Milliners on Etsy

Etsy has a neat feature called Treasury, where you can create a collection of 16 items (from other sellers generally). I've created several for a variety of reasons. Yesterday I made one for hats. Check it out here:

New Year ... New Hat (Etsy treasury)

I believe more in karma than competitiveness. So I don't have a problem giving a shout-out to other milliners. In fact, I enjoy doing it. I love hats — and that includes hats made by other artists. :) This collection is 16 of my many favorite hats on Etsy.

"Milla– what?"

I knew that the words "milliner" and "millinery" were not exactly in the common vernacular. Still, I think I'm a little surprised by how many educated people I need to explain the word to.

I said before that I avoid using "atelier" because I think it sounds too pretentious for what I'm (currently) doing. But I do like the word "milliner." In some ways it sounds more descriptive than "hat-maker." No one is going to confuse a milliner with one of those kiosks at the mall where you can get a design embroidered on a baseball cap. Or even assume that I knit or crochet hats.

It might be time, though, to say "I make hats" when people ask what I do. Otherwise the conversation goes like this...

"What do you do?"
"I have my own millinery business."
"Milla– what?"
"Millinery."
"..."
"It means hat-making."
"Oh. I didn't know that word before."

And any conversation about my hats or my actual work vanishes as the person absorbs the new vocabulary.

But hey ... I did register merely Silverhill Creative as a business name with the state. So I could add any descriptor on that I'd like. Silverhill Creative Hats. Silverhill Creative Headwear. Silverhill Creative Accessories. ... But probably not. :)

I am Silverhill Creative Millinery.

Fascinator (Sold!)

I made this fascinator recently. It was kind of a custom order, so it sold basically immediately. (Yay!) The down-side is that almost nobody got to see it in my shop before it was gone. So here it is:

I call it "Waves." Inspired by the ocean in Maine. :)

Sacred Spaces

Like many milliners, I work from home. In a way, though, I don't consider it working from home. I work from my space — my studio (or "atelier" if I want to use the fancy-schmancy word many milliners use). But, because it's in my house, occasionally it has to give way to other functions.

For more than 2 weeks in the past month, my studio has had to be converted back into its original identity as a guest room. I love my guests. First, our best friend from college; next, my mom. I was glad they were here. But I experienced a new emotion too, feeling kind of cranky and frustrated. I had work I could do outside of that space (and I did). So I wasn't totally stifled, but I felt as though I was. I've been thinking about how selfish and needy I was feeling about "my" room. And it really made me think about how important — even sacred — our creative work spaces can be to us as artists.

I now have my studio back, and I feel so relieved! And part of having the room empty means supplies and tools get scattered everywhere. (Oops!) I have gotten a lot of work done in the past couple days. Glad to have full access to all my creative materials. :)

What would be really great is if I had the money to finish the "bonus room" over the garage to use exclusively as my atelier. A girl can dream ...

Geeking Out

There's lots of vintage stuff on Etsy, and I usually admire it and move on. Today I saw this, though, and I'm practically squealing with geeky delight over it:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/106044744/antique-19th-c-bullion-on-silk-velvet

Click through for more photos.

Maybe it's because of the shoes I made for Sweeney Todd, but I am completely in love with this. The embroidery is gorgeous! And it's in such good condition. I half want to buy it, but I don't think I can justify the expense. So, I thought I'd share the vintage fashion love.

Busy busy ... but not blogging

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog. But that's because I've been working on my Etsy shop and busy learning the ropes there. So many Etsy sellers! I've joined teams etc., networking to get my shop noticed.

Here it is:

Silverhill Creative on Etsy
www.etsy.com/shop/SilverhillCreative

Featuring my new favorite hat:

My husband thinks I should keep it for myself, but I'm offering it up for sale. :)

I hope to get a web site going in 2013. For now, though, it's Etsy.

My Logo, Dissected

After spending a long time working on it, I rather recently finished my logo. I am lucky that I have a background in graphic design, so I can have a nice, professional logo without having to pay someone else to design it.

The part that took the most time was the lettering. Those are not fonts. All of the letters were created by me! :) Side note: In the past, I have occasionally wanted to be a font designer. No more. The amount of nitty-gritty detail work, getting curves just so, etc. is very tedious. I am proud of the results of my work, but I don't think I'll make font design a permanent part of my life.

I wanted a logotype (that is, a text-based logo) rather than an icon of some kind. Partly because I didn't want to lock myself into a certain style of hat being depicted (fedora, cloche, etc.). Also, I wanted kind of a vintage look, and fashion and millinery labels have traditionally been logotypes.

The style was all about Art Deco. Because I love theatre so much, I took my inspiration from deco-era marquees and theatre facades. Obviously it doesn't look much like a marquee now. In the process of designing it, I had to simplify the style and make it symmetrical. But that is the origin story of the shape surrounding the text. As for color scheme, I went with a deco-inspired color palette as well. I have a secondary color scheme as well:

So there you have it. I hope this was at least somewhat interesting.