Poet Ponders the Digital

The Etsy office's community workspace area. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley February 2, 2015 Deadline March 2015 Issue Artisans often spend as much time trying to sell their works as creating them. Traveling throughout the Valley, and beyond, the artists I know set up booths at county fairs, craft shows, farmer’s markets and other events, trying to entice buyers interested in handmade items. A few local galleries and stores offer space to artists, and a handful of artists have spaces of their own. But, many of our creative artists need greater opportunity. For arts and crafts, the leading online marketplace remains Etsy. In less than a decade, Etsy has established itself as the place online shoppers go first, which means artisans should have a presence in the Etsy community. A few competing online marketplaces exist, such as ArtFire and Zibbet , but none rival the popularity of Etsy. Craft fairs have overhead, from booth rental feels to the ...

Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley February 28, 2011 Deadline April 2011 Issue Crawling the Crafters’ Web Beading, quilting, knitting and various other crafting hobbies occupy, literally, a fair amount of space in our household. My wife enjoys assembling bracelets and necklaces, creating jewelry that easily matches items we’ve seen in stores and at craft fairs. Handmade items are given and received as gifts in both of our families; my mother and sister-in-law both quilt and sew. One thing I’ve learned about crafters is that they respect the handmade projects of other crafters. It is a community with a passion for supporting each other, too. These artisans are small business owners, too, selling their crafts. There is no better way to show your support for arts and crafts than buying items made by the men and women at local craft fairs. My wife and I visit craft fairs several times a year. During the winter months, there are fewer such markets. But fog, rain and even snow do not s...