The Handmade collective has been approved for a grant. After A small hiatus due to a family emergency things are going to be back in full swing!! there will be a meeting Sunday the 22nd at noon at the covent garden market near Hasbean coffee shop. More details soon!

Spinners and Weavers

So... I spoke to the spinners and weaver guild tonight, and it went well, I think, I hope some of the women there get involved because they are so crafty, and wonderful. I also emailed the Embroidery league, because they're work is ridiculously incredible, amazing. I have  a meeting with Arts council tomorrow, which is great and I'm excited, but a little nervous. 

Ellen had an amazing Idea about having a table with half finished projects at the smaller info/festival to show the progression of work, and how it's possible to create something from nothing at any skill level. Heather has been feeding me a million amazing idea, and because of her magic I'm going to talk to the first nations store in the market and ask if they would host a beading workshop and believe me there is so much more that I'm trying to write down and keep organized. I'm going to call another meeting for Sunday the 1st of November for anyone who hasn't come out, and wants for information , and for the workshop hosts. everyone is welcome. 

Untying the knots- The first general meeting

Oh! the first meeting was held this afternoon at the market with good coffee and wonderful women filled with ideas. A small group sat down and worked out the basic, when/where/how. I know from past ventures that doing too much gets overwhelming, and doing it too fast makes everyone crazy, so this amazing festival of art will begin in January, when  a small festival will take place with a few contributers, artists, craftsmen, and anyone who wants to participate in the workshop series which we hope will run  throughout the winter.  The ideas which were thought up, was to have an initial small festival in order to advertise the workshop series and the intention of the handmade festival. Then from february-march the thought of holding 3-4 workshop series, these workshops would be Weaving, Doll making, Knitting (a class of beginners/intermediates and advanced knitters working closely with mentors to finish a small project) and Quilting. There would be a few day workshops as well (how to make a drop spindle, needle felting) for less involved crafts, and this would all culminate in a spring festival which will bring everything together, with DIY tables, sale tables small exhibits, a film screening and mini workshops. I would also like to host a workshop on creating your own Etsy store, and online business.   There is so much more... and it will come but I wanted to fill you in, at least a little. Tuesday I'm going to visit with the Weavers and spinners guild and Wednesday morning I have a meeting with the arts council. if you have any ideas let me know, I'm looking for people who would like to host a workshop, and/or a table at the mini fest in January!!

Please checkout our facebook group! 

Leia.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=143058293403

Meeting this Sunday at the Covent Garden Market, In the market near Hasbeans Coffee at 12pm for anyone who is interested in participating or recieving more info on the Handmade festival!!

- Leia

This week I submitted a proposal for programming to the library, because I'm hoping to host some workshops and ultimately th Fetsival withing the walls of the downtown Central library located @ 251 Dundas street http://www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/, The East Village arts co-op will also serve as a venue for some of these http://londoncommons.ca/node/6306.  I'll have to wait and hope that the library decides  to sponsor this event, because I would love this to be Low cost/free for everyone!

Wednesday Morning I have a meeting with the arts council to talk about funding. 

In Motion

So this is the home of all the Handmade Festival's progress, ideas, updates, a forum for artists. I've been dreaming of this for a while now, and I'm excited to get the ball rolling on what I hope will be an annual event. 

The Idea for the Handmade festival began just after my daughter was born and I met a bunch of amazing women who were crafting from home, in between, holding, bouncing, burping and working. Most were art students who had shuffled off into some other job because crafting at home just wasn't viable. Over the years I have met more and more people doing the same thing, but now with the invent of Etsy, and people like Amanda Soule http://www.soulemama.com/ who are spearheading a resurgence of the cottage industry it suddenly is viable to be at home, and create a business from your house, But this of course is not a new idea. There is a particularly large sect of the population in london who are older crafters, people with a ton of experience hiding in different guilds, crafting for charity, church sales and family, and once upon a time the Western Fair hosted a building for everyone to come together and  show their work, but I think this was scrapped in favour of an "Eco" building, and now there are little pockets of very skilled people, and I would love to tap into that, open the door, and have us all come together in hopes of passing down, sharing, understanding the history and creating new skills and relationships amongst these amazing artists.

Handmade festival... beginning.

So, I have an idea which has been growing and occupying my mind for a while and it's about to be brought to fruition but I need both input and help from you. I would like to put on a Handmade craft show/festival, focusing on the re-emerging interest in Homemade and handcraft. I have been inspired by some women who I knit with who create phenomenal pieces , which are often not portable, which means there is a lot of amazing art going on behind closed doors. There is also an older generation of knitters/weavers/spinners/crafters who are incredible teachers and a great resource to the new gereration of artists, and I would love to facilitate a venue for these people to get together and show their work! 

What I need from you, is input! would you participate in this? would you like to help? I've never done anything like this, especially on this scale and I would love Ideas, information.. anything that you think would be helpful. 
This event will hopefully take place Indie Media fair style, along the corridor of the central library and into the Stevenson Hunt room, and hopefully a screening of this film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evDFo6-RBVc. This had also been a great inspiration to me so take a look!
I can be reached at handmadefestival@gmail.com or through facebook .
Thank you!! I can't wait to hear from you. 
Leia