She's One!

Happy Etsyversary, Bamboo Village!

Well, Saturday marks my one year mark on Etsy! In one year, we've accomplished so much! I've refined my product line and introduced a bunch of new designs. We've made over 300 sales, and raised more than $1000 for the Fund, including money raised through the shop as well as direct donations.

In the first year, I was also invited to participate in a gallery show, and now have some of my own items for sale in a bricks and mortar store in Seattle, and yet another design being used by a Chinese brush painting artist as her price tags. I've also had a few of my items on the home page at Etsy, in January I was a featured artist on Poppytalk Handmade, and have been spotlighted on several blogs. I've had the privelege of sending Bamboo Village Press goodies to four continents and at least nine countries. Wow, that's more than I ever dreamed of, really.

We've also had the immense and humbling experience of working with these amazing guest artists:





OUOU Designs








Anonymous Guest Artist












Sea Find Designs











Jealous Jewelry












Altinay Designs













Field & Sea







Additionally, we have another new guest artist, waiting in the wings! We'll be unveiling the stunning items she's contributed in the next month, as a part of the celebration!

Thank you all for making this year so amazing, but mostly, for making it possible for us to sponsor Zhang Lin less than 5 months after we started Bamboo Village Educational Fund. The next year promises to bring with it lots of surprises, lots of new successes and creativity.

介绍 - introduction - Field and Sea

It is with great pleasure that I announce a brand new Guest Artist at Bamboo Village Press. Field and Sea is an artist I've been admiring on Etsy for some time, and through a little bit of serendipity and lot of fortune on our part, she's joined the family!

Her contribution is a graceful bamboo notebook - offered to Bamboo Village Press as an exclusive design.

I had the chance to hear a little about Field and Sea. Here's what she had to say about her process and shop:

On an average day, I will: collect one peculiar texture; notice one shadow or sliver of light that takes my breathe away; walk twenty minutes, looking above eye level at least once; wonder why; think of cheese or chocolate, and most likely consume a piece; forget to defrost the fish; take a multivitamin; and use a semi-colon. Eating lima beans will never be a part of this list.

I decided to start Field and Sea as an outlet for the creation of all the art and jewelry and miscellaneous beautiful things that just can't be crammed into a day job.

As a result of a lucky set of fortunate circumstances, I met Celeste of BambooVillagePress and found out about this wonderful woman's inspiration for how all of us can help a little more.

Without further ado, here's the gorgeous notebook, designed and handmade by Field and Sea:


Learn more and check out all the elegant, stylish pieces at Field and Sea by visiting her shop:




A special thanks to Field and Sea, and to all of the other wonderful Guest Artists who have contributed to such an amazing first year at Bamboo Village Press and Bamboo Village Educational Fund!

介绍 - introduction - everything in blue

You all already know my sister Laurie from her popular designs featured in Bamboo Village Press, like our fabulous panda logo, Two Plus Yarn Equals Love, and Knit Kitty, but now she's making her online artistic debut with the launch of her blog, with Etsy shop soon to follow.

I hope you'll visit her and shower your Internet-y love upon her - she's brand new to the online community and will certainly appreciate the welcome! Here's her blog, brand spanking new with only one post: everything in blue.

We had the gocco all fired up last night and managed to crank out a whole lotta silk screened love. It's gonna be a great winter!

Jie–shao – Guest Artist Altinay Designs

Just in time for the holiday season comes Altinay, who has showered her support on us by contributing a beautiful Asian-themed necklace and earring set to Bamboo Village!

Not only are these pieces stunning, but they’re extra special because of the Chinese theme. Taking her inspiration from the novel The Secret Fan, the necklace features a carved fan pendant, with the body of the necklace and the earrings in a beautiful red coral.

Here’s an excerpt from her Etsy Profile Description:

My name is Altinay (pronounced Al-ti-nai), which means "golden moon" in Kyrgyz and other Turkic languages.

Jewelry design presents a crossroad where several of my passions meet: appreciation for aesthetic beauty and applied art, love for unique jewelry, and fascination with stones and crystals, and their inherent metaphysical qualities.

I create eclectic pieces that are unique, timeless, and do not necessarily follow the fashion trends of the day. Although I do not adhere to and limit myself to one particular style, at times I draw inspiration from my heritage and the traditional jewelry made by silversmiths of Central Asia, as well as ethnic / tribal jewelry from other regions of the world. I like incorporating tribal beads, like vibrant hand-crafted Tibetan beads and pendants, in my designs and giving a contemporary interpretation to old pieces.

A deep thanks to Altinay for contacting me and for her support!

Shop News

Coming up this week, you'll be meeting Bamboo Village Press' new Guest Artist, Lori from JealousJewelry. She very generously donated these gorgeous earrings to raise funds for Bamboo Village!

The earrings are now listed in the shop - I hope you'll check them - and Lori's shop - out!

Hooray for awesome artists!

traveling

I know it's "wrong" for me to post the latest photo of Swatchy Hugz here, and not on Travels with Swatchy where he belongs, but we wanted to say HI from Atlanta!

This week, I met some new friends online - a couple of artists new to Etsy, and I'm excited that we'll be doing an interview with them next week! My first interview! It sounds like they want to partner up somehow to help Bamboo Village, which is really cool! So you'll be meeting them soon.

In other news, I have been a knitting fool lately! I'm knitting some amazing socks from Interweave Knits new issue - they're all cabled and beautiful. I'm also thinking I've leapt into a higher level of knitting obsession - this trip I think I packed more yarn than clothes. And I've purchased more yarn since being here!

I'll be home on Sunday, so there will be lots of new things to share then. For now, greetings from Atlanta!

Guests in the House

We've got new designs! Laurie's been busy, and has 4 new designs she's making available in the shop. Better than that, there's also talk of a dragon! How kewl is that? She's gearing up to open her own etsy shop, so be on the lookout!

Just listed this week are 2 small prints:



We've actually got even more in the pipelines: a local artist and friend has donated some beautiful felted bowls. I just have to take some photos and get them posted. That should happen over the weekend.

As for our first sponsored child, I'm just waiting on some photos and details of the girl's story so I can share her with you. In fact, I met her on our last trip, and it was her story, in part, that inspired this whole thing to get off the ground. So it means a lot to me that she'll be the first recipient of our efforts.