crafthaven

What is Crafthaven?
Crafthaven is the working title for a crafting materials swap that will be occurring outside Cincinnati, Ohio beginning in Spring 2011. Crafters are invited to bring materials or tools (no completed crafts) to trade, in an effort to reduce waste of leftover or unwanted materials, and to provide a low-cost resource for crafters to acquire new materials to work with. Currently we expect Crafthaven swaps to happen quarterly, beginning in April 2011, but this may change during the planning process.

For more specific information, start with the original idea post here. Clicking the "next entry" button will take you through updates and discussions chronologically.

Another issue several people have brought to me is the issue of fairness.

What if someone donates some items, gets their vouchers, and then can't find anything they want to trade for?

Here are my thoughts, but as always, this is open to debate, suggestions etc.

Maria suggested the possibility of letting people pay for vouchers, and also allowing them to cash out unused vouchers, but to be honest I really don't want to involve money in Crafthaven at all. Especially as this puts me personally at risk for having to give people money if more people want to cash out than buy in. And as I've said before, while I'm willing to put lots of time and energy into this, I'm wanting to put in as little money as possible while still making it awesome. (I also don't want to set up a feel of buying/selling--this is really meant to be a big, friendly swap, where people can get some new crafty stuff without spending money.)

I'd like to write up some disclaimer wording about things you bring being DONATIONS--which is to say, we give you value back by giving vouchers, but we do not owe it to you that you find something you want. Ideally for those that don't find things they want, they could use their vouchers to "buy back" what they brought, if someone else has not claimed it. Alternately, they can keep their vouchers to use at the next swap event. But I don't think Crafthaven as an entity (or more specifically, Crafthaven volunteers) should be responsible for making sure everyone leaves with a trade they wanted, because there's no way to know what will be brought or what people are looking for.

DISCUSS.

Revision: July 16, 2010

First Event
I'm expecting to finish my planning sometime in the winter. Since my ideas about location and setup currently involve being outside (thus, warm weather), that means the first swap event will probably not be able to happen until Spring 2011. I'm thinking April, with a hope for good weather.

Allergens and Cleanliness
A few people have put forth the possibility of bedbugs, fleas, or other unpleasantries being in donations. My suggestion is to ask that fabric donations be washed before donating, and to strongly suggest that anyone who takes a fabric swap wash it when they get home. What do you think? Is this realistic? I know not all fabrics are washable, and that not everyone will do it, but do you think this will address the issue? I certainly plan to wash any fabrics that I'll be storing long-term between swaps that come from people I don't know personally.

I originally envisioned that fabric donations would have to come from a pet-hair-free, smoke-free home, but I have been talked around to a more buyer-beware system--we'll warn that not all donations are allergy-friendly. The wash-before-bringing may also help this issue somewhat.

ETA about Allergens and Toxic Items:

ysabetwordsmith has brought up some great points about dealing with allergens and other potentially dangerous materials in the comments. Also, I'll be doing some research about what craft materials may cause allergic reactions, but if you have any to chime in, please do!

ysabetwordsmith  mentioned:
-Wool
-Some synthetic dyes/paints

Membership
Still thinking about membership benefits, but I do have a membership database mostly developed. Membership cards will be for each person to decorate themselves--I want to use those fake credit cards you get in junk mail, with a barcoded sticker on the back for ID purposes. Only rule in decorating is barcode sticker must be readable and undamaged. Maybe should paint them white first? Or leave them as-is? Not sure.

Possible benefit: storing voucher "credit" between swaps in the database, instead of making members hold on to their actual vouchers (see below for discussion of the voucher system).

Vouchers
On recommendation from Maria, who had some great ideas, I think I'm going to reverse my former position on using bag sizes to control give/take, and switch to an equal-exchange, voucher-based system. The values below are not set in stone, just some rough suggestions from Maria--these can definitely be adjusted based on input from everyone. Quoted from Maria's email:

--Fabric: Large, full pieces are good. But smaller, irregular scraps are also useful, particularly by quilters or doll crafters. I recommend getting a small scale that can weigh in ounces up to several pounds. I do have a mailing scale that goes up to 5 lbs, so that may work out...
    *Irregular fabric scraps: 1 voucher per ½ pound. (These can then all be thrown in a “scrap bin,” which people can pick through to assemble their own ½ pound piles.
   *Full yardage lengths of fabric: 1 voucher per yard (pieces less than a yard should be combined into weighed scraps.)
   *High-quality or unusual fabrics (I’m thinking things like silk/wool, velvet, beaded/sequined/embroidered fabric, top-end upholstery fabrics): 1 or more additional vouchers per piece. This would be at the organizer’s discretion. I’m thinking the amount would depend on both quality and quantity. IE, a yard or two of something nice, but not particularly over-the top would get 1, for a total of 2 vouchers to be used on other items. but if there were say, 6 yards of it, you might give it an additional 2 (Thinking in terms of applying the bonus amount for every 3 yards . . . ) A single yard of very nice, heavily beaded and embroidered silk might also earn 2 or 3 bonus vouchers for quality. Scraps of these types of fabrics would earn 2 vouchers per ½ pound. (You may also want to keep these in separate bins from the “regular” scraps.)
   *Yardage will be rounded up or down to the nearest yard. (1 ¼ = 1 yd, 2 ½ =3 yd, etc.)
   *Weight will be rounded up or down to the nearest ½ pound.

--Yarn:
   *One small ball/skein of plain acrylic yarn: 1 voucher
   *One large skein of plain acrylic yarn OR one skein of natural fiber/decorative yarn: 2 vouchers.
   *One large skein of natural fiber or decorative yarn: 3 vouchers.

--Tools:
   Definitely a good idea. There are so many types of tools though, you’d probably want to sit down with a whole list of the most common to determine individual voucher values.

--Beads: My best recommendation is to do it by weight. Get a small food scale or something, and assign vouchers based on weight. (ie, 2 oz equals one “item,” regardless of size or quantity of the beads that make up those 2 ounces.)

And yes, I realize packaging will throw off the weight a little . . . I say tough shit if anyone complains. It’s not meant to be a perfect system. Sometimes you’ll walk out ahead, sometimes you won’t. It’s the nature of this type of trading. Anyway:

   *2 ounces of beads, charms, fastenings, or other findings: 1 voucher
   *2 ounces of semi-precious, gem quality, or fine metal (gold, sterling silver, etc) items as described above: 2 vouchers.
   *1 spool of non-metal beading thread: 1 voucher
   *1 spool of beading wire: 2 vouchers.
   *Additional vouchers may be awarded for unique or high-quality items at the organizer’s discretion. Or for bringing in mostly un-opened items, since they’re easier to keep organized. You’ll definitely want to have a good way to keep some things sorted. Maybe also have an “unsorted” bin that costs slightly less per ounce to go through? (EX: You can get 3 or 4 oz of “unsorted” beads for 1 voucher, since you’re having the hassle of having to sort yourself, or pick through for something specific. A little bit more in your favor if you brought in unsorteds as well, but that’s why I came up with the idea of awarding extra vouchers for bringing in stuff in packages—you come out way ahead if you bring packaged stuff and leave with unsorted . . . not sure if it’s entirely fair, but still working on it.)

--Craft/Fashion Trim:
   * ¼ pound assorted trim: 1 voucher
   * ¼ pound high-qualitiy trim (beaded fringe, rhinestone, etc.) 2 vouchers
   *Full spools of trim: 1-? vouchers, depending on quantity and quality.

I'm also thinking about what vouchers should look like. I want it to be something that people can keep between events if they don't use them all. I want to make them easy to mass-produce, but I also want to make sure they're not easy to copy. I thought about stamping them, although making my own stamp would not be easy and I don't want to shell out money for a custom stamp. Using glue-gun faux wax seals might not be too bad, since I can make my own sealing stamp.

Craft Swap/Craft Resource Center
Looking for a catchier name...
This is not an actual action plan, more like a collection of my brainstorms, and an explanation of what my idea actually is.

Goals
The idea combines two goals: to organize a large-scale swap of crafting materials on a quarterly basis, and to maintain a resource center where crafters can obtain crafting materials and other relevant resources free of charge.

The Swap
Crafters tend to swap materials on a small scale basis, trading between friends or organizing a "swap day" where everyone brings items they do not plan to use but don't want to waste. I would like to organize a quarterly event, something like a yard sale or flea market, wherein local crafters bring crafting materials to share and come away with new materials they can use.

Admission
The "price" of admission would be an item to swap. Guidelines will be set for what this item can be, for fairness' sake (things outside of the guidelines may also be brought, but you must have at least one item in the guidelines to gain admission). Each person admitted would be given a standard-sized bag or container to fill--see below for more brainstorming about bags. Possibly bringing additional guidelines-acceptable items would merit additional bags? Still thinking about that.

Bags/Limiting Takeaway Items
I don't want to enforce a strict one-takeaway-per-trade rule, because many of us will bring more than we take away and that's okay, it's part of the spirit of things. Basically, it's not a direct trade--more of a "donate and you'll get access to this pool of donated items."

But I do want to limit what people can take somewhat, which can be done with bag size. I'm thinking, also, maybe one bag size can be used for fabric/yarn/scrapbooking/paint/tools and a smaller size for beads, because a bag that would be reasonable for a piece or two of fabric might be able to hold a ridiculous number of beads. Also there's the possibility that more guidelines-meeting items would get you more bags, but I'm not sure about that. Maybe you could just get one additional bag. Let's not get too crazy.

Guidelines
I'd have some other crafters help me with this, but I was thinking as a sketchy start:
-Fabric: Single piece that is at least 1 yd in length, or two pieces at least 1/2 yd in length.
-Yarn: Single ball or skein of natural fiber yarn or decorative acrylic yarn, or two balls or skeins of plain acrylic yarn.
-Tools: I'll have to think more about this, but I like the idea of accepting tools (nice scissors, hole punches, knitting needles, crochet hooks, stuff like that)
Beads: No, I really have no idea how to break this down, I don't bead. I was going to say 1-2 packages, but then some fancy beads come without packages, and some packages are cheap and tiny, and yeah I don't know.

Basically the guidelines are supposed to be the MINIMUM someone can bring to trade--they can always bring extras, even things that don't count in the guidelines, on top of their "admission fee" donation. (i.e. fabric scraps smaller than 1/2 yd should not count as an admission donation, but they can be brought in addition to a yard piece)

Frequency
As mentioned above, I'm thinking quarterly. I am a busy person (aren't we all?), but I think I can make time for 4x a year.

Alternate donations
There's also the possibility of accepting "things needed for the running of this shindig" as price of admission. Items like storage bins for keeping the leftovers between swap events (part of the Resource Center stuff below).

The Resource Center
This, in itself, is a combination of two things. First, an online catalogue, and the physical storage space, of any materials that are left over between swap events or added between events. Second, an online knowledge base about subjects relevant to crafters.

Online Catalogue
After a swap, anything that was donated and not taken will be stored and catalogued. Between swap events, all of these donated resources will be viewable on a website, sorted by color and type. I've already developed a spreadsheet to auto-generate the website code and make cataloguing easy. The next swap event, they'll be in the pool of potential takeaways again.

Barcodes
I really want to use barcodes, though it may needlessly complicate things. My spreadsheet can auto-generate them (Excel + free barcode font=AMAZING), and I can mail merge label sheets to stick them on to things. CueCat scanners are cheap, plus Dad might still have one I could bum off of him (if he's not using it, which it's possible he is since he does inventory stuff for the copier parts he uses for work). I wouldn't want to mess with scanning things at a swap event, so I think I'd do a reverse inventory--if anything barcoded is still left after the swap, I can scan that as a "still here" rather than scanning everything that was going away.

Storage Space
Currently, my basement. I have plenty of space. Which is why I will seek donations of storage bins, because while I have some (which are currently storing things that I will be donating to the swap), they're limited, and I'm looking to put time and energy into this but not a lot of money.

Other Online Resources
I'm thinking this is just a collection of articles and relevant links, which is part of the same website where the catalogue of donations is housed. I've written some of my own and collected some good links for my own use, and hopefully if I can get this off the ground other crafters would contribute.

Membership
I like the idea of having a membership option--not sure yet if you become a member automatically by donating/attending a swap event, or if there is some minimal fee (I'm thinking VERY small, like $1-$3). The main membership benefit, I think, would be the ability to "reserve" items between swap events--to request that something listed on the website be set aside for them to collect at the next event. Basically calling dibs on an item. Probably with an electronic newsletter, just something simple to let them know about the next swap event, and any major updates/changes to the resource center.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

(no subject)

Fairness

July 16 Edits: First Event, Allergens/Cleanliness, Membership, and Voucher updates

Original Idea Post

Profile

July 2020

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags