Every Monday night, excluding holidays, Etsy has a FREE craft night where they provide materials and instruction on all sorts of creative projects. I was asked to do a stencil how-to event and I jumped at the chance. I love Etsy and was curious to see their Labs. Well, the facility is an artists dream- fabrics, paints, silkscreen station, three huge work tables, sewing machines, tons of supplies…could play all day in here. So we were scheduled to do the event from 4-8pm and I have to say this was the best event I have ever done! The crafters who attended were my true audience, some eager to learn, some insanely talented artists, all doing their own thing with the stencils. I instructed people throughout the night and then Julie, our Etsy lab Leader, led me through the Virtual Labs how-to. This is where Etsy over-delivers! If you were not in the area or couldn’t make it, you could login and “pick a seat” in this virtual auditorium. It was part chat room, part video conference, a great application for extending the craft community. Viewers could ask me questions, chat together, then share what they made on a flickr site. Well, I can’t thank Etsy enough for a fun time and all the people that attended in person and virtually. So Let me know, would you be interested in attending an Etsy event virtually?
wangela
Thanks again for doing this, Ed! I loved being with other stencilers. I’m much happier with my pillow now that it’s in my bedroom and I don’t focus on the inconsistencies anymore…it’s a practice for me loving the imperfection of handmade 🙂
I just realized I chose the same patterns you chose for your pillow – but I didn’t have time to do the backside so I will save that for another day!
here’s how it turned out (before I re-stuffed it):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wangela/4305845834/
Stencil1
Hey, it was great having you there! Imperfections rule! I like the color choice for your room, great job. I hope to do more at Etsy so stay posted for more events. Thanks again!
Lydia, Clueless Crafter
That’s right, imperfections do rule! Especially, since my pillow will provide even more interesting pillow talk;-)
Thanks Ed and Etsy Labs!
Lydia, Clueless Crafter
By the way, Ed, I would like to post an image of the stencil I used (maybe even the Bertoia, too)l on my blog along with my pillow to show your work. Could you share it?