February Fiber Guild Meeting

During the last meeting we had a lot of discussion about what the fiber guilds goals are. What we are supposed to be doing. After much discussion it was decided that the goals of the Central Delmarva Fiber Guild would be as follows:
1) Promoting awareness of the Fiber Arts
A) Which includes quarterly public demos at such places as libraries, Barnes and nobles , historical reenactments, schools etc,
B) Donations of finished products to charitable organizations.


2) Promoting continued education of the Fiber Arts
A) Which includes classes, demos and sharing of knowledge within all the fiber arts.


3) Promote artists and businesses in the Fiber Arts
A) Including a yearly fiber festival and fiber arts show/contest with diverse categories of fiber arts.

It was also decided that at this time there would be no yearly dues.

Of course there is so much more to work out but we are off to a good start for 2010.

The next scheduled meeting for The Central-Delmarva Fiber Guild will be at Upper Room Studio on February 9th at 7pm for a demo of triangular weaving. Demo will show how to start as well as how to finish a project on the loom. Come join the fun!
There will also be a business meeting to decide the duties of the officers, elect officers for this year, and decide upon the status of the fiber guild whether it should be an independent nonprofit organization or if we should stay under the Purnell Museum. We still need all the input and help we can get so please, come and let us know what you think!

March Meeting

Fellow fiber enthusiasts - it's time to meet to plan our events for 2009! Our March meeting will be on Monday, March 9 and held at Upper Room Studio in Berlin - the new fiber shop run by Monika and Lisa Lilley. Meeting time is 6:00 p.m.

Claire from the Julia A. Purnell museum will be talking a bit about Snow Hill's Community Loom Project. If you have any fabric scraps or left over yarns you'd be willing to donate, they would be greatly appreciated.

Upper Room Studio is located at 8525 Logtown Road in Berlin. See this Google map for directions. Please drop me a note if you can attend so we can get a rough estimate on the number attending. If you have not yet paid your dues for 2009, please plan to pay them at the meeting. (Membership is $10 per person for one year).

April Meeting

On Monday, April 21, 2008, the guild offered the program "The Business of Crafting:"

Taxes
Sue Kenny of Larry Leese & Associates, PA presented information for the small-business crafter about taxes and proper record keeping. Highlights of her presentation included being sure to register with your state in order to collect sales tax, and keeping business records separate from personal. Keep track of your expenses, breaking down purchases into categories (like supplies, shipping, advertising - and there are no "miscellaneous" expenses). A good place to find a list of categories is a schedule C form from the IRS.

Marketing
Members Stacy Mitchell, Debby Lewis-Idema, and Shoshana Matthews led a discussion about marketing one's art through shows and fairs, the internet and promotional materials. Debby and Shoshana both sell at shows and art fairs and offered many good tips on how to find the right show for what you sell.

Finding the Right Craft Show
Keep in mind your price point (the price at which you sell your items) and pick your show accordingly. Craft shows typically feature a wide variety of artisans with price points averaging below $50. Fine Craft shows are sometimes juried (you have to be accepted to be a vendor) and feature artisans with a higher price point average - often several hundred dollars. If you make one-of-a-kind quilted jackets in the $150-$300 price range you are probably going to have a hard time selling at some of the craft shows, especially those lumped into other fairs (like Chicken Festival, County Fairs, and other local flavor events). Likewise, if you make hand-knit scarves and sell them in the $15-40 range, you may have a harder time selling at a Fine Craft show, where items are typically priced much higher and buyers are expecting a certain level of craftsmanship. [Not to say your scarves aren't great!]

Pricing Your Work
If you are crafting for a hobby and selling occasionally, please bear in mind that those who are selling for a living (and there are quite a number of people who's main income is from their craft) don't appreciate having their prices undercut. Professional crafters and artists have to sell their items at prices that not only cover their raw material costs, but also their overhead - insurance, booth fees at shows, electricity, travel, etc. - not to mention their time. If you make items to sell and only mark the price to cover your material costs and maybe a few dollars for your time then you are hurting yourself and your fellow artisans. Think about it - isn't your time worth more than $1 an hour! Value your work!

The Business Card
Stacy Mitchell, owner of The Fine Needle, spoke on ways to market your work and sell on the Internet. The number one marketing tool is the business card! Whether you print them yourself or have them professionally printed, be sure to include your business name, personal name, contact information (phone, address, e-mail, and/or website), and a description of your craft if it's not obvious from your business name. You're probably thinking "Duh! of course you need that info!" - but we all recounted the numerous times we received a card that was missing a way to contact the artisan.

Central Delmarva Fiber Guild Business
Carol Haarman provided a fiber interest survey for members and guests. Claire Otterbein provided updated membership forms and 2008 events flyers. We then followed with a short business meeting where we agreed to set up this blog! We will be posting information about upcoming events, as well as resources for the fiber artist and craftsperson - whether professional or hobbiest.