Etsy Eugene

Winter Folk Festival In Florence (with Devorah Dolphin!)

2009-01-23T19:44:00.001-08:00

Devorah Dolphin was very excited to get to go to the Winter Folk Festival in Florence with me. So excited, she could barely wait and she anxiously climbed on my luggage while I finished getting ready!

She claimed shotgun before I even got to the car!

Catherine of Bobcat Beads was quite a bit more easygoing once we got to the fair to set up.

I was happy with my new display for my earrings next door at Silly Dolphins Jewelry

This was the first time I didn't have a big heavy box or something behind my display!

I moved the earring display forward the next day, but I like to make use of any kind of doublesided booth when I can, like here--

Practical Rabbit, as always, looked just out of this world!!

Alley was surprisingly awake!!

Practical Rabbit was next to the entrace area. All of our booth spaces were visible from the seating area where diners would sit.

Some Prettys.

Some more prettys.

Some more prettys of a different sort. These are some of Lovely Jewels opulent jewelry.
Who is that hiding in the back?

It's Jennie!!

I think she wanted to hide a little.

But she can't hide when I put my camera over our heads.

Later that night, Devorah Dolphin was so excited, she had trouble settling down.

She finally got cozy though.

But was wide awake early and watching the sun rise when I got up!

She was a bit rambunctious back at the festival....

...getting into things....

...getting out of things....

...jumping over things (here, some of Bobcat Beads fabric origami boxes and fabric bead bracelets)...

I had her take a Time Out over by my stuff.

But even though she was being a little hyperactive, she is a good hearted dolphin after all. So soon, I took her over to visit with Alley back at Practical Rabbit.

She tried to help Alley out by doing a little modeling. Quite an endeavour considering she doesn't have arms or legs!
She did her best.

I should have realised she might be getting a little hungry...

Not sure how that mushroom reacted with her, hmmm....

She tried to help Alley demonstrate what NOT to do with little felted gnomes by singing and acting out a little song. Lets see....ummm...
"Little gnomes like to come out to play!
They like to see the light of day!
They don't like being stuck up in holes!
Like in your mouth! Or in your nose!
They don't like playing stuck in your ear!
They don't like being stuck up your rear!
...."
errr, I forget the rest. But they did a rousing chorus!

Afterwards, she did some dolphin tricks.

(So she said, I think she was trying to eat this guy.)

After her dancing and singing a prankster tricks she was thirsty so she had a little water and settled down again.

She was very chill on the way home.

2009-01-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to all of the Florence Winter fair crafters. It sounded like fun trip, and worth the drive. I love Louise's photos!

2009-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

This was an Etsy event from last Summer that I thought I would put up some photos about now. It was, as you can tell from the flyer, a fundraiser for Relay for Life held in front of the Oregon Community Credit Union offices on Chad Drive.

Here's Charity of Slaphappy Drums looking rather happy and cool in the shade-

Ok, I've said I'm bad at names, and here's another friendly face I don't know by name but she had some lovely glass pieces and bags.

Jennie of Lovely Jewels and I were having a "High Noon Quick Draw Camera Shootout" in the street.

I won.

I never caught these peoples names but these birdbaths/plant stands/what-do-you-want-them-to-be made out of various glass pieces looked great in the sun. And these are the small pieces!

Some clothing that Ashley of Bullfight was vending--

Ashley was sharing a booth with Brandi of Crye's Creations. Here is some of Crye's Creations on display--

And here is Brandi!

Kiley chatting it up with a customer of products from her shop, KupoKiley.

Around the corner and we find Catherine of Bob-cat Beads with a handsome display of her handmade fabric beads, cloth origami flying horses and boxes.

This was my booth in all it's glory. Silly Dolphins Jewelry looking pretty silly this day, I'd say.

I Can see Novena of Castaways and Susan of SEHWhat! ...but where's Pam of psodesign and Dinglewear?

One thing about bringing online shops to craft fairs--not many of us have signs or banners to tell us who's who. But I know that one booth is definately Lovely Jewels!

...Oh, now there's Pam! She was hiding behind her display. I fooled her by wandering over by Jennies booth doubling back, I guess.

Elies Felties had a field Day!

Well, we were all out in a field, so I guess I could call it that. Max looks happy.

And I can see my dolphin sitting right up front!

These pigs look happy, suspiciously happy after a day in the sun.

THATS ALL FOLKS!!

Fall ASUO Street Fair

2009-01-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

We had a good group of people show up with a nice variety of things to sell at the Fall 2008 ASUO Street Fair on the U. f. O campus in our namesake city of Eugene.

You can't go wrong with having mustaches and undies from Bullfight in one of your front displays at a fair! Also visible up in front here are things from Practical Rabbit and Bliss Monkey Studios.

Here is an overview of our booth on one of the days--

There is Ashley to the right.

A big thanks to Aly the Red for signing us up and reserving two booths for us to display our wares!

We had a number of people and a fairly large space so we would move things around over the course of the three days the fair went on to rotate peoples displays front to back and from insides to a bit more outside. I only have photos from I think the last day so things are in the same place in all the photos.

Here is the side of our booth, with access so people can browse through bloomers and skirts from Yodamoon on either side. My jewelry (SillyDolphinsJewelry) is to the right and my button display.

Our booth from the back. There was access but we tried to limit it so we didn't have too many points to watch.

People were a bit shy about having their pictures taken.

I'm awful with names.

What a good combination for an attempt at bloggery!!

Most of what I have are pics of our booth.

This is the other half of the back, with my jewelry and a walk through area.

Our booth had a lampost with a large hanging flowering plant on it on one side which was a bit in the way of our canopy and a flower planter on the other side which gave us a blank corner around from the planter on the street side, which pretty much defined our booth space. So we set one booth back a bit further on the sidewalk than our booth outline a little to not upset the hanging plant, and set up displays as far out into the street as we could on both sides. We took a little extra room, in otherwords, than our outline had been. No worries, we were being good to a living plant and the planter set up the walk space so no problems.

Here's Alley of Practical Rabbit and Ashley of Bullfight and ...I'm feeling bad cuz I can't remember her name...with the cool hats ....standing in the street in front of our booth.

We took turns wearing the 'money bags' and playing cashier and would write everything down as we sold them, although we were all responsible if we saw someone was ready to pay for something. Alley kept missing the money pocket while I was wearing it and would shove money into my baggy pants pocket pretty regularly.

I swear I made sure it all made it into the till pocket!

Oops!

I shouldn't try and do a finger mustache when I'm using my camera.

Ciao!

BRING Recycle Fair

2008-05-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

This Sunday a decent collection of Eugene Etsy members supported the BRING recycle Fair by showing up and hawking our goods! Okay, there was no hawking going on, but we did enjoy setting up our wares and being a part of such a flegdling event. Last month was the first time they put the event on and with only four vendors then this months nearly one dozen was a vast improvement.

Here was our little vendor alley:

Here is Pam with a customer who bought one of her wrist cuffs:

Pam's booth featuring leather cuffs from her Dingle Wear shop.

Susan's hidey-hole where she was surrounded by a lush forest of her recycled jean purses and eggs! I know that she sold one of her little pockets and made a fine trade with a fellow artist.

Novena's nook of re-purposed records. People loved her bags (and they were even featured on the news clip!) She worked on one of her pop bottle tab bracelets while she chatted with customers.

This was my little table of upcycled purses. They are made from felted wool sweaters and old display curtains from a major retailer tossing them into the trash. These items are not on my Etsy site and for the time being will only be at this particular event.

Mari is a fellow Etsy artist who is new to the Eugene Etsy group. I fell in love with her "Things With Wings" upcycled art dolls. Their faces vary from being made with silk, cotton, leather and anything in between!

Pictured here is Susie with the MECCA display. I have only recently heard of them but apparently they began more than a decade ago and is a great place to pick of low cost recyclable materials for artwork!

The Spring Street Fair

2008-05-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

Nine different shops were represented at our Street Team's booth. We had the chance to explain what Etsy is to quite a few fair-goers!

(Pictured L to R)
Record purses by Castaways
Match boxes by Crye
Coffee cozies by AlyTheRed
Clips and ponys by twinklythings
Photography by EdBdBeads
Moustache magnets by bullfight
Mini wallets by ponyup
Skirts by yodamoon
Book earrings by KupoKiley

Big Street Fair Plans

2008-05-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

The team has been busy planning our booth at the ASUO Street Fair.
Come out and see us!

When: 10 AM to 5 PM on May 7, 8, and 9.
Where: On 13th Avenue between Kincaid and University Streets.

First Saturday Market of 2008

2008-04-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Eugene Saturday Market has opened up for the year! A few street team members braved potential rains and sat out to show and sell their handcrafted wares.

I noticed:

Novena's purses created from vintage records and album sleeves.

Pam's glass necklace charms and copper jewelry.

Susan's cell phone purses and handbags of various sizes.

Etsy in the Register-Guard

2008-03-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Almost the whole front page of the Oregon Life section was filled with Eugene Etsy coverage...in full color! The article featured four Eugene Etsy sellers: Megan Juenemann of Twinkle, Teague Cohen of TeaguesBeads, John Holdway of jholdway, and Tracy Terrall of TJTDesign.

Home of the Ducks

2008-03-03T10:21:00.001-08:00

Eugene is home to the University of Oregon, which might be better known as the home of the Ducks. While the university uses a cartoon mascot I prefer the real ones that can be found in the rivers and creeks around town.
Spring in Eugene is one of my favorite times of year, the grass is green..er... things are starting to bloom and the wildlife in the rivers are always good for a few pictures. There are several great parks in the Eugene/Springfield area along the rivers that I enjoy plopping down and doing some homework in. I was in one of the parks last Thursday doing some homework when I snapped this picture on the way back to the car.

Getting to know us!

2008-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! I'm Kiley a proud member of the Eugene Etsy Street Team. Welcome to our new fledgling blog! Here you will be able to see our works, learn about us, and find out about any great specials we might be running. Stop back often as you never know which one of us might have posted since your last visit!

This is an interview that I recently gave to Chelsea of Eighty8words that was posted on her blog. She does amazing work and keeps an amazing blog that is updated all the time, stop by and check us both out.

Meet Kiley, of KupoKiley Handmade Books. I fell in love with the Japanese influence seen in her work, and her clever little folding photo albums. I am accused of never having pictures of my kids on hand, so I bought one of Kiley's gorgeous photo albums so I can start bragging about my kids in style.

Who is behind KupoKiley? How did it start? How long have you been creating your gorgeous books? Give the world a little background.
Behind KupoKiley is a very busy woman named Kiley. I work for a fair trade African Imports company, currently doing post-bac work in Chemistry, and I bind books when time allows. I am taking the classes in Chemistry right now to apply in a few years to a graduate program to become a book and paper conservator. Which is how I got into book binding.

I worked in a library for all my undergraduate career and knew when I was done that library science was the next step in my educational journey. At the time I was not ready to keep going with school and wanted a few years to look at my options and just work for a bit. About a year after I graduated I got serious at looking into library career choices and knew what I didn't want to do. I was drawn to conservation because it wasn't just another desk job and it let me use hands to do something useful for years to come.

I took a class in book binding at that time to see if it was something I would really enjoy and feel in love instantly. I've been making books ever since, I think it's been about two years now. It took me a long time to get up the nerve to open an Etsy store, but I needed an outlet for the growing pile of books in my house. I enjoy making books as it feeds my own creative side and I need the practice as I'm working on the "perfect" set of books to submit with my portfolio application to graduate school.

What inspires you?
As cheesy as it may sound my moods inspire me. For example when I made the octopi book in my shop I was in a really funky mood, I wanted to make something playful. I chose a fun paper and a really unique structure and got to work. I love the end product, but then again I love all of my creations! Very rarely when I buy a sheet of paper do I know what I am going to use it for.

Do you have a personal design philosophy?
Not really! I as I learn more structures and try new bindings I think of it more as personal growth rather than design. I buy papers that speak to me in one way or another, and then build around them as my moods strike me.

Where is your work sold? Where can people find you?
The only place to buy my work online is Etsy. I keep a blog and a flickr account which often show the projects that I've been working on for things that may not end up on etsy for various reasons. I have done a few local shows but don't usually have the time to put into all the wonderful shows and markets in the area.

What's your bestseller? Or, if you do mostly one of a kinds, what sells the best?
I think my origami books have been my best sellers. Sadly I haven't made any since I did a holiday show in December- I made a bunch in almost production line style and it really burnt me out on them. The good news is they all sold so I don't have any left for my store. Other than my origami books I don't tend to stick to one type of binding and the rest of my bindings all sell pretty equally.

What are some of your favorite materials to work with? What do you find yourself drawn to most often?
My favorite papers are handmade Japanese papers, they are a dream to work with. However they are not cheap and I often find myself shying away from using the ones I do have because I always worry that I won't like the finished product. My husband got me a great stash for a Christmas present that I am just working up the nerve to use right now.

I think that I find myself drawn to anything Japanese the most. My origami books use origami paper, most of my fabric books are from Japanese kimono remnants, and I buy lots of large sheets of Japanese paper that I never use!

What's your favorite piece that you've ever done (and is it still for sale)?
Right now I think it's a tie between the Retro Flower Moleskin and the Octopi Book. The Moleskin is no longer for sale. It found a very loving home in Malaysia, I have been in contact with the woman who bought it and I can't be more thrilled about where it ended up. I almost kept it for myself when it was finished, but there was nothing wrong with it and I usually only keep my mistakes for myself. However, the octopi book I was talking about earlier is still available. I love this binding and this paper. It was a small sheet and I bought the last piece the store had so I won't be able to make another large book with it.

What's one piece of advice you wish someone had told you when you started? Or, what's the best piece of advice someone gave you when you were starting out?
I wish someone would have told me what a pain cutting book board is! My first class the instructor had everything pre-assembled for us and I never had to cut anything- of course he also has a board sheer so cutting board is not a chore for him.

The best advice I had when I was learning was about paper grain. A good book binder will always make books with the paper grain and it is so important for so many reasons! I see so many binders on Etsy who just fold printer paper in half and I cringe. I know that is has cost me some custom orders when they have wanted a book that size, but I just can't do it knowing what I do about paper grain and the importance it has to the life of the book.

Looking ahead a bit, what's upcoming for you?
I'm splurging spring term for school and taking a silk screening class that I am very excited about. I am hoping to learn about paper and fabric and will hopefully be offering some journals with my own patterns on the covers! In the non-book world I've been working on a new scarf all week and I am going to make a hat to go with it. It's going to be a work in progress for awhile as I always have other things come up. I only crochet when I'm watching tv which doesn't happen very often.

What else do you want the world to know that I didn't think to ask?
Hmm... I think I've pretty much gushed about everything already. I guess I haven't talked much about my love for custom orders yet! I absolutely love doing custom orders, I tend to go all out for custom orders because I know they are going to someone who really wants them.

Etsy! Eugene!

2008-02-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

IMG_1378, originally uploaded by twinkly_things.

A candid moment from the Greater Southern Willamette Valley Street Team--nah!

Go Eugene Etsy Street Team!