Handmade Community at ByHand

I recently discovered ByHand, a new social network & community for artists and lovers of all things handmade. I interviewed one of the founders, Rebecca Dillon, to find out more about the community and what it has to offer for crafters and handmade art fans alike. You can also find the recent interview I did with Rebecca about MissMalaprop on ByHand.

What exactly is byhand.me? What kinds of features are available for artists & lovers of handmade? ByHand was created as a social community for handmade artists and buyers. But really we’re more than that. Our aim is to put the personal back in handmade and some of our members prefer to refer to us as more of an artisan co-op than a social community because of our dedication to those who make handmade, our drive to bring in customers to the site, and our stance on being a nonprofit entity in which all funds earned by ByHand are put back into the community through ByHand advertising.

Specifically for artists we offer an Artisan Directory where only handmade artists are allowed to list their shops. The rest of ByHand’s features can really benefit both artists and lovers of handmade. By far our most popular feature is Spotlights. Spotlights are similar to Etsy treasuries in that you can curate items to be include. The difference is that Spotlights consist of nine items rather than twelve, they do not list prices to encourage click thrus, they can be created by anyone at anytime, and they never expire. Currently products from multiple handmade selling venues can be included in Spotlights: Etsy, ArtFire, 1000markets, Dawanda, SilkFair, Made It Myself, ShopHandmade, Zibbet, icraft.ca, and WinkElf. Additionally, Spotlights can be posted to almost any blog or social network and random items from Spotlights show up in ByHand’s Window Shopping feature. Just keep clicking “another” and you’ll keep getting a different selection of handmade products to look through. It’s a fun way to show off your shop or the shops of your favorite artists or even to create a wish list!

ByHand also offers forums for buyers and sellers, clubhouses — which are like groups or teams — for joining those with similar interests together in one place to talk, live chat, their own blog, and regular contests. Buyers can get to know sellers through our Featured Artisan or discover new products through the Artisan Item of the Day. Further ByHand also posts craft tutorials, sales, and interviews with handmade selling venues. New features are constantly in development and we actively advertise to both artists and buyers.

What inspired you to create byhand.me? The idea behind ByHand was actually conceived and created by my husband, Adam. In his words, this is why ByHand was born:

The major issues I saw with handmade caused me to create this site. Issues like joining a social network and being spammed. Ads covering the whole page, where you have to compete for views of you and your work and all those that are also trying to get themselves out there. The issues with trying to promote yourself on multiple venues because otherwise, you get lost in the crowd. So how does ByHand try to solve these? Well, first, you’ll notice that we don’t allow folks to post on your profile. It’s about you, not them. No more “hit and run” type advertising with folks posting an Etsy mini, or their web site on your profile. If people truly are interested in connecting with you, we have provided tools for doing just that. And sure, we have ads, but they are designated to a small portion of the web site and aren’t plastered anywhere there is room. You’ll notice that when on your profile, there are no ads at all because the important bit is YOU, not any one else. And lastly, why work so hard to drive traffic to your blogspot blog, your Silkfair shop, your own website, when you could drive traffic to a SINGLE place that let’s folks know who you are. It’s time to talk about ME. It’s time to promote ME. It’s time to stop trying to wear yourself out in promoting venues, and blogs, and everywhere else you are online and consolidate it into a single place where you can let everyone know who you are, and where to find you.

So, there must be a catch, right? I mean, surely, this won’t always be free, or you won’t always be around giving away what surely is a golden opportunity, right?  Well, there is no catch. It’s time to practice what I preach and get downright personal with the community. It’s time to reveal the reasons why this site is free for you all, and will remain so as long as I can.

I come from a very humble background. I’m from a family of 5 and a very small midwestern town, and while my dad worked his tail off trying to provide, it wasn’t always enough. I know what powdered milk and government cheese tastes like and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. Because of my grandfather I know how to drive a cement mixer, how to finish a driveway or sidewalk, how to weld two pieces of steel together, and what it feels like to have your hand crushed by a 600 pound concrete picnic table top. Because of my mom, I know what DMC floss is, and no it ain’t for your teeth. I know how to hem my own pants, how to cross stitch, how to sew a button properly, and how to thread bobbin in a sewing machine. Being creative and making do with what you had was a fact of life for me. I never saw it as revolutionary, or the “cool” thing to do, it just WAS. It was a part of getting by.

Because of my background, and the blue collar work ethic that I had instilled in me, I have worked hard to make something of myself in the white collar world. I have a great job with a great company with no fear of being laid off. I make enough of a living to do the things I want, rather than just get by with what I need. Sure, there are opportunities to make money off those clamoring to make it with their art, but I’m comfortable and don’t need that. I’ve seen how hard it is to struggle trying to make a living at what you love to do, I don’t need to be adding to the struggle for anyone. So there you have it. That’s why byhand.me exists. For folks all over like my mom and dad who work hard every day to try to better themselves with their own talents. For folks who may not get the opportunity to live as comfortably as I do, but have the same goals as I do and just need that little break in the clouds to get them started. It’s for those that sacrifice every day so that their kids don’t have to. And it’s for those that already have success, because you can never have too much.

And, it’s because, well, I love handmade people.

Say someone is brand new to byhand.me and they just registered for an account. What do you suggest they do first to get involved with the community? The first thing you’ll need to do is confirm your email address. This is to help prevent spammers in the community. Should you have trouble receiving your email you can always tweet byhandme for assistance and manual account verification. Keep in mind that your username will be your ByHand url so sign up accordingly. However, should you make a mistake, we are happy to change your username for you.

Once you are verified the first thing you’ll want to do is fill out your profile. This is how people get to know you and relate to you. If you have a handmade shop you’ll then want to list it in the Artisan Directory. The shop directory allows you to list links to all of your shops in just one entry along with your blog, location, social networks and other pertinent information. You don’t want to forget this step as it allows people to find your shop in our directory.

After that the next step is to create a Spotlight. This is especially important for artists as it allows them to create a Spotlight of their own work and get seen! All Spotlights are tweeted as they are created and random items from random Spotlights then appear in Window Shopping on ByHand. Mini Window Shopping in located at the top of the main ByHand page. There’s also a link to full size Window Shopping at the top of every page on ByHand. In addition, there is code available to post Window Shopping on other blogs and sites providing even more exposure for members.

After that it’s just a matter of getting acquainted with the site through Help – http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/Itemid,68/id,333/view,article/ – and asking any other questions in the forums.

What are your future plans for byhand.me? Currently Adam is looking into developing a facebook application for ByHand. Even further than that we just want to grow and keep offering tools to help artists earn a living doing what it is they do best.

Tagged as: blogs we love, craft