SFEtsy Pop Up Shop- Saturday, August 23, 2014

 SFETSY AND RICKSHAW BAGWORKS POP-UP SHOP

We are popping up! Come out and shop local and support SFEtsy artisans. There will be jewelry, art, accessories, t-shirts, and of course custom messenger bags handmade right here in the Dogpatch! SFEtsy has once again teamed up with Rickshaw Bagworks to bring you a special day of shopping on Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 11AM to 3PM.

Save the date and come have brunch and stop on by to shop! Take a peek at the amazing artists who will be at the pop up shop.

 Check out the recycled glass works of Flower7.

 FrancesMarin will have her original whimsical art.

 Sexy clothing from DollFaceDeadWear will excite.

See multi functional items for you and your home by MultiFlasking.

 Check out the fun creations by TheHeated.

Grab devilish body products from LaughingDevilDesigns

Grab new housewares from TheCuriousPotter.

 Whimsical jewelry inspired by nature from RedIceBreaker.

 Leather goods from BullHornDesigns will be on hand.

Cool swag from NoGuns will be on hand. 

Start your shopping by taking a sneak peek in all of the shops! Don't forget to mark your calendars for this fun shopping local event! Even let us know you are coming by RSVPing on our Facebook wall!Facebook Fan Page Wall!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Rickshaw Bag Contest Winner 2014

Nearly two years ago, we met Rickshaw Bags' CEO Mark Dwight and since that first conversation and special thanks to Store Manager, Kendall Berardino, we've held two successful design contests and a pop-up market (more on that later) with our friends in the Dogpatch!

This year, our design contest began with two brainstorming ideas workshops held on the factory floor of Rickshaw Bagworks. Mark gave us a behind the scenes peek into the world of what he calls "micro manufacturing." We were inspired not only with the story of Rickshaw, but with all the possibilities of designing and creating a truly one-of-a-kind bag for ourselves and our customers!

Besides holding the workshops, the other new thing we did this year was to collect and promote all the voting for the bag entries online through Woobox. Using Woobox, allowed us to accurately collect votes, gain new followers to our Facebook fan page and know for sure the winner of our contest.

Participants in the contest, designed the front flap of their messenger bags using a wide variety of materials. We saw photography, crochet, fabric collage, painting and screen printing, mixed media and hand embroidery. I was sincerely impressed by the creativity of our team. It left me wanting to see what else our team members could design!

After nearly 2 weeks of voting, and a lot of last minute "vote for me" on Facebook, it was a very tight race between Lisa Spinella and Jim Tom's collaborative bag "The Traveler" and "running in Circles" by Fleurette Sevin. Fleurette nudged out the win in the end and we couldn't be happier for her!

CONGRATULATIONS Fleurette we cannot wait to see your bag and all the others when they are completed by Rickshaw Bagworks in a few weeks.

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to everyone that participated in this year's bag design contest. Be sure to scroll through all the entries below. Each one was very unique and shows off the talent we have among our wonderful team members.

Also, a BIG THANKS to Rickshaw Bags for sponsoring this contest and making these amazing bags come to life.

Do you have a great idea for a custom designed Rickshaw bag? OR If you weren't able to complete your bag design for the contest, but still want to make a custom bag - YOU STILL CAN! Bring your designed flap or mail it to by June 23, 2014:

Rickshaw Bags HQ 

Attn: Kendall Berardino

904 22nd St, 

San Francisco, CA 94107

All the designer bags will be showcased at Rickshaw Bags HQ in the coming weeks. You will be able to stop by and see all these amazing bags in person at an in-store gallery.

Thanks again for continuing to be the most amazingly talented team, I feel so lucky and honored to be part of it.

CONGRATULATIONS again to Fleurette Sevin - to see Fleurette in action and learn from her creative spirit, join us tonight at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco for her jewelry making class. Sign up now! (PS, there's free beer!)

Croched Love Bag by Liz Storey - Ionyka

Upcycled by Trish Peach - Poppy Peach

Spirit Owl by Annou Davi

Westfield Dome by Imelda Jimenez  - SunsetShutterBug

Beautiful You by Imelda Jimenez  - SunsetShutterBug

Golden Gate Bridge by Chelsea Farley - CuppaFog

Cat Lover's Carry-All by Katy Atchinson

Finding Balance by Marja Huhta - Glass Elements

The Traveler by Jim Tom and Lisa Spinella TickleandSmash

Shine on by Katy Atchinson

Hexagon Play by Stephanie Bolton - SinceSass

I love San Francisco by Rebecca Saylor - OodleBaDoodle

Running in Circles by Fleurette Sevin  - Flower7

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Welcome to Rebecca Saylor, Our New Co-Captain!

Rebecca Saylor has been our Leader for Community Involvement and is stepping up to Co-Captain! Please join me in welcoming her to this role.  Our Co-Captains are paired up for overlapping 2 year terms so we can look forward to lots of fun with Rebecca and her shop OodleBaDoodle.

Many of us already know Rebecca from her recent success hosting the Bayview SF Etsy event: The Indie Holiday Emporium. She also is the creative mind behind the fantastic partnership with Rickshaw Bagworks. Whether teaching the latest Meet and Make or mentoring individual sellers, Rebecca freely shares her experience and enthusiasm for all things self-made. I had some fun interviewing her and hope you enjoy reading her answers and getting to know her better!

~Even

Meet Rebecca Saylor ~ SF Etsy Co-Captain

Rebecca Saylor and her famous Owl

Come say Hi on Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Instagram, Pinterest, Flikr

How did you become part of SF Etsy? 

I moved to San Francisco in February of 2010 and not long after, I attended a panel discussion at the old Museum of Craft and Folk Art which included founding  team captain Jen Johnson. I had been a member of Etsy (both selling things and buying things) for a few years and it was an inspiration to see a local team of so many like-minded people and I wanted to get to know everyone!

What has SF Etsy helped you with in your business life?

The big help has been just giving me direction and a group of friends in a new city. Because I came from a business background, I started my business with a business plan but I had no idea what I wanted to sell. Maybe that seems odd and it's totally backwards, but that's how I did it!  Like many makers,I found it difficult to limit myself to making just one item and I tried a bunch of different ideas before developing the decorative pillow concept. After I joined the team, I went to a small meet up at Katy Atchinson's apartment and it was with the

encouragement of Katy, Eko Wright and Talia Jewell that I decided to develop the hipster owls into a viable product. Meeting other team members gives you the chance to flesh out ideas and grow your business in a way you might not have imagined. Being part of a local Etsy team has allowed my business to thrive offline and online.

What partnerships, collaborations, or community connections are you looking forward to fostering?

Before opening my Oodlebadoodle shop, I had a prosperous 15 year career in Human Resources and technical recruiting. Being part of the team has given me a chance to put those skills to use to develop ongoing relationships with local businesses to provide opportunities for our members. Over the last couple of years, we've created partnerships with local businesses like Rickshaw Bagworks, FabMo, All Good Pizza and Ruth's Table - our plan is to expand on those realtionships and develop new ones that can give all of our members an

opportunity to grow their own businesses.

How do you get inspiration for your evolving product line? 

Well, the creative process is a bit messy and sometimes I I find it difficult to process all my ideas. My inspiration comes from my love of fashion and the environment or sometimes an event in my life that sparks an idea. Oodlebadoodle started with "hipster owls" and the inspiration behind those owls, was actually the fashion I saw on the streets of San Francisco. I really admire the attention to detail that the men of this city take in how they present themselves and so the owls are a way for me to express my appreciation for men's fashion and my love of owls and other animals. Once I started putting myself out there with the owls, I began getting requests from my customers for other animals and I then selected ideas that I thought I could execute with my OodleBaDoodle spin.

OodleBaDoodle by Rebecca Saylor

Late last year, I had this idea that I wanted to somehow express how much I love the city of San Francisco. I've been know to say "I want to give this city a hug" so that's why I decided to make huggable pieces of this city, so I can hug it anytime I want!  That concept sparked an idea to designed and made a huggable Victorian house,

Golden Gate Bridge and Cable Car. I'm happy to know other people share my love of the city and want to hug it too! I'm expanding that product line to include a huggable Transamerica Building, Sutro Tower and huggable Oakland Cranes. If you want to hug something else in San Francisco, let me know :)

I started my career at a machine building company, just out of college. That company used to manufacture type sets for printing presses (think old school newspapers all made by hand) As you can imagine, they don't make those typesets anymore, but while working there, I fell in love with letters and type and the whole process of

making it. In particular, I really love the ampersand symbol. That simple symbol alone says so much, doesn't it? I look at it and I see love, togetherness, community, and joining of forces. So I'm working on a series of huggable ampersands based on some early type sets that were never made into fonts. Those will be available in the coming weeks.

I like to think that my pieces tell a story and that keeps me motivated to continue to create.

Do you have other volunteer jobs?

I love to volunteeer! I feel very fortunate to be able to give my time to different community programs. Currently, I volunteer as a helper for the Etsy Meet & Make programs at the Museum of Craft & Design and I love to volunteer with FabMo with pick ups here in San Francisco or other projects they have going on in the city. I also have been mentoring a young man coming out of the foster care system who is learning to sew. Volunteering fills my spirit and I couldn't thrive without it.

What have been some of your favorite team events? 

Geez, there are so many events and I love all of them! There are a few that stand out, like our design contest with Rickshaw bagworks. I've been such a fan of the Etsy Meet and Make programs, as a teacher, volunteer or just an attendee, they are so much fun! Participating in the South Bay Meet and Make led to several personal and business connections that I am forever grateful for. I'm happy to have a friendship with Rosella from Ross Labs that came from that meet up.

All the events we've had at Ruth's Table. I met another dear friend, Paola from Knits by Paola at the Pricing Event, my co-captain, Even Howard presented. I learned a great deal that night about shipping, pricing and marketing my pieces. The two events that Stephanie Bolton from Since Sass and I put together with Ruth's Table were a blast too!  We did a FabMo selection event and a craft swap. We hope to repeat both of those this year.

One of my all time favorite small meet ups was held at Adra Valentine's house. We had a "crafty computer day" and spent time working on listings for our Etsy shops and eating delicious food. That was truly an inspirational day for me.

Rebecca, Adra, Eko, Katy, Even, and Talia meeting for "Crafty Computer Night"

Of course, I was blown away by the participation and excitement around our team Holiday show at All Good Pizza in the Bayview district. It was an honor to be part of such a great event for the team.

Recently, some of the team leaders, including the amazing Lisa Spinella, have been casually getting together

on Fridays for a little inspirational field trip somewhere in the city. We will be formally opening those field trips up to all of you on the team and I am really looking forward to meeting more of our team members.

You've brought some new leadership talent with you; can you let us know who and how you are looking forward to working with them?

I feel honored and proud of all of our members and it's really a pleasure when I get to know people more personally. In the past year, I've particularly enjoyed getting to know the very talented Betsey Reiche from B-Spired and Chelsea Farley from CuppaFog. We are so lucky to have them on our team and they both have joined the leadership team in 2014.

Betsey will be taking on my former position as Community Leader; she

has already been making connections and putting together some great

opportunities for all of us in the coming weeks. She's a very

inspiring person and her bubbly, inviting personality lends itself to

being a leader on our team. Chelsea will be bringing her savvy

bookkeeper skills to the leadership team as our Treasurer. It's

awesome that we actually need her to manage our funds. The leadership

team is so excited to be able to bring a series of exciting coaching

and business development programs that we will be rolling out in the

coming weeks to our SF Etsy team members! 

{We have a few more new great leaders coming on board and will be featuring all of them in upcoming blog posts!}

Catching up online with Rebecca:

She's a big fan of Fabmo: Banner Tutorial, No-Sew Coaster Tutorial
She's a great sewing teacher: Museum of Craft and Design Meet and Make

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Our Team Captain about joining SFEtsy!

Rickshaw Bags Design Contest and Tour

Tuesday evening was the culmination event of our Rickshaw Bags design challenge and we celebrated SFEtsy style~creative friends, learning from our peers, wine and cookies...  Big thanks to our SFEtsy hosts Rebecca Saylor and Katy Atchison as well as Mark Dwight, Founder of Rickshaw Bags.

Our winner with the most likes for her design is Sarah Friedman of Birdbags.  She was bright eyed through the entire tour, her love for bags clearly visible.  Her design is based on the landscape of Sonoma and includes multiple appliques in vegan leather and machine embroidery.  As a special surpise, the runner up was also chosen to have her bag made!  Congrats to Usha of Usha Designs! Her bright flowers captured 21 shares on facebook during the contest.  Both designers have chosen their fabric and trims during our Rickshaw party and will be receiving their custom bags in a couple weeks.

Our winners Usha and Sarah in the Rickshaw sparkly pedicab!

Mark Dwight gave us a great tour through the manufacturing process of Rickshaw bags.  I saw many of our team members evaluating the scale, opportunities, and responsibilities of Rickshaw Bagworks (20 employees) in comparison with our own production levels.  It was great to hear some of Mark's challenges and successes.  We also talked about SF Made and it's potential as a service as a network for those in need of resources around scaling production of goods right here in San Francisco.  SF Etsy member Adra Valentine of Stone Valentine mentioned that she joined SF Made to find out who the cutters and sewers of the city are in case she needs them when increased orders come in for her cloth works.

Every designer present (and Jen by mail!) choose to have their original design made! It was a creative frenzy in the showroom as we chatted over fabric samples and helped each other find just the right match.  For each bag we choose the exterior fabric, interior fabric, and bag flap trim.  At one point we were all trying to fit a gorgeous seafoam into our designs and everyone loved the new herringbone fabrics (which are made in the USA from recycled bottles).  We'll all be getting our bags via mail or pick up within the next few weeks and Mark will be taking photos before they leave the factory.  We're looking forward to the group shot!

Katy and Mark working out her bag design options.

Mark reiterated his commitment to supporting local designers.  As SF Etsy team members, we now have the opportunity to design bag flaps and have the bags manufactured locally.  Please see Katy's original blog post to understand more about the process.  We all actually produced our own works in a suitable medium on fabric.  Purely printed designs can already be produced via Zazzle.com, which our members could use, but it's an entirely different scale to have custom artworks as well as the custom color choices.  The bag we all made is the Zero Messenger Bag, so named for it's very low amount of waste in cutting and manufacturing.  You can see Mark show how it's made in this video.

Thanks to all our participating designers and party goers! Lisa of TickleandSmash, Karen of Fabulry, Frances of Frances Marin Art, Fleur of ArteFleur, Jen of Mama's Magic Studio, Eve and Rick of Monkey and Seal, Toby of Savor the Date, Steph of Since Sass, Usha of Usha Designs, Sarah of Birdbags, Katy of Katy Atchison Illustrations, PJ of Wooliverse,  Eko of Eko Jewelry Design, Cristiana of Pebble and Fire, Nina of Neon Sprinkles Studio,  Adra of StoneValentine, Steph of Since Sass, Niana of SFlocal, and our colleagues and friends!

Bag design mini gallery!

If you've got great pictures to share or want to see more, do check out our tag #sfetsy on instagram and twitter!
Thanks again to our amazing creative instigator Rebecca Saylor! We all had a wonderful time and look forward to more~

Rebecca having a much deserved swoon after all the fun!

~Even

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Rickshaw Bags Design Contest ~ Works in Progress

Our collaborative contest with Rickshaw Bags is coming up to deadline this Saturday, September 15th. There's still time to participate and have your design made into a custom Rickshaw messenger bag! All the details are here.  All entries will be voted on via Facebook and shown at the celebration event:

WINNER ANNOUNCED DURING THE

SF ETSY EVENT @ RICKSHAW BAGS

SEPTEMBER 25th @6pm
904 22nd Street – San Francisco, CA

Right next to 22nd Street Cal Train Station

So, what are we making?  I asked our team to share their designs in progress and here's two ideas.  Feel free to share yours in the comments below or email me at evenhoward @ gmail.com and I'll add your photos too!

Sarah Friedman of Birdbags

"The design is sketched roughly, in chalk.  Lately, I have been missing home (New York) and have decided to make this flap in honor of our new home in Northern California, by celebrating all that the landscape has to offer.

Sarah's work in progress Rickshaw Bag Flap design drawn with inspiration photo.

My flap design is based on a photo that I took in Sonoma County, when we first moved here.  I will be using the colors and the design elements in the landscape to create an abstract version of the image on a piece of Turquoise "Vegan Leather" (Vinyl).  I will be machine embroidering the elements to create a "drawing" in thread.

Sarah's new Nightingale Handbag ~ check out her machine embroidery!

I've been experimenting with embroidery on vinyl to give an extra dimension to the fabric.  I'm having a lot of fun with it, so I am excited to push the limits in a more literal, pictorial way with this design."

Jen Johnson of Mama's Magic Studio

"Lately I’ve been playing with a “Bluebirds – Happiness” theme for collage quilts, and I continued the idea for my bag flap. I’m attaching a pic of the submission finished so far and a pic of my wall hanging quilt that started the series. I’m trying to decide if I want to include a heart above the two birds similar to the one in the wall hanging quilt. Leaning towards no, but still deciding and would love opinions!

Jen's Rickshaw Bag Flap Design ~ entirely made from FabMo fabrics. 

Oh, and one more thing that might be of interest – my submission was created entirely from upcycled designer fabric remnants obtained through the recent SF Etsy fabric distribution at FabMo!"

Jen Johnson's Birds of Happiness quilted panel~her bag inspiration!

Jen's "Mother Bird Nest Pendant" from her Etsy Shop

I'm working on a colorful thread crochet flap; I hope with a graphic black and white element. Betsy is using Spoonflower to print her own fabric.  The possiblities are endless!  Looking forward to seeing more of what our team creates!  Questions about the bag contest can be directed to our fearless Captain Katy.

~Even

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

SF Etsy & Rickshaw Bags Design Contest

About a month ago, Rebecca Saylor strolled into Rickshaw Bagworks to collect some heavyweight fabric scraps that they were donating to Fabmo - along with some bags they made for volunteers.

Little did she know...she would spark a partnership that could very well go down in SF Etsy history.

Meet Mark Dwight...Founder & CEO of Rickshaw Bagworks. He's also the Founder of SFMade.

He's a completely talented and creative individual who really knows what it's like to start something from a small seedling of an idea - into something really special.

Read all about Rickshaw Bags and tell me you're not already feeling inspired by these people.

He heard about us through the SF grapevine and he said to Rebecca - I want to team up with SF Etsy and wanted to see if we would like to work together on some fun projects....and Rebecca said "I'll connect you!" The excitement was in the air.

I could hear the smile in Rebecca's voice when she called to tell me about partnering with them.  Shortly after, she connected me with Mark and the three of us started to coordinate a series of partnerships with Rickshaw Bagworks for SF ETSY MEMBERS ONLY :-)!! Yay'

The First partnership starts now...

THE DESIGN CONTEST!

I personally am completely thrilled by this contest...and I just know you all will be, too. Bag makers, embroidery artists and painters/illustrators will LOVE this project.

Basic Concept:

Design the front flap of a Rickshaw Bagworks Medium Zero Messenger Bag.

Materials You Can Use (limitations on material usage):

• For Illustrators/Screenprinters/Painters - use 10 oz. weight canvas & screen printing paint. Make sure you waterproof it also just in case it gets caught in the rain when it's made into a bag
• Bag Designers - heavy-weight upholstery fabric or anything that is 10 oz. weight or more. You can do a quilting technique or use your sewing machine to patch on different pieces to the front flap...the world is your oyster. You can even add a pocket to the front also (sorry, no button though)
• For Embroidery: see above. :) You can embroider on any heavy-weight fabric 10 oz. weight or more.

NO GLITTER - NO SEQUINS - NO FEATHERS - NO EXTRA PARTS

Nothing that could get stuck in a machine when being cut or assembled. 

Bag design should lay flat and be easy to fold up... nothing too thick, sticky or messy.

If you use any of the restricted materials, your submission will be disqualified.

The Pattern:

Download and view the pattern below

http://www.katyatchison.com/messengerBag_rickshawZero_medium_SFETSYFLAP.jpg

your submission will be is 20" by 15"
Keep your main design in the safe area shown below

PLEASE DO NOT CUT IT INTO A FLAP SHAPE

(that way, if you want to make this into a bag yourself later,
you can still do that and have them cut it for you)



Rebecca Saylor's flap design and the color swatches

Designing your one-of-a-kind flap...is really fun!



Mark of Rickshaw Bags hard at work with Rebecca's flap design

Here's a photo Astra Brinkmann took of me working on my bag design

How to submit your flap design:

Send a scan or a take a photo of your bag flap to me (Katy) by September 15th.

I will create a mock-bag with your design for voting.

Make sure you send in the best quality photo to get the most votes!
ONLY ONE DESIGN PER SF ETSY MEMBER

BAG EXAMPLES:
Here are the two bags designed from the flaps that Rebecca and I made. Notice that she used a quilting/sewn technique and I used a painting technique on my flap.

You can really individualize your design to suit your artistic style.


Flap design by Rebecca Saylor using heavy-weight upholstery

Detail shot of Rebecca's Bag - all photos taken by Rickshaw Bagworks



Detail shot of Katy's finished bag



Flap design by Katy Atchison - later assembled and built by Rickshaw Bagworks



This is what the mock design will look like for voting

Voting & How You Win:

Voting will begin on September 18th and will end September 24th on our Facebook Page. The winner will be announced at a September 25th event (see below). To win: you must have the highest COMBINED total of likes and comments for your bag design.

What you win:

You get your one-of-a-kind bag made - for free 
by Rickshaw Bagworks

Valued at over $89. You'll get to completely customize the color combination of your bag by choosing the final colors for the inside, outside and piping of the bag.

Why You want to be part of this:

EXPOSURE! Every design submitted will be posted on our Facebook Page with a link to your shop. We will have blog postings about the contest. And a whole event to announce the winner, too!

Not only that - you'll get the opportunity to really show Rickshaw Bagworks what you're all about...and YOU can build this bag later yourself if you want and wear it around to show off your brand and what you're work is all about.

WINNER ANNOUNCED DURING THE

SF ETSY EVENT @ RICKSHAW BAGS

SEPTEMBER 25th @6pm
904 22nd Street – San Francisco, CA
Right next to 22nd Street Cal Train Station

During our exclusive SF Etsy Event at Rickshaw Headquarters

FREE beverages will be provided by Speakeasy Beer! YUM!

All SF Etsy members can come to this free event! If you designed a flap - please, bring it to the event to show it off to Rickshaw and so we can create a pop-up gallery for all of us to talk about and enjoy during the event. We'll be hanging them all up and admiring your work.

Plus! Added bonus for attending: Rickshaw Bagworks wants to talk to YOU about teaming up with them to create limited edition bags. You do the fun part - put your spin on the front of the bag...

and then they assemble bags to your specs! Come hang with us and Rickshaw Bags (drink a free beer!)  and see why they want to work with you - help you expand your business into the art of making bags along side Rickshaw Bagworks via small batch one-of-a-kind bags & in-store consignment opportunities.  Imagine having access to an industrial sewing machine - a team of people to assemble your work - and a whole company wanting to help you ...create something... magical!

Plus, Mark will talk all about SFMade - what it is & how to join!

Questions?

Ask me or Rebecca if you are struggling with any part of this. We want to make this a fun project for each of you! 

HUGE THANK YOU to Rebecca Saylor. This has been her vision and we are so lucky to have her on our team!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!