For me, blogging boils down to one thing: networking. The more people who know what you're doing, the more likely that they will be able to refer you to resources and opportunities that you might never have known about.
If you saw my blog post two days ago, you can see that magic unfolding in the comments. I wrote about how I had made a mistake in one of the images that I submitted to a show through Zapplication. An hour later, someone from Zapp saw my blog post and told me that I could ask the show to mark my application incomplete so that I could swap out that image and resubmit it. I followed their suggestion and a few minutes later my application was resubmitted in perfect order. If I hadn't written that blog post, I would never have known that correcting my application was even an option.
And then they posted a link to my blog post on the Zapp Facebook wall, giving my story even wider exposure.
And this is just the most recent example. I've learned a lot from the comments that people leave on my blog. Blogging has allowed the few of us who weave as a passion or for a living to connect with each other and offer mutual support.
The other side of writing a blog is following other blogs. I currently read 20-30 blogs written by other fiber artists, and every once in a while I have a comment that might mean something to one of them.
And the most amazing part of all this is that weavers seem to be, by and large, living far away from each other. We've got studios in spare rooms, barns and basements all over the place. We don't have the chance to see each other in person very often. And yet, through the magic of the free (as in liberty) and accessible internet, we are able to have a strange sort of community.
It's all pretty magical.
1 comment:
I've only been following and reading blogs for the past year. Mostly they are fellow crafters' blogs serving as inspiration and advice.
I subscribed to your blog to know more about the craftman and it's art that I was so lucky to get my hands on through the kickstarter project.
As for sharing, I totally agree with you, the sharing of good and bad experiences is so important for every creative person. One can and should learn from each other and the web is a wonderful medium for this.
Btw I sew the red and deep purple scarfs together in a loop. Now I can fold them three times around my neck and it looks like wonderful color blocking cascade!
Post a Comment