Sandy McCall - Savvy Crafters Guide to Success: Turn Your Crafts into a Career

The Savvy Crafters

GUIDE TO SUCCESS

Turn Your Crafts into a Career

Sandra McCall

NORTH LIGHT BOOKS

Cincinnati, OH

The Savvy Crafters Guide to Success Copyright 2008 by Sandra McCall. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. The forms in the book are for personal use of reader. By permission of the author and publisher, they may be either hand-traced or photocopied to make single copies, but under no circumstances may they be resold or republished. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote a brief passage in review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1

Distributed in Canada by Fraser Direct
100 Armstrong Avenue
Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4
Tel: (905) 877-4411

Distributed in the U.K. and Europe by David & Charles
Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England
Tel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319
E-mail: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk

Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link
P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor, NSW 2756 Australia
Tel: (02) 4577-3555

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCall, Sandra, 1953
Savvy crafters guide to success / by Sandra McCall. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-58180-942-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
eISBN: 978-1-4402-2560-4
1. Selling--Handicraft--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2.
Handicraft--Marketing--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.
HF5439.H27M33 2007
745.50688--dc22

2007025244

F+W PUBLICATIONS. INC.

www.mycraftivity.com

Editor: Robin M. Hampton
Cover Design: Marissa Bowers
Interior Design: Marc Whitaker for MTWdesign
Production Coordinator: Greg Nock

Metric Conversion Chart

Acknowledgments

To my family and to everyone who contributed so generouslyto this book, I thank and appreciate you with all my heart.Youre all such wonderfully talented and generous souls.

About the author

Sandra McCall calls herself a rubber-stamp and multi-medium expert. She makes artfrom designing craft projects to writing articles for rubber-stamp/paper-arts books and magazines. She also designs rubber stamps for JudiKins and Stamp Oasis.

Sandra teaches art workshops across the United States. Shes currently interested in resin casting, any type of fiber arts, beading on jewelry and fabric, soft block carving, polymer clay, making dolls and art figures of all kinds and painting canvases with acrylic paint.

Sandra has had several articles and artwork featured in major publications and made one DVD with PageSage called Fabricadabra: Material Magic with Sandra McCall. Shes written four additional North Light titles: Making Gifts with Rubber Stamps, 30-Minute Rubber Stamp Workshop, Sandra McCalls Rubber Stamped Jewelry and Stamping Effects in Polymer Clay with Sandra McCall.

Sandra lives in Arizona with her husband and best friend, fellow artist, Les Gains.

Contents

Journal Cover
by Sandra McCall
PHOTO BY SANDRA McCALL

Introduction

From the first inkling of the idea, I knew I wanted to be the best art/craft teacher ever. So I looked and looked for books on the finer points of teaching craft classes. Well, fifteen years ago, there wasnt a whole heck of a lot, so I had to take a big gulp and jump in, building my wings on the way down, as the saying goes.

Since then, Ive learned a lot about the subject. My students and customers enjoy grilling me on everything from teaching practices, to getting started in a crafty career, to writing books to even keeping tax records. The same questions keep popping up in each class: What did you do before this? How did you start writing books? How did you get started doing what you do for a living and how can I get that job?

And I have to say, if you have to work for a living, mine is a great job to have! I can completely relate to their questions because I pondered the same burning questions at one time.

Because Ive been creatively self-employed for more than fifteen years, I have a lot of information to pass on to others who may wish to take this direction. Ive decided to write the book I was looking for all alonga colorful, interesting guide about living the creative life. With this book, I hope to dispel several myths about making money with your crafts. You can run a thriving craft business without involving lawyers. You can be a successful, self-employed person without being ultramotivated or a marketing genius. I want to show you what you can accomplish in a bare-bones, plain-speak, down-to-earth manner.

In these pages, you hold the collected wisdom of a group of fantastic artists who have generously agreed to share their learned expertise. Youll find their delicious words and art works scattered throughout the book. With backstories and anecdotes that are sometimes strange, often humorous but always an interesting read. You get the benefit of our missteps so your road to success will be less rocky and probably faster. To discover more about the artists, read their starting.

For this venture, you need to wear several hats: designer, demonstrator, salesman, promoter of events, self horn-blower, cheerleader, writer, photographer, marketing expert, bookkeeper, psychologist, etc. The list goes on and on. You see, being an artist or craft designer isnt all there is to making money with your crafts.

There are a lot of details to be covered, and its good to know them all. But, must you read a different book on every single one of these subjects before you even get started? No! Heres a fast, fun and easy-to-read manual with a little bit about a lot to get you started making money with your crafts.

My story

One of my earliest memories is of a brick announcement wall. Almost daily, Mom and I would walk down to the town center to study the lively collage. I was a toddler but still old enough to be fascinated by the highly textured surface made from snippets of all different sizes and colors of paper. From that moment, I saw the world as a rich, colorful and interesting place. I wanted to add to the color and to draw things as I imagined them. I also wanted to make my world more beautiful. So I put pencil to paper and attempted to create the wonder of my dreams. Many hours of my youth were spent drawing my phantom palaces Id someday live in, my beautiful clothes Id wear and every aspect of my anticipated life as an adult.