Barcamp Cork

11.22.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

I was at Barcamp Cork in the Webworks this weekend. This is a free conference for all and sundry, generally covering small business and the web.

Having never been to a Barcamp (or any conference) before I hadn’t a clue what to expect. It was a great debut for me, not at all scary and really informal. Unsurprisingly I was the only silversmith there!

I signed up for Barcamp to get some info on how best to set myself up online and also to met other people who are in the process of doing the same thing. Well it definitely ticked all the boxes, I got loads of handy hints for start ups and my brain was buzzing with ideas.

Some of the talks were a bit techie for me so I just opted for the less scary ones! I started out the morning with Tom Connolly’s talk on time management. It confirmed what I already knew but there’s nothing like seeing it up on a big screen to make you believe it! I’ve made my list for today and it’s working beautifully!

Ciara Crossen from Wedding dates.ie spoke about guerrilla marketing and viral advertising. Ciara’s tales of wife carrying in Finland would inspire anyone to get out there and do what it takes to promote your business. I also went to Sabrina Dent website boot camp where she ripped apart websites from willing volunteers. It was a real education for someone like me who never really looked at web sites from an analytical perspective.

Cathal Garvey gave a really interesting talk on synthetic biology which didn’t have anything to do with my business but I was completely sucked in. All I need now is to set up the lab at home, much easier than you’d think apparently!

There was a great talk on social media and how to use it to promote your business. Conor Lynch from Connector.ie talked about how to create a social media strategy which has my brain working overtime on how and who to target online.

It was a real social outing and not the networking nightmare I had imagined. The fact that it was informal made it easy to chat away to lots of new people throughout the day.

I’d encourage anyone in the creative industry that wants to set up online to go along to a Barcamp, it’s a great day out! If it’s anything like my experience you’ll come away with lots of great contacts and ideas.

I met lots of interesting people, all equally enthusiastic about doing business in Ireland. It makes me believe the country isn’t that bad after all!

The Merry Silversmith

11.12.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

Well the wait is over, my business cards arrived in the post this morning! You’ll be glad to hear that everything was spelt correctly and the image worked out perfectly.
So here they are..

You’re asking “how does a woman balancing stuff of her head represent a silversmith?” Good question! I found this image in a book I have ‘Women Silversmiths 1685-1845’ (The National Museum of Women i the Arts, Washington D.C.). It’s an engraving by Marcellus Laroon called ‘The Merry Milkmaid’ and illustrates an unusual custom relating to silver that existed between the 17th and 19th century. Laroon produced a collection of street sellers engravings in his series ‘The Cryes of the City of London’. This image is of milkmaid dressed up for May day. Apparently this was the day when all the milkmaid’s of London came out in their best clothes and decorated their pails with silverware which was tied with bows, flowers and herbs. This was known as ‘The Milkmaid’s Garland’ and usually consisted of borrowed silverware which would be returned to the pawn brokers that evening. The pile of utensils was carried on the milkmaid’s head as she danced through the streets collecting tips from customers and passersby.

Anyway I don’t plan on reviving this tradition but I thought it was a good image to represent women in business and some alternative uses for silverware! I’ll be debuting the cards at Barcamp Cork (November 20th), you can’t miss me I’ll be the one with the teapot stuck to my head!

Women Silversmiths 1685-1845, The National Museum of Women in the Arts — Women Silversmiths 1685-1845, The National Museum of Women in the Art

Business Cards

11.08.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

This week as well as buying new tools I went about sorting some business cards. Not that I’ll get the opportunity to hand them out on the streets of Macroom but I have signed up for Barcamp in Cork this month. You don’t really see many business cards in my little silver world so I had no idea where to start. Anyway I was directed to Moo which is a great website that gives you lots of different templates and designs. I opted for the mini business card size, partly to save the environment and partly because I’m not sure I am adult enough for a big persons business card! Anyway rather than using a picture of my work which I’m afraid I would outgrow in a few months I picked an image from a book I have about women silversmiths in the 18^th century. The cards are winging their way to me as I type so as soon as they arrive I’ll put up some pictures of them and explain the inspiration behind them.