ARTS Portland Review

by Ruth Treadwell

Participants in the Kodomo workshop at ARTS created a Keepsake Pocket Purse Book.

Long ago in ancient China a powerful nobleman lived with his beautiful daughter in a palace surrounded by gardens with fruit trees and a lovely willow. The girl had been promised in marriage to another, but she had fallen in love with her father's clerk, a commoner. The clerk was fired and they were forbidden to see each other. A zigzag fence was built around the estate so he could not enter. However, one night they fled and escaped across a bridge with her father in pursuit. They traveled to a distant land, but the nobleman sent his men to kill them. When the gods saw that was happening, they transformed the couple into a pair of lovebirds. Often two fish are also seen as symbolic of their unity.

Another view of the Keepsake Pocket Purse Book project from the Kodomo workshop.

And so began two days of creative ideas and classes, new friendships and products, and a whole lot of fun. ARTS shows are primarily for the retailers to acquaint themselves with new products for their stores and to learn various methods for demonstrations and classes.

Marking Devices Publishing Co., who created the ARTS shows, is the publisher of four magazines and the producer of trade shows. Primarily devoted to the rubber stamp business, their flagship publication, Marking Industry magazine, was started in August 1907 (no, not by David Hachmeister), and was called Stamp Trade News. The publisher position is now held by David Hachmeister, who is the third publisher in 94 years. He bought the company in 1981. Since then Marking Devices has added Marking Industry Magazine Europe in 1992, Rubber Stampin' Retailer in 1993, The Artstamp Retailer's Trade Show in 1995, Marking Time magazine in 2000 and in 2003, in conjunction with the British Stamp Manufacturer's Guild, The European Marking Device Exhibition and Conference.

The beautiful story above was told to the participants of a class given by Kodomo Inc. Kodomo has been producing rubber stamps in Japan for over 20 years. Now with an office in California, they are merging the Asian design philosophy to inspire crafters enthusiasm with a global view. As we see craft companies emerge worldwide, each seems to increase diversity in techniques and tools.

In the Kodomo class we made a Keepsake Pocket Purse Book that is perfect for ATC cards, grandchildren's photos, small love notes and more. It looked hard but was so lovingly taught I felt talented! Their collection of papers, Kimono ribbon, stamps and more are definitely the trend of today's crafting. And they gave make-it and take-its after teaching four classes.

Stamped hangings created at the WBR workshop "Create with Canvas Boards."

Distributors WBR gave four different classes featuring the many products they represent. I took the class called Create with Canvas Boards. I knew nothing about using a canvas board for rubber stamping. The artful hanging we made encouraged me to come home and purchase a whole lot of canvas boards. I intend to experiment with different inks and paints, using the canvas to frame the stamped pictures we made by overlapping them onto each other. The fun starts when we alter them with words and yarns and other embellishments. WBR was very generous in each of their classes, giving the retailers and professional crafters a number of their products.

Completed projects from Carved Stamps' class on embossing metal foils.

My third of four classes that day was called A-Zs of Metal Embossing Exemplars. Since I had no idea what that meant, I knew I was destined to take this class. The instructor and owner of Carved Stamps, Elaine Woodhouse, taught us the techniques for using metal foils. I was awed by her necklace, which she explained was an Altoids box colored with a Krylon gold pen. The wings, face and the rest of the body were metal parts, stamped and embossed. The company has a starter kit which was very reasonable and would be great for starting this craft in your store. I was mentally thinking of all the holiday gifts I could make so that it would be practical for me to place a large order for myself.

Other classes taught were by My Sentiments Exactly, The Stamp Barn, Millsrepco and Rubber Soul. Brands featured included Fiskars, Clearsnap, Stampendous, Hero Arts, Sakura, Hot Off The Press, Jackson Marking Products Inc., Northwoods Rubber Stamps Inc., Punch Bunch, Rosie's Roadshow, Savvy Stamps, Simply Stamped and Stamping Sensations. If it wasn't there, you did not need it. Every company was more than willing to give personal help showing you how to use their products, introducing new techniques. We all felt respected and important no matter what size store we had.

RSR publisher David Hachmeister passes out surveys to ARTS workshop participants.

Meeting the different teachers gave storeowners a chance to inquire about having them come in to teach their classes. Networking with other retail storeowners allowed all to exchange this kind of information and talk about networking orders, teachers, and ways to work together. Personally I like this smaller type show for many reasons, but I heard some of the customers liked the larger shows since they have a larger selection to order from given the cost of the traveling. I have been to the larger shows like Memory Trends and CHA, and they are overwhelming for me.

Since rubber stamping is being used in scrapping and beading and paper crafts, the main reason to attend a show is to find out the cutting edge of the craft industry and how to incorporate the new trends into your store. So my suggestion to manufacturers is simply this: Supply the storeowners with the tools they need, the directions already printed out and in kit form, to allow the owners to teach immediately and often. Everyone profits from this method. One retailer told me that he had a class every Wednesday with a new technique, and 30 people paid to attend. Vendors—imagine the order sizes and frequency of reorders!

The hotel was easily accessible to the airport, free parking, and many free meals. My only disappointment was there was no dessert at the evening buffet, but that's a small thing compared with all that I learned and the wonderful, creative people I met. I had an awesome two days.

We would love to hear from you about your experience at ARTS. Please e-mail Rubber Stampin' Retailer at info@MarkingDevices.com, or me at Ruthhindin@aol.com. Stay in touch!

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