Welcome to Winterfaire 2016

[ysabetwordsmith]

The Winterfaire spreads out as far as the eye can see. Some booths show streamers of red and green, while others sport blue and silver. All of them offer treasure after shining treasure. Music fills the air with lyrics of Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, and Yule. From the Wordsmith's Forge comes the bright chiming of words being hammered into literature. Delicious scents of hot chocolate, spiced cider, peppermint, baking cookies, and gingerbread tantalize the appetite. Smiling, laughing shoppers amble from booth to booth with lists in hand. Vendors grin back, calling out, "Come try, come buy...!"

I know a lot of artists, writers, musicians, crafters, and other talented folks who make some of their living from their creative endeavors. I don't always have the money to support them as much as I'd like, but what I can do is set up a virtual faire where vendors can offer their wares to an audience that likes crafts, literature, and small businesses. For those of you doing your holiday shopping, here's an opportunity to buy something made with love, something unusual or unique, in a way that helps make it possible for creative people to go on creating wonders. And there will be no traffic jams, stampedes, or gunfights at the Winterfaire! Enjoy the seasonal offerings on LiveJournal.


Vendors: If you have goods or services suitable for holiday gifts, please put up a booth by replying with a description of what you sell, an estimate of your price range if possible, and some kind of contact information so shoppers can reach you. If you have a website (Etsy, DeviantArt, personal, whatever) showcasing your work in more detail, include the link(s). If you have holiday freebies, such as downloadable greeting card imagery, you're welcome to promote those too. For ease of identification, I recommend titling your reply starting with "BOOTH:" followed by the name of your business or type of goodies.

Shoppers: If you're looking for something specific and it's not posted yet, feel free to ask. Someone else may know where to find it! "SHOPPING FOR:" and the topic would be a good title.

Everyone: You may help promote the Winterfaire by linking to this post from your own blog or site. If you have a similar holiday-networking post, you may link to it in a comment on this post.

Participation Perk: I'm offering poetry for participation, beginning with verses of "Picking Up the Litter" (31 verses) from the Berettaflies thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. (You may also direct your verses to any unfinished linkback perk poem: "Thinking River Thoughts" or "The Marble and the Sculptor.") Because, you see, all of these activities will unlock a verse each time someone does them:
* link to this Winterfaire page to boost the signal
* comment posting a Booth of your wares/services in the Winterfaire
* buy something from a vendor listed in the Winterfaire
* host a similar holiday market in your own blog or other venue
Dreamwidth will notify me of comments to the Winterfaire post and links to it elsewhere on DW; for everything else, you need to TELL ME in order to get credit for it.

Similar Markets:
Do you know of another indie holiday shopping post? Let me know and I'll link it here.


Happy holidays!

Comments

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Try searching "free photo hosting" and then look for ones with strong privacy protection.

Re: Hmm...

[callibr8]

Based on a couple of searches, and the fact that I already have a Dropbox account, I'm going to set up the "display case" in my public folder there. The truly sad thing about trying to sell handknits online is that color can be tricky to represent accurately, and texture is *impossible*, yet it is such an important aspect of how well a piece "works". Still worth a try, though, at least I hope so!

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Based on a couple of searches, and the fact that I already have a Dropbox account, I'm going to set up the "display case" in my public folder there.<<

Yay!

>> The truly sad thing about trying to sell handknits online is that color can be tricky to represent accurately, and texture is *impossible*, yet it is such an important aspect of how well a piece "works". Still worth a try, though, at least I hope so! <<

Thoughts on this:

* Colors: You can use color synonyms to refine definitions. There are lots of lists. "Turquoise" is more informative than "blue." If you have yarns with the labels on, cite the name or number with the brand. If you have dyestuffs, cite the dye and mordant if known. Homedyers often print that on the label.

* Textures: Again, use synonyms. Consider making a spectrum from scratchy to soft, like mohair to regular wool to kashmir to silk to qiviut. Name the fiber(s) if known. Describe the length or shagginess, because some yarns (like angora) have lots of hair sticking out, while others (like cotton) can be very smooth. Also describe stretchiness, and that's something that can be measured with a stretch gauge. See instructions and a gauge you can print.

* Comparisons: Try to describe the items in terms of things that people might have seen or felt. This is easiest if you know what's in it. You may want to keep notes and build up a vocabulary of terms that work for you. I have a pretty good skin tones list, which at least helps me not say "chocolate" all the time for medium-brown skin. And don't forget emotional overtones: many people buy yarn for its mood, not just its color or fiber content. Somebody's making microfiber -- just started last fall -- that feels almost as good as Microfyne and consistently makes me happy when I touch it. This stuff is like coziness make into material.

* Composition tip: People are more likely to bitch about mismatches of color on a monochrome item, just because it's a little harder to match. If you have multiple shades of a single color (lighter and darker blues) or different colors within a project, that makes it easier to match to a wider range of things -- although you lose a little versatility, because multiple colors may rule out certain others that clash with them. You're not trying to match one blue to one other blue the person already owns. A medley of blues should go with any other blue thing plus most greens and purples. Variegated, self-striping, heather, and other types of yarn with incorporated color changes can be very helpful. Plus it's harder to find those off the rack, which makes them sell better handmade.

* Examples: If you haven't already studied how other fibercrafters are advertising their work, do that. Just idly browsing for character possessions, I've seen that some folks are brilliant at descriptions while others suck. Look for the good examples and try to replicate what makes them work.

If it would help, I could give you a description of the scarf you made for me, to use as a pullquote on your site. I do reviews, it's easy for me.

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

I feel your feels. I get to try to describe soap scents.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That also sounds challenging. Easy enough when you can name a dominant scent (lemon) but much harder when you're trying to capture a blend (lemon + rosemary + bergamot goat milk = Morning Sunrise?).

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

Yeah. It's. I mostly just tell people what scents are in it & leave it at that, unless I come up with something particularly brainful.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Some people are better than others at describing things. I've named stuff for aromatherapist friends a few times. I've also seen some really awesome descriptions online.

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

If you're ever willing to work in trade for soap...

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I love handmade soap, and especially, crap free soap. I'm allergic to so much of the commercial stuff -- fragrances, colors, etc. -- that it's challenging to find things in a store that won't take my skin off. Ivory is safe. Ironically, so is Lava, which is meant for heavy scrubbing and that's my go-to gardening soap. But when I can, I like to go for oatmeal, chamomile, etc. Pine or bayberry are winter favorites. Florals and citrus I like for summer. I'm perfectly happy with the earth tones of creamy yellow, olive green, and tan that soap is naturally. We had a cinnamon soap once that was a vivid red-brown. (I've reviewed this stuff for Pagan magazines for years.) Once or twice I've seen someone add lavender buds late enough that the color didn't cook out, so they had little purple flecks; although it's not my favorite scent, I was impressed with the skill. There was a memorable, silky-soft blue clay soap with mint. And it's fun to talk about soapmaking as a hobby science.

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

I've never managed to keep my lavender purple, but now that I know it's possible I might give it another try...

I did a cinnamon soap with a nice deep colour once. It made me nicely deeply coloured. Brownface being a bad idea, I washed it back off...

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I've never managed to keep my lavender purple, but now that I know it's possible I might give it another try...<<

From what I have observed, natural methods include adding colored petals/buds late in the soapmaking process, or coating them with something to help preserve the color. Glycerine seems easier than lye soaps -- I've seen whole flowers preserved in bars of glycerine.

>> I did a cinnamon soap with a nice deep colour once. It made me nicely deeply coloured. Brownface being a bad idea, I washed it back off... <<

Oh dear. One of the biggest challenges in soapmaking is to get a soap which is colored in the bar, but only foams white so that it doesn't stain.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

So I just kissed off half an hour when I should have been working, digging through your site. I am intrigued by the Scratch & Dent Salve. Out of the soaps, the Kyphi is probably the safest. Most of them are using coloring agents I don't recognize, and I have to be really careful with that, but the Kyphi sounds similar to stuff I've used before.

What poetry have you been looking at? I usually use up the $20 ones as free perks, but I think I have some $15 ones floating around that are in the neighborhood of your prices.

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

...oops?

The colouring agents are all stuff that's used in mineral makeup & such, if that helps at all. I'm also always willing to do custom batches with an unfortunate ingredient removed, if such is useful -- I usually charge more for custom soap, because effort, but for allergies & other sensitivities, I'll skip the surcharge.

I haven't looked at what's available in so long -- being so _broke_ for so long -- I'll have to start looking again now that I have more options. Yay options!

(That said, if you've got anything Turq-related in that price range, I could go for that.)

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> The colouring agents are all stuff that's used in mineral makeup & such, if that helps at all. <<

I suspect that mineral colors would be safer for me than chemical ones, but without testing, there's no way to be sure. I do know that red ocher is fine, I got it all over myself making cave paintings. But that's a dye; I still have shorts with a red spot from it. I have no idea how you're putting that in soap and not dyeing everything it touches. Pretty sure I've handled yellow ocher too.

>> I'm also always willing to do custom batches with an unfortunate ingredient removed, if such is useful -- I usually charge more for custom soap, because effort, but for allergies & other sensitivities, I'll skip the surcharge. <<

Awesome. I think a majority of the ingredients were familiar and safe for me, except the unfamiliar pigments. I'm intrigued by the salves especially. <3 calendula.

Some thoughts:

* If you have scraps of soap left over, you could offer those to people with skin sensitivities. It is a lot cheaper and safer to do a patch test than to use a whole bar in the bath or even for washing hands. I've seen soapmakers who sold thin "leaves" of soap, and some of them would stick in one or more of those as extras with a purchase to introduce customers to new flavors. Same concept works for allergy testing.

* If you make a batch of soap for someone with allergies, and they don't want to buy the whole batch, you could just sell the rest of it. LOTS of people have allergies and might appreciate the option. Two ways to market: put it on the same page with the colored version (limited quantities of Soap X without pigment) or make a separate page like you did for your bug stuff (pigment-free soaps currently available).

Some people love pretty soaps. I like to look at them. But I learned long ago that the vast majority of anything brightly colored will do nasty things to the body I'm wearing. It's not a rare problem, and allergies of all kinds are growing.

I'm intrigued by mineral colors. I've never found a hypoallergenic makeup that actually works for me though. I just use nail polish occasionally and try to keep it off my skin. Lip gloss is okay if I can find one without too much crap in it. Some lipstick is okay. But basically everything in the range of foundation, blush, eye shadow, etc. seems to make me itch.

>> I haven't looked at what's available in so long -- being so _broke_ for so long -- I'll have to start looking again now that I have more options. Yay options!<<

Once you're on a page, you can search for "Buy It Now" or the price level you want.

>> (That said, if you've got anything Turq-related in that price range, I could go for that.) <<

I don't have any sub-epics about Turq right now. But the fishbowl's coming up on December 6, so you could ask for something simple and remind me you want it shortish. Turq lends himself well to interludes like that one with the vending machine, it's just that I don't often get prompts like that. He's an introspective little thing. Theme will be "All the news is dark, so light a candle."

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

Also lemon, rosemary, & bergamot sounds kinda nice...

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Use it if you want to. Most of my herbal experience comes from cooking and gardening, but I've done a bit with crafts, including incense and essential oils. I have a pretty good idea of what things blend well and how they work. What I described is a good wake-up blend. Swap out the lemon for chamomile and you get a 'sunset' combo instead, for bathing before bed.

Re: Hmm...

[kellan_the_tabby]

I might just add that to the list, then.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

You can throw in calendula without changing the scent, if you want a gentle yellow to peach color. Or from the stuff I saw on your site, yellow ochre. A well-made morning soap tends to sell well, but they can be a little tricky to perfect the formula. Most people want something that's uplifting but not like an alarm clock going off in your nose. I've found several over the years, and I like them just for sinkside soaps because I'm often tired from working when I need to wash my hands. It makes a good pickup.