Racap of Talk at ACC about Blogging & Craft

Last night was my talk at the American Craft Council with Rena Tom of Rare Device about blogging, craft, and commerce.

The house was packed and the audience seemed very receptive to us. There was a good Q&A session at the end, and people stayed for the reception to enjoy the lovely spread of snacks and yummy “craft wine.”

Happily, the talk went smoothly and we were able to cover almost everything we wanted to in the hour. I learned a lot listening to Rena, and the questions afterwards were very thought provoking, so it was a great learning experience for me. Plus I met a lot of wonderful people that I’ve heard of but never met face to face, including Cynthia Tinapple who traveled from Ohio for the event and has already posted about it on Polymer Clay Daily.

The Indie Craft Documentary and Etsy (shown below left) were there filming the talk, and the ACC recorded it for a future podcast. I will, of course, provide a link to the podcast on the blog here once it’s up!

Rena and I will also post links to all the blogs, website, and tips we mentioned during the talk, so stay tuned for that...

The ACC is doing a great thing organizing these salons, and Lily Kane and Lee Eagle cannot be thanked enough for their vision and effort.

The thing I find most inspiring is the way the salons attract people from every color in the craft spectrum: from DIY crafters to masters of craft traditions, from magazine and book editors to bloggers and zine writers, from board members to up-and-comers.

Not only are all these people in attendance, but they’re also TALKING to each other! It was so exciting to Carmine Branagan, director of the ACC, deep in conversation with Faythe Levine, director of the Indie Craft Documentary, and Callie Janoff of the Church of Craft.

Jae and I started Greenjeans because we love craft, and as we’ve gotten to know the craft world more we’ve become committed to creating space where craft traditions and the craft new wave can co-exist and cross-pollinate. So for us, last night was totally inspiring. We can’t wait for the next one!

Rena and I before the talk.

I love this picture of Rena and her new cropped hair!

Andrew Wagner, new editor of American Craft magazine, introducing us.

We also attended the fabulous party for the newly relaunched American Craft magazine Wednesday night, and I'll be posting about that soon!

Posted by Amy Shaw.
Photos by Jae Kim.