Arts / Crafts Business

I just finished an article about Etsy Wholesale and thought I would include some other useful Etsy links too.  A couple of fellow for Dummies writers have a short article about pricing your Etsy merchandise for wholesale and retail.

There is also a list of traditional Etsy sites that sell wholesale..  Although this list may be outdated, it is also ordered by USA state which is helpful.

When I was using both Elance and Fiverr for logo design, I did some research online and found this article, 15 Corporate Logos That Contain Subliminal Messages.  Looking through the logos, I found it really interesting at how coolly the subliminal messages were integrated into the logo.

How'd it go with my logo designs? Well, after looking at the examples in the article, I came up with a cool idea for my new arts and crafts design.  Working with Elance for the logo design was easier. Price differential - Fiverr $5, Elance $99.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated it's virtual small business tax workshop, . Small Business Taxes: The Virtual Workshop.  It includes nine interactive lessons providing training for small business owners who want to learn about their tax rights and responsibilities.

And don't forget the 2nd quarter 1040ES is coming up on June 17, 2013.  To find out more about Form 1040ES, who has to prepare it and how to prepare it, check out my article about self-employed arts and crafts business owners and 1040ES.

About a year ago, I wrote an article about crowd funding, honing in on Kickstarter.  Occasionally I like check out various projects and report on those relating to arts and crafts whose pledges exceed the goal.

The Makery and the Wedding Gown just barely exceeded their goals (probably a Hail Mary play on the part of the owners).  However, there are projects that exceeded their goals many times over - check out Blackprints whose goal was $5,000 and is now sitting at $69,000.  A closed project, Foldable Me raised roughly $22,000 over it's goal.

One of the big trends in arts and crafts is adding design work to your one of a kind arts and crafts.  This means that you design a product that can be quickly replicated for mass-marketing. I've started a series of articles about wholesalers through which you can market your design.  The first article talks about Wholesalecrafts.com.

The call for entry for the Indio Gallery Contest was just announced and is open until July 1.  If you live in California, Texas or Illinois, you are eligible to enter the Indio Gallery contest.

This contest comes with great exposure as thirty two finalists will be chosen  to have their artwork showcased on a billboard in one of eight markets in CA, TX or IL in October.

From these 32 finalists, one Grand Prize winner will be selected to have his or her artwork displayed across eight cities, receive a $5,000 cash prize and have the opportunity to develop additional creative materials for the Indio Beer brand.

If you are interested in using natural dyes, check out this free pdf file from the Department of Agriculture about home dyeing with natural dyes. What is really cool about this publication is that it was originally published in 1935!

Reading through it you'll see that the techniques have not changed at all.  So save yourself some money and use the free pub rather than buying a contemporaneous guide with the same basic instructions. I also have some resources for buying natural dye extracts.

Online jewelry and metal working supplier Rio Grande has a couple of great free online soldering videos available online.  Check out the first link in this blog for Soldering 101, then move onto Soldering 102.  I've also written a short overview about soldering.

It's time to start making plans to attend the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair, which is the oldest crafts fair in the USA. The fair takes place August 3 through 11 and in addition to the 350 exhibitors and craft demonstrations and workshops,  Alice Ogden, the artist who created the 2013 annual ornament (Woven in Winter) will be working on the ornament at the fair for all to watch.