Edit: this post was written in April 2019, prior to the transition and launch of The Morose Bee becoming primarily a vendor of sustainable materials. It's exciting to see this goal come to fruition!
I've been thinking about posting something about sustainability within The Morose Bee for a while, but now that today is Earth Day it seems like the perfect time. Climate Change is real and happening faster than we can provide a solution and, as a maker, it's something I struggle with everyday. I love to make new with things which involves hoping someone else will want to acquire more stuff to have my products. Consumerism is one of the struggles we're up against to help slow our waste stream. I know a lot of people argue that one person doesn't make a difference, but I don't think apathy is going to get anyone anywhere. So I'm here to be one person trying to do something better.
I have always enjoyed upcycling as part of The Morose Bee products. Even in my earliest jewelry designs I sourced charms from flea markets and thrift stores, reused old jewelry and turned it into new items, and sold vintage items. But I know I can do better! Now that I'm making items with textiles, I have other ways of making them sustainably. So far in 2019 I have not purchased any new fabric for person projects and I plan to keep it that way. We all know how alluring fabric shopping can be and there are so many beautiful designs out there! But the textile waste is a real problem. The EPA website estimates that in 2015, landfills received 10.5 million tons of textiles source. My plan to reduce textile waste in my products is to:
1. Use the materials that I already have to create new products
2. When I need to new fabric, purchase it second hand
I made a quilt for a friend earlier this year and bought a bed sheet from the thrift store for the backside. It was honestly better and softer than quilting cotton. Oh, and cheaper too.
You can also get second-hand fabric from people getting rid of their stash. Sometimes people are just sick of their own fabric, sometimes they abandon the hobby, or sometimes family members are trying to purge. I've received a lot of fabric from people second-hand and honestly it's more exciting to work with. It feels like you're continuing a tradition or an idea started by someone else. When I'm finished with my fabric or end up acquiring some that I'm just not sure I'm going to use, I sell it in my destash shop The Hive Destash. Plus Etsy recently announced that they are purchasing carbon offsets for every sale! It's a not perfect solution to the impact of shipping, but I still think it's a great step in the right direction.
Sometimes finding everything you need can be difficult, but I've found a little preplanning can go along way. For example, I wanted to find a way to stop buying plastic zippers for my bags so now whenever I find zippers second-hand I buy every single one available. It means I always have more zippers than I need which can become a storage problem, but it's nice to know I have them when I need them. If you want to do something similar for your own projects, this blog post has a huge and awesome list of various Creative Reuse Centers click here. Shopping at reuse centers means sometimes you have to think outside the box because you find bits and pieces, but they're an incredible resource.
I'm not sure if this post should be reassuring for you as a potential customer or for me as a maker, but I hope to continue to stay transparent about my process and materials. If at any point there are questions about the integrity or sustainability of one of my products, please don't hesitate to contact me. It's Earth Day so get out there and do something kind for the planet today.
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Some of you may know that I do clay building and mosaic programs at the Clayroom in Brookline, Ma. The studio mainly focuses on pottery painting, but I introduced the clay and mosaic when I began working there a little over a year ago. Yesterday my boss built a bar just for mosaics! I'm really excited about this new addition and I think it will be a great improvement on the art and craft programs that I currently provide. I've debated dabbling in mosaics for items that are for sale in The Morose Bee shop, but it really is a very involved process. If anyone lives in the Boston area, you should come have a look and maybe try your hand at mosaic!
]]>We've had record amounts of snow here in Boston which makes going outside to take photos of jewelry quite a challenge. At one point, my camera even fell over in the snow! But I still managed to get some photos of a new line of necklaces I'm doing! Hooray! You can check them out on my Etsy shop. I plan on doing a full range of the letters of the alphabet to make necklaces that can be used to spell out words, worn layered for initials, or worn individually. So far I only have the letters D and B posted. There's no significance to that, those are just the letters that I grabbed first to photograph.
I hope every is having a fabulous new year!
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Elizabeth from Delightfully Tacky did a blog feature about The Morose Bee! I'm super excited about it because I love her blog and her style and I'm honored for her to have styled my jewelry!
Here's what she said:
"I got this amazing necklace from The Morose Bee, and I love it! I'm definitely a fan of unique necklaces. I think I have a penchant for hanging my favorite things from around my neck. I have a Star Trek Enterprise necklace, a polaroid camera necklace, a scrimshaw square rigger necklace, and now a bicycle necklace! It's too cute."
Visit her blog to read more!
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I finished reading Craft Inc a while ago. Ever since I read Crafty Superstar, I've been really into reading craft how-to books both from a business, emotional, and technical aspect. It's like a refined and graceful version of the Etsy forums. Craft Inc. was more of a book for the crafter with corporate dreams. The book is full of info on how to go about locating foreign and/or local factories to pump out large quantities of your wares as well as how to going about hiring assistants and staff. Of course it also had the basic stuff like starting to figure out your finances, starting up a website, and some of the other usual content, however, this book is definitely meant more for the crafter set on world domination. Right now, I'm pretty happy being hunched over at my living room coffee table re-watching Arrested Development for the 28798273 time and assembling mustache necklaces. I think it's important to keep your mind on the larger world of what may be waiting a head, but I definitely did not take away as much as I did with Crafty Superstar.
You can check out Craft Inc here on Amazon.com or check out my review of Crafty Superstar here.
I attended a craft party last Friday in honor of Etsy's birthday. I know many people around the country hosted or attended similar events and it was awesome to mingle with some creative folk. Some friends and I headed down to Pearl in Fort Lauderdale for the event hosted by the Hollywood Craft Mafia. I had never attended an event quite like this before! Out of the various craft options, I decided to make a stamp which you can see its purpley majesty above. It came out pretty cool, but I was feeling rather uninspired. During the event, we were also given special discounts to Pearl so I took advantage and stocked up on a few things I needed for TMB.
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WHEW! First craft show is over! It was a great learning experience, but the show itself was a bit of a flop. It was the Bradford County Strawberry Festival in Starke, Fl which means it was not exactly my demographic. However, the booth was cheap, it was close to family, and it was a great no pressure test run to try doing this type of thing for the first time.
I hope by my next craft show to have enough jewelry to fill two tables instead of one. I think the tent looks a little lonely with just one table. I was also quite happy with the pom poms. I received several compliments about them and a few people even asked if I was selling them so, for the next festival I think I'll bring a few extras with me in case people really do want to purchase them.
I was not happy with the rings on rolls of fabric. It makes a nice display, but everyone thought they were flutes. No REALLY. People saw them and thought I was a flute vendor. Plus it makes it difficult for people who want to try on your jewelry. They had to awkwardly take the rings off and had a hard time putting them back on. Next time I'll just have a little ring tray.
Well the good news is all of my left over jewelry is slowly making its way onto my Etsy shop so go check it out!
This book was crucial to where I am right now in my handmade business journey. Sure there are tons of wonderful craft forums all over the internet where everyone wants to dish out their opinions on how you should run your business, but Crafty Superstar was insightful, funny, and informative. Take that angry forum ranter!
Click here to buy Crafty Superstar by Grace Dobush
Up next I plan on starting The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. Etsy recently advertised that their kicking off a speaker series with Kari Chapin so I'm excited to dig in!
Click here to buy The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. *Updated version HERE*
I highly recommend a book like The Handmade Marketplace or Crafty Superstar to anyone who sells on Etsy.