Website "Studios"

Article by Catherine Hollingsworth

 

Do you need to find a better way to market and sell your creations? Does your inventory lag behind your sales opportunities? Are you afraid to join a co-operative shop because of the work schedules? Does the percentage your consignment dealer takes leave you cold? Do you lack the funding or expertise to support your own website? Do you have health issues or a disability that prevents you from creating fulltime?

If you can say “yes” to just one of these questions, you are the perfect candidate to rent a website “studio”. What is this, you ask. First, I’ll tell you my story.

I have a disabling illness, called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) that keeps me shut in the house for several days at a time. Some days are just so difficult that I knit “brainless” projects, such as dishcloths. Other days I can tackle a sweater of medium skill levels. Of course, I have really good days, too. If I am very careful to keep away from chemicals, I can create designs, knitting my own creations from the patterns I write.

Knitting to sell sounds like the perfect way to supplement my disability income, doesn’t it? Well, it takes money to produce a good inventory. Money to advertise, money to buy a business license, more money to get a website, more money to invest in the equipment…money, money, money! What if a talented knitter doesn’t have enough to really run the business? This is a concern that I hear about more than I want to admit. It is also my own situation, so I am sensitive about it.

Alaska has very creative knitters and needle workers in very remote parts of the state. Alaska is huge! Most communities aren’t even reachable except by plane, and then only when the flying weather is good. Did you know that half of the state’s population lives in the Anchorage area? Well, that means the market is not available to the other half of the state. What’s a fiber artist to do?

Education and exposure to the needle arts is key to building a good customer base for any fiber artist’s business. This same exposure gives consumers the knowledge to appreciate the various disciplines, knowledge that fosters a respect for the work, elevating it to a level which demands a decent sales price. Living wages for the skills and talents necessary to create needlework give much needed income to the fiber artist, but it also supports the very creativity needed to do the work. With self-esteem come self-motivation and the energy to run a business.

I have thought about solutions to these dilemmas while trying to earn an income from my own work. I believe I have finally found a really good solution to this problem. Not just my problem, but also the disenfranchised fiber artisans throughout my state. I am helping to create website “studios”.

The Alaska State Yarn Council (ASYC) is hosting a website to bring our state’s needle artisans together, promote the guilds and help the vendors advertise their shops as a member service. This same website offers fertile ground to promote the work of many fiber artists. Regardless of their means, each now has an opportunity to rent a “studio” space and operate a business in a virtual shopping mall managed by ASYC.

Business costs include: low monthly “studio” rent of $5.00, an annual membership in the Alaska State Yarn Council for $25, and the reasonable cost of the business license is $50. The fiber artist has to digitally photograph the work, submit it for review, and then keep the inventory levels and prices current on their “studio” page by emailing the manager. A customer uses the payment method of Pay Pal and the artist ships the needlework. Alaskan needle artisans now have a business that they can do from home, in their pajamas and even in a snowstorm.

Regular maintenance of the website creates an invitation to viewers and targets the marketed audience of customers. Exposure to the “studio” shops offers an opportunity to learn about disciplines of needle arts and showcases the work of talented fiber artists, giving them the exposure needed to build loyal customers.

Everyone wins! I have hopes that this grassroots business opportunity will create interest in the various disciplines of needle art and raise a new crop of dedicated, passionate needle workers. Let’s hope I’m right.

You can watch this virtual shopping mall come to life in the months ahead by visiting http://www.alaskayarncouncil.com.

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From Catherine Hollingsworth-

 

My love of knitting began when I was a 10-year-old.  My grandmother gave me a “learn to Knit” book, plastic needles and Red Heart yarn while I was visiting her one summer in Nebraska. She didn’t knit, by the way.

 

Since I have always had a one-track mind, and the challenge was probably better than being bored the whole summer, I picked up those needles.  The rest is history, and I have now been knitting for over 46 years.

 

I studied art and architecture in college.  I have a degree in interior design, and I studied at Parsons School of Design.  I thought architecture was my passion. 

 

In 1989, I became disabled when multiple chemical sensitivity, or environmental illness, required me to keep away from building materials and began to keep me in bed with horrible migraines, muscle aches and “brain fog”.  Creative through and through, I needed a new, safer, outlet for design, so my knitting became my new art and the yarn my favorite medium.

 

I have designed for yarn companies and for our local knitting guild charity projects. I knit professionally and write a weekly column, called Two Sticks, for The Anchorage Daily News. I have lived in Alaska for over 18 years.