today's hero blog is that of leanne marshall, aka leanimal, aka project runway season five winner: petals and waves.
so, i've been a leanne marshall fan since back in the day when i'd go up to the etsy offices and we'd all chat about this week's project runway (season five was in full swing). leanne was an amazing type of etsy poster girl (she has a real, actual shop! she had for a while! she's awesome! she makes beautiful things, by hand and sells them!)
needless to say, as the leanne / kinley battle raged on, it was an awesome and fierce season. it's so inspiring that leanne won season five (though kinley totally rocked those fascinators all season) and what's even better is reading her (sadly but understandlably not too oftenly updated) blog about what happens AFTER project runway. the pitfalls and hard work that goes into actually making good things happen with all the opportunity.
anyway. it's another fun and inspiring corner of the blogiverse that i hope you enjoy as much as i do. xo!
so, my alma mater, the good ol' university of virginia, has elected to get creative in this economy and has taken to sending out fundraising emails from "thomas jefferson's gmail account" (apparently jefferson would have elected "t.jefferson1819@gmail.com" as his email address). the email address is just the tip of the iceberg. the typically traditional university has basically suddenly tried being witty and fresh, attempting to bring the very much dead jefferson back to life. personally, i'm not sure how effective this can be.
i like that they're trying something a little different (i was going to say "edgy", but i don't think there's really any way you can describe UVa as edgy. anyone who has spent any time in or around charlottesville will probably agree). but i have my doubts; will videos of a giant bobbleheaded TJ wandering around the school's grounds really inspire more young alum to donate? does the school think it basically has nothing else to lose? is there a way for stodgy, old instutions to successfully freshen up?
when big business and large instutions delve into modern marketing (blogging, twittering, social media - means typically adopted by indies, artists, agile web-based companies and the tinest businesses), do the people and companies that invented these means out of necessity and tiny budgets, need to change gears faster and be even better at keeping up with what's next? is there a place for both the big guys and us, little microbrands, here?
we all know about twitter now, when a year ago it seemed unlikely as a means of marketing to most people, especially big business. what's next? do tools like twitter get dumbed down and made less useful when you have someone twittering as thomas jefferson, soliciting money on behalf of a bohemoth university?
somehow, until recently, the only tim burton movie i'd ever seen was beetle juice (which i saw about a dozen times as a child). this winter, cute erik suggested we watch the nightmare before christmas, since it's one of his all time favorite movies, and i'd never seen it. since then, i've been making an effort to watch more tim burton films (last night i watched edward scissorhands for the first time), because they're all so enveloping and completely absorb me into this alternate world, where every detail is considered, and nothing is assumed.
of course, since i'm a giant nerd, i can't help but think about the amazing universes he creates in each film, and how the concept of taking everything to the next level and redefining even the smallest details could be applied to the world of crafty micro-businesses.
i'd go so far as to say that sometimes it seems the further the better - by my observation, the most successful independent artists1 are the ones who completely run with it. they grow and expand their concept to keep you coming back, they create a cast of characters for you to fall in love with, they tell you stories and give you little hints on how you can join in or create an extension of their world for yourself. they do it with prints, anthropomorphic cuteness, startling original images, and attention to every aspect of their image and public presence. they create a world that you want to be part of, and (pardon my crassness) they sell you little teaspoons of it. 2
sometimes i catch myself feeling a twinge jealous that these artists seem to have such clear vision, unshakeable aesthetic and goals, and usually appear to really have their shit together. not to mention, there's no way they're doing it all singlehandedly - is it cheating to have a team? because, quite frankly, it makes me tired just thinking about these things. there are only so many hours in a day and creating a universe has got to be time consuming. it's not like tim burton is one man making each detail of his movies. why would we assume the crafts world should be full of one-person operations?
for me, it all calls to question whether one can really succeed in this hybrid world of art-meets-craft without having the cuteness and the characters and the story. is mine a strong enough idea? or do people really need the song and dance? does work need to be cute to create a cult following? (to counter, tim burton's work obviously isn't just about cute, not in a straightforward sense, but there are likeable characters and lots of story involved). there's a lot to be said about taking branding to the next level - the key is to find the perfect level for your art, your ideas, your products. what's a good fit?
1. here i'm defining "successful" as individuals who seem to be profitably living off of their art/craft.
2. (i was going to link to specific artists who i think do this to a tee,
but then i decided against it, because i'm not sure i'm saying this in
a positive way and don't want to single anyone out negatively).
here's hoping everyone had a sweet weekend! we went to see scott and marisa of forkyou.tv on saturday afternoon at fosters homewares in old city. which was awesome because we'd be trying to make it to one of their cooking demonstrations for quite some time now, and also because marisa is a sweetie and it gave me a chance to hand deliver the kitchen goodies she ordered from the girlscantell shop last week. yay!
in other news, i have a sad little update to make - due to this gross flu-like bug i've caught (i guess i was due, especially since i was just the other day bragging to someone about my awesome powers of not getting sick), this week's new diagram will likely not appear until thursday. but better late than never! and thank you to everyone who has been so great lately. i feel like there's really been some amazing energy in the shop these days, and it's been wonderful.
also, check out this article in etsy's blog on tea towels! (hint, i'm the third artist from the top.) yay!
last night i had the honor and pleasure of participating in a panel discussion titled "threads and cred", about how the internet fosters and/or hinders creativity. i had some idea that this would be a really great discussion, and it completely exceeded my expectations. all in all, throughout the course of the hour, we really delved into what an incredible tool the web is for creatives and how it has affected politics in the past few years. what was really inspiring is that as a result of the internet, each of us on the panel could basically say we are able to create work for ourselves that we enjoy immensely. what could be better than that?
if you're in the philadelphia area, i do hope that you can come out next wednesday, february 18, to the live webcast of this discussion at silk city (warning, their website makes some stupid noise when you open it... why?) it begins around 10pm, and if nothing else, watching me turn beet red and cringe when watching myself speak should be totally entertaining. (does everyone hate watching themselves as much as i do?) there'll also be music from a member of the roots, dj's, and all proceeds from the door benefit the future of music coalition, which is a totally excellent relevant cause.
so when i logged in to post this morning, i saw this little "i love blogging" icon at the typepad home page. and i thought to myself, wait, I LOVE BLOGGING. whoa. (i'm half kidding.) in all seriousness, it seemed incredibly really relevant to the discussion last night.
i've told artists interested in marketing their work and small business owners countless times that blogging or creating a transparent view into your life as an artist is invaluable (see my previous post: how and why you should blog). at threads and cred, we discussed how your personal tone and the content about yourself that you make public on the web can really affect your business. many times all of this information and how interconnected you can be with your brand a very positive thing, and forming a connection with your customers through the web is incredibly powerful. we also discussed the importance of a fine line of too much information (or the intentional blurring of that line, in some cases - see my previous post: how not to twitter). when you are your brand, blogging is absolutely, completely a fantastic medium to introduce yourself to your potential fanbase, and also the quickest way to turn someone off.
that said, brand building and marketing speil aside, i love blogging because it's an organizational tool for myself. it's a time to sit down nearly every day and present to whatever audience chooses to click in what i've been doing since last time (often the day before). it keeps me accountable. blogging is also a great way for me to sneak peeks at my friends - through something as simple as my google reader, i can keep tabs on all my favorite artists around the world, see what they're doing, feeling or thinking that day. it's incredibly efficient, it's an actual answer to "hi! how are you?", it's a polite way of showing off the good things you're doing.
so, we're supposed to include 5 blogging friends that might also post why they love blogging. here's a short list of people i hope might respond on their blogs (be sure to check them out and give them some love back!):
why do you love blogging? (or do you not love it at all?)
yay! so today's the day that most of the country has been looking forward to for... about 8 years now. i've been trying to decide all weekend where to watch the swearing in ceremony from (any suggestions you have would be appreciated! or afterward, anecdotes about how and where you watched it are welcome!)
also, in completely unrelated, but almost as awesome news, cute erik scored this hilarious flight of the conchords notebook promo giveaway when he was on penn's campus for work last week. and knowing how easily excitable and what a nerd i am, he was sweet enough to give it to me. the funniest thing about it is that each page is very faintly marked as a to-do list of theirs, which reads:
(can't you hear them saying these things in their sweet new zealand accents?)
first things first - the best part of project runway last night was tim gunn riding a tandem bike with leanne in portland. omg, i was so jealous. i so want to ride a tandem bike with tim gunn! but enough project runway chatter, since if you're looking for good PR blog-time fun, you really should be reading project rungay. hilarous.
so, my good friend, stellargirl, and i are meeting tonight with the sole intention of brainstorming some ideas we've been running by each other in gchat. it kind of feels like the ultimate luxury, to have some time to set aside just for brainstorming on ideas with someone, and i couldn't be more excited. i absolutely love great collaborations, and i'm really looking forward to our conversations after work.
speaking of collaborations, i'm also very excited (okay, so when someone once described my blog as a stream of things i'm excited about, i guess they weren't far off...) about a joint project i did with local seamstress nicole carey. nicole makes beautiful handmade clothing - a lot of really, really fun and unique shirts, for the most part. we were selling at a craftadelphia show a few weeks ago and decided it'd be fun if i printed some fabric for her to sew. so i'm finally posting photos of my printed fabric bits, and i'll hopefully have some after-after photos of the finished pieces she made with them soon. here's a bit in a flickr set.
finally, i'm very pleased with a new little set i've been working on - totally useful handprinted moleskines. if you're like me (and of course, you all are, in every which way), you live out of these. i developped my addiction to the moleskine in architecture school and i've since filled dozens. since the grid paper ones are my favorite, i've started with those. if i get requests for other types, i'd be happy to branch out. keep your eyes peeled for some less-straightforward work on them - more collaging, layering of images, etc etc. for now, here are some moleskines, listed in the shop. enjoy!
i was feeling a bit givey today - i guess i was just in a good mood and tiny opportunities presented themselves. in poking around the interwebs this morning, i came across a link to good magazine's site. they're taking the "radiohead approach" and offering subscriptions on a pay what you will basis, and giving the proceeds to the charity of your choice. i chose kiva.org, since i think kiva is pretty wonderful. so, while i'd sworn off subscribing to magazines not long ago, i couldn't resist their promotion.
also, this week i've been all over the radio times with marty moss coane podcasts again. i was really big into listening to marty at the first architecture firm i worked for when i moved to philadelphia about three years ago. i think she's just the bee's knees for a few reasons, but mostly because she's really great at mediating between guests, keeping the conversation on point and productive, and remaining impressively neutral. and the show topics are all over the place, much of it philly related in some way. it's fun to think about completely different things from day to day when i'm working.
speaking of philly relatedness, i'll leave you with a few things from some of my favorite philly makers. and look for a big update to the shop with lots of fresh, very new types of girlscantell goodies!
giantdwarf makes me swoon with her eco-friendly, completely radiant hats.
my wonderful friend amy of wondercabinet makes the most amazing art on vintage book pages.
i can't peek into elloh's shop without giggling - her pop culture paintings just make me smile, they're so dead on and really great. how can you go wrong with the flight of the conchords, right?
this season's project runway for a hot second.
i have to admit, at the beginning of the season, i thought i really liked kenley. she seemed to be a guru of great retro-inspired style, and the girl could rock a fascinator and had more sass than you could shake a finger at. kind of awesome, right?
um, no. somehow she totally effed the whole season up, the other designers (and most people watching, i'm sure) can't stand her, and i'm not sure how her last two disasters (see episode 11 and this week's latest) didn't get her booted, but holy moly, she's making a line for fashion week. which is such a lame cop out on the part of the judges (what's that? you don't feel like making a decision this week? it's cool, just put it off another week, like you did last season... what?!?)
but anyway... in partial celebration that kenley now has the opportunity to make what will probably be a line of 12 fabulous fifties dresses, here's a little homage to her hairpieces, which she's donned in every episode so far (and inspired me to buy my own little fascinator, which i've totally enjoyed rocking this fall). you can find more on my fascinator obsession in this fascinator find article i did a little while ago. and here are photos from two of my favorite hairpiece shops. enjoy!
from satanica (just above) | from the fabulous viemoderne (top of the post)
click on the image to check out the etsy listing.
ps. did you notice you can now "digg this" or "save to del.ici.ous" for girlscantell posts? woohoo!
