I’m a Joiner!
When Chris was visiting after EPWM she turned me onto swap-bot. I had heard about it and even occasionally had an invite to join a swap there but had never done so. I really joined to take part in some music swaps as I have been wanting to mix up my music listening lately. However, I discovered newbies are not readily welcomed in lots of the music swaps. I did discover these awesome Photo ATC (Artist Trading Card) swaps though. They are quite low cost, quick, and allow newbies to establish a rating. There are also postcard photo swaps as well. I signed up for a few and really enjoyed it.
I decided to jump in and host my first swap-bot swap. They often have a specific theme so it struck me - how about a fiber arts themed photo ATC swap? There are some amazing fiber arts photos out there and it is always inspirational to see how others photo style their WIP or FO shots, or even their stash shots. There are many other yarn-theme swaps on there as well so if you think you’d like to do other fibery swaps, this one is a great way to get a rating. I do have the send date out a bit as I wanted plenty of time to recruit people so it won’t be a quick turn around rating getter. But whether you are old or new to swap-bot I’d love to have you play!
For those who are unfamiliar with artist trading cards there is a lot of info on them if you just Google it. For the photo ATC the “standard” is to have 2 X 3 inch prints made (or high quality home prints are okay here) and then mount them to 2.5 X 3.5 inch pieces of sturdy cardstock. Some people embellish them further, some don’t. Since they are trading cards contact info should be on the back - name, e-mail, web site if you have one. Some include a bit info on the back. If you are photographing commercially available stuff it would be nice to have the info on that on the back as well.
When I get my 2 X 3 inch prints I just order the 4 wallet 4 X 6 inch print. It’s 99 cents at Walgreens. You can save a bit of money by making your own file with 4 copies up and just get a standard 4 X 6 print for 19 cents, but I find that to be a little less precise, but it does save money. The photo ATC swaps are usually 3 partners so you get 4 copies of each photo you are sending and it allows you to keep a set yourself.
To read more about it and to sign up head over to http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/5970. If you have any questions, just ask! I’m fairly new to this, but FarrStarr has been of great help to me in finding my way around the photo swaps.
