Holiday Cards... Revealed!

Behold Nesting Robots Holiday Cards!

These are pics from the Christmas cards I made my family this year.

The drawings were inspired by the babushka dolls that many of us had in one form or another growing up. There is something really pleasurable in the repetitious pulling apart and replacing of each the little dolls, and I've watched my nephew do it over and over. Great, right? I wanted to recapture that quirky fun in the cards. I'll be tweaking and likely colouring them in at some point. They'll be up for sale in the fall, I imagine. Watch out.

The cards were to contain my thoughtful offering to my family. This year I wanted to nix the whole gift thing and go with a donation in their names. I chose the charity Kiva because it provides a little bit more interactivity in how the donation is used. And, as a newish small-small business person, I get why Kiva's microloans can be essential. In the spirit of things, I chipped in to support a Mongolian underwear merchant. Plug over.

To or Not To Etsy

Setting up my Esty account in 2007 was so straight forward and fast, that it won my heart. In fact, I would describe it's simplicity as winsome. I had Winged Beast Outfitters' web store up in about half an hour (discounting the time it took to do the first photos and the banner). I think this is probably the truth for most sellers and buyers on Etsy.

The site is growing. A recent NYtimes article on Etsy said that there are close to 400 000 sellers and that's quite a herd in which I must stand out. The quirky tshirt market is already pretty saturated and capturing market share is tricky. On the other hand, Etsy expects to do about $400 million in transactions this year. So, there is definite merit in maintaining a presence here. It's a big sea with a lot of sizes of fishies.

I've wonder if clearer pastures might not be a bad idea. I've casually investigated other selling options, such as Artfire (a clear Etsy knock off, but with a little more power when it comes to shop appearance). There's also Big Cartel, which focuses exclusively on clothing and has a fairly powerful set of tools of customizing the look of your shop.

As a design-first sort of person, the ability to control the look and feel of my shop is a big draw. Etsy has only a few options by comparison. There is a catch. If you look at the pricing for Big Cartel you see that it's scalable based on how much you want to build and expected volume of sales.

At the same time, you would need to maintain your monthly sales to pay for the site. Artfire has very similar price points. In both cases, the free site is a nice draw in, but the pay as you go attitude at Etsy seems to work for the amount I sell, right now.

It's not just look-and-feel or pricing, it's discovery. Etsy was more or less first to market for the craftster niche and has the benefit of recognizability and trust. Also, it's had longer to build up the meta-data(tags and catagories and user inputted 'like') on its site. This makes searching for something more fluid between items, shops, and lists, as well as giving power to Etsy searches.

Big Cartel for instance has no option that links between stores through common themes, materials etc. other than the search function. This mean people searching for Robot themed shirts will land on one site and not be easily linked to other shirts of the same theme! This is not great. Not if the goal is to be stumbled across(which is a big chunk of the new artist/businesses customers).

No site will be perfect. I accept this. I like Etsy and for my level of sales it seems to work well. Over the next months, I think I will start up a site of both Artfire and Big Cartel using their free accounts. And, I guess we'll see.

Business, like science, is a process of experimentation. So, if I'm gonna be in it for the quiche then I'd better get on that experiementin'.

Puces Popped

Got back from Montreal Sunday and I'm just getting to my Puces Pop post now. Phew, it was an exhausting weekend, followed by a late night's foggy winter drive, and then right back into the last work-week before x-mas.

Let me just say Puces Pop was a great success. I broke my all-time weekend sales record, and sold about 207 items (I love stats like this.. A customer said I was the only one she saw keeping such close score. I was surprised. I feel like I only have 1/5th the information I want to know... anyways...)

As you can see, I'm pretty excited about my table. This is early on Saturday. Over the weekend, I (with advice from friends) evolved the layout of my table. I don't have an "after" photo because by the end, I was working hard to put stuff in people's hands. The salient detail is that I had too much stuff out and surface space was being taken up by things that weren't selling well. So I packed up some things and made room to lay out a few of my shirts, so you didn't have to flip through the rack to see them. That worked well and resulted in a lot more attention.

I'm being thoughtful here, and I've a lot to think about. Looking at other people's stalls, I know that I need to make some display stands, particularly for the greeting cards. They sold well, but definitely could be displayed better. I sketched out some ideas based on what I saw around me (Christopher of Squid Wool on my left had some kickass ones that worked well for his merch) and will post something when I try to build my first attempts. Also, I need to work harder on overstocking items that are doing well. Also, pricing... well... that's another post.

Anyways, big thanks to my helpers (Ross and Teresa) and big thanks to everyone who dropped by. I hope to see Montreal again soon!

I'll post some more pics soon. I'm also happy to give Winged Beast Outfitters a short rest while I spin up another project I've been trying to get off a simmer.

Happy holidays everyone everywhere!

Winged Beast lands in Montreal this Weekend!

Last weekend took me surprise. Old Man Winter zapped me with a debilitating cold. Which meant, I had to cancel my appearance at the Shang Craft Sale in Ottawa. It is really frustrating to disappoint fans and event organizers. That's how it goes sometimes ... anyways, I'm recovered now and looking forward to my last show of the 2010 season.

That's right. Puces POP in Montreal. I'm very stoked ... but also a little nervous. This is probably the most renowned and hippest (if you go by hipness) that I've ever done. I guess it's a lot like moving up a level in Final Fantasy or whatever. Bigged crowds, higher prices and talent. I've been to the show and everyone i saw was pretty darn talented. I'm happy to be included. It's a compliment I appreciate. I just, you know, want to make a good impression. So, I'm taking extra time this week to settle all the little details, so I can put my best foot forward.

Show details:
December 18-19th

at the St-Enfant Jesus church on St-Dominique at St-Joseph. Map.

It's run 11 am to 6 pm both days.

Puces Pop website.

I'll have some new things to sell.  Including boss new scarves!

And also greeting cards! Just in time for the holiday's final lap.

Long story short. If you're in Montreal this coming weekend, drop by, do your last minute holiday shopping, and don't forget to say hi to me!

Cheers.

The Things We Do For Love

In the Ottawa maker.crafter scene, I'm sure I haven't met anyone nicer than Emily Chen, the Mistress of Mchenwears. She's shown above in this wicked photo of her and Shad. A fount of experience and optimism, she's been a great and helpful competitor (friendly, of course) and is no slouch of an artist.

In June 2010, Emily and her sister launched the DAD(Drawing a Day) Project, a heartfelt and wonderful tribute to their father's battle with colon cancer (Mr. Chen passed away in October).  Together, they've created a regular stream of off-beat, often punny drawings. Every day or so they upload a new illustration that they sell via etsy to raise money to support of cancer research.

Other artists and I have donated works to help their cause. I donated a couple 8x10 prints that are only available through the DAD Project. You can get them here! It's something special to give what I can to such a profound expression of love. And, I hope maybe you all out there have something to offer or maybe want to make a purchase. Check out their site!

Finger Politics

I ran into Gabe at the Glebe Craft and Artisan Fair.  I am sometimes terrible with faces, and it turns out we've exchanged business cards at least twice before... anyways, Gabe is the mind and hands behind Fish on Fridays.

Besides some amazingly soft furry beasts, she also is a mad producer of amazing political finger puppets. Ripped from the headlines, and made to just scale right for your hands, are the likes of past Prime Ministers, Brian Mulrooney, Pierre Trudeau and John A. MacDonald and MPs Chuck Strahl, Megan Leslie, Ujjal Dosanjh and speaker of the house Peter Milliken. Totally worth checking this stuff out. 

Gabe's currently doing One of  a Kind in Toronto. I'm jealous, but  only theoretically jealous. I'm not actually anywhere prepared  or conceptually ready to do that kind of show... still the idea is germinating! It also rekindled my ideas of collectives and doing massive Ottawa events like Bluesfest. Sharing costs for an event with the potential for so much exposure intrigues me, not just as a mildly ambitious maker, but also as a sort Canadian expression of grass roots community driven capitalism... or something. 

December Shows!

Hi! I have one December show scheduled. I'm heading to Montreal for Winter Puces Pop! This will be the Winged Beast's first foray out of Ontario. I'm pretty stoked because this show tends to be a hotbed of talented folks! And, I like to included among talented people.

Show details:
December 18-19th
at the St-Enfant Jesus church on St-Dominique and St-Joseph. Map.
I'm not sure, but going on past hours, it'll run 11-6.

I think it's gonna be great! I was at their October event and was blown away by some of the people who turned out. As someone who views himself as up and coming, chances like these to push into a wider market and more renowned events make me jittery. But, it's always worth it to put yourself and your art out on a limb!

I'll be pushing some of my hits from the last weeks, including toques, scarves, and some chance find polos! More on that when I've got them ready.

Also, this is an out of town gig for me. I hope the Canadian Weather is kind and gives me decent roads! Though, there is something profoundly awesome about road trips!

See you there.

November Markets!

Well, I had a couple of crazy weeks. Craftalicious one weekend and then the Glebe Craft and Artisan Fair the next... a bit hectic at times. But, it all came off ok in then end. And so let me show you some pics from the last two weekends.

My table at the start of Craftalicious!

The lovely Teresa giving me a hand!

Me giving a nice visitor the run down.

As you can see Craftalicious was a pretty intimate, jammed packed little event. I highly recommend it to any other local Ottawa makers who don't know about this show. From what I understand, the organizers wanted to make an event that was small, fun, and well fed. It was also well visited. I did well enough in one day to force me to scramble for the next weekend.

Compared to Craftalicious, the Glebe craft event was a little more... umm... stately or something (it certainly was the most gorgeous venue I've ever sold in). Younger designers of my ilk were by far in the minority, with a lot more traditional crafts and such dominating the show. Still, it wasn't a wash... far from it. The older crowd meant that smaller ticket items were more the course de jour.

The Glebe fair was my first multi-day show. This was a huge learning opportunity for me, since I've mostly done one-day events. Coming out of Craftalicious I was low on some of my core shirts, but my resupply fell through. This left me innovating to fill my table. Trips to fabric land and the goodwill and late nights printing! And then selling all weekend (and printing at night)... it was quite the marathon. The result was, though, a few new innovations that I'm going to push forward (particularly in the scarf department).

Having so many market days in a row also meant that I had a good chance to evolve my table setup.

I think I'm a few steps closer to making full use of the space I get. I really see the need to make my display more vertical so that it's easier to see as people walk by. I have show dates in December(more to come on that) and I will definitely be testing out new ideas. And some ideas will be sticking around.

Now for some breathing room to restock and get organized for Puces Pop!

The Things I Need to Learn... Fast

I'm not a trained artist. The DIY joy that drives me means that most of what I do is ad hoc - there are little details that I miss in form and method, especially when it comes to actually screen printing the clothes.

Recently, I was having a lot of problems with prints bleeding around the edges of the image. This made the lines fuzzy and lame and me frustrated. There were other inconsistencies, too. Why was this happening!!!??

I turned to google for help and discovered a wealth of videos that were just the kind of tutorial I was looking for. Honestly, I'll admit right now that before I started a few years ago I had never seen a person make a print other than in photos... weird right? Ok... moving on.

Make Magazine posted this video. It's a good run down of the basic principles and has a solid ETSY connect to boot, featuring one of the executives of the site, Matt who is also a screen printer as well. What got me interested was later in the video when Matt explains how to flood the screen(spread the ink on the screen) and pull the squeegee to push the ink onto the shirt.


This helped, but the librarian in me (I am a librarian) wanted more... so I kept looking.

I found Roger Jennings' Vimeo page. Roger appears to know his stuff when it comes to the silk screen business (he's backed by a 30 year career... and some crazy background in electrical substations) and he's posted a wealth of videos on common problems and things like that.
This video was particularly helpful because Roger spends the first few minutes evaluating some common flaws in a new printers' work.

Screen Printing Overview - How to Print from Roger Jennings on Vimeo.

He's got a lot to explore.

Anyways, the problem appeared to be that I wasn't distributing my ink unevenly (called flooding...oooh industry term). And, I was applying too much pressure when I pulled with my squeegee across the screen.

After I figured this out, I took some scrap fabric and practiced. Right away, I started to see improvement!

So... thanks Roger.

Upcoming Events in November!

Winged Beast Outfitters will be appearing in the flesh this November! I'm going to have a boat-load of great stuff, and there will be an host of other great makers of things. A great way to pass a cold Novemebery day with friends and family.

Craftalicious
Saturday, November 13 · 9:00am - 5:00pm
St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Ottawa)
217 First Ave. (just off Bank Street)
Ottawa, ON
Admission is FREE!

Glebe Craft Fair (Three day event!!!!)
Friday, November 19 at 6:00pm - November 21 at 5:00am
Glebe Community Centre
175 Third Avenue
Ottawa, ON
Admission is FREE!

More events may be coming in December! Stay tuned, k?

This happy bear is wearing a cozy onesie. He is really rocking it.
Cheers!

Helpful Notices! About Shipping! For ETSY Customers!

Well, my day job has officially rolled out its xmas decorations (Earlier than ever!). This doesn't mean you don't need to be thinking about great gifts! On that note, I have to point out  that Winged Beast Oufitters has some great things to offer.

I want to let you know some details about shipping. I use Canada Post and they recommend the following dates for when items should be shipped by to make sure they will arrive on time for the big day (Dec. 24 or before!).

From Canada to:
Canada	Dec. 22
USA	Dec. 16
Africa	Dec. 1
Asia	Dec. 6
Australia	Dec. 6
Carribean	Dec. 1
Central/South America	Dec. 6
Europe	Dec. 6
Middle East	Dec. 6
New Zealand	Dec. 6

Of course, these are rough guidelines and not at all guaranteed (Customs is annoying at times). If you are interested in a Priority shipment for last minute orders, please contact me and I can get a quote for you. My kind recommendation is try to make you purchases a few days before the listed dates.

Cheers and happy holidays!

Things to carry with you...

I've returned to the world of tote bags. I tried once before but had mixed results that I can't show (somehow I sold or gave them all away... a miracle, I say!). Though this first run is all gone, I wasn't quite happy with what I was selling.

Some time spent rethinking the problem led to one major realization: use simpler images. Before, I printed up more complex pictures on different coloured bags. This meant harder to read images that didn't grab they eye well.

This time, I've opted for clearer, more distinct drawings. This is more effective, as the contrast of black on the undyed cotton is striking. I am, in truth, pretty satisfied with the outcome this time, and I can't wait to roll these out at this year's x-mas markets.

I'm also using these bags to unveil some new prints, one of which will definitely find it's way onto a t-shirt and more!

Check out the Etsy listings in my Tote Bag section.

On the Case

It was suggested to me by friends and family that perhaps Winged Beast pillowcases were necessary, perhaps even wanted. I'm always curious to see what works and what doesn't, creatively and in the marketplace. Thus begins this little test project.

As I can't sew, I found some really good looking ones for dirt cheap at a Value Village in Bellville(and my mom got a bunch at auction). After washing them (because I'm nice like that) I set to work printing them. Now follows some photos of that process.

Here's the pillow case, laid out in a handy workspace (my amazing kitchen table). Because the fabric's thin, I put some newspaper on the inside to prevent the ink from bleeding through. I also put a large craft mat  underneath to give the case a little more thickness. Experience has shown that thin fabrics need this little bit added so they meet the screen well.

After that, the screen!

And then then the ink! A nice close up.

The print applied! But, I'm not done.

I wanted these to be special, to have something that wasn't on the t-shirts with the same print. Some added value, if you will. So, I hand-painted some colour for sparks and the robot's eyes, giving them a comforting glow. I used silkscreen ink and a dollar store paint brush. Doing the "Don't Let Go" prints has made me pretty comfortable with this... and it's a nice change of pace from the silk screening.

And that's the story of how I made this pillow case. I made a bunch more, too. You can see them at my Etsy store!

Wolfe Island Recap... Weeks Later

It's taken a bit to get this post up (My computer died after i got back. Then I had to play catch up... Anyways). Wolfe Island Music Festival was a smash. Great music, great people, and affordable food and drinks... and beer.

As you can see, my tent had an amazing view. Also, the music was very dance-able.

Here I am dancing  to Diamond Rings in my handsome cardigan.

I was also very busy selling stuff, which is good, but I'd have loved a chance to get out and see what everyone else was selling. This happens. Luckily, I was planted right next to the Kingston Humane Society and their bake sale... so... thank-you to them.

The whole day was a good test for my newer things. The pins did well. So, they're definitely here to stay. I even sold a few of the blankets. These things were popular once the sun started to go down. This futuristic couple model their purchase.

And to all Wolfe Islanders, I hope to see you again next year.

Winged Beast Hits the Road

This coming weekend is the Wolfe Island Music Festival. Besides the pretty good line-up, I'm going to be selling shirts and things. Since this is my first straight up music festival, I'm launching an all new music friendly t-shirt. Buy one and proudly proclaim that you do indeed heart good bands.

Other makers of things include mchenwears another Ottawa local. If you have the time and motivation you should wander down to Kingston and check us and the whole show out.

Or... you can go to my web store... new stuff has been recently posted. More on that later.

Pins and Needles

In preparation for the Winged Beast Outfitters expedition to the Wolf Island Music Festival I have added a few new $1.00 items to my table.
Behold a selection of 1.25 inch pins:

And also a delightful new key chain:

The Wolf Island Music Festival runs Aug. 6 - 7 and includes a smashing line-up for a reasonable price. Check out their website for more details.