Summit of Awesome Recap

The month of May began with a bang thanks to our buddies from Hello Craft and their Summit of Awesome which took place May 1-3 in the charming neighborhood of Mid City in Washington. As a volunteer at the weekend long event, I was given a free preview of Faythe Levine's Handmade Nation documentary. Faythe traveled throughout the country to interview a number of rising DIY stars, which illustrated a commonality within this movement that there is need for change.

Another highlight of the weekend was a wonderful talk by Sublime Stitiching's Jenny Hart. Her words on how the DIY movement stems out of the punk rock movement really made my heart beat. Being an old punk rocker from the early '80's I have always tried to make a connection to my art and this very influential movement on my life. In the spirit of punk rock, we had to "do it ourselves" to listen to the music we wanted to hear as well as to buy and sell the cherished items that come from our hands and hearts, purehandmade!

The other workshop I attended was a wonderful workshop on Consumption and Sustainability. How DIY will Save the World with Sara Cotner & the $2000 Wedding with Autumn Wiggins - Upcycle Exchange. This exchange began a great discussion on how we consume in this country and how we needed more connection to what we savor, to make better decision between what we want and what we need. I really regretted not signing up for the entire summit. I hope this summit will continue for the upcoming years to celebrate this growing movement.

BEST members also had their part in this conference. Our own Megan Van Wagoner discussed Etsy Street teams and why you should connect and collaborate; How to Photograph Your Work was presented by Sherry Insley of Dandelion Blu, and there was a Plate Breaking Demo with our own Juliet Ames of The Broken Plate Pendant Co.. I highly recommend this conference for any DIY crafter at any stage. Summit of Awesome proved to be a very purposeful and informative conference. More details can be found on www.Hellocraft.com.

post written by jennyjen42