Macher Time!

Usually, the word "macher" is used to evoke a "mover-and-shaker" type person. An ambitious person. A person with goals and the power to reach them. Perhaps a manipulator and/or a shmoozer, but a definite Doer of Things.

Still, the word itself just means "maker." I like to make things, therefore I am a macher and maybe even a Macher.

1. Professional Ambitions: Architecture. Pending.

2. Professional Ambitions: Non-Architecture. These are activities that I am considering parlaying into serious work/income. The thought is that I could do one or more of these temporarily while my children are young and then return to full-time architecture firming when my schedule frees up. The single greatest thing I need to start is a website. A website for each one of these things separately, even though I could do more than one of them in practice.

UPDATE 9/20/10: Have done some poking around and questioning of friends regarding ways of building a professional but simply website without a lot of delay or outlay. Also, trying to understand my options re: CSS, CMS, etc. Trying to learn the meanings of acronyms in general.

a. Photography. Primarily children's event photography, and secondarily non-children events. Step one - cut a hole in the box. Step two - Talk to Kyle Cassidy for advice, and choose my thirty or so BEST portraits and pull them aside to make a website. Step three - figure out how to make the website. In the past, I've made my websites through total hackery, and this time I shoudl do a little research so I don't have to invent the wheel again and again. Any thoughts, anyone? TJ says that people do whole websites on WordPress now. Step four - after website is live, gain publicity through the wiki, word of mouth, post at the Coop and Craft Center, the Davis Facebook page, etc. Step five - gain more technical chops. Consider learning more about the Nikon D80 by, for example, reading the manual. What additional equipment do I need to be (or just look) like a pro? Lens-flare preventor? Monopod? Umbrella-style lighting?

b. Graphic Design - Custom Ketubot. Need website, similar to above. This is a labor of love, since I like words and I like lettering and I like images. I don't, however, like most "Judaica." Why is Judaica always so dated-looking, and never sophisticated? Judaica! I question your taste level. Now that I've made my own ketubah and my sister's, I could make a few more samples - say, a total of four or five - and put them on a website, describing how I am interested in collaborating with couples on custom ketubot. My Israeli friends have been helping me with the Hebrew texts and translations. After the website is live, provide the links to as many Jewish giftshops and synagogue stores as possible, including museums and cultural centers. Agree to send paper samples to these stores along with business cards or paper flyers to hand out.

c. Graphic Design - Wedding invites, business cards. To letterpress or not to letterpress? That is the question. Is it really worth getting involved in letterpress? An alternative would be to design invitations and outsource the printing to offset or letterpress. I could also take the screen-printing classes at the UCD Craft Center and focus on screen-printables. Calligraphy (for envelope addressing and other hand work) could be offered if I take the Calligraphy class. This idea requires culling and photographing my previous design work (my invitation, lil'dub's invitation suite, and hil'o'beans' invitation) and creating a website for starters. There is also a studio-lighting class at the CC.

d. Veils, the Ethical Dilemma. Making wedding veils is fun and very easy. There is a huge profit to be made here. I mean, there's a big profit margin available on each veil because people pay silly amounts of money for things like these. I believe this is so because brides don't want to admit that a veil is not much more than a bunch of tulle or french netting, and that its hard to make a veil look really bad. Yes, you can DIY it. I have had requests, particularly after the younger Dub's wedding, to make veils similar to the birdcage I fashioned for her. But I feel like it's too fruity, too shee-shee, to actively pursue this line of business. And it almost seems predatory to me. Hmm... thoughts?

e.

3. Gifts and Household Items.

a. Finish Laurel's Blouse! How can I not have finished the blouse?

b. Quilt. I like the idea of making modern (read: contemporary, but not too West-Elmy) quilts. Should I make a really ambitious quilt where I put a lot of thought into the design? Or a bunch of smaller ones as gifts to maximize the number of people exposed to my quiltetude?

c. Knitted toys. I do like to knit me some stuffed creatures. I could also revisit Jess Hutchinson's Unusual Toys to Knit and Enjoy and give those to the new babies of the world.