This is a super long post, so I added in some friendly navigation!

• Why are alternatives needed?
• Alternatives to Etsy
• Etsy Alternatives which are Regional Niche Shopping Sites
• List and link venues
• Curated Collections & Venues for promoting artwork & crafts

My mom is an antique dealer. Even when she was working full time as a public nurse, she kept doing the antiquing. I would get frustrated with her at tax time, she made so little at the business. She kept two booths, sometimes three in different shops, and would do shows… with all the time she put into it, she never counted her labour. (She did count in mine however, I got loads of lovely things just for doing some sanding, mending and ironing!) I’d argue to her that really, she could make more money working in a shop as a second job.

But of course it isn’t about the money… She loves antiquing, she loves restoring… and the rush she gets from turning a tiny profit here and there is thrilling.

And… the hobby pays for itself! I suppose I, like my mom, would love the little thrill of turning a profit. I’m an entrepreneur at heart.
So, I’m “reinvesting” some money (as my mom calls buying things) into getting good quality yarn and natural felt. And I’m going to make a go of it! I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I even attempted to do a show a while ago.

Thing is… where to sell? Etsy seems the obvious place, but there are simply hundreds and thousands of sellers. And… I have a very specific type of thing to sell.. and I can’t sell it ‘cheap’ because I’m not that prolific. It takes me a while to make each item. I see some crazy acrylic multi-coloured acrylic creations for $20 and I don’t think I can compete. So I have to aim a bit higher… and find ‘my people’.

There are a few other selling-places available too. I just don’t know about their quality, the community, sales, and their popularity. Psilology wrote the mother of all blog posts listing loads of Etsy alternatives.

No offense… but some of the options listed are really… horrible to look at, confusing to navigate. If a store is an online boutique asking people to part with their cash… the way it looks *is* really important. It needs to match the people it’s selling to and the quality of the hand made goods… I don’t mean to be a snob about it… but has anyone ever decorated a shop window? It matters, it does.

I’ve gone through some I liked. And I won’t mention the ones I thought were horrible, because my grandmother told my mom who told me, if you can’t say anything nice- don’t say it at all.

I think the key is finding the right niche and place and settling in. I don’t think even Etsy can be everything to everyone. The best sites for promoting and selling your work are curated, or serve a specific niche; whether it’s by location, by type, e.g.,housewares, jewelry, etc. I like the idea of the advertising collectives. I don’t think it would bother me to pay for participating in something like that.

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Alternatives to Etsy

http://www.myartplot.com/

OOO I really like the feel and attitude of this site…

“MyArtPlot.com (MAP) is a global arts and crafts community and movement. Fighting elitism, it is an empowerment platform that offers functional tools to re-design the industry’s archaic social, professional, and commercial dynamics. On MAP, any one participant is a crucial element of the global movement.”

Very personable, artist-to-artist. It’s more like a social-networking site, with many personal profile fields to fill out. It also allows you to blog. It’s like a crafty-activist myspace.

http://www.mintd.com/

This looks like a great place too. This is a paypal only site. This is “first three for free” option. This is also a bit like a social networking site… it seems to be about connecting people with like-minds. The profile fields include things like music you like. There is a page called people” which is markedly different from ’sellers’ or other…

http://www.shophandmade.com/
This is a pretty site, also a fee-free service. It’s really interesting, they ‘carbon mitigate’ your purchase… This is a brilliant idea. “Every time an item is sold we’ll fund the protection of 25 square feet of rainforest. ” Beats the socks off of Etsy’s shop local. (sorry Etsy!)

http://www.winkelf.com/
“Handmade by Elves”. I thought maybe this would be a Waldorf-focused venue (THAT would be a cool idea). Anyway it’s a nicely designed site. Looks like they did it up for autumn. I can see this appealing to a certain market. I like the name. Hey, if you register, you can use me as a referrer! select “nearlythere” weeeee! Um… NB: There is no option for Ireland

http://www.bigcartel.com/
Alot of music and clothes here. These give a seller a ’shopfront’ that you can customize the look of. One of my dear friends from highschool, Jennifer, has a shop there where she sells here kids clothes she designs herself http://sophieandlili.bigcartel.com/. With two little girls now, she has down-shifted, and is not working on the shop anymore, but I know she’s busy designing and planning
You can list up to 5 items for freeeee. After that you pay per month. This is a PayPal-only venue. http://www.shopify.com/ This is a bit like BigCartel.

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Etsy Alternatives which are Regional Niche Shopping Sites

http://www.folksy.com/

A UK-only Etsy shop. I like that it is geographically focused. I think that is a good idea. I just wish it would expand already and include Ireland or the rest of Europe!

http://madeit.com.au/

This is by far my favourite, in terms of design of the site, and the style & quality of the fellow crafters. “Selling is restricted to Australian residents”…. I want my stuff listed alongside these guys
http://felt.co.nz/ – same deal- but for new zealanders.

http://dawanda.com/
Seems to be based mostly for Europeans. This could be good. But within 10 minutes of me registering I had a spam email. Then I browsed and saw mass-manufactured clothes of someone who had been banned at Etsy. *sigh*

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List and link venues

http://www.cutique.com/
This is an “advertising cooperative”, it “enables its members to pool their promotional dollars to purchase advertising they could not afford on their own” from their FAQ. Membership is $100/month; only 12 designers allowed to sign up at one time, so there’s no deluge. They have sister sited http://www.ishopindie.com/ and http://www.loungeluxe.com/

http://lunacraft.com/
They don’t host your site, but they link to it for free. It’s like a big directory, and it’s free of charge- though it says ‘this is liable to change at any notice’. You make a page, they give you a URL, you can add links to your blogs and sites and such.

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Curated Collections & Venues for promoting artwork & crafts

http://www.elsewares.com/
This is a great looking site. It sells not only handmade items but also homewares and such which are popular or mass-produced. (like Shawnimals. I think what keeps this place good is the quality is controlled and curated. Everything kinda fits into a certain aesthetic. You must apply to sell your work on Elsewares.

http://www.poppytalkhandmade.com/

Actually described as a “curated” place to buy and sell. “Poppytalk Handmade is a monthly online street market curated by Poppytalk.” This is really interesting… they give temporary space to selected craft sellers to showcase their shops no matter where they are, Etsy, Dawanda, etc. And you pay for a month at a time, like $60/month. Interesting to note they compare it: “Most weekend craft fairs charge between $100 – $300 for one weekend.” Good point!

http://www.trunkt.org/
“Searching online for beautiful, handmade goods was better but the overwhelming clutter soon drowned out truly talented artisans.” – from their about page. This is a similar idea, you get links to your site, with a limited amount of images. It is a curated online venue to which you apply.

https://www.artfulhome.com/
This place is also curated, or “juried” as they say (by an external jury company?). You apply to be listed on their site. They also Artful Home charges a $35 jury fee, which I assume is to keep out the crazies.

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This is what I meant about using the Sligo to Dublin train as a “niddy noddy” or “knitty naughty” depending on your pronunciation.

All done!

I am *trying* to redesign my site… I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I thought for inspiration to check out some crafty stitching fonts- and I was surprised to find so many good ones being offered for free. I have bought fonts in the past, but since I’m just playing around, this is a good way to start.

‘Home sweet home’ – Cross-stich font at Web Font List

and ‘Stitch and B*tch’ at Acid Fonts

Korsstygn 1 by Lars Törnqvist

Embroidery Font by Kingthings- who does custom font design!

looks like a little white tent! that’s how they get the light so bright and fresh. and i’m sitting here waiting for sunny days in the middle of the rainy season.
the photo is from the the website is by Miyuki who writes amigurumi patterns like these at the clover site. see more of her work at: http://amigurumi.com/

I’m going to start putting in stuff I have done in the past, so it can be more like a scrapbook and ideas space. I wrote these instructions a while back, and I’ve taught people how to make mittens this way.

This is fun and simple, I promise. I have tried making mittens with the three double ended knitting needles before. And that was hell-on-wheels. I ended up feeling, (as usual when I follow patterns) inadequate and unlikely to ever finish a mitten. But crochet is much easier to shape.

Here you can see my buddy modeling the first pair I made. Red and white, since you stop and start mid-mitten, it’s very tempting to add a color. Here they look dipped in red paint.

How To

I use chunky yarn and a 6mm hook, so it all goes quite quickly and the mittens are nice and firm (and warm). I use my left hand as the mannequin. I also made mittens for a big-handed boy-friend (just a boy who is a friend) and I just made it roomier. I made mittens for a four year old and used another pair of mittens as a guide, and accounted for the thickness of the wool I was using.

The easiest way is to start the spirals at the bottom, and work to the top of the thumb. Then you re-start at the upper crotch of the thumb (crotch, gross) and spiral up to the top of the fingers. Like so:

I use the single crochet stitch (called double crochet in british patterns) throughout, and I go under the entire loop with thinner yarns, not just front or back. This makes a nice firm fabric- and keeps the stitch even instead of rippling. BUT with thicker yarns, I only go through the back loop, as it does not need to be so tight. This makes the inside have these ridges, and the outside have a square pattern.

You increase at the base of the thumb; you decrease at the tip of the thumb, the crotch of the thumb and the tip of the fingers. It takes a few tries of testing (and ripping out) to find the amount of cast-on stitches which are best. You have to crochet up a few rows as a wrist-band to test how it pulls over your hand. Like so:

For one pair, I made a little ladder around the bottom and wove a white chain through it, and put a little flower at the side. Like so: