The date for the SweepIn broom maker’s gathering is approaching, and the event continues to grow! I have to say that when this idea first came up, I thought, sure, why not… it’s be fun to get a a small group together and talk about brooms. Small group? No! At present more than 45 people have expressed an interest in attending and the information has only been listed here on my website, the broom makers list, and there’s been a bit of word of mouth traffic.

I also thought it’s be nice to have a class or a demonstration or two. This has grown, too! At present we have 2 classes, 3 demonstrations, 2 presentations… well, instead of my rambling on, take a look at the schedule I’ve put together:

OUR EVENTS

These are tentative and subject to change. Note that Friday and Saturday events will be open to visitors.

THURSDAY

• Setup after 5 p.m.
• There’s also going to be some demonstrating on Mountain View’s Courthouse Square in the evening! Feel free to join us… let’s get the word out!

FRIDAY

• Setup before 10 a.m.
• Friday morning: Meet and greet! Enter art brooms.
• Friday afternoon: Traditional Round Ozark Fireside Broom Class with Bill Soetaert. Cost is $50. 1 pm to 4:30 p.m. class may end earlier.
• Friday afternoon: “Grow your own broom” presentation by Little John. No cost, open to the public. 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

SATURDAY

• Saturday morning: Whisks 101 – Turkey Wings and Hawk Tails with Little John. Cost $50. 9 am to 12:30 pm class may run longer.
• Dyeing broomcorn demonstration – all afternoon
• Traditional Besom tying demonstration – Time TBA
• Broomcorn seeding demonstration – Time TBA. Demonstration may be repeated.
• Friday afternoon: “Grow your own broom” presentation by Little John. No cost, open to the public. 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

SUNDAY

• Materials round robin and tool swap 9 am until it’s over
• Many fond farewells!

There’s usually music being played all around the square on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and your fee gets you into a concert either Friday or Saturday night at the Ozark Folk Center where the doors open at 6:30 and the concert starts at 7 p.m. and ends around 9 or 10 depending on the number of groups playing and the number of curtain calls they get).

Looks like there’s nary a moment to be bored!

If you’re wanting to attend as a broom maker, you’ll need to download, fill out, and send back one of the registration forms:

• SweepIn Registration Form in Microsoft Word Format
• SweepIn Registration From in PDF format

Popularity: 18% [?]

Pssst. Wanna skip the intro and dive right in? —->

For the past several years, we’ve been selling at local shows, on this website and on Ebay. However, I’ve always thought that there had to be an alternative. I had heard of Etsy, and there have been vague rumors about other sites and services starting with the intention of competing with ebay and Etsy.

It turns out that the rumors are true. There are more then 20 alternatives to Etsy and ebay. But I find that, short of signing up and trying them out one at a time, there’s precious little on the internet that compares the alternatives in an easy to read way. None of the reviews I have read compare them at all! That’s not to say that there aren’t reviews out there that compare… that’s just to say I haven’t found them.

To ease my mind and make my decisions easier I started researching them. Now, I want to share what I’ve learned with you.

The first thing I learned is that there’s no possible way I can compare and contrast all the services and sites in the course of a single blog post. I began this story about 2 weeks ago and after some 40 hours online, I had generated more than 3000 words, a dozen or so charts and tables, and I wasn’t close to being done. This is suited for a book (hello, publishers… contact me), or a series of magazine articles (again, hello publishers… you out there Crafts Report?), or a series of blog posts.

Until the publishers drop me a line, then, that’s what I’ll do… a series of blog posts.

What I want to do in this series of blog posts is tell you about a single specific service at a time, and then use a table or chart to compare it to all the other offerings. To that end, I’ve chosen a fairly broad range of elements to look at and review:

• Fees – how much to list, what percentage of sales in commission, how else does the service provide for itself (advertising, etc.) – What does it cost?
• Fit – I make crochet hooks and knitting needles, looms and brooms, a fairly eclectic mix of items. I do not think my products will sell well opposite a gaggle of Made in China products or a huge list of used computer components – Do I fit here?
• Ease – Some services make it easy to list, some seem to require a post graduate education. Personally, I don’t want to think – How easy is it to list an item.
• Traffic – I could have the most wonderful product on the planet and if I set up shop in Antarctica, I’ll probably have very very few customers. Likewise, a service that offers low fees and easy listing and a perfect fit, but gets few visitors isn’t going to help me. – How many people visit the site.
• Marketing and Integration – People are already starting to call Web 2.0 old hat and turning to the social web, calling it Web 3.0. This trend came about with the widespread adoption of MySpace (which I did not check as I do not use), Twitter, and Facebook. Google Buzz was debuted as I was writing this and is not included. This segment might well be the hardest to justify, but I feel it’s important to have a social presence as that can potentially drive more visitors to the site. – Are they working for you?

Without further ado, I give you the table… soon to be filled with all kinds of interesting and useful information… click on the title of the service on the score card below to view a complete review.

Note that this is all based on my experiences and opinion and needs. Your needs and experiences may be different from mine…

Finally, if you have any information or opinions regarding these sites, feel free to share now or at any time via email or comments right here…

Popularity: 17% [?]

Back in late September or early October, I was in the broom shop at the Ozark Folk Center, chatting with visitors while between brooms when in comes a little bundle of smiles and energy and creativity accompanied by her mother. Seems the young gal, Julianna, had come up with an idea for a Halloween costume and I was just the guy to advise her in creating it.

Now, I know that everyone is thinking witch. And you’d be right… almost.

Julianna wanted her mother to be a witch and she wanted to be the broom!

Here’s what her Karen, her mother, had to say:

If you can recall…Julianna came up with this idea herself and knew I would be her witch. There wasn’t a soul, while trick or treating, that doubted who we were. She did not, however, win the costume contest.

Thank you again. This made the trip even more memorable!

I think the judges must’ve been bought off!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

Taking measurements

The making of…

Trying things on.

Dressed and ready

Trick or Treating

Ready to ride

Popularity: 60% [?]

Gold knitting needles, of course.

Well, not real gold. That would be kinda pricey and heavy. How about Osage Orange, also called Hedge, Bodark or Bois d’Arc. This is a very hard, rot resistant wood with a gorgeous golden color when first turned. As it ages, it gets darker, but not evenly. The resulting color is like dark chocolate with ribbons or caramel… wait… must be hungry.

These particular knitting needles are size 10.5 and approximately 11-inches in length including the finial at the top. They are polished and finished and buffed using oils and beeswax until they have a soft, shiny finish that shines like glass.

Take a look… or better yet, add ‘em to your collection.

Like these, but you don’t use size 10.5? Drop me a line… I can make a set in the size you want.

Popularity: 42% [?]

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away (OK, so it was the Renaissance Festival in Colorado some 7 years ago) an elderly lady visited our shop and fondled the yarn and said, wistfully, “I used to love yarn and knitting, but I have arthritis now and it hurts to grip the needles for any length of time.”

That sounded like a challenge to me!

“M’lady,” says I. “Wouldst thou like to knit once again? I believe I canst make needles that wouldst alleviate the painful aggravation thou art feeling.”

Well, it was something like that.

She responded in the positive and I bade her return on the week.

During the days that followed, I read up on as much online literature and research as I could regarding ergonomic this and stress relieving that. The solution was actually quite simple once one knew the right questions to ask: Why did gripping the needles hurt? Because, in order to keep them from rolling about in ones fingers, one had to hold them tight. What would prevent that AND allow the yarn to slide up the needles? I say AND so loudly because one of the solutions for crocheters is to use oversize rubber grips – obviously not a solution, when the yarn needs to slide. The solution: Square Knitting Needles!

She tried ‘em, she like ‘em, she bought lots of ‘em and yarns, too. I still hear from her every once in a while…

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 55% [?]

Or just the N size.

This is a size N (10 mm) crochet hook turned and carved out of a very light piece of walnut. It is about seven-inches long and features a comfortable engraved (size on front, and year, wood and signature on back) thumbrest and double jingle rings on top.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 84% [?]

This is a nicely fanned out Turkey Wing broom bound with strong, durable, yet fine nylon twine. As I approached the top of the broom… the end of the binding. At that point, I switched by way of a secure splice, to a yellow twine which I used to plait (the woven handle) over purple hand-dyed basket reed. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 86% [?]

Going green? This kitchen broom is just the thing. Featuring a smooth standard hardwood handle, hand-dyed green broomcorn, matching hand-dyed green split and trimmed broomcorn stalk plait (the weave at the top of the sweep), and a fancy green over white pattern band of stitching, this is one very functional, very artistic broom. Great for work or decoration.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 86% [?]

This Turkey Wing broom, made from hand-dyed broomcorn is bound with wire and has a graceful forward flip. The handle is plaited (or braided) with twine over natural and hand-dyed, split and trimmed, broomcorn stalk. Because of the method used to tie this broom, no stitching is necessary.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 94% [?]

The Perfesser

I wear spectacles and I work with wire. Two seemingly unrelated items, yet…

This hearth broom measures about 28″ and has a natural sassafras handle that’s been carved with a fun “man of the woods” face. In this case, it might be “man of the local university” instead. I made the spectacles first by carefully bending the wire around a mandrel leaving two ends over the nose-piece protruding to act as staples. Then I carved the face and affixed the specs with the staples. The sweep contains more than 10 ounces of broomcorn with a bit of hand-dyed brown broomcorn on top for an accent. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 84% [?]