Hello world: the beginning of GladeMade
My name is Glade, and I am starting this blog to chronicle my small business adventure. I have been working on turning my hobbies into a real business. My hobbies include creating art out of fabric, cut-paper art, and cut-paper greeting card designs.
I have always loved art and crafts, but started making my business by doing local diy craft bazaars in Richmond, VA. I moved to Richmond right after college; right in time for an amazing productive punk rock diy Renaissance. A friend, Anna, was the driving force behind the Bazaar Market right in the street outside Chop Suey (a local bookstore), and she got me involved. At the time I was making hand-bound journals with screen-printed pages and some screen-printed t-shirts.
While I was in Richmond I made a piece of art out of scraps of fabric left over from some dresses I made in college. Once I moved to Austin, TX in July of 2005 I really got into making a bunch of fabric art. I made fast friends with Yvonne at The Stash, a South Austin shop that sold local diy stuff on consignment. I sold pieces every month and co-curated an art show titled “Child’s Play”, but still nothing more than a hobby.
In 2007 I had a big year by participating in an art show called “Chirp”, which Travis Nichols (www.ilikeapplejuice.com) curated, and participating in the Blue Genie Art Bazaar (http://www.bluegenieart.com/art_bazaar_event.html).
2009 is the year to get serious, learn the business side, and hopefully make my hobby into a career. Please check out the website that Mark Hensel, my rad boyfriend helped me create: http://www.glademade.net/