think it's quite true, don't you? The question for you guys is: are you prepared for opportunity to come your way? If not, what do you need to do to get to that point?

Rounding up the Misfits

This weekend I took some time to do something I should have probably done before I moved.

You see, I am a self-taught amateur printmaker, so when I screenprint something, there are often lots of mis-prints, blotchy spots and irregular ink coverage before I get into a groove and start pulling some nice prints.  I don't sell these misfit prints because I don't think they represent my best work and I can't sell something knowing that it's subpar. So what this means is that I accumulate alot of mis-printed papers. Heavy mis-printed papers that I've been lugging from apartment to apartment, trying to figure out what to do with them. Sometimes I try to re-use them in other projects like making envelopes or covering boxes, but at this point I have so many mis-prints that re-using them in other projects is taking away from time I can spend making new items.

So this weekend I pulled them all out and- taking advantage of my new, nice, wide open living room- laid them all out on the floor so I could take stock of what I've got. Then I gathered them together in groups of 6, trying to get an even distribution of colors and patterns. Once I work my way through all the mis-prints, I'll put them up on my Etsy shop for cheap. Even though they're misprints, they're all usable mostly with just a single blotch section or a blurry print around the edges. They're good for gift wrap or paper projects, about the only thing they wouldn't be good for is framing an entire sheet.

I'm eager to get these misprints out the door so I can concentrate on some new designs. I'm going to retire jigsaw and jigsaw bead and come up with something new. Before I do all that, I'll have to get my work room in order, pretty much the last room in the apartment to be unpacked.

Lessons from a Pizzeria

I always love to find lessons I can apply to my own business from unlikely sources.

Via the pizza blog Slice, I found the link to this NYTimes blog post about Chicago pizzeria Great Lake. Great Lake was recently named the #1 pizzeria in the country by GQ magazine (p.s. four of the top 25 pizzerias were in the Detroit area. I promptly visited them all). Great Lake has a reputation for exceptional pizza and irregular- sometimes downright unpleasant- customer service. After the GQ ranking came out, things got understandably more chaotic for a business that is less than 2 years old, with the restaurant running out of dough as early as 8pm. When that happens, they close the restaurant, angering customers.

Here's the catch:

The owners, a married couple named Lydia Esparza and Nick Lessins, say they do not want to work more than four days a week. They are so busy that they cannot take phone orders. They just want to make incredible pizza, every time, no matter the expectations.

What's a pizzeria owner to do? You can't go on upsetting customers, running out of dough when people have made a special trip to try your food. But you also don't want to put in 12-hour days 7 days a week to meet up with the demand. This isn't what you signed up for.

The NYTimes blogger recommends this:

As a businessman, I cringe at the owners’ attitude toward their customers. At the same time, I appreciate their artistry and their desire to live the life they want. There are far too many stories of what I would call successful losers, people who find financial success but mess up their lives in the process.

The question is, can you have it both ways? Can you do what you want, pay attention to every last detail, make a good living and not have to fight off customers who want to buy a product that you cannot make fast enough?

I have a suggestion. The couple has been in business since February 2008. I doubt they are rolling in dough (sorry). It appears that they charge $22 for a pizza. I would suggest that they raise the price to $30. This is Economics 101, supply and demand. Some people will be turned off by the higher price and go somewhere else. The wait times will go down. Many people will be happy to pay more if they don’t have to wait as long. The restaurant’s net income will probably double. Maybe they will be able to hire someone with a happy attitude to assist.

What do you think of this advice? Do you think this advice can apply to artisans and crafters? If you're seeing success with your business but are feeling overhwelmed with orders and interest, will raising prices help get things back under control, while not driving away customers? Exactly how good is this pizza?
(Image via Slice)

Don't Steal Things from the Internet

It seems like such simple - and obvious - advice: Don't steal designs from other artists' work that you see online. It's bad business, bad karma and eventually you *will* get caught.

Apparently UK art student Samantha Beeston didn't get the memo, because that's exactly what she did, stealing designs from a not just one, but several designers. Then she had the audacity to enter these stolen designs in a prestigious competition and win. Shortly afterwards the whole thing scam to light, she's been stripped of her award and now enters the work force with a reputation as a known plagiarizer. Reading about this on Book By Its Cover, I don't understand the commenters who have said they feel sorry for Samantha. I have no sympathy at all for stuff like this. It's wrong, it's stealing, and if you do something like this and it means you can't get a design job after school, well you brought it upon yourself.

Read the full story here and here. Also see this related blog post by Julia Rothman about copyright questions for artists that grew out of this whole fiasco. (Image Source)

Important Artifacts...

I just read the best book, which I think you guys will like. It's by my creative career girl crush, who I've mentioned here a few times before: Leanne Shapton. "Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry" is a graphic novel in the most literal sense of the word. Laid out to resemble an auction catalog, it tells the story of a years-long love affair between a young couple through their posessions. I've never seen a book like it and I devoured it in one day - it's a pretty quick read but there's alot of eye candy to pore over.

I was equally thrilled that I was able to check it out of the library, seems like a pretty hip book for the library to have, then again we have a pretty hip library. See some images from the book here.

Have You Done Renegade Chicago?

This week is the Renegade Chicago craft fair and, though I won't be attending this one, I'm considering applying for the December show. The $250 application fee would be the biggest fee I've ever paid for a fair so I'm hesitant. Additionally, there would be the 5 hour trip there, figuring out lodging, possibly missing work. Has anyone attended this specific show? Think it's worth it?

I'm leaning towards doing it. I've only been to Chicago once - very briefly - and Matt has never been so we could make a mini trip out of it. I bet Chicago during the holidays is delightful. The one thing that would royally screw this up would be an ill-timed snowstorm.

 If you've been to the show, let me know. I've never done a show of this size and it could be pretty fun. I - and you - have until October 9 to decide if I want to apply.