HOW TO: Look sharp for the summer

Have you noticed that when it comes to paper folding, we mean serious business? See below. Yes, that is a bowtie made entirely out of paper! Also, just because summer is coming, it doesn't mean that you can't look totally dapper.

 Origami Paper Bowtie: sophistication with a twist!

Check out how it's made!

Want to try it out yourself? Download the PDF version here! Please download the file and print from your computer, and NOT straight from the browser to avoid weird formatting. And please make sure your PDF viewer is up-to-date. If you've tried everything and it still doesn't look right, you can always just print out the image above. 

I can't promise that this DIY is super easy. If you don't have a lot of experience with folding tessellations, I'd strongly suggest that you try this bracelet DIY first. It will help you get a sense of how these folds work. Good luck!

PS I'd love to see photos of your paper bowtie! Check out bowties by Ayako Uyemura, Jessica Nevina, All Things Paper, and la Fiancee du Panda.

Great Canadian Craft - my Afterthoughts

The Spring Fling 2013 Edition of the Great Canadian Craft was going to be my largest craft fair ever. (Okay, though it may not speak volumes, as I have only participated in one event beforehand, my expectation was high! Read on...) The venue at the Vancouver Convention Center alone conjured images of clustering shoppers in slick, bright exhibition halls. Also, there were two cruise ships entering and departing the nearby port over the weekend. Excitedly, I opted for the biggest space available (a 10' by 10), and even splurged on the option to have a corner booth. Fancy, right? But alas, it did not have the huge turn-out to match my perhaps unrealistic expectations. 

Nevertheless, I was really pleased with how our booth looked! Visualizing a design in your head doesn't always translate well in real life, but this (and chatting with cool people like Lisa Cinar of Draw Me a Lion, and Brittany van Dyck of type B) definitely made the weekend worthwhile. One lady even awarded me "Best Booth Design" unofficially, of course, as she walked by. Wee!

The Fiber Lab Family Photo

Looking forward, here are a few things that I will definitely investigate when deciding which craft fairs to sign up for:

1. Corner Booth Option:  Some craft fairs will give you an option for a corner booth for an extra fee. Whether it's worth it really depends on the layout of the entire space. For example, in a space with clearly defined aisles that force people traffic in specific directions, a corner booth definitely has its advantages. Shoppers are also more likely to visit each and every booth. 

Splurge for Corner? Go for it!

However, in a grid style layout, people tend to wander around aimlessly, with crowds gathering in the center. In this case, corner booths do not stand out at all. Exterior corner booths can even feel somewhat deserted. 

Splurge for Corner? Nope.

2. Electricity / Wireless Internet: If you need these, always check with the organizer or the venue for availability and fee. It can really add up.

3. Entry Fee: A cheap and affordable entry fee for shoppers helps ensuring a large crowd. 

Oh, another thing I learned is that I really love designing booths! I can spend months daydreaming about them. Please feel free to comment, or send me a message if you ever need display ideas or consultation! 

Chipboard Origami

Over the weekend, I made some display stands for a craft fair that I am participating in - the Great Canadian Craft is taking place on May 11 & 12, 2013 in Vancouver. Here are photos of one of the smaller ones. I think I want to name them "Cakes".

FACT: chipboard origami is an excellent finger strength training exercise.

Spring-ness.

Come check out the rest of the Cake gang at the show! 

You dropped something...

Saw this photo on ARTECNICA's Faceboook page, and fell in love with it! I am totally going to sprinkle loads of paper circles next time I am at the craft fair. 

Display by KIZUKU

HOW TO: Get on the Etsy Front Page

Presenting a pseudo-scientific color guide for Etsy sellers aka image processing fun in MATLAB...

If you own an Etsy shop, chances are you have wondered (and most likely Googled), "Just how does one get on the Etsy Front Page?!" You know what I am talking about - that amazing, magical hour, during which your item is featured brings the kind of traffic you can only dream about. Ever elusive, how Etsy picks the winning treasury list is also kind of a mystery. The hilarious Regretsy likens this selection process to "throwing corn on a keyboard, and going with whatever the chicken pecks out".

Yup, it does feel that way. But is it? It surely hasn't stopped people from trying to figure it out. And I love that. However, it's not a total black box. Many people have noticed that the rule-of-thumb seems to involve photos with white/light backgrounds that create "a muted selection of desaturated creaminess". So in this post, I am going to try to verify this observation and explore other trends. 

Data is Everything

First, I downloaded 366 Front Page screenshots from Craft Cult - what a wonderful site for data lovers! Each image is taken at around 9 PM everyday in 2012. Like this one with a Fiber Lab Mint Bubble contributing to a collection of romantic spring hues. 

Hey, mint Bubble! You fit right in.

Now, why did I pick 9 PM? Tim Layton attempted to analyze the best time to list on Etsy, and it turns out to be around 9:30 AM and PM. (And I've been doing it all wrong. Oh well.) So, being on the Front Page during that time is the ultimate jackpot, right? 

Pixels Organized Neatly

Then I used MATLAB, a numerical computing software, to sort each pixel into color circles. Each ring shows a main color in the treasury list. The ring size is proportional to the amount of pixels in that color group.

Woah, hypnotic. 

This looks really cool and pretty, but not entirely useful at revealing any color trends. After trying out several ways to represent these color data, I decided to plotted each ring as circles on a color wheel.

The colors don't always match the color wheel due to variations in saturation. Front Page worthy pixels are usually less saturated. 

The straight line across the middle indicates the most dominant color pair, in this case, peach and mint. Repeating this method for every treasury that I have collected. The following are the monthly results. 

Jan / Feb

Mar / Apr

May / Jun

Jul / Aug

Sept / Oct

Nov / Dec

Do You See It?

So, I think it's safe to say that the observations are spot-on. You have the best chance if you go with whites with warm and earthy undertones. Sometimes pairing them with the complementary blue hues works. And honestly, don't even try to be creative and bother with the purples and bright greens. Apparently nobody likes them. There is little variation in what is popular throughout the year. Somewhat disappointing, as I was really hoping to see brighter colors in the summer and duller ones in the winter. Wouldn't that be a really cool trend?

Learning is Fun
Is there a point to this? Probably not a whole lot, but I learned a few tricks while playing in MATLAB. That is the important thing, and I am totally enjoying these pretty circles. If you want to know more about how these are generated, please let me know. Thanks for reading!