Crafters Painters Sewists I <3 Artists

Perhaps you have heard of this thing where the United States, in an admirable effort to lower the bad stuff like POISONOUS LEAD in children’s products, is passing legislation that, unfortunately, is also going to make it difficult or impossible for some of the art/craft people to stay in business. The painful thing about this is that often the artists/crafters hand-make BECAUSE safe products are important to them, and hand-making is their way of ensuring that.

I’ll tell you right up front that I know VERY LITTLE about this. I have to have “CPSIA” written on a piece of scrap paper next to me or I can’t remember the letters, and I don’t know what the letters stand for….okay, fine, that’s too embarrassing, I’ll look it up. It’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

As I understand the situation, the CPSIA thing didn’t set out to hurt artists and crafters; it’s more that it didn’t set out to protect them, either, and so the new regulations, intended for large businesses, also affect, for example, a person with a hobby room who makes baby blankets out of carefully-purchased organic cotton, and a person with a workshop who makes baby toys out of carefully-purchased dangerous-chemical-free wood and paint. Do I have that basically right? Is that about the gist of it?

Okay! So, do you remember the Whimsical Walney t-shirt giveaway we did last June? Well, she can’t stay in business because of this CPSIA thing, so all her stuff is 50% off until February 9th when she’s shutting down. You can visit her at Whimsical Walney to see all her cute Use Your Words and Flags of the World kid shirts.

But also. To, uh, commemorate the CPSIA issue, we’re going to be doing a series of giveaways. If you’re a business affected by CPSIA and you’re getting rid of inventory (um, I hope it’s clear I mean inventory NOT saturated with lead or whatevs, but rather inventory that is nice and safe but can’t be sold unless you pay for an expensive test to prove it), or if you’re an artist/crafter NOT affected by the new act but wanting to show support for those artists/crafters who ARE affected, email me at swistle at gmail dot com and let me know what you’d like to give away. I’ll do a giveaway every day or two until popping slows to 2-3 seconds between pops I run out of things to give away, or until we get to February 9th, which is the last day non-CPSIA-tested things can be sold.

Whimsical Walney is first up: leave a comment on this post by Friday, January 30th at 4:00 p.m. U.S. Pacific time, and I’ll use a random number generator to choose a winner. The prize is one Whimsical Walney shirt, your choice of any still in stock.

88 thoughts on “Crafters Painters Sewists I <3 Artists

  1. Heather

    I’d love to win this! My little guy adores anything to do with fire trucks/firefighting. We’d love to have the “I’m a firefighter” shirt in a size 4 years.

    Reply
  2. Mommy Brain

    I’ve been following the CPSIA situation both for the crafters whom I enjoy buying from AND because there’s concern about how it affects resellers and consignment stores. While it won’t be illegal for consignment stores/thrift shops to sell used children’s items, they can still get in a lot of trouble if something they sell has lead in it. Tricky.

    I hope that everyone who reads this will go to http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/how-you-can-help and write to their congress person and senators!

    Reply
  3. Linda

    This makes me sad for all the small businesses. I understand the intent is to protect children, but children should have tshirts with artichokes on them!

    Reply
  4. Safire

    Ugh, this is such a tricky law. We do want to protect our kids, but there has got to be a different way to do this! Besides, twins need shirts with flags on them!

    Reply
  5. MrsHaley

    I hope a work-around for this law is found before it puts artists out of business. Christmas & birthdays would be very sad at my house without so much to choose from on Etsy!

    Reply
  6. Kristi

    I hate that legislation couldn’t be written to protect everyone, and that includes MANY small business owners with Etsy shops! I understand the rationale, but just like everything else in America, sweeping blanket legislation is hurting the little guy/gal.

    In a word…sucks.

    Reply
  7. caleyadams

    There has to be another way to go about doing this! While I understand the intention, it almost seems like they went with the first solution they could think of without even bothering to come up with an idea that didn’t put so many people out of business.

    So sad. And those are some adorable shirts, too. How will Etsy fare after this, I wonder?

    Reply
  8. Liz

    This is sad! Those shirts are so cute. Why can’t they do something to fix the situation. Probably lack of lobbyists for small crafts people.

    Reply
  9. Cara

    I second MommyBrain – this country is fantastic because the people have power – so lets get out there and let our voices heard abt the injustice of this act! There has to be a better way to write this law, and I dont think the lawmakers recognize the impact it would have, and I dont think they will recognize it until their constituents, i.e. US, let them know!
    http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/how-you-can-help

    Reply
  10. Laura

    I hate everything about this new law going into affect. I have been reading up on it for the past few weeks and I just can’t understand how it can be truly justified on so many levels.

    Thanks for a chance to win something hand crafted from a wholesome business owner!

    Reply
  11. Clarabella

    I am very upset about this as I tend to like to buy from those affected. I am sincerely hoping that new legislation will swing back around to protect some of our small-business artisans. That said, I’d love to enter the contest.
    I will probably buy something too regardless.

    Reply
  12. Michelle

    And the few ruin it for the many again…. I had heard about this awhile ago but nothing lately so I had (wrongly) assumed it was resolved. Yuck!

    Good thing we have the government here to fix us from this huge financial mess, too. Just like they’re doing with the lead now ;)

    Reply
  13. Christy

    Please enter me! I feel a little ooky possibly winning something off the misfortune of others, but since there’s little I can do to stop it at this point – I might as well!

    Reply
  14. Clare

    Glad to see Congress thought this all the way through. The safest toys will be the ones that we can’t buy anymore. But the Cheap Plastic Crap (tm ask moxie, I think) will be perfectly “safe.”

    Reply
  15. Little-Bit

    I feel bad that we are receiving a gift because of a terrible situation. I hope it is resolved soon. The shirts are cute, and my son would lurve one with an airplane on it!

    Reply
  16. Maggie

    Ugh the more I hear about the CPSIA the more poorly drafted and thought out it seems to be. I cannot believe they are going through with an act that would seriously damage so many people’s livelihoods in this economy. Frustrating.

    Reply
  17. Claire Bingham

    As much as i would love to win a shirt, I can’t believe this law can affect so many. How will they possibly enforce it? I am in the same boat with my tutu biz, and I am really hoping all the letter writing and press will remedy this.
    Claire
    I love Princess
    Tutus

    Reply
  18. Swati

    I wish I could help, but not being an American citizen, writing to senators is kind of useless.

    You all are also aware of the law – probably passed by now – which requires anyone creating anything: a photo, a painting, a scarf, to pay and copyright it specifically, else anyone can just come and use your designs for their own purposes. The burden of proof is on the artist, who may be struggling to make ends meet by selling his/her art, but has to shell hundreds of dollars for registering each article. Horrible.

    Reply
  19. Megan

    Thanks to the gov for protecting us from ourselves! Dude, if your kid is in the chewing phase, just be more careful. It’s not that hard. I read that this law was put in place even though there’s NEVER been a confirmed case of a child ingesting a button or anything with lead.

    Reply
  20. carrie

    Even though I don’t sell my crafty stuff – it affects all of us! How many great, amazing things will just be lost…my Etsy addiction is in serious jeopardy.

    I’d be willing to give away one of the kidlets or bags I have been crafting lately(I don’t sell them, but can come up with a fun, maybe even customized giveaway?) if you are still in need of some crafty goodness for giveaways!

    Reply
  21. Amy

    It seems they are taking this well-meaning law WAY too far. It seems a lot of people are trying to stop it, so hopefully some changes are made to it!

    Reply
  22. Jen - Mom of 4

    This is a frustrating law. I understand the intent, but just because the government hasn’t been doing it’s job doesn’t mean it should over react. I recently read that this will also affect libraries! There is a chance that children under the age of 12 years old will be barred from libraries unless they also do some testing.

    I do hope that they will realize that they have over reacted and make some adjustments.

    Reply
  23. samantha jo campen

    This whole thing is so sad. Let’s push people out of making money in the middle of a HUGE RECESSION! What a great idea!

    Ugh. The shirts are adorable and I literally don’t know which one I love the most :-)

    Reply
  24. Rhia

    I am devastated by this whole thing, and because I’m Canadian, I can’t even do much to stop it! How much is this going to hurt so many people already hurting because of the recession!?

    Anyway, I do so love all the Spanish ones, and would love an alcachofa, zanahoria or burbujas shirt in a little size.

    Reply
  25. LauraLou

    The CPSIA is so ridiculous. I hope we can get through to the government, but in the meantime I hope I win the shirt. : )

    Reply
  26. theprincessofquitealot2

    I love giveaways! I am familiar with the new law that has been passed. For a period of about two weeks I thought I was going to be out of a job because of said new law. We were fully prepared to launch an all out assault on our local senator. And then we found out our business was more or less exempt from it. Oh, and our lovely senator SUPPORTED the new bill fully. Thanks, Jackass!

    Good luck everyone.

    Reply

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