Monthly Meeting! (November 2012)

Monday was our Monthly Meeting for November!

Here is Casey (PeachesProducts) modeling one of the hats made by one of our newest members, Mary-Anne of The TaylorShop.

This was Mary-Anne's first meeting with us! And she got to do the honors of picking the "Featured Member" for November. 

(we also used one of her handmade hats to place the slips in!) 

Jina (MoyaLazyFacory) was the winner this month!  So her shop gets to be featured in the nifty little CraftCult widget at the top of the blog sidebar!

At the end of the meeting, we did some "secret critiques" on some items...including this big plaid barn owl made by Kira of KiraArts (which she had brought in for John of JackBear Stamps as a trade for one of his hand-carved stamps)

They way we do the "secret critiques" is, the artist asks a question about their item, then everyone at the meeting writes their answer on a piece of paper anonymously, and puts it in a hat.  Then all the slips are given to the person whose item is being critiqued.  And they can either keep the results to themselves or share them with the group (which is more fun!).

We also did a critique of this lovely 3-color, letterpress-printed bicycle poster by Chris of FlyRabbitPress.
Usually the question is about the price of the item..."What would you pay for this?" or "What would you expect it to cost?".  It is hard for an artist to price their work.  It's a constant battle for an artist between what the work is really worth and what people will pay for it.  These critiques are a way we gain some insight into how much people are willing to pay for an item...which is sometimes more than we realize!  

Of course, our group has a unique appreciation for the amount of work it takes to produce handmade items!  But one of our goals is to spread that appreciation and knowledge to others!