September 3, 2009

Crafting Success
How artisans try to make a living from their hand-crafted creations
By Heidi Masek hmasek@hippopress.com

In New Hampshire, you can find people spinning their own yarn, weaving, making pottery and glass, and creating and selling all kinds of other things that might be considered traditional craft. While some aspects don’t change, some do — like the ability for artisans to sell worldwide by clicking a mouse. 

Craft is very prevalent as a New Hampshire cottage industry, said Lynn Martin Graton, the traditional arts coordinator for the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

“I think it is part of a larger phenomenon in New Hampshire that goes back to colonial settlement. It’s a fairly difficult environment to live in. So people fairly early on developed a willingness and flexibility to do lots of different things to make ends meet and make the things they needed,” Graton said.

Graton was referring to the tough agricultural environment. New Hampshire winters are long so the growing season is short and the soil is what “old-timers” call “bony,” or rocky, she said. When the railroads opened up to the Midwest there was an agricultural exodus from New Hampshire.

“The people who stayed were resourceful...and preserved craft traditions connected to the home and recreation including making baskets, rugs, clothing, furniture, wrought iron work, pottery, fishing flies, and even dog sleds,” Graton wrote in an e-mail.

Today, a Merrimack couple uses a Japanese painting technique on their handmade dinnerware, including saki and sushi sets. A Hillsboro couple sold glass they make from scratch wholesale. And a Nashua woman sells yarn she spins on Etsy.com. That craft site launched in 2005 and has grown to more than 2.8 million members and more than 250,000 sellers (press.etsy.com).

In this age of do-it-yourself jobs and self-employment as one alternative to no employment, New Hampshire artisans are using old traditions and new technologies to create successful businesses with their hand-crafted works.

Making a living
Scores of Granite Staters who make their livings as artisans can be found at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair.

The 76-year-old August event represents about a third of annual sales for many, according to the League. About 400 League members are full-time craftspeople.

“It’s a fantastic place to live. And it’s a great place to be an artist because of organizations like the League — you get a lot of support and that’s really key. We work in a vacuum for the most part. I live in a log cabin in the woods, so I live this kind of idyllic quiet, peaceful lifestyle. And then I’ll go and do shows and be very sociable ... but artists for the most part can live on the moon, it doesn’t really matter.... It’s actually nice to live somewhere that is kind of out of the way because you have a better chance of concentrating on your work,” said Patricia Palson, a Contoocook handweaver, midway through this year’s nine-day Fair at Mount Sunapee Resort.

Weaving is her second career. She majored in interior design, grew up in Ohio, lived in Chicago and Milwaukee.

When you talk about craft in New Hampshire, many immediately mention the League.

Not every state has such a thing, said Goffstown weaver Tom Jipson, who grew up in Detroit but has lived in New Hampshire for about 30 years.

Laurie Ferguson, the executive director of independent nonprofit New Hampshire Made, is one of those who suspects that the League itself is one reason for the prevalence of craft in the state. Founded in 1932, it was one of the first organizations in the country to offer things like marketing support, Ferguson, a former League employee, said.

The League, in particular David Campbell, who became its director in 1938, made an effort early on to recruit masters to the state who then attracted students, according to Ferguson, Graton and others.

Current executive director Susie Lowe-Stockwell said they don’t recruit these days. However, Kristin Kennedy moved here partly for the League.

She grew up in Oklahoma, started making jewelry when she was about 17, has a BFA from Northern Arizona University, and took courses through the Gemological Institute of America. She learned the “ins and outs of running a small business” apprenticing for a jeweler in Sedona, Ariz., for about three years. When she saw her work selling, she said, “[I] decided I was going to go out a limb and try it on my own.” She’s been self-employed since 1997.

Kennedy lived in Flagstaff for about 11 years. When her husband was looking for schools, Kennedy realized that this area was a top choice for her because of the League. As a member, she could sell at the Fair and in the nine (at that time) League shops. She feels fortunate to be able to work at home and be a part of her children’s life while doing something she enjoys, and she thinks that’s apparent in her work.

The League has about 786 juried members (some are just over the borders in Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine although between 85 and 90 percent live in New Hampshire). But there are many others who are not members but are “still very much viable businesses,” Ferguson said.

The Fair started during the Great Depression, Jipson said. He’s sold there for 20 years — one brought 40 percent of his take, but he averages 20 to 25 percent of his annual income there.

The Fair stretches across the ski resort’s grounds and it’s hard to see everything in one day. About 200 crafters have booth space in large tents. A booth fee can be about $1,000 depending on the size, electricity use, etc. Others stock a “shop” tent. Crafters’ offspring sell at the “Next Generation” tent. Smaller tents house about a dozen demonstrations. The New Hampshire Art Association and other guest groups exhibit.

Exhibits of League work, “Living with Craft” and “CraftWear,” are in the lodges. Overall, about 350 League members are represented.

Contoocook spoonmaker Dan Dustin did a brisk business selling wooden spoons at about $35 and $60 each Aug. 5. “Thank you for buying my spoon,” he said as another customer left.

Dustin makes more than half of his annual income at the Fair.

“I’ve been here 35 years and never missed a day,” he said.

He learned to make ax handles (no longer hot products) from a friend of his grandfather’s and uses those techniques for spoons. He uses wood that lends itself to the spoon, rather than the other way around. It took him years to learn to find spoons in nature — woodworkers are instead trained to shape wood to human desire, Dustin said in March after winning Best Arts Instructor in Concord, in Hippo’s 2009 Readers’ Poll.

While business looked good Aug. 5, “there are days when you miss every sale ... I did one of those yesterday,” Dustin said. Some of Dustin’s spoons are in the Currier Museum of Art collection, but he doesn’t think that fact affects sales.

Asking Dustin if the spoons are usable launched him into one of his “raps.” It ends like this:

“All the way through history the rich are using metal spoons and eating white bread. The poor are using wooden spoons and using brown bread.

We have learned something about bread, haven’t we?

It’s time we learned something about spoons.

I make a wooden spoon to eat with. Everybody who buys one and uses one never uses metal again. [Wooden spoons are] warmer with ice cream, cooler with soup...etc.,” Dustin said.

Jeweler Jack Dokus grew up in Newark, N.J., where he attended an arts high school and then received an art education degree from Kean College. Halfway through a master’s he moved to New Hampshire in 1976 so his children could attend the Sant Bani School in Sanbornton. 

“I feel it was the greatest move of my life,” Dokus said. New Hampshire has a unique atmosphere for the arts, he said. “If you look historically, you’ll find in New Hampshire there have always been schools and camps and retreats for the arts going back over ... 150 years,” Dokus said.

This year’s was the 31st Fair he’s sold at. Multiple generations of customers visit. The Fair can bring 30 to 40 percent of his annual take. “It’s a lot, but it’s a nine-day fair. So it’s kind of equal to three or four other fairs,” Dokus said. It’s the oldest such ongoing craft fair in the nation, and a major New Hampshire event — people coincide their vacations with it, Dokus said.

“As long as your craft is good enough, everywhere is a good place for it,” Boyan Moskov said during his first day of his first year at the Fair. A trained artist, Moskov isn’t strictly a potter but pottery sells well, he said. He moved to Contoocook a couple of years ago with his wife, Anna. They met in his native Bulgaria where she was a Peace Corps volunteer.

Periodic horn noises in Tent 4 turned out to be the clay didgeridoo created by potter Ethan Hamby. He runs Rooted in Clay with Shana Brautigam in Ringe, and recently started experimenting with clay instruments. A five-year League member, Hamby was juried in at 18.

“I was extremely blessed to be accepted ... it has just been such a rewarding organization as far as income and just being part of a community of great artists and art appreciators.” Networking is another Fair benefit, Hamby said. “I do a lot of education in pottery and sustainable living as well. It’s a great way to talk to people and spread inspiration around.”

Ron Tornow has sold at the League fair for 21 years. He and his wife Sibylle have collaborated since 1988.

“We have actually ... a very strong tradition for crafts in New Hampshire,” Tornow said. His wife Sibylle is the wheelworker of the pair and does much of the decoration for their seven lines. Tornow hand-builds and makes plates.

They use sumi-e brushwork, which means “no bones” in Japanese, Tornow said. “That’s because the artist does not have a skeletal sketch to work from ... everything is very spontaneous,” Tornow said.

Thomas Dupell grew up in Walpole, N.H., and “fell into” his craft, he said. At 18, he found a job making Shaker-style oval wooden boxes. “I was just the sort of person that enjoyed working with my hands more than anything, and feeling the satisfaction of having that result at the end of the day,” Dupell said. He decided to go out on his own about 10 years ago, he said. Dupell found a niche — most of his sales are through wholesalers to museum stores, he said. He lives down the road from Canterbury Shaker Village, which carries his products (www.canterburyboxshop.com).

Getting past the jury
To sell at the Fair, you need to be juried into the League, and “New Hampshire is full of good craftsmen who have not been able to get past the jury,” Dustin said. Gigi Laberge said being accepted was a lifelong dream.

“They have a very rigorous jury process, which can be quite intimidating,” Laberge said. But she had encouragement from other artists to keep trying, she said.

The Fair provides about 25 to 30 percent of her annual sales. This was her second year with a booth.

Laberge worked in business until she was in her early 40s although now she’s a full-time artist creating landscapes in fused glass. She also blends glass with natural materials like pearls. She donates a portion of the proceeds from her “Slice of Life” jewelry series to hospice or organizations that help families fighting disease (www.gigilaberge.com).

Jeff and Erica Lamy of Bedford combine glassblowing and lampworking techniques in their glass artwork. They are in their fourth year as League members, and just went to their third Fair. It brings about two thirds of their annual income for their Innervision Glass Studio, Erica Lamy said.

Erica Lamy thinks the League jury system helps attract Fair patrons.

“It really raises the standard of work. It ensures that the product that’s being sold is of the highest quality,” she said. It was a difficult process, “but it really helped both me and my husband to ... expand as artists and to push ourselves a lot further,” Lamy said.

“They [customers] seem to understand that they can really trust that what they’re buying here is quality and that it will last,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

The League “was founded on the principle of education and preserving the tradition of fine crafts. So our standards are very high for the juried work. We really work hard to maintain that,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

The year-round fair
Artisans develop other ways to get work out.

Jipson sells at Manhattan shows. “That’s always been my market,” he said. His Web site, www.tomjipson.com, was three weeks old when I spoke to him.

Palson sells to upscale boutiques and galleries in New York, Chicago and Santa Fe. She uses her Web site, www.patriciapalson.com, to let people know where her next show is, but doesn’t sell online. Clothing needs to be fitted, she said.

The Tornows’ work is in the seven League retail stores and other New Hampshire shops, and they sometimes sell wholesale out of state. You can see their work at their home studio in Merrimack or at www.sibyllespottery.com, which has a gift registry, but you have to call to order. Because of the decline in the economy, the Tornows recently started going to smaller craft fairs since entry fees are lower, a tactic that seems to work, Tornow said.

Glassblower Alex Kalish was at his 13th Fair. He runs North Country Glass with his wife Trish Dalto in Hillsboro. Kalish starts with raw materials. “In other words, I don’t melt glass, I make glass,” Kalish said.

To market, Kalish and Dalto do several little shows, and hand out lots of postcards and brochures, he said. They are part of the Hillsborough Area Artisans Studio Tour Sept.19-20 (www.hillsboroughartisans.com) and have their own open house on Columbus Day weekend in October (www.northcountryglass.com), and will be part of NH Open Doors in November (www.NHOpenDoors.com), another League event.

Moskov has sold at the Concord Arts Market and lists other places he’ll be at www.boyanstudio.com, but doesn’t sell through his Web site. He teaches at Kimball-Jenkins School of Art in Concord this fall (www.kimballjenkins.com, 225-3932).

While some League members are part-time artisans, “This is my job,” Moskov said. Days sitting at his League booth are days away from his studio. Building a “shop” (League fair booths can be elaborate and are also judged, apparently) and selling are completely different jobs than creating pottery, through he does get to meet more people this way, he said.

Dokus had his own gallery for 11 years. “You have to take care of the retail business, which is one thing, and produce your craft, which is another. I’m 63. When I was a young man, I was able to stretch myself and do that. Now, that’s too hard.” Now he sells through League shops and a few other galleries in New England.

The Fair can provide leads to commissions, Dokus said. (The cost of commissioning a wedding ring from him can be about $500, not including the materials.)

Dustin does one other craft fair in New York, and locals come to buy from him (“You gotta know what you’re getting into,” Dustin said). He has a Web site for has hand-hewn beams, not spoons, but you can call him at 746-5683 if you are interested. He’s teaching at Kimball-Jenkins this fall, and giving a workshop Nov. 6-8 at the Henniker House in Henniker (428-3198).

“The way that I work is I do shows, then I stop doing shows and work in the studio,” Laberge, of Henniker, said. With support from friends in the League, Laberge is also renting the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord essentially as the promoter for a Nov. 21-22 “Crafts at the Capitol” fair featuring 24 of her favorite artists.

Brautigam and Hamby post information about where to find their work, classes and more at rootedinclay.com. Much of their marketing is word of mouth, Hamby said. They do some direct mail, but “basically try to do work out in the community,” he said.

“Education is what I’m passionate about. This year we taught over 1,000 students. It just so happens to be my best financial year, also. I believe in having a diversified portfolio of work,” Hamby said. He’s now making pizza ovens, for instance. “I think it’s important to have your arms outstretched to different areas so you can survive,” Hamby said.

Adapting to the economy
Kalish said the economy hit business badly starting about eight years ago — “Galleries just dried up.” His sales at a large Philidelphia wholesale show went down by 60 percent around 2001 or 2002. Kalish has stopped selling at wholesale shows altogether.

“You could attribute it to 9/11. You could attribute it to the Bush administration.... The middle class has been squeezed out. And I pretty much throughout my career in glassblowing made stuff for the middle class,” Kalish said. He only recently started making high-end pieces.

“You know, it’s hard,” Kalish said. Quality might be apparent, but the work might not be to everyone’s taste. And even wealthier people seem to be hanging onto money a little tighter these days, Kalish said.

“Yeah, we see that,” Lowe-Stockwell said of a drop in middle-class discretionary income.

“And we certainly have a percentage of juried members who do make higher-end work and they seem to be doing fine. In the clothing industry, some of the glass, metal, jewelry and some of the furniture people are really doing fine. That seems to be stable,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

“Our stores were down by the end of the winter, about 8 percent, which wasn’t too bad compared to the rest of retail, but it does have an impact. Depending on if the craftsman is a high-end or a medium-end person they have different degrees of being down. I just talked to a Windsor chair-maker who said he had the best year he’s had in couple of years this past winter,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

Kennedy used to do about 13 craft shows from May through October, but now with two small children she only goes to the League’s. To adjust, she’s changed her medium, “working with more precious gems and higher-end materials. That’s worked out OK for me actually because my clients ... have kind of followed my work and seen it evolve and they continue to collect, so I feel really fortunate,” Kennedy said. She had mainly worked in silver, and “artistically was trying to put more design [in] than I could afford to.” She started dabbling in gold and decided to switch over.

About a third of her income comes from the Fair, the rest from custom orders, often from people she met at the Fair or people they know. She also sells and showcases at www.kristinkennedy.com.

Along with competing among a growing number of craft jewelers, Dukos is competing against TV home shopping channels, he said. People see cheaper prices on jewelry made in third-world countries in what amounts to slave labor, he said. “These people are paid a below-subsistence wage, but they’re happy to get the work,” Dukos said. Importers can charge less than what it costs Dukos in electricity and other consumables, “plus the salary that I have to get just to live, I don’t even mean live well,” Dukos said.

Kalish said he has to compete with stemware and glassware produced in China. You could buy a box of those at Crate and Barrel for about $50, or one of Kalish’s wine glasses for $46, he said. “They’re basically exporting on slave labor. It’s far from an even playing field,” Kalish said. Another thing American artisans have to worry about is healthcare (a joy of being self-employed).

During a transaction for a $20 bowl, Moskov discussed the trials of credit cards. Credit card companies charge the seller a percentage per transaction, so you might find League members (and vendors at other fairs) prefer cash or check. In Bulgaria, there’s just cash, Moskov said. He’s trying plastic as a convenience for customers.

“For many of us, craft is not connected very strongly with economics,” Dustin said. He tried to explain. He’s made one rice paddle because he found wood that lent itself to that. It was bought by the first person who saw it. But he hasn’t made another rice paddle. “I can only make what’s there,” Dustin said. “I don’t pay attention to my work. My body does it.”

On the other hand, some do operate for a market — you’ll see a lot of jewelry at the Fair that is silver with a little gold, a formula to get more money for a little gold, Dustin said.

Dustin pointed out that his wife has a good job, but she’s retiring soon, so economics might change for him.

Etsy phenomenon
The ability to make something and sell to a potentially worldwide audience is now rather simple through the Internet.

The Lamys have sold glass art online for about nine years. It’s kind of how they established themselves, Erica Lamy said. They use etsy.com and eBay.com, and their own Web site, www.innervisionglass.com.

Other League members have used Etsy. “They’re looking for any avenue they can to sell their work,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

Etsy takes low fees compared to auction sites, users say, and it eliminates the need to learn to build a Web site with a “shopping cart” or pay someone else to.

Aimee Terravechia of Manchester started using the site last November and selling in June. She likes working with her hands and the idea of buying handmade, vintage, and supporting small business. Terravechia makes fine art prints from her paintings, and mainly sells quirky greeting cards on Etsy (www.aloucreations.etsy.com). She’s part of the New Hampshire Etsy street team (nhstreetteam.blogspot.com, team.etsy.com/profilest/nh.shtml).

Etsian marketing
“I think that a lot of people expect when they open an Etsy site they’ll just have automatic sales,” said Holly Klump, 32, of Nashua. Not so, said these Etsians. You still have to promote yourself like a regular business. You can’t just expect people to come find you, Klump said.

Klump joined Etsy at its beginning, evident from her user number 173 (they are assigned in order), and sells hand-spun and -dyed yarn at www.misshawklet.etsy.com. She switched to spinning in 2004 by watching online demos and reading instruction books about it, after starting to learn to knit from her roommate.

Etsy offers ways to promote on the site. Etsians can pay to advertise on the site’s “Showcase.” Some promote themselves in Etsy chat rooms, or start “Convos,” Etsy’s e-mail system. Its “superblog,” The Storque, has links to such things as “The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To’s About Selling.” Stephanie Paulus, 34, of Nashua gained visibility by creating a “Treasury,” 12 items a member likes. “If they like your Treasury, that’s what’s on the front page,” Paulus said. Paulus went to photography school, and sells photographic jewelry on Etsy (ebonypaws.etsy.com).

A Google Analytics log is available, artist Glenna Normyle said. “You can tell the number of people who have looked at each of the items in my shop,” she said. It also shows how people find your Etsy page, Paulus said.

Originally, Klump got a lot of her business through keeping a blog. That and Flickr have been the “cheapest and most successful ways to promote my business,” she said.

Other New Hampshire Etsians rely on social media. Paulus started a Facebook fan page that helped her get feedback on a new item — pet i.d. tags she created with her graphic design skills and Shrinky Dinks. She had her friends become fans, so their friends would then see Paulus’ link.

Along with using a Facebook page, Terravechia recently started writing a blog to showcase Etsy sellers she thinks are unique. She can post Etsy links into the blog, and uses Google AdSense to sell advertising on www.aloucreations.blogspot.com. “So far I’ve only made two pennies. I get paid per click.... For every hundred dollars I make they’ll send me a check,” Terravechia said.

Handbag-maker Katy Brown, 34, of Concord, creator of the Concord Arts Market, is a “Facebook junkie.” She keeps up with some crafters through blogs (muchachak.blogspot.com); people in the online craft community cross-post to help promote each other, she said.

Brown was able to build a presence on Etsy early — she’s user 1,186. Now, it’s almost impossible to gain Etsy visibility for a jeweler studio-mate of hers. The primary way is to post regularly, she said. “I’ve heard crazy stories,” Brown said. People will relist over and over even though they are charged each time.

Offline
These folks don’t leave promotion to the virtual world. Quilter Jessica Fredette, 26, of Concord started leaving business cards at local quilt shops (www.lovejessicaalways.etsy.com). Laura Langley includes business cards with orders for satisfied customers to pass on to friends.

Jeweler Erica Jeanes carries her business cards with her, and handbag-maker Melanie Chabre leaves hers everywhere. 

Klump gained exposure by donating yarn for Tamie Snow to use in Tiny Yarn Animals. Klump was featured in Spin to Knit, by Shannon Okey, and the 2008 Stitch and Bitch Page-A-Day calendar.

Jeanes holds jewelry parties at friends’ homes, and her work is at shops on Newbury Street in Boston and in Newport, R.I.

Chabre said people have found her Etsy shop through boutiques that stock her bags. One in Groton, Mass., asked for pet-themed handbags to go with a pet-themed display. She’s also in shops in West Concord, Mass., Michigan, and Arizona.

Paulus’ pet i.d. tags will be at the Animal Rescue League of Bedford’s Sept. 19 Pet Step, and at Barktoberfest Sept. 20 in Westford, Mass.

Jeweler Lauren Boss sells in Maison de l’Art and Gallery One in Nashua, and Straight Ahead Hair Design in Salem. She planned to be at the Greeley Park art show in August. She usually sells at home shows in New York, where her sister lives, before Christmas, and sells at some local school craft fairs.

“The jewelry market is really, really competitive,” Boss said. On Etsy, she actually does better selling supplies (www.mermaidbeadbooty.etsy.com), she said.

Jeweler Becca Turcotte, 25, of Manchester also sells at school craft fairs and at the Concord Arts Market. “I love the Concord Arts Market,” Turcotte said.

Customizing
People also use Etsy to generate custom work. Carol Butler, 61, of Nashua, and her husband Lloyd have had a functional art business since 1991, and started using Etsy about a year ago. A current focus is custom pet memorial boxes — her husband makes a wooden box, and Butler paints a portrait of the pet on a disk affixed to it.

They also make custom pet treat jars, glass with a pet portrait painted on the lid. Pets have become a multi-billion dollar industry, she said. (The Butlers started making memorial boxes after receiving the ashes of their own pets in plastic containers.)

Etsy is “click and buy,” though, Butler said. People can contact them for custom work through www.hrt2hand.etsy.com, or their own Web site, www.hearttohandcreations.com. They’ve only had a few sales through Etsy, but the site led to some offline sales, Butler said. The Butlers also put some of their work on Flickr.

Glenna Normyle, 50, of Manchester, uses pressed flowers from an occasion along with other related items, like a wedding invitation, on canvas. She can create memorials using a person’s favorite flower, for example. Normyle joined Etsy as part of her recovery and mainly uses Etsy (www.gnormyle.etsy.com) to advertise for her gallery site, www.putiton.com/glennanormyle. “Being that I’m disabled, I find that Etsy is a really good way for me to get my name out,” Normyle said. She uses a blog, www.blogspot.com/glennasgarden and Twitter, twitter.com/gnormyle, in her marketing.

Going international
Someone in the U.K. may be wearing Turcotte’s jewelry. “I just find that really cool,” Turcotte said.

The worldwide factor of Etsy brought Langley, 49, of Hudson, free press in Greece. An editor found her eco-friendly sleep masks on Etsy and the two e-mailed back and forth, resulting in a spot in Glamour Magazine Greece. (Langley had a number of international orders in August, though none from Greece.)

Brown is starting to explore dawanda.com, which has mainly a European audience, she said. On her grad school budget, instead of buying, she does trades throughout the world, receiving things like olive oil from Greece.

Turcotte thinks how much she spends and makes on the site is about even.

When Boss needs a gift or other item, she visits New Hampshire Etsians’ shops first, but tries to sell more than she buys. Other Etsians spoke of buying supplies through Etsy.

Teravechia “Hearts” an item she likes, and if she still wants it a few days later, makes the purchase. Right now, selling through Etsy is pretty much covering the cost of supplies, advertising and listing, Terravechia said.

Making a living
Etsy features a blog on how to quit your day job, but Klump doesn’t know of anyone who makes a living from Etsy without support from another family member.

“I would love to live off my crafts, but I don’t really see that as viable option,” Klump, who works at a library, said. “My ultimate goal is to work for myself,” but maybe not through yarn, she said.

“I think it depends on what you call a living,” Langley said. She believes it’s possible, and feels more confident since a major magazine found her by searching Etsy, she said.

“For jewelry, it would be really hard,” Boss said. Fredette said the same of quilting.

Brown thinks she could support herself in theory, only because she currently doesn’t have a mortgage or car payment or kids. However, her student loan payments start soon.

Chabre said she’s met “two men” who use Etsy. Chabre said many stay-at-home moms she knows are looking for a way to make money “and keep themselves sane.” About 96 percent of Etsy sellers were women in 2008, according to an Etsy “non-scientific poll,” Adam Brown of Etsy wrote in an e-mail.

Selling online is not for everyone
Amy Shaw grew up around craft in Northwood. Her mom gave her presents from League shops, and organized small craft fairs. Her father preserves old barns.

In 2005 she and her husband, Jae Kim, opened their Brooklyn shop, Greenjeans, as a space for new craft. Both had been in the art world for a long time. Greenjeans sold work from League members and artisans around the country.

They closed Greenjeans last summer in the hopes of finding more space. When the economy started looking bad, they waited, and Shaw is glad they did. They continued to sell online and at art markets through the holiday season.

Eventually, Shaw realized she’s not interested in online sales. She liked engaging customers, being a matchmaker. Crafts became commodities online rather than an experience, Shaw said.

Lowe-Stockwell thinks many League members are able to sell online, but the League doesn’t, except for its annual holiday ornament.

“People want to touch a piece of fine craft, they really want to see it as they would with art.... They might use the Web site to get a sense of who the person is or what the work is. But we really want to drive the customer to the galleries or to the fairs where they can actually meet the craftsperson and see the work ... then it’s irresistible,” Lowe-Stockwell said.

Still, Shaw thinks the Internet has had an immense impact in revitalizing the craft community, linking people interested in the same things, she said. She still keeps a blog about the artisan world, www.greenjeansbrooklyn.blogspot.com, but doesn’t sell ad space.

As it grew, Etsy lost that close-knit community aspect Brown liked originally, Brown said. “I pretty much use Etsy as a shopping cart” now, she said. She replicates her Etsy shop on www.muchachak.com.

Others have found the community of the New Hampshire Etsy Street Team reassuring.

Sue Paradis, 47, of Paradis Farm in Strafford, has used Etsy to sell wool from her sheep, plus jewelry and crafts. “The NH Etsy group has been very helpful, like with ideas on advertising. You know, you basically having a sounding board,” Paradis said.

Jeanes has made jewelry for more than 20 years, but started teaching herself silversmithing over the past two with help from Etsians. Etsy has an “incredible network of artists,” Jeanes said. She sent Convos to sellers she admired, seeking advice.

Shaw cited a few articles she’d read that show growing criticism of Etsy — that the idea that people can make a living using it is kind of a false promise. She blogged about a July 15 CNN Money article that reported that Etsy’s founder, Rob Kalin, 29, had left his role as CEO, among other issues.

Paulus said she started making things to sell because she found Etsy. You can find others who did that, but there’s nothing really definitive about Etsy, Shaw said.

“I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules about Etsy, which is partly why it’s so interesting to try to understand,” Shaw said. It’s rich and varied, but at the same time, there are hacks there, just like there are at the League Fair — people who make something technically sound but with “no soul,” she said.

Shaw said she’s also heard that craft is more prevalent in New Hampshire, and thinks the League and Fair are factors. “People can make some good money” selling in League shops and at the Fair, Shaw said.

Dustin also thinks the League is a draw, but said “there are other centers. Craftsmen have been going down to the Carolinas for years....”

Shaw is seeing crafters starting to reinvent with things like the Renegade Craft Fair (there’s one in Brooklyn) and the Austin Craft Mafia (www.austincraftmafia.com).

Supporting small businesses
Professional artists are small businesses in themselves, pointed out Jane Ecklund, Programs Information Officer for the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.

The Arts Council typically organizes fall and spring free entrepreneurial workshops for artists, Ecklund said. It has provided small entrepreneurial matching grants for professional artists, usually between $250 and $750. Those are for things like developing a Web site or marketing material, or attending professional conferences or artist residencies. (See www.nh.gov/nharts or call 271-2789.)

“Budget cuts have affected some of our services,” Ecklund said. They are trying to arrange more things like the free workshops on business skills, which don’t involve giving out money.

The Arts Council also keeps juried rosters of New Hampshire artists (although new applications to most are suspended because of the budget).

Artworks-NH is a sub-brand of the MicroCredit-NH program, which offers business development training, networking events, access to loan capital, and individual development accounts — a matched savings program, director David Hamel said. The ArtWorks-NH annual “Artist Exchange,” a day of business workshops and networking, was recently expanded to two per year, one in the North Country and the other in southern New Hampshire. The next is Friday, Nov. 6, at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester ($45-$55 with scholarships available, 800-769-3482, www.microcreditnh.org/resources/artworks.html)

NH Made has an online store, www.nhmade.com. The organization doesn’t just teach about marketing, but creates mechanisms because small businesses don’t have time, or in some cases, the clout or funding, Ferguson said.

NH Made can rent a building at a major fair for members who otherwise might be on a booth space waiting list for years, Fergusan said. NH Made has about 800 business members statewide; joining costs $75 per year.

The NH Made brand helps members differentiate their product — the label “verifies this was not made in China,” Ferguson said. Other states usually do this through a state agency, often agriculturally based, Fergusan said.

D.I.Y.
Generally, “craft” can fall into about three fluid categories. There’s traditional craft that professionals like League members or New Hampshire Furniture Masters might make. Then there’s the sort of thing you found at a local craft fair your mom took you to. (Remember those ruffled air freshener covers?) In recent years, there’s also been a D.I.Y. craft movement.

Indie or D.I.Y. is somewhat tied to other movements in music, art or attitude, and has sort of a “mid-century modern aesthetic” Brown said.

Klump has sold at the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston (www.bazaarbizarre.org) and the Renegade Craft Fair (www.renegadecraft.com), which cater to indie style.

Those movements seem to need to separate themselves — the Bazaar Bizarre’s tagline is “Not your granny’s craft fair,” Klump pointed out.

Like any genre, it develops its own clichés, Brown said. “Like how many times can you appliqué a deer on a messenger bag?”

“I think a lot of people would probably look at me and assume certain things,” Brown said. She has hipster glasses, and often funny hair colors, she said. But Brown sees things like local craft fairs or church bazaars as great community-builders.

“I think usually my work doesn’t seem to reflect my cultural tastes,” Brown said. She’s 34 and not married herself but works with fairly traditional brides. She thinks they like the vibrant colors she uses, a departure from lavenders or baby blues.

Greenjeans tried to bridge the traditional and D.I.Y. craft movements, Shaw said. “Really, I think that there’s very little difference,” Shaw said. People want to make their own beautiful things and create an alternative to mainstream culture, “whether it’s Shaker-style wooden boxes or weird little felted animals,” Shaw said.

D.I.Y. art shows
Brown started the Concord Arts Market with a preview run in 2008, and it ran in the spring and summer of 2009 with about 25 to 30 vendors per week. Brown’s goal was an average of 30, “so it’s been perfect,” she said. Both League members and Etsians have sold there. Items have included glass, jewelry, handbags, fine art, sculpture, painting, mixed media and mosiac.

It starts again Sept. 12 for a fall season (details at www.concordartsmarket.com).

“I definitely feel like it’s successful,” Brown said. That vendors sign up again “tells me that they think it’s worth their time,” Brown said.

An eight-person jury selects sellers; Brown acts as a tie-breaker. They like work to have cohesiveness, Brown said. (If you see Moskov’s pottery, for example, it’s likely you can identify other pottery made by Moskov.)

“Foot traffic is obviously a really, really good thing to have,” Brown said. Their location at 33 Capitol St. wasn’t natural for that, so they advertised to let people know they were two blocks off Main Street.

The Concord Arts Market moves to Eagle Square this fall, Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Oct. 31. They will still have “that great synergy” with the Concord Farmers Market (Saturdays, 8:30 a.m.-noon on Capitol Street) there, Brown said.