SOMA Studio Tour will be held next Sunday 6th June 11-5pm throughout the towns of South Orange and Maplewood, New Jersey
check out the article in NY Time Local by Nancy Tobin for why this is such a cool day
FREE shuttle with your ticket, so Park and Ride or come by train
Both South Orange and Maplewood are on the Morris and Essex train line from NYC
Check out NJ Transit for times
Participating Artisan's Guild Members :
BeastlyBeasties - Ann Vollum - tees, prints, buttons, magnets and cards - at the Baird, 5 Mead Street
Alison Oxman - Semi Precious - jewelry - at Tara O'Leary's - 376 Montrose Avenue, South Orange
Jo Bradney - fine art drawings - at the Clayton House - 174 Village Road, South Orange
Katie Clayton - robots and collage - at the Clayton House - 174 Village Road, South Orange
Corey Wolff - Photography - at the Clayton House - 174 Village Road, South Orange
Joy Yagid - Photography
Patricia Mallory-Miah - Art of the Baby - Sparkhouse, 15 Scotland Road
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
NancyTobin Writes about The Artist Studio Tour for The Local
The SOMA Artist Studio Tour is coming up on June 6th. Quite a few SOMA members will be on the tour this year. Check out Nancy's article for some great information to help you plan your day.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A Look At Etsy
By Denise McLachlan
of Designs By Denise
Are you looking for a place to sell your handmade items online? Confused about where to start? In this article I'm going to cover one of the marketplaces that you can use. Etsy is a growing website for handmade products, vintage items, art and supplies. According to Answers.com, Etsy has grown to a community of more than one million members and 200,000 sellers. There are about 2.5 million items currently listed on Etsy. Their main competitors are Amazon, eBay and Craigslist.
About two years ago I heard about Etsy while watching "The Martha Stewart Show." She had a woman on who makes dolls, and this woman ended up quitting her day job because she couldn't keep up with the sales she was making on Etsy while working full time. Now, before you quit your day job to open an Etsy store, read on.
It is very easy to set up a store with Etsy and the fees are low. The listing fee is 20 cents per item, and the item, if not sold, is in your store for 4 months before you have to re-list. Included in your listing fee is a place to put a description, 14 tags for customers to search, and you can put up to 5 pictures of the item for customers to see what your item looks like. When sold, the fee is 3.5% of the selling price. Unlike eBay, this is not a site where buyers bid for your product. The item sells for the listed price.
When you start to create your store, choose a good user name that relates to your store, because your user name becomes your store name. After you create your store, the interface takes you step by step to easily add an item to your store. Even adding a picture is easy. You can personalize your store with your own banner and avatar too.
Etsy has a "heart" system where buyers can mark your store and items with a heart, in other words mark it as a favorite so they can come back to it at a later date. This is, in my opinion, a good thing because you can get lost in the millions of items on the site. I marked several items so I could buy them at a later date, and when I went to my favorites area it showed the ones that had been sold, so I could go back to the items still for sale and buy them. As a seller I like this idea; I think people tend to go back to an item if it's easy for them to find it.
As for selling anything, you have to market your store; it doesn't sell itself. From the numbers that you read in the first paragraph, you can see that there are a lot of sellers and items on Etsy, and you can get lost in the crowd. I was very hopeful that I could quit my day job, but found that it takes more than just listing your store and letting it sell itself. As I said before, don't quit your day job yet. You need to have a smart marketing plan, good descriptions of your product, good pictures and a lot of patience.
The good news is that Etsy is inexpensive, easy to use, and a great way to showcase your handmade items online.
Find jewelry for you and gifts for others at: http://www.demdesigns.etsy.com/
FREE shipping on select items
On the web at http://www.jewelrybydm.com/
Blog: http://jewelrybydm.blogspot.com/
of Designs By Denise
Are you looking for a place to sell your handmade items online? Confused about where to start? In this article I'm going to cover one of the marketplaces that you can use. Etsy is a growing website for handmade products, vintage items, art and supplies. According to Answers.com, Etsy has grown to a community of more than one million members and 200,000 sellers. There are about 2.5 million items currently listed on Etsy. Their main competitors are Amazon, eBay and Craigslist.
About two years ago I heard about Etsy while watching "The Martha Stewart Show." She had a woman on who makes dolls, and this woman ended up quitting her day job because she couldn't keep up with the sales she was making on Etsy while working full time. Now, before you quit your day job to open an Etsy store, read on.
It is very easy to set up a store with Etsy and the fees are low. The listing fee is 20 cents per item, and the item, if not sold, is in your store for 4 months before you have to re-list. Included in your listing fee is a place to put a description, 14 tags for customers to search, and you can put up to 5 pictures of the item for customers to see what your item looks like. When sold, the fee is 3.5% of the selling price. Unlike eBay, this is not a site where buyers bid for your product. The item sells for the listed price.
When you start to create your store, choose a good user name that relates to your store, because your user name becomes your store name. After you create your store, the interface takes you step by step to easily add an item to your store. Even adding a picture is easy. You can personalize your store with your own banner and avatar too.
Etsy has a "heart" system where buyers can mark your store and items with a heart, in other words mark it as a favorite so they can come back to it at a later date. This is, in my opinion, a good thing because you can get lost in the millions of items on the site. I marked several items so I could buy them at a later date, and when I went to my favorites area it showed the ones that had been sold, so I could go back to the items still for sale and buy them. As a seller I like this idea; I think people tend to go back to an item if it's easy for them to find it.
As for selling anything, you have to market your store; it doesn't sell itself. From the numbers that you read in the first paragraph, you can see that there are a lot of sellers and items on Etsy, and you can get lost in the crowd. I was very hopeful that I could quit my day job, but found that it takes more than just listing your store and letting it sell itself. As I said before, don't quit your day job yet. You need to have a smart marketing plan, good descriptions of your product, good pictures and a lot of patience.
The good news is that Etsy is inexpensive, easy to use, and a great way to showcase your handmade items online.
Find jewelry for you and gifts for others at: http://www.demdesigns.etsy.com/
FREE shipping on select items
On the web at http://www.jewelrybydm.com/
Blog: http://jewelrybydm.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Joy Yagid's Top Tips for Photographing your Product
1. Always know what the main subject of your photo is and what background it looks best against.
2. Use a tripod to get the sharpest shot.
3. Consider your light source. Tungsten or incandescent lights will give your photograph an orange/warm cast. Overhead fluorescent (non-photo specific) lighting will give an ugly/green cast. Learn how to use the auto white balance on your camera.
4. Your photographs will look better if you use a soft light. To get a soft light tape foam packing sheets to the window that is your light source.
5. Flash is harsh. You can soften the flash by taping a piece of tissue paper or thin foam packing sheet to your flash unit. This diffuses the light.
6. You will get the best color if you DO NOT use flash.
7. Wear a white shirt to reflect the light.
8. Use a shallow depth of field to add interest. Part of your image will be in focus, part will be blurry.
9. The depth of field on your camera is the opposite of what you would expect it to be... For a shallow depth of field with a blurry background or "bokah" use an f stop of 1.4 to 3.5 (large opening). To have everything in focus use a large f stop of f22 to f32 (small opening).
10. If you are buying lights, Westcott is a very good brand for inexpensive lighting gear.
11. Go to http://www.kenrockwell.com/ for camera manuals written in plain English.
2. Use a tripod to get the sharpest shot.
3. Consider your light source. Tungsten or incandescent lights will give your photograph an orange/warm cast. Overhead fluorescent (non-photo specific) lighting will give an ugly/green cast. Learn how to use the auto white balance on your camera.
4. Your photographs will look better if you use a soft light. To get a soft light tape foam packing sheets to the window that is your light source.
5. Flash is harsh. You can soften the flash by taping a piece of tissue paper or thin foam packing sheet to your flash unit. This diffuses the light.
6. You will get the best color if you DO NOT use flash.
7. Wear a white shirt to reflect the light.
8. Use a shallow depth of field to add interest. Part of your image will be in focus, part will be blurry.
9. The depth of field on your camera is the opposite of what you would expect it to be... For a shallow depth of field with a blurry background or "bokah" use an f stop of 1.4 to 3.5 (large opening). To have everything in focus use a large f stop of f22 to f32 (small opening).
10. If you are buying lights, Westcott is a very good brand for inexpensive lighting gear.
11. Go to http://www.kenrockwell.com/ for camera manuals written in plain English.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Stop by our tent at Mayfest 2010
Celebrate the beginning of Spring by stopping by Mayfest in Maplewood, NJ this weekend.
Members of the SOMA Artisans Guild will be out and about, so stop by our tent to say "Howdy" and sample our wares in the Spring sunshine (fingers crossed!)
WHEN : May 16th 11-5pm - weather permitting!
Rain Date : May 23rd
WHERE : Springfield Avenue, between Indiana and Princeton
Maplewood, NJ
Members of the SOMA Artisans Guild will be out and about, so stop by our tent to say "Howdy" and sample our wares in the Spring sunshine (fingers crossed!)
- Semi-precious gems from South Orange jeweler Alison Oxman
- Prints and gifts from Maplewood photographer Joy Yagid
- Silver chainmail bracelets and earrings from Denise McLachlan
- Miniature color pencil art, prints and note cards from artist Jo Bradney
- Crafty Robots from Sew Crafty's Katie Clayton
- Pretty beaded jewelry from South Orange's Amy Goldberg
WHEN : May 16th 11-5pm - weather permitting!
Rain Date : May 23rd
WHERE : Springfield Avenue, between Indiana and Princeton
Maplewood, NJ
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Katie Clayton's It's Sew Crafty to open...
Katie Clayton is proud to announce It’s Sew Crafty is open for enrollment! Located at Parteaz, 1860 Springfield Ave. Maplewood, It’s Sew Crafty ‘s classes are filling up fast! Don’t miss out on a chance to have your kids learn how to sew cool stuff!
It's SEW Crafty is a new and exciting way to teach kids how to make sewing crafts! Almost all of the crafts are original ideas by our Crafty Staff!!!
We have a variety of crafts for kids ages 3 and up!
It's SEW Crafty provides adorable bright, colorful sewing machines. The machines are simple and easy to use! All materials provided except the recycle classes. Recycling classes kids will need to bring in clothes to recycle into something new!
We know how hard it is to learn to sew, the Crafty Staff pride ourselves on our patience and teaching of our crafts. We believe that it doesn't matter how you get there..as long as you get there. We encourage the kids to take a break when the get frustrated or overwhelmed. Learning to sew can be a challenge for anyone, but with the right encouragement and a creative environment anyone can learn!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Thanks to Joy Yagid
We would all like to thank Joy Yagid for sharing her talents with us on Friday, April 30th at the last SOMA Artisan's Guild monthly meeting. Joy gave us lots of great tips on how to take better photographs of our products. If you missed the meeting, look out for next month's newsletter where we will be sharing her tips with you.
Don’t miss these two great shows on SOMAtv!
5/8/2010
4:30pm Meet the Artist Special: Book Arts
This show features the BookArts Roundtable, and their show Booked 7 at the Pierro Gallery earlier this year. Ann Vollum of BeastlyBeasties is one of the featured artists and talks about her book “A Walk with Crocodile”.
Next Week on Meet the Artist: 5/10/10 – 5/16/10
10:30pm Meet the Artist SOMA Artisan’s Guild
This show features a discussion between Ann Vollum, Alison Oxman, Katie Clayton and Jo Bradney on the formation of the SOMA Artisan’s Guild a local group which they started to help artists who have small businesses network, share business and marketing skills and sales opportunities.
Produced and hosted by Nancy-Heins Glaser
4:30pm Meet the Artist Special: Book Arts
This show features the BookArts Roundtable, and their show Booked 7 at the Pierro Gallery earlier this year. Ann Vollum of BeastlyBeasties is one of the featured artists and talks about her book “A Walk with Crocodile”.
Next Week on Meet the Artist: 5/10/10 – 5/16/10
10:30pm Meet the Artist SOMA Artisan’s Guild
This show features a discussion between Ann Vollum, Alison Oxman, Katie Clayton and Jo Bradney on the formation of the SOMA Artisan’s Guild a local group which they started to help artists who have small businesses network, share business and marketing skills and sales opportunities.
Produced and hosted by Nancy-Heins Glaser
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