catskill mill

On the north bank of the Catskill Creek here in the village sits the Union Mills building, a former textile factory. The building is connected via a sky bridge to a smaller one which faces Main Street. After the site's various uses through the years, ending in a furniture store, plans were underway in 2010 for a condo conversion. The project never materialized and the building was later sold to Etsy founder Rob Kalin and a partner.

Mr. Kalin's plan is to turn the property into a crafting ecosystem, with a nod to the village's industrial past. The larger Water Street building will house a restaurant and teaching kitchen, a brewery, condos for resident artists and a small number of hotel rooms. The Main Street building will contain crafting studios for wood, glass, metal, textiles and ceramics. The idea is that everything used to outfit the restaurant's dining room will be made on site. The storefront will contain a general store where the same wares will be sold to the public, along with raw materials.

my 100th etsy sale

wow, never thought I'd get there, but it happened today. my 100th etsy sale. I've had a shop going since July 2006, just a year after the site launched. and man, have I had my ups and downs with it. the main advantage of etsy, the largest and best-known online "hand made" marketplace, is its ease of use and low start-up cost. etsy allows anyone who makes crafted or artistic goods, sells vintage clothing, jewelry or crafting supplies to launch an online shop in a matter of minutes. etsy's emphases on community building and technical innovation provide many opportunities for users to promote their goods within the site. the drawbacks of etsy involve it becoming a victim of its own success. started by a small group of 20-something crafters and techies, its founders were lacking in the maturity and business experience to handle its explosive growth in the past four years. etsy launched with a lot of fun and tricky visual tools such as searching for items from a color picker, a time machine and a geo locator. what etsy was lacking, and this is huge for an online marketplace, was a properly functioning search tool that uses, you know, words.

finally after four years, etsy has undergone a major organizational restructuring and has made a search function among its top priorities. there have been a number of etsy success stories, but they are far outnumbered by small sellers like me. I've tinkered with my product mix, and have settled on using my shop to sell "destash," those extra supplies that pile up in the studio, and some of my lower-priced vintage. I don't make a ton of money from my etsy shop, but it's a fun diversion, and a way to keep the extra supplies under control.

incidentally, the 100th sale was made to one of my best customers, who also owns a number of molliedash jewelry creations. thanks p!!!

new destash

I just posted a bunch of new destash on my etsy shop. each collection is between five and ten dollars, a really good deal. if you're a crafter that loves to use repurposed stuff (like I do) go check it out.

etsy retro

new for spring, a great collection of 1950's - 1990's earrings for women and tie clips and cuff links for men. at $24 and under, this is recessionary pricing for sure. check 'em out here or click directly on the photos.

etsy finally owns up

http://tinyurl.com/askv38
as to why newly listed items are not showing up on the front page nor on the top of category sections, which are listed chronologically.
any etsians out there? your thoughts?

love this tutorial

ruffeo hearts lil' snotty shows how to make a cowl hoodie from old sweatshirts on threadbanger.

new etsy

in my shop.

my favorite things

back in may, I wrote about the great t-shirts sold by laure joliet of l.a. apartment therapy and her own blog at home at home. while reading her blog last week, I found out about her amazing holiday deal and ordered three more. three hand-made screen printed t-shirts for $18 with shipping! the deal is, it's buy one medium, get two free. the dotted t runs a little large, so i gave it to b. (he said we could form an 80's pop band) the square tees have a nice loose but slim fit. laure's offering this deal till dec. 25, so get on over to her etsy shop and show some love!

kime buzzelli

I must admit to being just a twee bit obsessed with everything kime buzzelli touches these days. her shop, show pony, which I mentioned visiting here. her gorgeous and inspiring blog, the moldy doily. her color sensibility, which has greatly turned me onto aqua. and most of all, her luscious paintings. were I not in the midst of launching my fall line and watching my budget, and let's say it was around the holidays or my birthday, I might be purchasing this painting. sure enough, when winter arrives, one of her lovely pieces will be mine. ah kime buzzelli, you make me swoon.

sexy summer jewelry

available for a song on my etsy shop.

today

today was slow at the flea market, then along came the rain and it got even slower. so we packed up early and came back here to hunker down in the pad. the bed-stuy flat. while listing some etsy items, I decided to check the treasury. the treasury is a user-curated collection of items from peoples' shops. they are viewable as a list, each title representing a grid of 16 thumbnails. etsy picks their favorite treasuries and posts them on the front page. I've been trying to get a treasury for a while. they are available only when the total number of lists drops below 333. each one is up on the site for approximately two days. they are a good way to show off some of your friends' shops, and to get exposure for your own as well. here's my treasury.

some news

first off, I've been posting loads of new items to my etsy shop such as the vintage earrings pictured above.

secondly, rare device, which has been selling my bracelets and key chains in park slope, will close its doors may 18. rd owner rena tom has decided to call it quits on the brooklyn location of her bi-coastal venture, as she is more of a cali girl by nature! best of luck to rena and the future of rdsf. and although none of my pieces remain in the store, rdny will be holding a closing sale through may 18.

and finally, I will let you know as soon as I have the next date lined up to sell at the brooklyn flea. both groups I planned to sell with pooped out on participating, so I'm on my own. b and I have been discussing having our own booth, so there you go! diy!

c'est trop chouette

this is how it works in the blogosphere: erin from design for mankind made a comment on this blog. I checked out her blog, and became drawn to a feature called the dailies, in which various blogger/designers are asked to take us through a typical day in their lives. one such blogger was laure from at home at home. through laure's blog I found out about her etsy shop, where she sells t-shirts hand made by her mom in the late 70's/80's. I ordered the red dot muscle tee, and it arrived at my home in brooklyn from venice, california today. and I love it. (I might have to order another.)

ramona west

inspired 60's-80's vintage at ramonawest.etsy.com

hexy

check out my girl willie's etsy shop, hexy, where she sells yummy hand-made soaps and shrinky dink pins! make it a hand-made holiday, yo.

just a sneak

okay, I'm feeling a bit like the guy with the vegas act and the spinning plates right now, but I had to show you one of the pics from our shoot last weekend. thank you to our amazing models diane and sara (and you too, mandy) for walking the many blocks into our hood to do this. we ran short on daylight time and I didn't get the close-ups I wanted, but I plan on scheduling another session. (when, I don't know!) but at least we got some great photos of felecia's super duper clothing, and she's been posting them on her etsy shop. I own a couple of her pieces, and I can seriously vouch for the magical quality of her clothing to be universally flattering and comfortable. if you're looking for a holiday gift for that special lady in your life, rush on over to Imme Industries. NOW!

packing it up, DIY style

I've been catching up with some friends I haven't seen in a while, since going full time with my business in February. The most common question I get asked is, "what do you do you with your time?" so.....I thought it would be fun to post some pics which will give you a looksee into my process.

I shot these last night, while packing up an etsy order. This shows my practice of packaging, using the three R's: reduce the amount of new materials (the only one being the brown envelope). The stamps come from my dad's collection; reuse: the decorated plastic bag and protective sleeve made from a cereal box; recycle: the envelope and sleeve can be recycled on the recipient's end. I've thus eliminated the need for non-recyclable bubble envelopes and added a personal touch to the packaging.