Business Tips from A to Z

Are You Sure Price is the Problem?
by David Yoho

Breaking Up with Your Sales Rep

Collaborative Advertising Pays Off

Downsizing Can Be the Start of Growth
by Alex Brand

Exhibiting in Showrooms

Functional Displays Draw in Buyers

Get the Most From Your Show Contract

How to Create Opportunities to Succeed

Insurance Musts for Crafts Businesses

Jump-start Sales by Educating Your Customers

Keeping Safe at Craft Shows

Learn the Value of a Utility Patent on Process

Make it Your Business to Avoid Scams

This Month Online

Velvet Moonshine: Personal Treasures

Before Joye Newman started Velvet Moonshine Fabric Art in 2001, she bestowed her one-of-a-kind Judaic treasures on friends and family as gifts for special occasions. The more she gave, the more requests she got for similar items. It soon became apparent that she should start a business. So she called upon longtime friend Shelly Rudo to help her with marketing and sales: Velvet Moonshine was born.

Today, Newman creates and sells handcrafted challah covers, matzoh covers, havdalah spice bags, and tallitot and tallit bags utilizing luxurious fabrics combining a quilted effect interwoven with a Judaic theme. Newman draws satisfaction from selecting luxurious fabrics, and using quilting techniques to create Judaic items that have deep meaning for those who purchase them. Newman says that each Velvet Moonshine piece is lovingly created to become a family heirloom — the perfect gift or personal treasure. Find out more HERE.

Notes From Buyers at Shows

Open an Online Gallery

Putting Your Business on the Web

Quality Ideas for Better Shows, Sales and Creativity by Bruce Baker

Ready a Returns Policy Before You Need It

Shifting Your Gallery’s Emphasis Can Increase Sales

The Year’s Best in Film and Digital Photography by Steve Meltzer

Use eBay to Sell Your Work

Value in Advertising To Get Name Recognition

Working With Family Employees

eXclude Credit Card Fraud From Your Business

Year-end Index

Zoom in on Texture in Photos and Slides

 

"Let Us Know What's On Your Mind":
Feedback, Opinions, Requests
theeditor@craftsreport.com

 

 

On the Cover:Suzanne Herbert-Forton’s mixed-media wall art is inspired by a variety of sacred influences, including medieval altar pieces and Orthodox icons. Herbert-Forton is from Catonsville, Md.

Photo by David Egan Photography, Baltimore, Md., www.DavidEgan.com.


Departments

Craft Scene
• Editor’s Journal
• Feedback
• Changes in 2004 for Winter and Summer Wholesale Shows
• Crafts Getting Public’s Attention
• Celebrity Adds to Jewelry Designer’s Business
• Memorial: Stephen and Graham Davidson


Insight: Judaica and Religious Crafts
• Artists share their insights about making a living selling
Judaica and religious crafts, plus resources
• Ten Years Later with Dodie Eisenhauer
• Insight Survey: 2003 Year-end Results

Regional Profile: Arizona, Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming
• Southwest Craft Sales Warm Up in the Winter
• New Mexico’s La Jicarita Woodcarvers:
Artisans of the High Road
• Regional Galleries
• Craft Showcase Artist Listings
• Regional Shows

Craft Showcase

Public Opinion
Will Sales of American Crafts Be Better, Worse, or Unchanged in 2004?

Articles without hypertext links are only available in the print version of The Crafts Report.