TAFA Team: Old Blog, New Look!

TAFA Team

I just spent the last few days revising our Team Blog for TAFA members who sell on Etsy.  On the old one, we had all of the members broken down into categories with tabs at the top where their Etsy minis were visible.  But, it didn't seem like people were exploring the shops, so I felt like the blog needed a new look.  

As I was working on it, I tested out Blogger's dynamic view.  It gives you several image rich ways to look at the posts.  I had thought of using it before, but it does not support widgets, like the etsy mini, which is so important to drive people to the shops.  Here is our mini for our TAFA Team:  

The mini can be controlled to feature different members and when you click on an image, it takes you right to that listing on Etsy, an excellent tool!

There are other disadvantages to this template, too.  You can't personalize it with a banner and although it does support a few sidebar links, you can't install all of the other tools many blogs use today (mail list form, widgets for facebook, any videos, etc.).

Mosaic view of the Dynamic Template

In weighing the pros and cons, I went with the dynamic template because it seems like most social media platforms are going for the wow factor with images.  Pinterest's success points in that direction.  So, maybe having minimal information with the link to the member profile will be the way to go.  Members who want to promote themselves further on the blog are welcome to submit posts which means more of their images would be there.  

So, what do you think of the new look?  I am very interested in feedback on this.  If any of you have experience with using the the dynamic template, I would like to know if there is a way to enable codes so that they show up on the posts.  

And, feel free to leave comments over there, ask the members questions, and read their member profiles.  Of course, shopping from TAFA members is proven to make your day a better one.  You will feel good doing it!  

TAFA Team: Old Blog, New Look!

Book Review: Twelve by Twelve

Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge

Twelve women, twelve themes, twelve quilts each, all twelve inches by twelve inches.  So many twelves that a new identity is formed: A Twelve.  A what?  A Twelve.

The first blog post shows up on September 4, 2007, outlining an invitation to participate in a challenge where a theme is explored and then revealed in a small quilt every two months.  Diane Perin Hock, the brainchild behind this exercise, invited other women whom she had been following or gotten to know via their blogs.  Quilt challenges are nothing new:  many online groups and quilt guilds use this exercise to encourage participants to push their normal boundaries by exploring themes or concepts they might not normally work on.  In fact, challenges are often incorporated into quilt shows around the United States, issued by the large companies that might sponsor the show (fabric, thread, batting, and other supply companies).  The new thing here is that these twelve women documented their process beautifully and stuck with it for several years, creating a fascinating record of their thoughts, techniques, and growing affection for each other.

12 by 12 Community by Terri Stegmiller

The above quilt is Terri Stegmiller's quilt for their Community theme, her tribute to their group.  Several of the participants have never met each other as they live in distant places: eight spread around in the United States, two in Australia, one in the United Kingdom and one in Belgium.  As the challenge progressed, the process of exploring their themes, challenges and thoughts, fused their group into a deep bond, so much so that they refer to themselves as a "twelve".  "When I became a twelve....", "As a Twelve, I think....", and similar statements are peppered throughout the book.

Each Twelve selected one theme and challenged the others to interpret it.  Some evoked obvious images while others focused on broad concepts:  Dandelion, Chocolate, Community, Water, Illumination, Shelter, Mathematics, Chairs, Window, Identity, Passion, Twelve.  They used their blog to brainstorm about what these words could mean, what images they could refer to, posting pictures, sharing stories, and bandying back and forth ideas that could inform their pieces.  Then they went to work.  One of things I really enjoyed about this group was not only their geographic diversity, but also their differences in age and experience.  Some have had extensive experience in the fiber art world while others are still kind of wet behind the ears.  Their techniques and life experiences are very different from each other.  All of this led to a wide range of interpretations.  Their exchanges also led each Twelve to experiment in new ways. And, because of the blog and of working on the book, their introspection on their growth changed over time, informing new work in a fresh way.

Here are some of my favorites, which also illustrate the range of interpretation of the themes and of techniques used:

Passion & Pain by Terry

Chairs by Helen

Pop Art Identity by Gerrie

Each of these quilts comes with its unique story and process.  It was interesting to see that although in most cases the Twelves interpreted their themes in completely different ways, every now and then there would be a couple of similar takes worked out uniquely.  Three of the Twelves used finger prints as their image for identity.  In other cases, interpretations were literal or abstract, obvious or kind of tricky.

The book is beautifully laid out, an art piece in itself.  It is substantial, with 176 pages chock full of images and text.  There are many tips on techniques along with feedback on each Twelve's process.  As I read through it, I thought about how this process could work well for any group, even mixing media, just so the guidelines were understood by the rest of the participants.  Because this one chose to use a common size as the guideline, 12x12 inches, the results are cohesive and can be displayed as a unit.  The Twelves are currently working on their second series, Colorplay, using color as the theme, making their work even more united when seen as a whole.  I can only hope that this will lead to a second book as well.

One of the reasons both the book and the blog work so well is that all twelve of these women have been able to document their work in a professional way using language clearly to expose their ideas.  I feel like "Take Good Photos" is a mantra I have been chanting to other fiber artists and textile businesses in my own work within my communities.  Developing this skill is essential, especially if the only contact one has with others is through this virtual connection.  Using good sentence structure and language well also makes the process accessible to others who seek to learn from it.  The book emphasizes that the important part of this for the Twelves has been the process, the ability to share, and not necessarily the end result.  Of course, we all like to end up with work that we can be proud of, but as all of them expressed, life does not always allow for the time necessary to complete a project within the deadlines.  Ideas, however, percolate, transform, inform and become incorporated in future work.

The final theme of the series, Twelve, is the most interesting to me.  Several paid tribute to the end of the series and their relationship to each other, while others explored the number 12 in a personal way.  The pieces all show maturity and a greater comfort level with the dimensions and designs.  The three below were all very interesting in their symbolism, but I show them here to give an example of how different the techniques used affect the mood and execution of an idea.

Seven Houses Five Trees by Deborah

12 Months by Kristin

Twelve Women by Karen

Two of the Twelves are members of TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List;  Gerrie Congdon and Terri Stegmiller.  In fact, Gerrie joined TAFA early on, when it was still a baby.  When Twelve by Twelve was published, I was told that the authors would like me to have a copy and would I please review it.  Ha!  I was so honored and thrilled!  A TAFA perk!  I didn't want to review the book without reading it carefully first.  I finally finished it and can say that I highly recommend it to both art quilters and anyone interested in creating community.  

I have had the pleasure of welcoming new members to TAFA, reviewing their work and seeing what they are doing.  Over and over again I feel so humbled about the wonderful process that is happening all around the world through the textile and fiber art communities, along with other craft and fine art traditions.  But, there is something very special that seems to be a common thread among those who work with fabric, thread, or other fiber materials.  Perhaps these techniques help develop patience and empathy, all knowing how the process makes up the whole.  Whatever the case, I know that I love being a part of it and can only give kudos to all of the Twelves for the impact they are having on their peers and followers.  This is a wonderful group and if you have not read the book or seen their blog, I encourage you to do so now.  And, check out their individual blogs while you are at it!

Twelve by Twelve, a must!

Visit Gerrie's TAFA Member Profile

Visit Terri's TAFA Member Profile

Book Review: Twelve by Twelve

Happy Birthday to Rayela's Fiber Focus!

Rachel Biel, 2nd Birthday, Londrina, Brazil

Two years ago today, this blog, Rayela's Fiber Focus, went live and I entered the blogging world.  I thought it was appropriate to have my own birthday photo start this post as a reminder that this blog is still a baby, full of hopes and aspirations.  Yet, life in cyberspace speeds by much more quickly than it does in our human years.  At the age of five, we are just figuring out how the world ticks, whereas five years on the internet might mean something is long gone, outdated, transformed or upgraded.  What does that mean for us bloggers?  Where do I see myself going forward with this blog?  Let's take a look at the big picture and focus on the art world as a theme.

Why blog?
Blogs have made it possible for the average person to establish a presence on the internet without having to invest much money.  It does take a learning curve to figure out the tools, design potential, and how it can be integrated with other social media sites.  Traditional websites showcase an artist's portfolio, tools for the prospective customer or gallery to view the work and gauge how the work and the story might fit into a purchase or show.  Blogs differ greatly from traditional websites in that there is an inbuilt expectation that there will be interaction with the community at large through the comments and other networking apps that are available.  I believe that blogs have become so popular because they offer the sense of community one had in mom and pop stores that have disappeared in so many places as super giants like Walmart have driven them out of business.  Now, I see more and more artists giving up their websites and using platforms that are user friendly, have tweakable templates and a blog incorporated into the site.

I started blogging because I wanted to promote my Etsy store.  At the time, I was quite active on the Etsy forums and everyone said, "You just have to have a blog!"  I decided that I would use it to tell the stories behind the textiles that I sell.  Where they come from, who made them, what kinds of issues they face in their communities and so on.  I knew that it would be a huge time commitment, which in fact, it was.  Intent on building content, I spent a lot of time on posts for Fiber Focus.  I also wanted to offer it as a platform where others could talk about their work and the communities that they live in.  My special interests focus on economic development issues around the arts and on the environmental impact that our work has on the world.  Are we making garbage?  Can traditional skills survive in these communities that face so many devastating effects of encroaching "modernity"?  As I look back, I believe that Fiber Focus offers a plethora of meaty content for others who are also interested in these topics.  It is an intellectual exercise for me that allows me to research an issue and put it out there for others.

Types of blogs.
I have visited hundreds, if not thousands of blogs in these last two years.  Most art blogs seem to be divided into three camps:

1. Product reviews:  Bloggers who write about other artists, work or  resources that they see out there in cyberspace.
2. Artist's process:  These blogs document the process of a piece, from concept to the end product.  Many give tutorials on how to accomplish the same effect.
3. Blither diary:  The voice of the lonely blogger who blabs on about all the minutiae of their daily lives.  When well done, these blogs can be wonderful.  But, unfortunately, most are really boring with the same stories about flowers, grandchildren and dogs. 

The three camps often merge or blend here and there, but over time, one of the focuses becomes apparent.  I enjoy blogs that are well written, easy on the eyes, and that have fresh content.  The easiest blogs to maintain are ones that have an image and a short statement about that image.

Many of us also hope that our blogs will generate some income to compensate for the time we invest in the blogs.  I have tried a bunch of things: a donation button ($20 total over two years!), Project Wonderful (does not generate enough to cover the ads I place there), affiliate programs (absolute dud!), google ads (I removed them when inappropriate content popped up and just don't have the energy to control the kinds of ads that would be good for the blog), and offering advertising space.  Conclusion:  Fiber Focus will be a resource for a niche group of people interested in the kind of content I am willing to generate.  If it doesn't make money, fine.

Social media integration.
These past two years has seen increased integration between social media sites.  Blogs can now be integrated on to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many other places.  That means that once you set it up, each post gets posted in a bunch of places automatically.  Increasing its reach ability, the content has potential community impact in each of these places.  Comments may happen on or off the blog and actual traffic and readership is actually a lot larger than reflected on the blog's physical statistics. 

And, there are all kinds of apps that can be added on to the blog to direct traffic somewhere else and also bring new traffic back to the blog.  So, you can advertise your facebook fan page on your blog and have your blog networked on to your fan page.  All a bit of a headache to figure out, but once it's set up, it's easy peasy.  I also really like the blog roll app that Blogger has on its blogs.  If I land on a blog that I like, it's highly likely that I will also like the blogs they have listed on their blog roll.  It's worth a gander, IF there is time....  Time is always the question for me, both in writing and in exploring.

Blog Mania
Once you figure out how to effectively use blogs as a tool, you just may find that your blog is giving birth to new ones.  I now have several, each with a different focus:

This blog.  Focuses on the cultural and economic condition of fiber artists and textile producers around the world.

Artezano Links serves as a dumping ground for cool craft resources that I see as I travel around on the internet.

Biels in Brazil documents the time my family spent as missionaries in Brazil, largely inspired by photos I had made of my Dad's old slides.

TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List is actually a business that uses the blog features to provide a platform for fiber artists and textile businesses.


As my knowledge has increased, so has my ability to act as a technical assistance provider to my peers.  I have also set up a couple of blogs for others and taught them how to use their blogs for their purposes.  I foresee that this will become a side business for me.  With TAFA, I spend a lot of time helping the members gather their information together so that they can present the best image of themselves possible to the public.  I find that most artists barely scrape the surface of the tools that are accessible to them through their blogs and other social media platforms.

One can get obsessed with blogging and these other tools and I find that I really don't have the time it takes to develop any one of them effectively.  But, then, if they are each worked on a bit here and there, over time, they will become a valuable resource.  One of my favorite blogs, Knitting Letters: A to Z by Union Purl, only blogs occasionally, but each post is so interesting, well researched and illustrated, that it doesn't matter.  In my book, I would rather spend time on blogs that have some meaning and intention behind them than ones that have a daily blather.

Is it worth it?
These last two years have also seen some great cyber friends disappear from the internet due to burn out.  Time is a constant challenge for me.  I have so many ideas that I would like to develop in all of my blogs, but in the end, I do need to focus on those that will generate income.  My main source of income comes through what I can generate online through my Etsy store and these side jobs.  Every now and then I get work locally, but it's not much and the pay is very low.

Has Fiber Focus fulfilled its purpose in driving buyers to my Etsy store?   I haven't seen much evidence of it.  Has it succeeded in building a cyber community?  In a limited way, yes.  I started a ning group that was inspired directly from working on this blog and it shares the same name, The Fiber Focus Group.  It's a great group, but developed in a way that I didn't really expect.  I was hoping for more people like me who are interested in the social context of fiber art and textiles, but instead, got a great group of people who like to share their work with each other.

Finally, there is TAFA, and that has only been possible because of all these other efforts coming together: learning the skills, selling on Etsy, networking on Fiber Focus, promoting the blog.  Rayela Art has a nice placement on google searches and has a recognizable name.  I would say that yes, all of these things are worth it, indeed necessary, if one wants to build an online business.  So, I'm sticking with it, plodding ahead, as I can.

Future goals.
I am not happy with how little I have been posting on Fiber Focus.  I would like to aim at two good posts a week.  I need to figure out how to achieve that goal and make it more time efficient.  For example, this post has already taken two hours to write.  When I research a theme, it can take up to eight hours.  I can't justify the time, so I need to quit blathering and shorten my content.  Perhaps one way to do this would be to work on a post an hour a day until it is ready, or to divide it into shorter posts.  I'll have to play with it and see what happens.

I still would like to have contributors post regularly here.  Donna Hussain is currently the only regular contributor that I have, faithfully submitting a new post every month.  Her quilting tutorials and stories generate a great deal of traffic for the blog, which I deeply appreciate.  In turn, she has a platform that she does not need to maintain.  I found her at a quilt show, loved her work, but she had no visible presence online, so it was hard finding her.  Now she has a presence.  Three or four more like her would be great!

Blogger recently added a new feature where we can now add pages to our blogs.  I want to clean up Fiber Focus and use those pages to make the blog more useful as a resource.

That's all I have planned for now.  What do you think?  Where would you like to see Fiber Focus go?  What have been your favorite posts?  Is the site too cluttered?  It's this baby's birthday, so what is your birthday wish?

Happy Birthday to Rayela's Fiber Focus!

Scoutle and Entrecard: Two Interesting Tools for Bloggers

Etsy does a great job in providing tutorials and tips to its sellers.  Their blog, The Storque, is packed with information on how to improve your Etsy store, your photos, how to network with other sellers, how to market the store, and on and on.  A frequent contributor, daniellexo, recently posted about how to blog.  I have to admit that I started this blog because the Etsy community harped on and on about how important it is to have one.  Those of you who have a blog, know that it can be a lot of work, especially increasing your audience and reaching the right people.

Always read the comments when you read a "How to" post!  I found two gems in one of them on the blogging post.  The Etsian uses Scoutle and Entrecard to drive people to her blog.  I had never heard of either one of them.  Both look interesting.

Scoutle operates as a personal web crawler.  It looks for other websites and blogs that have similar content or interests to yours:

Entrecard works on a networking concept that connects its membership through "business cards" (actually, they are ads).  I have been using Project Wonderful for quite awhile now, and it seems to have some similar ideas.

I especially like the Scoutle concept, but will have to research both of these a bit more before jumping in with either of them.  Meanwhile, have any of you used Scoutle or Entrecard?  Did they drive traffic to your site?  Are you pleased or disenchanted?  Let us know so that we can learn from you, too.

Scoutle and Entrecard: Two Interesting Tools for Bloggers

Rayela's Fiber Focus Participates in One World, One Heart 2010

The Magic Carpet ride is over!
It's been parked until next year...

I'm pleased to announce the winner of my prize:  CreativSpirit, a blogger from Australia with beautiful work.  You can go see for yourself:  http://creativspirit.blogspot.com/   I used a random number generator to pick her as the winner.

Something special will fly from Rayela Art's Etsy store, from the United States to Australia.  Truly appropriate in keeping with our magic carpet theme! 

Congratulations, CreativSpirit!
Thanks to all of you who have visited Fiber Focus.  I hope you will be back again!

Come ride the magic carpet!

One World, One Heart is an annual event hosted by Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian.  This is the 4th year for this event, inspired by the idea that bloggers from around the world might get to know each other a bit better through a massive give-away effort in an "open house" format.  See more about the event further on down in this post.

Welcome Bloggers!

First, a quick introduction:  This blog focuses on fiber art and textiles with a special emphasis on how both impact society.  Special interest is given to fair trade, recycled materials, and green practices.  Guest artists are always welcome!  If these themes interest you, follow the blog through Blogger, your reader or on Facebook and come back later to explore more.  I know people do a crazy run around during the event, but the whole point is to find new connections, so don't lose us in the shuffle!

Fiber Focus is part of Rayela Art which sells ethnic textiles and provides technical assistance for craft related businesses.  I have been working with crafts for over twenty years and have good knowledge that can help other businesses increase their visibility and sales potential.  See my website for more info.

Rayela Art Giveaway

Every blogger participating in One World, One Heart is giving a prize to participants.  In order to qualify, leave a comment on this post.  You must also have an active blog and provide a link or email so that I can notify you if you win the giveaway.

The magic carpet ride ends on February 15th.  At that time, all of us will do a random pick from those who posted on our comments and notify our winners.  Last year, I gave away a textile stamp from Afghanistan and a vintage printing block from Kentucky, the state where I live.  I absolutely love this year's theme!  Afghanistan is a country close to my heart and one of the top producers of an art that is quickly dying, carpet weaving.  So, this year I decided that I would let the winner pick what they want as long as it is from Afghanistan.

Winner gets a $30 Gift Certificate 

from Rayela Art's store on Etsy!

At the time of this post, I have 66 items listed on Etsy that are from Afghanistan.  Click here to see what is in stock now.  My most popular sellers are the textile stamps, but I also have lots of Kuchi beaded patches, other textile remnants, handcarved beads made from semi-precious stones, and, yes!  even a magic carpet!!!

Note: The gift certificate can only be used towards product.  Winner pays for shipping. 

When I notify the winner, I will explain how to redeem the gift certificate and will post the winner and her or his links here.  No products will be reserved as special requests.

More about One World, One Heart

When Lisa started this event, she had no idea it would take off like it did.  Last year, 2009, there were over 900 participants!  She states in her text:

"This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the blogging community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. 

This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become."

The excellent level of participation shows a true desire of bloggers seeking to connect with each other.  I do think it goes beyond wanting to win something.

Now, with so many participants, it's hard to navigate the list which is set up chronologically from those who entered first.  The ones listed in the beginning will obviously get more traffic, so here are a couple of suggestions:

• Start from the bottom and work backwards.
  
• Look for blog names that might relate to your interest.
• Jump to every 10th name.  (If 900 participate, you will have looked at 90 blogs!)
• Use this as a learning tool.  Don't just look at the prize.  Look at how the blog is set up.  Take notes on ideas you could use for your own blog.  What platform is it on?  How quickly did it load?  Are the links useful?  Are they using Project Wonderful? 
• If you like it, don't lose it.  I add blogs that I like on to my blog roll.  It got so long that only the top most recent posts show, but whenever I have time, I refer to it and go visit.
• Leave personal comments (rather than canned ones) so that the blogger might want to visit you back.  "I hope I win!" is not an interesting comment...
• Have fun!

Finally, a big thanks to Lisa and A Whimsical Bohemian.  This is a mammoth project and we all appreciate your time, energy and spirit in doing this!

Thank you, Lisa!!!

*

Rayela's Fiber Focus Participates in One World, One Heart 2010

One World, One Heart: A Great Way to Visit Blogs!

Textile Stamp from Afghanistan

Morna from Bittersweet encouraged me to join One World-One Heart, so I decided to jump in and share in the fun. Lisa Swifka came up with this idea as a way for bloggers to get to know each other and attract new readers. Each participant, now numbering over 400 (!!!), offers a give-away which will end on February 12th. This is the 3rd year that Lisa has organized this world-wide event.

Vintage Printing Block from Kentucky- Horse Collar

I'm offering the two vintage printing stamps pictured above as my give-away. The floral bouquet is a textile stamp from Afghanistan valued at $17.50. The horse collar is from the 1930's and worth around $15. Both are functional, but also make beautiful display pieces. They will both go to one winner. To qualify for the give-away:

• You do not need to be an active blogger.
• Leave a comment here on this post (readers with something to say).
• be sure to include contact information, preferably an email address or link to your own blog.
• The drawing will be on February 12, when the winner's name will be drawn out of a hat. I will notify the winner by e-mail. If I do not have a valid e-mail for a winner, then I will pick another winner. If a winner does not respond within a reasonable amount of time (1 week), then I will pick another winner.

Have fun visiting all the blogs that are participating in this annual event. Click on the OWOH button below to visit the site. From there, you can travel the world through all the participating blogs! And, I tell you, there are a ton of great give-aways!

Note: People seem to be really excited about this give-away. I thank all of you for visiting and hope that you will also explore my Etsy and eBay stores. Both have a great selection of textile blocks, ranging in prices from $7.50-$20. I combine shipping between both and offer free shipping on US orders over $100.

The Give Away is Over and We Have a WINNER!!!!

Evidence of an Artistic Life said...

These are wonderful and unique prizes! I would love to enter! Please stop by my blog and enter, too!
chris p

I was going to print out all the 220 entries and cut out the names. Ha! I stopped my computer when I saw that it was going to be over 30 pages! So, I asked my husband to pick a number between 1 and 220 and this was the entry I got. Thanks to all of you who participated and hope you come back and become a regular reader of Fiber Focus!

One World, One Heart: A Great Way to Visit Blogs!

Introducing Artezano Links, A Treasure Trove of Cultural Crafts!

I've been toying with idea of starting another blog, so I finally broke down and did it.

ARTEZANO LINKS!!!!!!

Artezano Links shares some common ground with Rayela's Fiber Focus because, obviously, they both serve my passion for ethnic art and cultural education. But, Artezano Links will include all crafts (fiber, clay, glass, metal, etc.) and will really be a link resource. Go take a look! Then, come back here and tell me what you think. I just got it up yesterday and started with molas, so there isn't a big body of material yet, but you'll get the idea.

I actually started something similar many years ago before blogs were popular. But, it was harder to disseminate information and it never really got going. As I've been working on Fiber Focus, I've seen so many sites that I didn't use in an article or find that the links just keep growing and growing and this idea of another blog has been pushing its way into my brain.

Artezano Links will grow in spurts, as I am able to work on it. It's much easier than Fiber Focus where I often spend up to five hours on an article. Finding photos, figuring out what to say, asking permission to use the photos, and so on. On Artezanos, I'll load a photo representative of the site, add a descriptive text, link, and poof! On to the next one. Related books and videos will also be included. I'm exploring the possibility of developing some educational packets so this also serves as a research tool for me. Hopefully, this will interest home schoolers and teachers.

Fiber Focus also differs from Artezanos in that the glue is really the material (fiber) not the genre (ethnic). Here, on Fiber Focus, posts can talk about indigenous groups or urban deconstructionism (whatever THAT is!). My hope here is that through the medium of fiber we can find our common ground. Artezanos will focus on crafts that have culture specific references. If you sell or represent cultural crafts or see any sites you think should be on Artezanos, send me the link and I'll add it on. Of course I would love to have sponsors that would advertise on either or both of these sites........................ (hint, hint!)

Well, check on Artezanos from time to time and watch it grow. It will blossom into a beautiful sunflower, each seed representing a people, a place, and a heritage on this wonderful Earth!

Introducing Artezano Links, A Treasure Trove of Cultural Crafts!

Denise Felton: Networking Needlework Queen on CraftGossip

Tatting by Jon Yusoff, Malaysia

Let’s say you love needlework so much that you’d like to be able to scan lots and lots of blogs and web sites every day for new trends, examples of inspirational work, and free patterns and tutorials. Do you have time for that? Yes, you do. At least, you have time to check the results of my research on your behalf.

I follow about 600 personal and commercial blogs that focus on a huge range of needlework topics—hand embroidery to tatting, quilting to goldwork, candlewicking to weaving. If a needle or fiber is involved, I want to know about it. Then I post my favorite finds throughout the day so you can find information about the new, the fresh, and the different quickly and easily.

I edit the Needlework News Blog of the CraftGossip Blog Network. What else can you find on my blog? Links! An absolute treasure trove of links. With each little news story, I post the name of the artist concerned, a link to the main site of that artist, and a link to the complete story I’m citing so you have several options for finding out more. And my blog is categorized. Suppose you’re primarily interested in quilting and you don’t really want to have to scroll through stories about bead embroidery, chicken scratch, and needlepoint to get to the juicy quilting tidbits. Just click the Quilting category in the sidebar, and the stories about your favorite topic pop up. You can also search my blog; so, for example, if you just want to see recent stories about crazy-quilter Allison Ann Aller, you can enter her name in the Search box, and all articles containing her name pop up.

Allison Ann Aller, Crazy Quilt, Full Photo and Detail

Some other features that are in the works: a new blogroll of sites that are featured regularly on Needlework News, and a list of sites that include information about crafting for a cause. And I’m expecting other excellent features to come from my favorite and most knowledgeable source: my readers.

It rocks my socks off when I log on and find comments from readers. I love their questions, their ideas, their suggestions, their tips, and even their corrections. It’s a good day, indeed, when I find a message submitted through the site’s Send Us Gossip feature or by e-mail, sharing a bit of news with me or just chatting about the art we love. I always follow up on reader-submitted suggestions. Let’s face it, even if I could scan 2,000 blogs a day, good stories would still slip past me. Readers also help me discover artists—including themselves! I get up and do the happy dance when readers invite me to look at their new tutorials, new products, or patterns.

But what if needlework isn’t your thing? Where do you get this kind of news about scrapbooking, or sewing, or knitting, or edible crafts? CraftGossip blog network is still your go-to source. Shellie Wilson and Vikram Goyal have assembled experts in a huge variety of crafts, each editing a blog in her own specialty, all tied together under the CraftGossip logo. There’s probably a blog for your favorite artform. And if not, why don’t you start one? The CraftGossip family is a rockin place to be!

I do a few other things when I’m not blogging for CraftGossip. I’m a writer, editor, and designer for a major IT company. I teach on line for a local community college. I’m a working artist—I market my collages and handcrafted greeting cards through a couple of local brick-and-mortar stores and through my Etsy shop. And once in a while, I manage to make a post on my personal blog. I can’t wait to retire so I can spend all my time crafting and blogging!

Denise Felton, Maumelle, Arkansas

Denise Felton: Networking Needlework Queen on CraftGossip

Fiber Focus Followers

Blogger just added a new gadget where you can keep track of blogs that you like on your dashboard in blogger. I think that would mean you have to have a google account. But, just so you know, that's what this new "Fiber Focus Followers" is on the top, middle column of the blog. If you want to be added on, just click on it and you can become a follower.

Fiber Focus Followers Demand Recognition

Fiber Focus Followers

Brillante Blog Award

Erin Stoy of La Chapina Huipil Crafts awarded Fiber Focus with the Brillante Weblog Prize. Many thanks, Erin!

Erin lives in Guatemala and is a regular contributor to Fiber Focus as well as a member of our Fiber Focus group.

It is now my task to pass on the Brillante prize to blogs I feel deserve recognition. A difficult task as there are so many good ones out there! But, here are three that I follow regularly and who are also members of our Fiber Focus group:

First Born Studio

Red Thread Studio
Bittersweet

Check them out!

Brillante Blog Award

The Political Voice of Blogging Artists

My cyber-friend, Morna from Bittersweet, posted a political video on McCain that I had been trying to see for days, but something seems to be wrong with YouTube. Morna titled her post, "Be prepared to be scared--- watch the horror movie--McCain will make Cheney look like Gandhi." Like Morna, I share a profound interest in politics (although she is a lot smarter than me!). I finally got to see it and it was very disturbing. Here it is:



If YouTube is not working for you either, the clip speaks to McCain's military history and his position on Iraq and its surrounding neighbors. A critic of McCain states that he will likely continue to seek a path of war in many hot spots of the world, including a possible invasion of Iran. The critic says that if that this happens, retaliation will happen and we might as well just pick which US city will be bombed out. New York again? LA? Boston? Just pick one. The prospect is frightening.

I went to leave Morna a comment and saw that someone had already posted one there. This blogger was annoyed at Morna's use of political content on what is primarily a fiber arts blog. She basically told Morna to start a separate political blog. Intrigued, I visited the poster's blog, expecting it to be all about art. Ha! Her son is in the military (several photos of him), a military video, and other posts that had nothing to do with art (dog, flowers, Olympics), etc. But, wait a minute? Nothing to do with art? Actually, everything has to do with art! Life and all that it contains informs our body of work. What was happening here was that she simply did not agree with Morna's political position. "So, go somewhere else, Morna! I like your art, but not your politics. Go talk about that part of you where I don't have to look at it!" As I started to think about this, I felt myself seething inside. Not about her political position, but about the hypocrisy of dismissing someone else who obviously shared the same passion for a subject, but not the same platform. Get that log out of your eye, woman!

I knew I would have to write about this, but the topic brings up so much personal history for me that it is difficult to target what angle to address. Religion and politics are the two subjects most people either don't want to discuss or feel so passionately about that they can't listen to another view point. It's easy to blog about pets, grandchildren, flowers, or other niceties in our lives, but not so easy to stick your neck out into the guillotine of certain judgment. Regular readers of this blog will have caught on to the fact that I am not a Republican. All four (or five) of you (heh, heh) also know that I have a secret agenda of bringing people together from different cutural and religious backgrounds through fiber art. Hopefully, the log in my own eye is not so big that I cannot make reasonable connections with people who are different from myself: culturally, politically, ethnically, racially and whatever other "ally" is out there. And, I hope I can wade my way through this keeping my neck intact...

In the past five days, the posters have appeared mysteriously on walls and buildings across San Francisco. They feature the most enduring image of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal -- the Iraqi man, hooded, his hands tied with electrodes -- but this time, the prisoner is set against an American flag, and this time, the image is juxtaposed with a headline that reads, "got democracy?"

The poster is designed to make people question whether the United States is adhering to democratic ideals if American soldiers have been guilty of widespread prison abuse, if the Patriot Act continues to trample civil liberties, and if Washington continues to instigate questionable policies, says the poster's co-creator, San Francisco novelist Robert Mailer Anderson.

"It's not pro-Democrat, it's not pro-Republican -- it's supposed to make you think," says Anderson. "Do these people in Iraq have democracy? And do we have democracy? from the San Francisco Chronicle

The United States has a long history of both political dissent and protest through art. The world around us informs our thoughts, decisions and artistic content. Morna is not a political artist, except that perhaps her American flags might evoke passion. I find it interesting that the flag is present on both blogs, yet I am sure that as a symbol it represents completely different ideologies for both.

Morna's booth at a show.

The American flag is known around the world. It represents different things to people who may feel proud when they see it or angry, afraid, relieved, or disgusted. Rarely does it evoke indifference. Why? Because the United States has made itself a physical presence in almost every country of this world. This flag brings trade, aid, poverty, wealth, health and war. So, some artists will react to what they see and make statements through their art on their political position. And, those who write or blog, will take the "pen to paper" (keyboard to screen?) and voice their opinions for or against what they see. This is called democracy. Government by the people, even if they don't agree with each other. Some artists abhor what the United States is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, while others support it.

Body Count by Adrienne Sloane

Abu Graib, Abuse of Power by Susan Crile

What we, as Americans, do overseas has profound consequences that can last for generations. When 9/11 happened, the world wept with us (except for a minority of nuts who succeeded in making their awful point). The weeping stopped when our government abused its power by using public lament and fear to secure its interests in the Middle East and Central Asia. Public protest against the United States has seen unprecedented participation in the last eight years (ahem, the Bush years...). I spent the first 18 years of my life in Brazil as a missionary kid. In the 1960's almost every Roman Catholic home there had a portrait of the bleeding heart of Jesus to one side, a statue of the Virgin in the middle, and a portrait of John F. Kennedy on the other side. Jimmy Carter was and still is well-loved. President Bush does not hold that esteem in Brazil:

BBC News reported that over 10,000 protestors turned out in Sao Paulo when President Bush visited in 2007. The Culture Kitchen blog concluded, "This is a time when world opinion is solidly against America. This is dramatically show by a recent poll that showed that people view America as marginally MORE destabilizing a force than North Korea and only slightly less destabilizing than Iran. To the world, America is part of the Axis of Evil." In another post they also stated something that I had not heard before and found interesting:

"While John McCain is eagerly embracing Bush and vowing to continue Bush's failed policies, it may be a good idea to remember what Ronald Reagan thought of the Little Bush:

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."

From the REAGAN DIARIES------entry dated May 17, 1986.

So this is the guy we had shoved down our throats and who John McCain wants to emulate.***

(***Note: An anonymous reader left a comment saying that this statement about Reagan is incorrect. Snopes documents it in an almost as interesting post: http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/kinsley.asp. Great to have attentive readers and great for such a wonderful tool as Snopes!)

Do we really want all this anger directed to the United States? BBC News reported on protests against the war around the world in March 2006:



Unknown News dedicates itself to reporting news that is not known or not known enough.They state in their page, updated monthly, on casualty statistics in Afghanistan and Iraq:

"At least 687,079 people have been killed, and 1,318,163 seriously injured in Afghanistan and Iraq during the U.S. and coalition attacks and occupations, based on lowest credible estimates. More than 98 times as many people have been killed in these wars and occupations than in all terrorist attacks in the world from 1993-2004. About 229 times as many people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq than in the ghastly attacks of September 11, 2001."

McCain's official page makes some vague promises of helping Iraq reach stability and not leaving until they can govern on their own. Then, what I find scary:

"Call for International Pressure on Syria and Iran

Syria and Iran have aided and abetted the violence in Iraq for too long. Syria has refused to crack down on Iraqi insurgents and foreign terrorists operating within its territory. Iran has been providing the most extreme and violent Shia militias with training, weapons, and technology that kill American and Iraqi troops. American military spokesmen have also said there is evidence that Iran has provided aid to Sunni insurgents.

The answer is not unconditional dialogues with these two dictatorships from a position of weakness. The answer is for the international community to apply real pressure to Syria and Iran to change their behavior. The United States must also bolster its regional military posture to make clear to Iran our determination to protect our forces and deter Iranian intervention."

What does it mean to bolster military posture so that Iran understands our intent? It doesn't sound peaceful to me.

Well, I think I have made my political point on a fiber art blog: Artists have voices, the voices will not agree with each other on many things, but it is our right to use them in all that is important in our lives, be it dogs, kids, flowers, or politics. I believe that unless this path of violence is not curtailed, we are going to lose a lot of our dogs, kids, and flowers, so political voices are especially needed in this time of danger. Am I scared? Petrified.

However, fear does not bind me or blind me. Neither has it filled me with hate. On the contrary, I understand why people want to respond with force. I watched both conventions. I understand that Obama is criticized for his lack of experience and I had to roll my eyes, too, when his speech finally came and was full of those over used catch phrases that everyone had used before him. I felt empathy towards McCain and all that he had suffered as a prisoner of war and his long service to our government. I liked his wife and thought it was wonderful they have this Bangladeshi daughter. I am not a political scientist or expert, but I listen, read, discuss, and try to inform myself. After all of this, my conclusion is that Obama offers the only hope that we, as a people, can redeem ourselves before the world. If McCain is elected, disaster lies ahead for us. My hope is that Obama will surround himself with a think tank that will use every peaceful means available to solve this mess. He may not have much experience, but he knows how to ask the right questions and the world abroad is thrilled about him. That in itself is worth alot!

Obama in Germany, July 2008

I am the lone Democrat in a Republican family. At least that is my perception- we have agreed to disagree on both religion and politics, so we don't talk about either. I live in a Southern State where many of the people I know have served in the military, have relatives overseas and are Republican. I understand why. The military is a career option that offers much more stability (even if you get shot at a young age...) than what is available around here. I love them all, my Republican family and friends. Whatever we believe in, we must learn how to get along, how to accept diversity, and how to be respectful with each other and that begins at home. And, Morna, whatever political post you have on Bittersweet, you can bet that I will be there to read it!

Peace Quilt for Peace Plaza (Rockford, Illinois)

The Political Voice of Blogging Artists