An Introduction to: SOMA Artisan's Guild

Artists Katie Clayton of CraftyKatie (CraftyKatie6.etsy.com) and Ann Vollum of BeastlyBeasties (BeastlyBeasties.etsy.com) are starting up a group to help local artisans promote and sell their work both locally and on Etsy.

We are inviting artists and crafters who either have or are planning to start a small business selling their work. The group is a local group for South Orange and Maplewood artisans, we are also extending the invitation to our neighboring towns. There will be a sub group called SOMA Etsy for those of us who have Etsy stores. This group will be registered as an official Etsy team.

Our goals are:
• networking
• self and cross promoting
• sales and marketing
local exposure through newspaper and magazine and on-line articles
increased exposure through Maplewood on line and SouthOrangePatch
• local shows and selling opportunities
• facebook
• blogging
• local craft shows

For Etsians:
• shop critiques
• how to shoot better images of our items for sale
• how to increase sales

These are some initial ideas. There will be no membership fee to join the group, however we do expect all members to share their expertise with the group. For certain events we may need to collect a fee to cover any expenses for the group.

If you are interested please e mail us at with the following information:
somaartisansguild@gmail.com

• name
• name of business
• type of business
• e-mail address
• do you want to be an Etsy team member
• telephone number
• an expertise that you are willing to share with the group. (don’t worry if you can’t think of one now)

The first meeting will be held on Thursday September 10th, at 10 am and there after the meetings will most likely be on the first Thursday of the month. If you can’t attend the meetings do not worry, we will be able to communicate on line too. At the first meeting we would like in put from you all as to what you would like to contribute to and what you would like to get out of this group.

We look forward to hearing from you all. Please pass this information on to anyone whom you think might be interested.

Best wishes,
Ann and Katie