Recently

News archive for November 2005

Archives by Month
» March 2009
» November 2008
» October 2008
» September 2008
» August 2008
» July 2008
» November 2007
» October 2007
» August 2007
» July 2007
» June 2007
» May 2007
» April 2007
» March 2007
» November 2006
» October 2006
» September 2006
» August 2006
» July 2006
» June 2006
» May 2006
» April 2006
» February 2006
» November 2005
» October 2005
» September 2005
» August 2005
» July 2005
» June 2005
» May 2005
» March 2005
» January 2005
» November 2004
» October 2004
» September 2004
» August 2004
» July 2004
» June 2004

« Back to News

Math error in your favor

Sun, Nov 20 2005 — Comments (0) | Cinnamon

Due to a math (counting) error we've got a new figure on the amount of money that was raised in the raffle to benefit The Crafter's Emergency Relief Fund and it's much better than the last estimate. $449.25. I'll be kicking in another $.75 to bring it up to $450. That's quite a nice chunk of change and we owe a huge dose of gratitude for it to all of our shoppers, vendors, and volunteers. Somewhere in Bayou country there is a crafter who is now able to rebuild and move on thanks to all of y'all.

I'd also like to give a couple of extra big thanks to:

Kitchen Chicago: You guys brought the best damned food ever experienced at a craft or art show and we want to thank you for that. And we were glad to hear that you ran out of things and we hope many fine folks in Chicago will be travelling to your location for seconds. Yum! Your fine culinary expertise was most appreciated.

Bazaar Bizarre, the book: We received several donated books from the publisher and this is what inspired us to wrestle up a wonderful volunteer to help run a greater raffle. That donation above wouldn't have come about if it weren't for them.

We'd also like to thank Venus magazine, Love, Chicago, Altar magazine, PISTIL magazine, Gapers Block, Women-Empowered, the Windy City Rollers, Chicagoist, MINT boutique, and many others for donating items for our visitors to take with them, placing an ad in the program, and renting a small amount of space to get people to sign up for your publication/organization. Chicago wouldn't be nearly the cool, hip place it is without the year-round hard work that y'all put into it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

We have winners!

Fri, Nov 11 2005 — Comments (0) | Cinnamon

Hey, y'all!

Last night Amy and I drew all of the names for the raffle and if you were a winner you will be contacted for mailing information so I can send your prize to you. I was going to post people's names on here but I have to admit I can't read all of them correctly (those tickets are tiny) and I'm not comfortable putting people's online without their wishes.

To all the vendors who donated an item, I'll be asking the recipient if I can pass their contact info on to you. If they say yes, you'll get an email from us letting you know who was your personal lucky winner.

Thanks to the generosity of everyone who was present for the raffle, I'm happy to say that we've made a $305 donation to Crafters Emergency Relief Fund in the name of the DIY Trunk Show. A dollar here and a dollar there really do add up, and it's nice to know that this money will go to help a crafter buy clay, or a new sewing machine, or a torch, or something else which permit them to get their business back up and running.

Thank you, DIY shoppers and vendors. Your generosity is highly appreciated.

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

Handmade Market

Wed, Nov 09 2005 — Comments (0) | Cinnamon

Calling makers, crafters and artisans--

Handmade Market @ Empty Bottle, Sat. Dec. 17
Approx. 10am-5pm.

Having been inspired by the very successful NoLita market in
NYC, I wanted to see a more frequent event here in Chicago.
While we have a lot of "meet, greet & make" type events, and
lovely infrequent events, I think it is important to have a
salses venue on a more regular basis. So Dec 17 is the test
session, hopefully to turn into a monthly event.

For this first session, I am looking to find sellers for
about 20 tables, which can naturally be shared between a
couple of people. Unfortunately I cannot tell you the exact
table price yet because I'm still working on the budget &
pricing flyers, but it will be between $20 and $30. So while
I know that is annoying, I wanted to get this announcement
out to you asap, so that we have enough time to review
proposals.

Depending on interest & space, we would like to take as many
people as are interested, but with a couple of conditions
about what to sell. I would recommend jewelry, clothes &
accessories, and of course, interesting gift items for the
holidays, but you are free to pitch me ideas. These should
be made by you, the seller, by needle, crochet hook, sewing
machine, paint, etc. etc. and be aimed at approximately the
hipster indie crowd, oh and of course family members, since
it is still the shopping season.

So think fun, cool things, and please avoid items that would
be better saved for the country crafts fair. For pricing,
try having a range, because I am not sure why buyers will be
looking for. Maybe have a couple of expensive items ($75+),
some mid-range ($25-75) and some inexpensive (under $25),
and also think about cheap stocking stuffers, given the
season.

So if you are interested in selling now or in the future, or
if you are interested in an announcement list, please email
me back and let me know: ecoslor@uchicago.edu. If you would
like to sell, please include a description and sample photo
of what you would like to sell, as well as the approximate
price range for items. If you have ideas, want to help out,
etc, let me know that too.

cheers!
Erica

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

Many, many thanks

Sun, Nov 06 2005 — Comments (9) | Cinnamon

While our muscles are still sore from Saturday and even though we still have sleep to catch up on, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this year's trunk show an absolutely wonderful event. While the weather was warmer than in previous years, we would have loved to have had more sunshine. But we have to be grateful that it didn't pour buckets during load-in and load-out times.

We hope you had a wonderful time with us, whether you were a shopper or a vendor or a volunteer.

(Note from Amy: I really wanted to greet all our fine vendors face to face, especially those of you who were doing our show for the first time, but I only got to visit about half the booths. The day just flew by so quickly, before I knew it everyone was loading out. So I apologize for not saying hi. I hope no one felt ignored. Between dealing with chairs, HVAC issues, plugged toilets, and raffle tickets, I didn't even have time to shop! Thank goodness for my 20 volunteers, or I might have forgotten to breathe.)

If you were one of the generous people who purchased a raffle ticket (or 10), we'll be getting together on Thursday evening to draw tickets and match them up with prizes. We'll then place a list of winners on the website and we'll contact everyone who wins. We're excited about this but pure exhaustion kept us from doing this on Saturday and busy schedules are keeping us from being able to get together before then. But some of you will have something cool to find in your mailbox next weekend.

The most popular question we've recieved form vendors and shoppers was "Is there going to be a show next year?" and the answer is that we don't want to see this die. The DIY Trunk Show's got a great following and we want to keep the energy alive. Amy is going to be writing her Master's thesis about this time next year, and Cinnamon is getting so busy with her business (but not busy enough to quit her day job) that we're going to have to do a serious accounting of how much time we'll be able to invest in the show and then ask for other folks to help with duties.

And the question that we have to ask you is: "What could have been done to make your shopping/vending trip even better?" We want to make each show better than the previous one and many, many brains are better than one.

Thanks again, everyone. Your compliments and smiles made us very, very happy, and that is why we do this show.

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

Your show-day checklist

Wed, Nov 02 2005 — Comments (1) | Amy

Three days and counting! Here's some general info you'll probably need for the day of the show. If you have any other questions, please post them in the comments.

In case you've lost, or haven't received, the map and vendor info: here are the maps. The information we sent to vendors is available under the MORE link below.

• Show hours are from 10 am - 4 pm. The doors to Pulaski Park open at 9am. The spaces in the auditorium and gyms will be set up the night before. We ask that you show up and get everything into your spot by 10 am. If you're still arranging at 10 am, that's fine but we'd like everyone to be inside by then.

• If you're coming for out of town, or aren't sure how to get to the site: Here's the map.

• The Fieldhouse is wheelchair-accessible, with a ramp entrance.

• Checking in-- a few volunteers and I will be in the rooms directing people to their space. There should be taped off areas on the floor with a table (if you requested it) as well as a piece of paper with your space number and name on it in the space. Make sure you set up in the correct space. We will have a cool vendor button and a discount food coupon for each booth so make sure you get this from one of us.

• Kitchen Chicago will be providing a limited menu of tasty treats for sale by the East Gym. We have a $2-off coupon for each booth. For those of you sharing a booth you'll have to arm wrestle for the coupon. This means you won't have to worry about starving if you forget to bring a sandwich for lunch. It will probably cost about $4-6 for a lunch combo. They will also have snacks to buy separately.

• Pulaski Park also has a few vending machines, but we cannot vouch for them working properly the day of the show. (You know how it is.)

• You are free to bring your own food for the day, as well. However, due to health code and liability restrictions, we can't allow any vendors to sell food or give away unwrapped food at the booths (pre-wrapped stuff like bite-size candy bars is OK).

• Nothing can be attached to the walls, ceilings, or doors. If you have a space against a wall you can lean things against the wall but you can't tape, nail, screw, glue, etc. anything to the wall.

• We have to have everything torn down and put away by 5 pm. Seriously -- this is not negotiable. The park staff does not get paid overtime. Make sure you wrap up your sales by 4:00. If you are using a table or chairs onsite it is your responsibility to fold up your table and chairs and put them on the storage carts. You'll also need to throw away any trash you may have in your space. We will have some volunteers on hand to help out with tear-down.

Holy cow, y'all -- this is gonna be an awesome show! Can you taste the excitement? I sure can!

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

Who Is Where?

Tue, Nov 01 2005 — Comments (0) | Cinnamon

If you're coming to the DIY Trunk Show so you can support a friend or three, it's possible that you want to know where they are. Or maybe you've got some favorite vendors and you want to make sure you can be the first at their booth. The maps below will help you find them.
Click on the thumbnail to view a larger map.

The Auditorium

West Gym

East Gym

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

Parking at DIY Trunk Show

— Comments (0) | Amy

If you're coming to shop at the DIY Trunk Show, be forewarned that parking can be a little tricky. Pulaski Park Fieldhouse (map) is in Wicker Park, one of the more "happening" neighborhoods in Chicago, and one that gets more crowded every year. Plus there are some random "zone" parking areas scattered around the park.

There is a public metered parking lot (bring some quarters) on Bosworth half a block north of Division, and metered parking on Division, Ashland, and Milwaukee.

To ease the parking situation a bit, we suggest carpooling with your pals or taking advantage of our city's fine public transportation. The park is near three bus routes (#9 Ashland, #56 Milwaukee, #70 Division) and the Division stop on the Blue Line El. There are also plenty of places to lock up your bike.

See you Saturday!

News archive for November 2005

« Back to News

DIY Trunk Show in the news

— Comments (0) | Amy

In addition to a blurb in the current issue of Chicago Magazine, the DIY Trunk Show has gotten some other great press around town.

From the current Flavorpill newsletter:

SPOTLIGHT: Roll up your sleeves and grab a glue gun: the DIY Trunk Show is coming to Pulaski Park Auditorium for a third time 'round. Don't expect doilies and crocheted air-freshener covers � the feisty, crafty types at this event put the "activist" in "craftivist."

and

"Twice before, Amy Carlton and Cinnamon Cooper have held their DIY Trunk Show at the Pulaski Park Auditorium to massive response. The third annual installment features a confluence of Do-It-Yourselfers promoting and showcasing their handmade arts and crafts. The term "handmade arts" can be misleading, as rural countryfolk are not quite the target market. The Trunk Show's crafts mentality rejects mass production and one-time consumption, focusing instead on sustainability, durability, and (of course) style. Think ReadyMade, not Martha Stewart Living. In addition to oodles of shopping, the Trunk Show features three workshops on the craft of crafts."

Plus, I did a phone interview with a reporter from the Chicago Journal yesterday. We've also been contacted by Daily Candy and Metromix, so keep your eyes peeled for more media mentions in the coming days.