Craftcation 2016
When I decided not to attend the Quilt Show without my friend, I started looking at other things I could do to improve the business side of my life. Craftcation is a conference for makers and people in the business of making. I have found out that some people come just for the business, some just for the crafts, and some for a mix of both.
Registration took place in two stages. First, I had to pay the entrance fee. Second, if I was going to attend any hands on workshops, I had to register for those in the weeks just before the event.
Paying the entrance fee was no problem. Getting a hotel room was a little more challenging. When I registered for the event all of the hosting hotel rooms at the special price were already taken. I searched around Ventura and Oxnard, looking at my regular brands. I ended up across the street from the event hotel. It was a little less expensive.
I needed to plan which workshops I would be attending. I planned and planned. The day of open registration I sat at my computer waiting for the “TIME”. There were some times when the business workshops didn’t appeal to me, so I looked to fill those with hands on workshops. Sign-ups must have been brisk at that time, as I didn’t get all that I wanted.
The day finally came, and I drove the 6 hours (or so) to Ventura. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday kept me busy going to workshops and talking with people.
I had fun in the “Watercolor Quilting” class taught by Ashley Nickels . I hadn’t seen her method of doing these types of quilts before, but it sounded interesting. I never got around to sewing, I had so much fun painting the first block, that I went and did a second one. I planned on motion quilting them at home.
In the presentation “How to Make Money from Your Blog”, I did learn about what I could do, but now I need to put it into practice.
The “Photo Styling Workshop” was hands-on. I learned more about styling my linear products, which had been a problem for me.
I admit to being a “ringer” at the Lucet Workshop, after all, I had done it before. I wanted to see how other people do it. My method of braiding on the lucet seems valid. Radmegan (Megan Andersen) taught the workshop.
From the “Media Kits 101” I learned that I need a style kit, including fonts, colors, and images to help tie my stuff together, whether on my website, or as a media kit.
The “So You Want to Write a Book” panel discussion was quite informative as I am thinking/hoping/planning an updated book on lucet braiding.
“Dance to the Beat of Your Own Brand” helped to reinforce branding for myself. Look for an old sewing thread spool wrapped with green embroidery floss in future photos that I publish.
I had planned on going to another presentation on Saturday afternoon, but when I saw that the room was filling up, I ditched it. After all, I was planning on leaving part way through to go to Office Hours with Deborah Balmuth of Storey Publishing. We briefly discussed my book idea. I agreed with her that it is a very focused topic, and would take careful marketing.
Now, would I go to Craftcation again? Well, yes, depending on my schedule. I need to keep up my hours of nursing contract work for a while yet, so we’ll have to see.
