Calling all beaders....you whoooooo

My first big art show of the year is in a week. Now cue all the anxieties that I haven't done something essential. Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh - 300,000 people. And my booth is right next to the main stage - joy. That means my already bad hearing will have quite a workout. But I was on the waiting list, and this is the booth that came available.

greendragon said:

My first big art show of the year is in a week. Now cue all the anxieties that I haven't done something essential. Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh - 300,000 people. And my booth is right next to the main stage - joy. That means my already bad hearing will have quite a workout. But I was on the waiting list, and this is the booth that came available.

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Good LUCK!

Thank you!

Good luck!

I never tried to enter one of the big shows, because I can never build up enough stock.

I've been making beadwork for about 15 years, and make more than I sell. Therefore, I've accumulated a huge backlog! Can't even display them all in my 10X10 art booth. When I got new hangtags, I went through over 500 of them, just on pins, necklaces and bracelets. At least 100 pairs of earrings as well.

Wow.

I can never get a backlog either. Most of my work over the past few years has been either let's see how this works or a commission piece. One of these days I'd love to have time enough to have enough to do a true show but until then my little spots on the interwebs will have to do.

So how many of us have put together and sold tutorials?

Filigree, I know you've sent patterns in to magazines I think?
How much do the magazines pay? (No it's not listed in submissions)
How long do they hold copyright?
Is this more for exposure or do they pay something decent?

Just asking because yes I'm submitting articles (not designs) to a small beading magazine but I want to know what the larger publications are doing. (yes right now it's a for the love of a good friend of mine) But is it worth climbing the ladder to the top publications now or wait until a bit later?

Also this is a part of my move to not having a dayjob. I'm trying to be as flexible as possible with various freelance and artistic venues. If one's not paying all the bills perhaps I can supplement with another revenue stream.

Sorry, didn't see this until just now. The last how-to I sold to Bead & Button was back in '99 I think, so their procedures might have changed. I pitched them a one-page article proposal with a pic of the worked stitch, and a few months later got a go-ahead. My $75 check came after publication.

Most of them will pay between $50 and $150, depending on the 'name' of the presenter. They usually hold copyright for only a few years, though I'd have to check on that. I know I released my last stitch into the wild a couple years after publication, because it was more fun to see what people did with it, than to try to charge for classes.

It's a good idea to look in the magazines/sites for their current submissions and image guidelines, because every one of them seems different. Some allow digital subs of queries only, some want the whole article + images from the start, and some want the actual piece. (Why I'm hesitant to sub anything to Belle Armoire, because it will take a year to get it back, probably.)

My general advice for this is the same for fiction: start high and work downward. To be ruthlessly blunt, *no one* cares about small-pub credits for simple stitches. To make a mark in the bead world, you need to submit complex patterns/methods to Bead & Button, Beadwork Magazine, Art Jewelry Magazine, and to big contests like the Bead Dreams show at the Bead & Button convention, Rio Grande's competition, Fire Mountain's competition, or any other major bead/jewelry supplier-sponsored competition.

Lesser-tier magazines like BeadStyle, the ones that feature more-basic and beginner projects...just don't have the flash. They do pay a little, and they're less picky. They will build a name, but nothing that can do more than minor ego-boost for you. But if you have a real gift and you want to play in the same levels as, say Sherri Serafini or Wanaree Tanner, aim high.

The other way to advance is to develop a name as a teacher - that's actually more lucrative than articles. If you live near a good bead store that offers classes, consider talking to the owners. If you're wealthy enough to consider going to the big annual Bead & Button show in Milwaukee, think about submitting a class proposal or two. Those can get your name out there very quickly.

I'm rather lazy, and seldom push myself far enough to sub often (my last was in 2012 to B&B, and didn't make the cut.) Also, I've found that I don't really like teaching anymore. Four years in art-supply retail burned that out of me.

Good information, Filigree. I'd never thought about the way to make a name for myself in the bead world - just selling my jewelry at shows, which I love doing. I've taught classes, and enjoy that, but I certainly don't have the draw that Serafini has

Well there's no place close enough or big enough to hold real classes here unless I went to St. Louis or Kansas City and for someone who's pretty much an unknown, not really going to happen right now.*

I have taught basic stitches for individuals. Nothing fancy just the basics such as peyote, loom, brickstitch and caging for cabs. I even do some of my own illustrations. I have been published in a beading book by Karen Leonardo but it's been a long time.

So I guess my next step is to do articles and develop some new technique or something with a completely new look for submissions. I'll work on pieces for shows starting later this year. And of course get my stinking website up and perhaps put up some tutorials of my own.

Oh and does anyone have a YouTube channel? I know some beaders who record what they are doing and put up segments and that really helps them with sales. I'd like to try that at some point too!

* but Cat Rambo wore one of my pieces to the Nebulas this year! WOOT! She promised photos.

Get photos from Cat, Shadowflame!

See if you can enter some museum-grade pieces into next year's Fire Mountain and Bead & Button's 'Bead Dreams' competition. Those two contests can put you on the map.

Alas, I may not be seeing you at the end of the month at LepreCon. I bowed out of the panels a month or so ago, knowing that my schedule was going crazy. Then a good friend broke bones and requires caregiving/driving. Then I got a slot at an art pitch interview that Saturday for a great herb & tea shop that wants artists and artisans in its expanded stores. I can't figure out how to juggle all that, plus 75+ miles a day driving up to the con. Sniffle.

Filigree said:

Get photos from Cat, Shadowflame!

See if you can enter some museum-grade pieces into next year's Fire Mountain and Bead & Button's 'Bead Dreams' competition. Those two contests can put you on the map.

Alas, I may not be seeing you at the end of the month at LepreCon. I bowed out of the panels a month or so ago, knowing that my schedule was going crazy. Then a good friend broke bones and requires caregiving/driving. Then I got a slot at an art pitch interview that Saturday for a great herb & tea shop that wants artists and artisans in its expanded stores. I can't figure out how to juggle all that, plus 75+ miles a day driving up to the con. Sniffle.

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It's okay. I'll be in the area sometime else. Perhaps for the big beading show in Phoenix in a few years. Will miss seeing you though!

YEA! My first beading article will be in the August issue of Artisan Jewelry Times! I still need an author photo but the rest of it was approved! While it's a non-paying publication I do get 3 moths of free advertising.

I'll work on another article starting next month for them.

It is at least a start.

Congrats, shadowflame!

And it is up!

http://artisanjewelrytimes.com/

(I think you may want to remove the spaces from the actual link for it to work.)

Congratulations! May the advertising be worth your while.

Hopefully it will. The article didn't take long to write (800 words) and since I write cleanly there wasn't but a couple of errors. I've been invited to write for it again.

Which means I got to get my tail in gear and get a website up. At least the skeleton of one. Which will hopefully lead to some sales. Most of my stuff is one of a kind but I do have a surplus of beads I could also sell. Plus kits and instructions. I just need more time to get stuff together which means I need less dayjob....

It never ends right?

Correct, it never ends!

I'm back from vacation in Iceland and gearing up for Dragoncon. I usually have my beadwork in the art show there. I try to have a bazaar table, but this year and last, I only managed to secure panels, i.e., silent auction bidding stuff. That gives me more free time, but I rarely make enough to cover the costs of the con for me (travel from PA to GA, hotel, food, etc.) BUT - I go because I love going, and see all my friends there. Making some money to defray the costs is secondary.

Very cool.

I do think that DragonCon will be one that I will be able to go to in the future. Once the kids are out of the house (yea right that never happens) B and I will probably move to Georgia to take care of his dad. Atlanta isn't that far Possibly I'll be in a position to have a booth with beaded goodies AND books. (got my fingers crossed)

Omigosh! I haven't been in here for so long, I've missed out on all your triumphs.

Congrats on the article, Shadowflame!

Shadowflame said:

So how many of us have put together and sold tutorials?

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I've been lucky with quite a few. I had a regular section in a mag here called 'Threads & Crafts' - until they closed down - and then I did some features for this mag https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Beadbook/191353240761 but back then they didn't pay, they give you free advertising space. The space was okay for a while, as my daughter and I had brought out a couple of e-books on beading (in the form of CDRoms) and the advertising was great but the 'great beading craze' in SA seems to have come and gone. I haven't submitted anything for about 5 years now.

Shadowflame, Dragoncon is amazing. It's hard to get into the art show, but art show is much less expensive than a vendor booth (and those aren't easy to get into, either). Byzantine rules on the art show, but it's worth it. And the experience is undescribable. Total geekgasm. Nerdigras.

greendragon said:

Shadowflame, Dragoncon is amazing. It's hard to get into the art show, but art show is much less expensive than a vendor booth (and those aren't easy to get into, either). Byzantine rules on the art show, but it's worth it. And the experience is undescribable. Total geekgasm. Nerdigras.

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So things like Chainmaile would do better than this? Possibly have to have someone let me know what's in the art show so I'd know what type of crowd I'm catering to.

I can't see the pic (FB is blocked at work). The Dragoncon Art Show is huge. It has chain maille, steampunk, furry, dragons, fairies, witches, scifi, and everything from Japanese themed art to horror stuff. (OK, sometimes those are the same)

They like to have some sort of fantasy/horror/scifi theme to the art, but not all of it has to be thus. For instance, I have, say, 30 pieces on my panel, all beaded necklaces, bracelets, earrings. The pieces I name, 'Druid necklace' or 'mermaid bracelet', sometimes based on the subject, but often just the color scheme. A bracelet with a raven might be Odinn's Bangle. Some artists just name things 'bracelet 1, bracelet 2'. I like to be more creative.

The art show has a student section, and has some heavy hitters in the high end. Boris Vallejo, Michael Whelan, Dan Dos Santos, Janny Wurtz, Don Maitz, Todd Lockwood - all of these have been guests of honor (I've met them!) at times. Janny Wurtz and Don Maitz are there every year. Other artists that frequently show (so you can get an idea of what's in the show) are Paul Vicenti, Stan Morrison, Paul Bielaczyk, Heather Kreiter, Rob Carlos, Rachel Mayo, Theresa Mather, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Stephanie Law, Chaz Kemp, Mike Bocianowski, Sarah Clemens, Mark Helwig, Joseph Corsentino, Jessica Cox, Meredith Dillman, Kevin Dyer, etc.

2D art is prime, but there are plenty of jewelry artists, 3D artists, and some that defy categorization. There's a separate Comic Book Art Show next door (there's a passage between them).

I sent a beaded and embroidered banner to DragonCon back in 1995, I think. No sale, but it was easy to do and it came back safely.

I've contemplated sending SFF art there again, might do it next year. Art really needs to reference spec fic themes a bit more than just in title, to fit the rules. DragonCon, WorldCon, and World Fantasy are the only mail-in shows I'd consider anymore, just because the membership averages quite a bit more discretionary income than the average smaller convention.

ETA: it was this banner. http://www.cranehanabooks.com/blog/2013/10/23/flame-banner/

Okay so things need to fit the theme of the con. Good to know.