I had the loverly pleasure of interviewing Ms. Rosalie Gale, the cheeky little monkey behind the new reference website, Unanimous Craft. If you're an artist or crafter and are not yet familiar, get thee to the URL that's coming down on the world like a Kansas tornado. The first time I set eyeballs on this page, I knew she was on to something big, and I knew I wanted to jump in on the action.
Rosalie is a busy chick these days, not only holding down the fort on a day job and running the gem that is Unanimous Craft, but she's also the brain behind the trade world of bARTer Sauce, on the leadership team for the EtsyRAIN street team, and creator of the fabulous Shower Art empire, not to mention, running her blog, I Like Pretty. She's even responsible for building the EtsyRAIN website — in Drupal (which, I'll be honest, is totally foreign-speak to me, BUT! if you or someone you know needs a website and has some money… *cough*… she's got the skillz).
I thought I'd throw a wrench into her schedule by asking her to drop everything under the sun and answer some questions. That's the kind of power I wield.
TJ: You got all proactive-like and started a site called Unanimous Craft. Please to explain what that is and who/why people should flock to it in droves.
RG: Unanimous Craft is a directory of resources for indie businesses. It's kind of like Yelp for the crafty community. You can post resources (owned by you — or others), then you can rate stuff (higher rated resources move up the ladder in the popularity contest) and you can make lists of resources that you love and share them with other people.
TJ: Why is Unanimous Craft… Unanimous?
RG: I named it Unanimous Craft because of the voting/rating aspect of the site. And also because my goal is to make this site the one, single place that people visit to learn how to run their indie shops and — to discover new indie shops to buy from.
It was the best name I came up with after several rounds of brainstorming. If I had it to do over again, I might have considered how hard it is to spell Unanimous and how weird the word looks. Ah well. Hindsight is 20/20.
TJ: What do you see Unanimous Craft becoming in the future?
RG: I have lots of plans for Unanimous Craft — what you see now is just the beginning.
First on the horizon: Regional Craftologists. People will volunteer to report on an area. They will write about resources and crafty events happening in their area: Little known shops that buy wholesale, local events that have evening workshops on running small businesses. Each location will have a separate spot on the site, so if you only want to learn about local stuff — you can.
TJ: How did you become so drawn to the handmade universe?
RG: I've always made stuff. My mom sewed a lot when I was a kid and is now living in a cord wood home that she and my step-dad made by hand. She raises angora rabbits and spins their wool into yarn that she hand-dyes and then knits into things. I guess you could say that – even though we have very different aesthetic sensibilities (my mother would never – for example- encase the word "poop" in rubber and expect someone to hang it in their shower) – crafting is in my genes.
TJ: You have octopus arms in a lot of pots… Unanimous Craft, Shower Art, bARTer Sauce, EtsyRAIN, stealing me one of those rabbits… and a day-timey job, too. Are you nuts?
RG: I am nuts. I have a hard time saying "no" to things so they just pile up like that. I also have lots of new ideas all the time — and I follow through with them and then never stop doing them. So my list of things that I do just keeps growing and growing.
Take bARTer Sauce (http://www.bartersauce.com) for example. It was an experiment in trading that was supposed to last one year. That was about four years ago. And I'm still doing it. I guess it's hard for me to let go of stuff once I've put a lot of time and effort into them. Plus, my husband has built me like three bARTer Sauce websites — how can you end a project when your husband is nice enough to keep building you websites?
And yes, it is a lot of stuff to do. Thanks for reminding me. I'm feeling overwhelmed now.
TJ: You also have a background in theatre and currently participate in the stand-up comedy scene. Have you found that this has been beneficial to your crafty alter-ego?
RG: Doing stand up has definitely given me a good ear for what's funny and that helps enormously with Shower Art (http://www.uglybaby.etsy.com). Doing stand up also helped me meet my husband Doug and he helps enormously with Shower Art and craftiness in general. So there's that too…
TJ: Speaking of EtsyRAIN, what’s the deal with all these amazing artsy-fartsy people falling out of the sky in the Portland/Seattle area? Nothing else to do because it rains so much?
RG: I dunno what the deal is with that – but I totally know what you're talking about. I think it started in Portland first. Their street team was kind of Etsy's darling for quite some time because of all the crafty goings on in their hood. You might be right that it's connected to the weather and the fact that people have a good excuse to stay home and be creative when the other option is to put on a halter top and bust a move out it the rain. Yeah, knitting sounds an eff of a lot better than that.
TJ: What is the most memorable childhood craft you made?
RG: I remember my mom taught me how to knit, purl, increase and decrease when I was eight. Then I pushed her aside and decided to knit my first sweater. I don't know if you know this, but eight-year-olds don't know shit about knitting — or much else — and I ended up with enough yarn to just knit the front, back, and one sleeve. But, me being me — I just tacked on another sleeve in a different color and different type of yarn and wore it around like nothing was wrong. That's still pretty much how I handle problems: pretend they aren't there.
TJ: What's your favorite food?
RG: Potatoes. Hands down. I have a custom made necklace that says "potato" on it. I make cards that have farting tater tots on them. People have knitted, sewed, and felted me different kinds of potatoes. So yeah: potatoes.
TJ: Cookies or cupcakes?
RG: Cookies. For sure. Cake is for dummies. I hate cake. I still eat it if it's in the room because I'm a fat girl with food issues – but I don't like it one bit.
TJ: Cookies – correct answer. What is your most memorable vacation experience?
RG: Doug and I spent over three grand this year to go on a trip to a resort in Mexico with my dad. I'll grant you that it's weird to go on a semi-romantic vacation with your husband and your dad. It gets weirder when your husband forgets that he doesn't have a current passport until the night before the trip and then can't go. Yeah, that happened. $(*#&*(#@*(#@
TJ: You’re stuck on a 13-hour plane ride. No internet, no phone. What do you do?
RG: I make lists of things that I need to do. Then, I split that list into things that I'm going to do and then things that I want the universe to do for me. Yes, I make a to do list for the universe. You'd be amazed how well that works. On more than one occasion, I've had something just plopped into my lap because it was on the universe's list of things to do. Thank you universe. Then, I write a thank you note to the universe — because it's awesome when that happens. That takes about an hour.
Hour two: Reading whatever book I brought with me. Normally this will be something I thought would be "good for me" and not something that I thought would actually be good.
Hour three: I'll sketch out changes I want to make to the interface of a variety of websites.
Hour four: Panic ensues when I realize that I have this whole list of crap that I need to get working on and I can't start working on anything because there is no internet.
Hour five: Depression.
Hour six: Drinking.
Hour seven: Attempting to bother my husband (assuming he's been allowed on this plane).
Hour eight: Dealing with the ramifications of bothering my husband.
Hour nine through thirteen: sleeping fitfully.
TJ: Whose Tiger Beat poster was on your wall as a youngin’?
RG: I have never been excited by celebrity but when I was younger I tried to pretend that I did in order to fit in. I think Kirk Cameron was in there somewhere. Weird. He's like a major church-ey dude now. Not really my type – but like I said – eight-year-olds don't know shit about anything.
TJ: Are there any parting nuggets of sage advice you'd like to pass on to your minions?
RG: Keep calm and carry on. Buy handmade. Never marry ninjas. Ninjas make bad baby sitters. Take your pill. Drink lots of water. Meditate.
*****
Be sure to check out Rosalie's work at all her creative outlets. Consider becoming a Premium Member on the Unanimous Craft site, like all the cool kids do. While you're at the Shower Art shop, be sure to pick up my gift, the 'Time Can Suck It' piece de resistance. I'll forward you my address.
Unanimous Craft – www.unanimouscraft.com
Shower Art – www.uglybaby.etsy.com
bARTer Sauce – www.bartersauce.com
EtsyRAIN – www.etsyrain.com
Blog – www.ilikepretty.blogspot.com
Fabulous! You’re both adorable as hell!
(Weird. In print, that looks like an insult. But it ain’t.) <3
Okay, you both kill me…I love the Universe list. I’m a list freak. My most recent list as of a few days ago was the “Honey Do” list on the fridge w/things like “fix the kitchen faucet so we don’t have a rotten mess under the sink please honey”.
Oh…and Rosalie, I’ve been thinking I need to commission you for a “FLOSS, DAMN IT” mini shower art for my bathroom mirror. My mom and I swung by your stall at the last Etsy Rain event to meet you and say hello, but you were M.I.A so I couldn’t pester you. I’m pretty sure everyone in Tacoma could hear us laughing at your shower art though…you are one funny girl!
Awwwwhhhh, I’m filled with warm fuzzies.
Courtney: custom orders are always welcome. Just email me at rbahmer at gmail dot com or convo me through Etsy.
Robots: Meow! Rahr!
I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Rosalie at Urban Craft this weekend… I am in awe of her ambition! I hope it’s contagious!
So rude!
I can’t believe with the eleven different lists on my iPhone that I DON’T have one for the universe. Universe is about to regret that they ever decided to answer someone…
Get back to work!
That girl has ambition shooting out of her butt in rainbows.
Tina, aside from having an amazing first name, I love your clothing! SO impressed with your booth set-up at UCU, from the pics I saw. And 100 bonus points for going to your first roller derby match last month!! I used to play for Carolina for a couple years prior to moving to California. Rat City is a great league and I don’t think there’s anyone in the derby world that isn’t amazed by their insane accomplishments with promotion and attendance. It’s mind-blowing.
I just bought my intern a postcard that says “I fart rainbows.” weird.
Ummmm…. Where in CA do you live scatter box?
Well, Unanimous Craft, I live in the Sacramento area, if you must know. I’m certain you fart rainbows. And they smell of cotton candy.
Do you know where this is:
Sideshow Studios
5635 Freeport Blvd. Suite 6
Sacramento, CA 95822
I’m shipping bARTer Sauce there for an art show shortly.
Check yer inbox, missy!
Thank you soooooOOOOoooo much, Ms. Scatterbox!