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Crafting in the cyberworld
Local crafters find Internet boosts visibility, sales
Friday, May 20, 2011
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Melanie Akren-Dickson of North Beach pours soap into a mold Friday in her kitchen. She makes specialty soaps, as well as sea glass jewelry, pictured at right, to sell at knick-knack shops in the area and in her online North Beach Crafts store.
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Many people have a hobby or an artistic talent that they wish they could make a full-time career. But, until recently, the ability to make that dream into a reality or even a profitable side hobby in Southern Maryland was difficult.
The effort needed to advertise goods, promote deals, ship products, pay sales taxes or travel to city craft shows made selling homemade wares more of a second full-time job than a creative release.
As it has with most everything else, the Internet has changed all that. Even though it was only founded six months ago, the Southern Maryland Etsy Team on Etsy.com, the World Wide Web's largest online consignment shop, already has 56 members.
Crafters from all over the three Southern Maryland counties have joined together to share sales tips, disseminate news about craft shows and support one another's creative efforts.
Out in the real world, the burgeoning craft clan is supported by Annmarie Garden in Solomons, whose year-old Maker's Market craft shows give cybercrafters a low-risk opportunity to peddle their creations to the local public.
A creative spark
Cori Shaw Meloney of Waldorf didn't set out to be the captain of an Internet group. A year before she took the helm of Southern Maryland Etsy Team, Meloney was looking for a creative outlet.
"I'm a stay-at-home mom," Meloney said, noting that she takes care of her toddler son during the day as her husband works as a flight test engineer at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. "Predominantly what I do is hand-dyed clothing for babies and toddlers."
Meloney first was inspired to attempt sewing but confessed, "Turns out I can't really sew well." However, she then saw an article on batik — a Javanese dyeing process using wax to create patterns — in a Washington Post article and decided to give it a try.
Now, the hobby is her job. But when does she make time for it while caring for an active little boy?
"It depends on the day," Meloney said. "Like, right now, he's sleeping."
Meloney said she gets up early before her son to work then works again during his nap time and in the evening.
"It's creative and it's flexible," Meloney said of her latest career. She said the business doesn't make the kind of money she used to earn as a journalist, but she said she is "doing it to be here for my family."
Some crafters stay home voluntarily, but others don't have that choice.
Melanie Akren-Dickson of North Beach, owner of North Beach Crafts, sells decorative hand-painted rocks, gel candles, handmade soap and other crafts inspired by her proximity to the Chesapeake Bay.
She also dabbles in the medium of frosted beach glass, which she collects. But she won't tell the top-secret place where she still finds it.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Akren-Dickson said, laughing.
Akren-Dickson herself is lucky to be alive. Since a car accident last year, she has suffered frequent headaches and vertigo, preventing her from working as a registered nurse.
"I can't work right now," Akren-Dickson said. "I decided to go back and pursue artistic endeavors."
Akren-Dickson had some experience selling her wares at the old Calvert Crafters Market in Prince Frederick, which closed a few years ago. After her accident, she returned to her former hobby by educating herself on crafting techniques that interested her.
"I bought a couple of books on Amazon.com and read everything online I could," Akren-Dickson said, and she started creating soap in November 2010.
For Ashley Jolliver of Great Mills, her Jolliworks jewelry business is an extension of her longtime hobby.
"I've always made jewelry," Jolliver said, recalling that she started in high school, more than seven years ago, making corded friendship bracelets. "I make handmade jewelry, and I'm slowly working on accessories.
"I love crafts," Jolliver said, expressing her fondness for do-it-yourself creations. "I love DIY things."
Jolliver currently works as an administrative assistant at military contractor SAIC in Lexington Park, and she only recently went into business for herself.
Moving online
The recent explosion of locally produced crafts available online is largely driven by one website. Etsy.com is an online consignment shop that gives crafters and artisans access to sales and promotional tools for their businesses, and an online storefront, in exchange for a nominal fee for posting each item.
Akren-Dickson said she just opened her Etsy store in February, and Jolliver said she opened hers last year.
"My friends had told me about Etsy," Jolliver said. "My friends are really the ones who pushed me into it."
Meloney said she launched her Etsy store, Peace, Baby! Batiks, in December 2009.
"Once I started putting more work into my Etsy store, sales started picking up," Meloney said. "You need to market yourself, just like any store."
So then Meloney started a blog. And then a Twitter feed. And then the Southern Maryland Etsy Team.
"She's a dynamo. … She's very, very active," Akren-Dickson said of Meloney. "She's really been instrumental in moving us all forward."
"It's a fairly new group," Jolliver said of the team. "We haven't even met up yet."
"You feel like a little island," Akren-Dickson said of crafting on her own. But having the Southern Maryland team to talk to online has made her feel like part of something bigger.
"It's really very empowering to feel you have a team around you," she said.
Akren-Dickson, who said she is significantly older than Meloney and Jolliver, said she has appreciated the web of knowledge the team provides about online sales.
"You really do have to become knowledgeable about interconnections," Akren-Dickson said. "If you are willing to be a little investigative about this … you really have an opportunity to expand your business."
She confessed that she finally had to ask her children the fateful question: "What is Tweeting?"
However, once online, Akren-Dickson observed that crafters must work hard to distinguish their items from the millions of others on Etsy and other sites.
"You sort of feel like a tree in the forest," Akren-Dickson said.
Jolliver noted that timing is an important element when posting a new creation to the Web.
"It's kind of hit or miss," Jolliver said. "The time of day really affects how much I sell."
Reality is still superior
Despite the ease and speed with which local crafters can do business online, the face-to-face sales are still important. For that reason, Akren-Dickson, Jolliver and Meloney all spontaneously mentioned that they will be participating in "the Maker's Market" this summer.
The year-old Maker's Market program at Annmarie Garden has served as a low-risk, low-key test market for new amateur crafters to meet their buyers face to face. Stacey Hann-Ruff, Annmarie's director, said more than 130 crafters and artists have participated in the market, and 80 already have signed up this year.
"We love the program; we are very proud," said Hann-Ruff, who noted that the monthly shows are not juried, allowing anyone with the $10 sign-up fee to set up shop.
Jolliver said she has sold her wares at the Maker's Market a few times, and she prefers being able to interact directly with customers.
"It's way easier to sell face to face," Jolliver said, noting that she can instantly see how customers are reacting to her pieces and guide them to more pieces in which they might be interested.
Akren-Dickson said she also prefers direct sales to online business.
"I think it's going better for me in person," Akren-Dickson said, noting that the Internet deprives buyers of the sensual experience that really sells her soap products. "You pick it up; you see it's translucent; you smell the fragrance. That's all missing [online]."
Hann-Ruff said she believes online markets such as Etsy are a good complement to the Maker's Market.
"It's a great combination," Hann-Ruff said, noting that buyers can find local items online and then check them out at the market or discover them at the market and order them online. "I think they are good for each other. I don't see it as competition. … Being an artist these days, you have to wear a lot of hats or have a lot of outlets for your work."
However, Hann-Ruff is partial to her program, noting that it's greener to buy goods at the market.
"If you buy something locally, you save all kinds of packaging," she said. "I have to believe it's less use of our natural resources."
