About/Contact/FAQ

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CraftyPod is made by me, Sister Diane — aka Diane Gilleland. I should tell you some stuff about me, but I find writing about myself really challenging. Why don’t you ask me some questions to get the ball rolling?

Okay. What’s up with the name “Sister Diane?”

Ah, good one. I got the name “Sister Diane” back in 2003, when I started up a chapter of the Church of Craft here in Portland, Oregon. Back then, they asked you to pick an official “church name” – and, be ordained as a minister. So, now I can perform wedding ceremonies, and the nickname continues to stick with me.

Oh, okay – I thought maybe you were a nun or something. So, how did you start up this whole blog/podcast/video thing you’ve got going here?

Well, back in 2005, my partner Katin (he’s amazing, but that’s another story) introduced me to podcasts – these little indie radio shows on the internet. I was quickly hooked, and decided to make a podcast about crafting. One steep learning curve later, CraftyPod was born.

Then, about two years later, I discovered all these craft blogs, which rocked my world. I mean, I grew up in communities where being a crafter wasn’t all that cool, and I never managed to find a fellow maker in my neighborhood. But online? Here were thousands of kindred spirits, all over the world! I knew I needed a craft blog of my very own. So I started one.

…And by 2009, I was getting interested in making videos, too. I love independent media as much as I love crafting.

Why do you think DIY media is such a big deal?

Dude. Think about it: your whole life, you’ve had most of your ideas fed to you by corporate-controlled publishing, television, and radio. That is, until the internet came to town and put all those media tools into your hands – and mine, and everyone’s. Now we can all step up and share our own stories, and the world is richer for that.

I never, ever get tired of zines, YouTube videos or indie podcasts.

What crafts are you into?

I’ve never met a craft I didn’t love – though it should be said, I have only an uneasy détente with knitting. At the moment, I’m deep into plastic canvas and crochet, but I’ll try any craft once. You’ll see a wide range of them around here.

Geez, you’re into a lot of different stuff. Do you, in fact, sleep?

Occasionally, yes. But mostly, my cat Pushkin does the sleeping for me. He’s helpful like that. He’ll doze 20 hours a day and never complain once.

But, speaking of being into lots of stuff, you don’t know the half of it! I also run a tiny independent publishing company called CraftyPod Publishing. I publish my own ebooks, and sometimes, work by other crafters.

Oh – and I teach a variety of online classes to help crafty people make their own media – blogs, podcasts, online classes, and ebooks.

You are making me tired.

Sorry!

So, will you blog about my event/product/online store/new book?

I’ll tell you this: I get asked to blog about things almost every day. There’s no way I can cover it all – and frankly, not everything I get asked to blog about makes sense for my readers.

So, if you want me to blog about you, please read this and then this.

I have a question for you about crafting/materials/resources…

That’s cool, but before you ask me, could you try Googling it first? I promise, that’s nothing personal – it’s just that half the time, people email me questions and I end up Googling for an answer anyway. So if you do it first, you can get your answer much faster.

If Google can’t help you, I’ll be glad to try.

Okay then. I think that’s everything I wanted to know. Oh – wait! One more thing: what’s your copyright policy? I have a real passion for copyright and am dying to know.

My podcast content and published tutorials are protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

My other blog content is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

If you want to republish an image from this blog, I’d really appreciate it if you asked permission first, and gave me a photo credit with a link. Believe me, I’d do the same for you.