Calling all crafters – get to know IndieMade!

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Last week, Rebeca and I got to meet the savvy lady behind what is sure to be a huge hit in the craft world – IndieMade.  A DIY-er herself, Jennifer Rapp Peterson started IndieMade with her husband just a couple years ago and has big plans for it in the future…and with good reason.  Jennifer noticed that a great website (complete with shopping cart system) was either too pricey or just too intimidating for most artists.  She received business card after business card with long lists of websites – Etsy, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc. – but no personal url.  She saw the very real need for an easy solution to this website plight.

IndieMade follows in the footsteps of layman friendly website-building services like WordPress and Tumblr but focuses on the needs of the artist/crafter.  IndieMade’s websites (which can be set up in as little as 30 minutes of you’re prepared with your images and content!) are powered by a content management system (or CMS) called Drupal.  For those of who don’t spend your free time learning about content management systems (*wink*), Drupal is an open source content management system with millions of developers behind it.  Basically, lots of smart folks are constantly working to program new modules or pieces that can be puzzled together into a website that works and looks great to your site’s visitors and yet is about as easy as editing a facebook profile for the website owner (you) to update and manage.  Need an event calendar that you can update easily?  Drupal has a module for that and IndieMade has taken that module and placed it into a great looking template.  Need a shop you can easily manage?  They took care of that too.

Setting up and maintaining an IndieMade site is incredibly user-friendly even for those of us that don’t consider ourselves exactly tech-savvy.  There are also a ton of tutorials and resources on their website and there will surely be more to come in the future.  Also, because IndieMade uses Drupal, the pieces and parts they are using to build the website templates will only improve as time goes on.  They have a lot of bases covered already when it comes to the needs of the artist/crafter and have a bunch more features (like inventory management) on the horizon.  Right now they are offering two sleek and simple template designs for your website but we learned on Tuesday that they will be releasing more by the end of the summer.  Your website comes with modules for News/Press, a Blog, a Shop/Shopping Cart, and Event Calendar.  You also have the option of adding custom pages in the higher tiers of their monthly pricing.  There are also some back-end perks just for the website owner including a simple customer database and reporting tools.

IndieMade sites run on a monthly fee which essentially covers the hosting of your website (basically, storing your website and the content, photos, videos, etc.) and the development that I mentioned above.  As someone who has some experience with creating websites, I think the monthly rates are a steal for what you’re getting.  Plus, there is no activation fee and no contract so the you can get started right away and pay month to month.  Kiss the roadblock of needing a couple grand (or more) to spend on getting a website up goodbye.  Not to mention the fact that they are currently offering a 30-day free trial so you could literally get your site up for nothing!

It is likely we will begin tinkering with an IndieMade site or two in the near future and will keep you updated about how it goes.  In the meantime, check out the sites to the left – both made using IndieMade.  We also highly recommend that you check out IndieMade’s website for more information and let us know if you make your site using IndieMade.

B3’s Got Talent!

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For this year’s staff “retreat”, all members of the B3 team were asked to present a special talent as part of the first ever B3 Talent Showcase. The presentation could be no longer than 60 seconds and could be as short as 1 second.  As described by Rebeca, “You can dance, or sing or show us a piece of artwork you’ve made.  You can stand on your head.  Or bake something delicious and bring it in.  So long as you can be done in 60 seconds, whatever you want to do, goes.  (Well, OK, except illegal behavior and such.  *grin*)”

The talent showcase had a little bit of everything: dance, music-playing, monologues, jewelry, sculptures, paintings, drawings, delicious treats and even nail art and the fastest lecture of graveyards of Illinois anyone has ever heard.  We laughed, we chowed down, we oo-ed and ah-ed and in the end we just sat back and appreciated the wonderfully weird and talented group we get to work with each day.

And now, for your viewing pleasure – the documentation of this first ever event.  Enjoy!

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Talent Showcase Video

In order of appearance:

Lisa Rosenberg
Order Processor
Presents a monologue from Austin Powers

Jenna Deidel
Social Branding Coordinator + Marketing Assistent
Tap Dancing

Matt Hucke
Database Programmer, Web Developer, + General B3 Tech Guru
Presents the speediest lecture about Graveyards of Illinois ever (note: Kat’s voice in the background saying “next” was to help him stay within his time limit – not to move him along rudely haha.)

Maximillian Otto Lapine
Quality Control Specialist
Presents a monologue from Pillowman

…and last (but oh-so-certainly not least)

Rebeca Mojica
Owner + Founder of B3
Playing the piano!

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Nadja Aller
General Operations Manager

Nadja presented us with some incredibly delicious Upside-down Apple Muffins….and yes, we’ll be posting the recipe on our blog as soon as I get it from her!


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Artie Keefe
Quality Controller + Order Processor

Artie presented us with customized nameplates for our workspace!  (Later he also made homemade chai tea which was amazing!)

 

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Emily Fiks
Quality Controller + Order Processor

Emily is known for her intricately painted nails and brought in a handful (get it? handful?!) of nails she had designed.  We especially loved the B3 nail :)

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Jennifer Hohe
Inventory Coordinator + Weaver

Jen brought in a number of pieces of her hand cast metal jewelry and sculpture.  Incidentally, we loved it so much that she was the winner of the showcase!

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Aimee Leang
Customer Service Specialist

Amy presents this one of a kind piece made using a combination of chainmaille and wire wrapping.  Being the harmonious and spiritual gal that she is, she also let us in on the meaning behind the piece which celebrates the lessons life teaches us.

 

B3 Staff “Retreat” Today!

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We just wanted to give you all a heads up that we are having our staff “retreat” this afternoon.  As of about 1pm, we will be away from the studio and unable to take calls or answer emails.  Things will be back to normal tomorrow morning and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this causes for you.  It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to do a real team building retreat and with so many new employees added this year, we think it’s important to take the time to stop and really get to know one another to help us work better together.

We mentioned on Facebook a week or so ago that we were going to be having a talent show as part of this team building experience – we’ll do our best to show you guys some of the talents that our employees show off via video (with their permission of course!)  We are also using some personality tests this year to help us gain some insight into how best to communicate to the people we work with.  It’s bound to be very interesting and I can’t wait to learn more about some of my fellow staff members that I don’t know so well.

We also did a Muppet personality quiz just for fun and we thought we’d share our results with you as well as encourage you to take it and find our your Muppet personality (note, our team member Samm had not yet taken the quiz when we made this chart so he sadly is not accounted for).  Check out the B3 team breakdown (clicking on the picture will open a larger version), then follow the link below to take the quiz.  Post your Muppet type in the comments section, post it on our page on facebook or tweet it to us twitter.

The Muppet Personality Quiz

Art Roundup!

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Being in a creative environment has a number of perks, not the least of which is the fact that we run into really cool artists on a daily basis.  We exchange images, websites, and stories about artists we’ve encountered in the studio frequently, and I thought it was about time we shared some of our recent favorites.  These artists range from B3 customers, to employees and friends and are all inspiring in their own right.  We hope you’ll find as much in joy in looking at their work as we do.

 

Stephanie Anne – “Master of Deception”

A couple months ago, our Inventory Coordinator, Jen sent around an image of a piece by Stephanie, a long-time friend of B3.  (Stephanie was actually the first intern we ever had and is one of the main reasons why we even have an internship program, and she still continues to be a part of the team behind the scenes.)  The squid form is composed of felted wool, sterling wire, and Swarovski crystals.  The scales you see in the image were all handmade by Stephanie!  They are all hand-pierced copper that she silver-foiled and enameled.  Something tells me the images does not do this piece justice and if you were lucky enough to attend the SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) Conference this past spring, you got to see this piece up close and personal and frankly, we’re jealous.

 

Learn more about this artist and check our her artist statement here: http://stephanieannedesigns.weebly.com/

 

Mary Ellen Croteau – “Close”

Some of you may have seen this artist when we posted about her incredible piece on our page on Facebook a couple months ago.  Rebeca shared her work with us (Mary Ellen is actually Rebeca’s friend’s mom!) and we were all absolutely blown away!  As the title suggests, this eight-foot tall self-portrait was inspired by the work of painter Chuck Close. However, it’s Mary Ellen’s twist on materials that is perhaps most astonishing in this instance.  The piece is composed entirely of reused caps (about 7,000 to be exact!) from sources such as beverages, cleaners, and personal grooming products.  The color variation is achieved solely through layering the original color of the caps themselves.  All of us here have a certain level of patience probably above average but this even floored us!

Learn more about this artist and check out her artist statement here: http://maryellencroteau.net/

 

Lisa Rosenberg – “Wrist Corset”

Lisa is one of our B3 team members and recently shared this piece she created in her silversmithing class with me.  Needless to say, I was drooling.  The piece which she calls “The Wrist Corset” is copper trimmed in sterling silver with sterling silver grommets and chain.  She does not currently have an online shop where you could buy your own wrist corset (yeah, you know I asked!) but stay tuned – she may set one up soon!  In the meantime, if she has you inspired to learn how to make your own work like this (and you live in Illinois) check out the class she took in Carol Stream at the Many Hands Studio – contact Kathryn Larson at [email protected] for information.

 

Joshua Diliberto – Chainmaille/Cosmology/Drawing

Rebeca was recently contacted by this artist/B3 Customer when he realized that they both love two very specific things – chainmaille and cosmology!  Upon visiting his website, she also discovered that he was an incredibly talented drawer.  His highly detailed drawings are stunning and we just had to share them.  We also really liked this quote on the home page of his website: “BE AN ARTIST IN WHATEVER YOU DO. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR THOUGHTS AND BODY WHILE HAVING COMPASSION FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. LIVE AND THINK DELIBERATELY, INTENTIONALLY, AND DO NOT LET LIFE HAPPEN TO YOU.” -JOSHUA DILIBERTO

Learn more about this artist and check out his artist statement here: http://www.joshuadiliberto.com/index.html

Our Website’s New Look!

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We are so excited to be unveiling our website facelift! A new look has been a long time coming and we hope you’ll love our updated style as much as we do.  Although this site update is largely cosmetic, there are a handful of changes to the organization of our site and the ways you can navigate it.  This blog post will address some of the changes we made to help familiarize you with our new-ish site, however, feel free to contact us with questions if we missed anything.

While this new look is a lot of fun, we are still planning a major site overhaul at the end of this year into the beginning of 2012. Some of the changes we made now will stay and some will change yet again.  At this stage, we really want to hear from our customers about what is working, and what isn’t.  One of the great things about our major site overhaul is that we get to start with a much cleaner slate and your input will help us know how to begin piecing together the ultimate shopping experience and chainmaille resource.

Our Website Feedback Survey is now closed but we still want to know your thoughts about our website.  Leave a comment, write on our wall on facebook, send us a tweet or email us at [email protected] and most importantly, look for a longer survey in the months ahead that will give you the chance to tell us your complete wish list for B3’s new website.

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NEW MENU + SUB-MENUS

Our main website navigation still lives in basically the same place as the old one but we think this one is lots more fun (check out the fun jump ring animation!  We’ve been playing with it nonstop, too *wink*) and much easier to see and use.  Simply click on the page you’d like to visit.

We also added a new sub-menu in the blue bar right underneath the main menu.  If you see a little arrow, you can roll over the sub-menu item and see a dropdown of quick links to individual pages.  Want to jump right to the Aluminum page?  Now you can.

 

The sub-menu for each main menu item will remain in the blue bar no matter what page you go to so there is no need to go back to the main page.  For example, let’s say you’re in the “Buy Supplies” section and want to jump from the Aluminum page to the Niobium page, you’re just one click away!  Roll over “Colored Rings” in the sub-menu and click on “Niobium” and you’re there!  No need to go back to the main supplies page to get there.

 

OTHER NEW FEATURES IN THE PAGE HEADER

You can always access our home page by clicking on our logo or by clicking the home icon. In addition, access your cart or our contact information by clicking the corresponding items in the upper-right hand corner of the header.  You can also use the search bar to search our site by using keywords like “Aluminum” or “Chained book”.

 

NEW SUPPLIES PAGE

We think our new supplies page is clearer and much more user friendly.  From this page, you can access each category of supplies that we sell.  We added quick links to popular products/pages as well to get you to what you need even more quickly.

 

NEW BASE METALS PAGES

We rolled out our new base metals pages a while ago but there are still a few features that are worth pointing out.

Want to learn more about a certain metal?  Click on “more info” to read more about that particular metal so you can design which one is perfect for your project.

Near the top of every base metal page, you’ll see a list of letters.  If you know the size you need, you can click on the corresponding letter (for example “L” if you were shopping for size L18) and jump down the page to that size. Once you’re there, click on the ring size for stats and uses and/or jump to the same size in a different metal using the links below the table.

 

SLIGHT CHANGES TO OUR KITS PAGE

At the top of every individual kit page, you will see a pretty large menu that lists all our kits by level.  You can jump right to the kit you want by clicking the link for its page.  If you’re not sure what you want, you can browse through kits by using the Previous and Next arrows.  The kits will appear in order of skill level as you browse so just keep an eye on the level in the parenthesis next to the kit title to make sure you are getting the right kit for you.

 

NEW HELP SECTION

Our help section includes our FAQ as well as cool links, resources, and articles from past B3 newsletters.  If all else fails, visit our contact page and let us know your question so our customer service folks can help you.

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Now it’s your turn to let us know what you think.  Spend some time clicking around the site and then share your thoughts by filling out our survey.  The survey is 8 questions and will take about 5-15 minutes to complete. Thank you again for your time and feedback and don’t forget to enter to win a B3 gift certificate!