Wanna submit your own handmade stops in a county or town or region of PA?  Just send links to nick@pacrafts.org. This one comes from Michael Dittman, a writer, professor, and photographer living in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  He is a contributor to The Savvy Grouse.

The Oil Heritage Region is an area in Northwestern Pennsylvania that includes Titusville, eastern Crawford County, and Venango County.  While a name like the Oil Heritage Region may conjure up images of abandoned Rust Belt refineries, there’s a vital arts and crafts scene supported largely by the Oil City Arts Revitalization project headed by Joann Wheeler.

1 – National Transit Building – Part of the Oil City Arts Revitalization project is the remaking of the historic Transit Building into a studio for visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and fine artisans with open studios every second Saturday from noon to 5:00 pm. The building is also host to Arts in the Transit, a concert series on the second Friday of the month. 206-210 Seneca Street, Oil City.

2 –  Campbell Pottery Store & Gallery - Just north of Titusville (and, strictly speaking, not in the Oil Heritage Region, but too good to miss) is the Campbell Pottery Store & Gallery.  Bill Campbell has been elbow deep in clay for more than 25 years.  Today his is the largest art pottery gallery in Pennsylvania.  Walking into the gallery is to be overwhelmed by the color and crisp perfect shapes.  The gallery also sponsors annual glassblowing demonstrations with Herb Thomas, a Day Lily festival, and more.  25579 Plank Rd., Cambridge Springs, 814-734-8800

3 – Finally, at the southern edge of the Region is DiVani Chocolate.  I first went into this chocolatier’s retail storefront on a hillside just 50 yards off Foxburg’s Main Street on a whim and found an oasis of designer chocolate, chai tea, truffles, fudges, marshmallows, caramels, and seasonal specialties.  Now they have a branch at the Liberty Galleria (Liberty St, Franklin)  in my town which makes getting my fix a lot quicker. 22 N Palmer Ave, Foxburg, 888.763.4826

4 - Alice Walkowski is a metal clay artist working out of the Transit Building.  I hadn’t even heard of the medium before I dropped by her studio, but by the time I left, I had signed up for one of her workshops to create my own pathetic piece of jewelry.  Walkowski ’s work, however, shines with technique and narrative – each piece it seems has an extensive backstory which adds the charm of these, well, charms (and rings, and pendants).

Where would you go from here? Share your favorite handmade stops in the Oil Heritage region in the comment section below.

Next stop? Philly! Send in your favorite stops today.

The most frequent question I get related to this blog is: Where can I find and buy handmade crafts at a brick and mortar store in my hometown?

Buying from a a brick and mortar does three things immediately:

1. You support your local community (3/50 Project for how it works)
2. You support your neighbor artist
3. It just feels good – and that’s important

To help everyone accomplish this task of handmade shopping nirvana, I’m pulling together a Google map of shops, galleries, museum stores, gift shops, consignment shops and everything in between that sell Pennsylvania-made art & craft in Pennsylvania.

I need your help. So what makes sense for inclusion on this handmade map? Only physical locations that sell Pennsylvania-made craft (no restaurants or coffee shops). Please leave your favorites below in the comments section or email me (nick@pacrafts.org) if you’re feeling particularly helpful. All I need is the name, street address and city.

If you want to help more closely on this project, shoot me an email. Setting up a Google Map is way easy and I can share it with a group of contributors. Happy shopping.

Editor’s Note: I made a few updates to this post. I added the links to the map, which wasn’t ready to show at the time of the original post.

some things looming, a new contemporary and traditional fiber art gallery, 526 Washington Street, Reading, is holding a public grand opening weekend on Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14.

The “all-things-textile” facility contains a gallery, boutique, studio units, community studios, classrooms, networking resources and a library. The co-owners are Rebekah Ritter and her daughter, Melanie Ritter Mitchell, also artistic director.

“This is the realization of a dream for both of us,” said Ritter, “and we are glad to be able to expand the vibrant and growing arts community in Reading and Berks County. Fiber and textile arts are much more in demand and we are dedicated to sharing them at our grand opening and beyond.”

Saturday features an exhibition of  the work of Kathryn Pannepacker, a textile and visual artist and curator; Barbara Schulman, professor and head of the Kutztown University Fiber Arts program; and Melanie Ritter Mitchell, who studied under Schulman and received a BFA with a concentration in fiber arts.

The boutique, a functional gallery, features the work of more than a dozen professional fiber artists and will feature “beautiful one of a kind hand-crafted items,” said Ritter.

Sunday’s Open House from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. repeats Saturday’s activities and features the exhibit opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. for the opening of the first gallery exhibition that runs through April 12, 2010. Sunday’s reception also will have cello music by Jeremy Mitchell and refreshments.

The some things looming grand opening is being held in conjunction with the juried “More Than Fiber: A Creative Approach to Material” exhibition at the nearby GoggleWorks Arts Center, 201 Washington St., Reading, which runs through April 18, 2010.

Visit the website (www.somethingslooming.com), for more details or call 610-373-7337.

Wanna submit your own 5 handmade stops in a county or town or region of PA?  Just send five links to nick@pacrafts.org.

Full disclosure.  I love the Lancaster arts community.  Its vibrant and lively and expresses itself in all shapes.  Be sure to comment below with your favorite stops as well.

1 – Hands-on House Children’s Museum – Bring the kids and take them to this ingeniously engaging museum.  Exhibits such as Corner Grocery and Marty’s Machine Shop get kids thinking about the world around them.  Their philosophy of childhood learning is simple: it lasts longer if it’s more fun, and it’s more fun if it includes doing.

2 – Keystone Art & Culture Center – Located in a renovated warehouse at 420 Pearl St, this is a working foundry that also offers educational programs.  Remember to visit the gallery and studio each 4th Friday for a bronze pour!

3 - Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen – The Guild’s headquarters and small store of handmade, locally-made crafts is at 252 N. Prince St.  The office also doubles as workshop space with upcoming classes in March on blogging, clay mono-printing and etsy tricks.  If you don’t know much about the Guild, its a wonderful resource for emerging and established makers.  Stop in to say hello.

4 – Rachel’s Creperie and Square One Coffee – At this point in the trip, you’ll want to take a moment to refuel and Rachel’s at 308 N. Queen St is a perfect stop for handmade crepes (breakfast, lunch and dessert crepes).  If you’re looking for a quick jolt, head to 145 N. Duke St for for fair trade, organic coffee roasted in-house at Square One Coffee.

5 – Creative House of Lancaster (CHL), Creative Works of Lancaster and Skill Share Collective – these aren’t locations you can stop in but they’re social network groups that provide opportunities for local artists.  Check out each site to learn about their offerings.

Where would you go from here? Share your favorite handmade stops in Lancaster in the comment section below.

A recent post about the culture of cheap on the new Crafting an MBA blog got me thinking – A LOT – about the importance of talking about handmade and its essential role in our lives.

As craft-makers and lovers, we sometimes think the act of making a craft is the most important part of then selling it.  But, it’s essential that you talk about the story behind the piece: inspiration, materials chosen, process, setbacks, resolution, etc.  Tara Gentile has great insight on the PA Crafts blog today about sharing your space in pictures.

The story of the work’s creation is why someone wants to buy the piece. Sure they may want to buy it simply because its red and matches their shoes.  But that story is why I, for example, bought a $30 woodturned dish for my son’s first food bowl instead of a $1 piece of plastic.  I want it to last, I want it to matter and I want to care about what it is.  I didn’t want it to just fill my immediate need of having a bowl.

I want us all to commit to talking about craft more often, more openly, being open about pricing and explaining the real cost of handmade goods.

If you’re a craft-maker and have neighbors or friends or family members that don’t know what you do, tell them what you do. Show them how you do it! And state why your work costs what it does. It’ll go a long way. If you love craft, share it. Make the norm to give handmade and include a business card of the maker. It connects the person behind the work with its new home.

Yes, handmade craft costs more than plastic junk (or craft imports), but its actually a real cost. It pays a living wage. Not just a ‘fair trade’ wage but a living wage. And one worth paying.

Thanks for listening to my little rant.  I hope you share in the comments below about your thoughts on the subject.  I’m leaving you with this video from Craft Scotland called ‘The C Word.’ I hope it’ll inspire you to share your craft.

This post is exclusively for you to share what you’ll be doing this weekend around the commonwealth.  Whether you’re planning time in the studio, a craft show stop or long weekend out of town.  Share with us.  And share your work on HiP’s group pool on Flickr.

I, for one, am heading to the Farm Show in Harrisburg.  I hope to walk my one-year-old around to see the sheep, alpacas and rabbits (here’s the for kids page).  Then I’ll make a necessary stop over at the food court for milkshakes.  And then maybe those fresh cut fries.

What else is there to do in Harrisburg while I’m there?

Use the comments section below to share your plans, shows or thoughts.

Gallery Blu is the new kid on the block in mid-town Harrisburg’s developing art district.  I spoke with owner, Christina Heintzelman-Jones, and asked her what seems to be working for them.  By hosting frequent exhibit openings, Gallery Blu has created a lot of opportunities to establish and maintain connections with potential customers and regional artists.

“We have drawn in fantastic crowds with each new opening.  Originally, we planned to have 6 openings a year but have found that featuring an entirely new group of artists in an exhibit every month to 6 weeks seems to work well for us.  This enables us to offer a wide variety of local and regional art that has broad appeal.”

Just breaking onto the scene in March of this year, they have already had 4 openings.  Their current exhibition is “Japonisme” which features the work of artists from the West whose work is influenced by the art of Japan, including Susan Faeder’s fabric collages,  Joann Wells Greenbaum gouache paintings, and sculpture by Donna Belleson and Paul Long.  The exhibit runs until September 5^th.  Gallery Blu will then be opening its 5th exhibit called Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and will be a participating gallery in Harrisburg’s 21st Annual Gallery Walk on September 13th.

Do you have a tip to share about:

• Your process
• Finding inspiration
• Time management
• Advertising
• Marketing your work
• Networking
• Working with clients/customers
• Finding resources for your work

If you do, and you would like to share it through Handmade in PA, contact me!

Elizabeth Sterling and her husband John market their one-of a kind furniture and jewelry boxes at shows in the Northeast and Midwest, through their web site, and their etsy shop, so wabi sabi. Elizabeth shares her life and love of all things handmade, homemade, and homegrown in her blog so wabi sabi.

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Last week I brought you The Day In the Life of Dawn from The Hodge Podgery. This week, I bring you her partner in crime, daughter Jessica. Here is her day.

6:30 am- Hello dog kisses!! My puggles puppy Annabelle wakes me up by standing on my chest and licking my nose. I know most people wake up to alarm clocks, but not me. Pugzley my other puggle is a snoozer.  He likes to cuddle under the blankets and he won’t budge until I say something like “who wants breakfast?”. So off we go to potty and eat.

7:00am- I’m up and on Facebook putting up a few HoPo updates before I get showered and changed. Then the sound of jackhammers start pounding, as they are putting in accessible ramps on our street corners in the Boro of New Cumberland.

7:50am- Hoping I have everything I need for the day I walk to the car and of course glimpse at the boys doing the construction. I’m a curious sally!

8:00a.m- Ran into grandma’s house to feed the cat and pick out clothes and supplies for her for the nursing home. She told me she had to have her red lipstick! It is a beauty emergency!

8:30am- I’m here at work for the Commonwealth of PA. whoo hoo- Eddy sign that budget!

10:00am- call in to check on mom at the shop- all is good.

12:00pm- lunch time and time to hustle down to the shop to meet my 12 o’clock workshop appointment. As workshop coordinator I make my appointments for lunchtime and after work or on Saturday mornings. Meeting Michelle from Michabella Creations today! She is going to conduct a BYOB jewelry class! Oh no it is almost 1 so I run back to the office – 7 blocks through Midtown HBG!

1:00pm- heat up lunch and back to work. Emails, emails and more emails. Wishing it was Friday.

2:30pm- Call the shop and see how Mom is holding up! Told her what time I would be in and that I have an appointment with Lindsey at 5:30. I try to stop staring at the clock.

4:45pm- Packing up to head over to the shop. When I walked in I was greeted by my Mom who was tending to the shop, and my husband who was creating a store closeup database for us. Then a few moments later Lindsey walked in for her 5:30 appointment. I met with her about teaching a caricature class! We went over all the basics and meet and greets.

6:00pm- Joe our accountant friend comes over to help us learn the ins and outs of accounting. This is not the fun part!! Joe is so sweet so I told him I’d get him a pizza! Off to Mercados!

6:15- I decided that I’d give a can of Colt 45 a try while I wait for the pizza. Not too shabby. A little buzzed now I decide that I shouldn’t be the only one with a beer so I called up the crew at the shop to see if they would like a cold Colt 45! They weren’t as keen on the idea as I was so I got them their soda and Coors Light. Off to go eat some pizza!

7:25pm- The shop is closed so I brought in the sign and took out the trash for trash night. Posted some random object on freecycle and packed up to go visit Grandma. Got to take her that red lipstick!

8:00- Met with Grandma for a little while. She was a little bummed that she didn’t get to go outside for the picnic that they had on the nursing home grounds. She wasn’t feeling too good that day, but she was super excited for her lipstick! Kisses to grandma and off to home.

9:00pm- finally a chance to sit down and watch tv. Hubby is still at the shop working on computer stuff so right in the middle of a DVR’d Simpson’s episode, I zonked out.

10:00pm- the hubby arrived with a rather odd chuckle in his voice. “did you fall asleep?” he said. I said ” yes why did the puppy poop on the floor?” he then laughed and said “not exactly but we may not have any toilet paper left.” While I was snoozing  she shredded a whole six pack of TP.

10:30pm cleaned up a living room filled with shredded TP, updated the HoPo facebook status and off to bed to dream about going out on the pontoon boat on Sunday! Ahh at last some R&R. Started thinking that it would really be nice to have some elves that come out at night and do the dishes and laundry so I don’t have to do them Saturday night. If only that shoe maker would share a few! :)

Sadly, a few days after this was sent, Jess’s 11 month old puppy, Annabelle Banana Canzeroni, passed away in a tragic accident. She was very loved and will always be in the hearts of those whose lives she touched!

I am a graduate of Albright College with a B.A. in Visual & Apparel Merchandising. After years in the fashion/ retail industry, I am now a WAHM. I am a self-taught jewelry designer and owner of Michabella Creations.

Things are really moving along for two DIY entrepreneurs right now!

Two new brick & mortar shops that I’ve previously written about are really moving along now. The HodgePodgery in Harrisburg is now open. You can catch Dawn or Jess there between 10am – 6pm, Tuesday-Sunday. Keep in mind that ye olde HP is not just a store – it’s also a working studio, hang out, and place to learn. They are busy scheduling classes and are still welcoming goods for consignment.

Word on the street is that Dawn needs items for men!

Also moving along is Hello Bluebird, in West Reading. While not open yet, Alex is actively accepting work on consignment. Her aesthetic is feminine, vintage-inspired, Japanese zakka, indie, and definitely awesome.

Remember how I mentioned The HodgePodgery wasn’t just a store? Neither is Hello Bluebird! It will also be a working studio, event space, and hang out – not to mention the home-away-from-home of Handmade in PA and Scoutie Girl! As the “events manager,” I’m looking for people to teach classes, do book signings, have trunk shows, etc…

If you’re interested, drop me a line – and put “Hello Bluebird” in the subject line.

Also, the website (designed by Alex’s uber-talented husband, Corey) is now live! Please subscribe to get all the latest updates. The site will eventually be an online store, as well. So even if you’re not in the area, there will be plenty of great things to do!

A day trip out to Harrisburg (my soon-to-be new home) turned into a GREAT experience! Boyfriend and I went to visit Dawn at Hodge Podgery, a new boutique in downtown Harrisburg. It will have a Grand Opening the week of July 21st through the 25th. I will surely be attending this shindig, so come out and meet the new shop owners, and me!

I delivered my new Summer creations to hopefully go flying off the shelf at this unique little shop! Envision the potential here- a calm setting, handmade creations of upcycled and repurposed products, wonderful and warm customer service, all within the charming Harrisburg area. I walked in with a “WOW,” what a great locale and sweet architecture, and HUGE store front windows- YAY! You can see more pics from the day, including images of the work I dropped off, on my Flickr photostream.

Dawn is full of energy and spunk, which certainly drew me in. She is super excited about presenting artists’ work and she has some awesome ideas for things to come! I haven’t met Jess yet, but if she exudes half as much excitement at Dawn, this will be a fantastic voyage for Eclectically Chic by Emily Lazo. I will be proud to have my handmade purses there and will be visiting often to see what else the HodgePodgery brings in!

Emily Lazo is the creator and designer of Eclectically Chic by Emily Lazo ~ Handmade purses and accessories. PA is my home, filled with most of my inspirations, and I love to meet new creative souls! “To Create, is to Love.”