Make yourself at home

The idea: You should be able to enjoy handmade inspiration without setting up a workspace. When you are ready to keep a making journal or share your own work, Crafter access opens those tools. The application gives us a chance to welcome makers and learn a little about their interests.

You might be trying pottery, carving your first spoon, returning to embroidery, or exploring a craft entirely your own. Tell us what you enjoy making and how you hope to use your space. “Customer” is the starting account role; it does not mean you have to buy anything.

Getting started

1. Create Your Space, then follow the email link to verify your address.
2. Sign in and choose My Profile → Crafter Access. Tell us a little about what you make and submit your request.
3. Check that page for the decision. After approval, sign out and back in to see My projects.

New accounts start as Customers. An Admin or Founder approves Crafter access before you can create projects and a crafter gallery.

The idea: craftio.space belongs to every kind of maker. Our founders love crochet, sewing, and quilting, but the space is equally yours if you work with clay, wood, metal, paper, glass, digital tools, or materials we haven’t thought of yet.

Try it: A handmade journal can belong to Bookbinding, Paper Craft, and Leatherwork. A pressed-flower lantern might combine Glasswork, Botanical Craft, and Mixed Media. A project appears when visitors filter for any of its chosen crafts.

1. When creating or editing a project, choose between one and ten crafts.
2. Choose Other Craft if no category fits. Email a category suggestion with its name and a short example; Admins and Founders can expand the directory.
3. Use the craft filter in My projects to organize your work, or in the gallery and crafter directory to explore.

These are public craft labels when a project is published; your private tags remain private. Selecting more crafts does not publish a project or duplicate it. The crafter directory shows crafts represented by your eligible published work, not your private projects. Etsy categories remain a separate choice for any future shop integration.

The idea: A project is the home for one piece of work: its story, progress, materials notes, and photos. It gives you somewhere to pick up the thread when you return to a make after a few days or months. A project can begin as an idea; it does not need to be finished or intended for sale.

Try it: Start a project called “Sandi’s autumn throw.” Use the description to capture its inspiration, record yarn colors and hook size in Materials notes, and update its status as you work. Later, those notes can help you make a companion piece.

Tags are short labels for finding work across your journal. Use gifts for different presents, cotton for a material, or autumn for a season. Combine a tag with a craft or status filter to narrow your search. Archive work when you want it out of your everyday view but still available for reference.

Getting started

1. Open My projects → New project. Add a title, one or more crafts, description, progress status, and optional photos, then save.
2. Keep supplies and reminders in Materials notes. Add optional tags such as gifts, cotton, autumn, separated by commas.
3. Use the search and craft, status, or tag filters in My projects to find your work.

Projects start private. Materials notes and tags stay out of the public gallery. Choose the Archived status filter to find archived work.

The idea: Photos help you remember how a piece developed and let visitors appreciate details they cannot touch. Publishing is your choice to turn a private journal entry into a public story. You can share work for inspiration and pride in making, whether or not it is for sale.

Try it: For a quilt, choose a full view as the cover, then add close-ups of the stitching, fabric, and backing. For pottery, show the shape, glaze, base, and scale. Write captions that describe what each image adds, such as “Hand-quilted leaf detail in sage cotton.” These descriptions also help visitors who cannot see the image clearly.

The cover is the first impression in the gallery. Use the preview to check that the photos and description tell the story you want to share. Keep your original image files separately, and review every photo before publishing.

Getting started

1. Add photos alongside the title and description when creating or editing a project. Choose several files or drag them into the photo box, then select Save project. Use JPEG, PNG, or WebP images within the current limits shown above the file picker. Starting allowances are 50 photos per project, 20 MB per photo and 64 MB per batch; administrators can adjust these. Admin and Founder accounts have no account photo quotas, though image safety and hosting limits still apply. A shared caption can start the batch; use Photos & captions afterward to describe each photo individually. If an upload stops, saved details and earlier photos remain; the confirmation explains what to retry.
2. Choose a cover photo and check Gallery preview.
3. Open Publishing and choose Publish to public gallery. You’ll need a public display name, a description, at least one saved photo, a cover, and captions for every photo. Archived projects must be moved to another status first.

Before saving: You can add to the file queue with another selection or drop, and remove a queued file without deleting a saved photo. The first photo becomes the cover when a project has none. Save pending details before leaving for Photos & captions. With JavaScript off, choose multiple files together using the standard file picker.

If something goes wrong: A form error requires choosing your files again. If a batch stops partway through, the saved details and earlier photos remain: check the confirmation and saved thumbnails, then choose only the remaining files. After a lost connection, reload and inspect the project before retrying. Smaller batches can help with hosting limits. A message about another window means you should copy your unsaved text, reload, and reapply it.

Publishing shares the project description and all its photos and captions. Saved edits and new photos appear publicly immediately. Choose Unpublish — make private before working privately. Archiving or removing the last photo also unpublishes the project.

The idea: Your profile introduces the hands behind the handmade. Individual projects show what you make; your personal gallery brings that work together with your story and a visual style that feels like you. It gives you one lasting link to share with friends or visitors.

Try it: Tell visitors how you learned your craft, which materials you love, or what inspires your colors. Add a portrait or a welcoming image of your workspace. Optional website, Etsy shop, and social links help people continue exploring through the services you already use.

Gallery templates change both layout and colors. Choose Tulip Garden for soft sage and rose, Lilac Summer for a lavender sidebar layout, Sunflower Sunshine for a warm introduction with a prominent first piece, Rosewood Cottage for alternating story-and-image rows, or Fern & Thread for a compact moss-toned gallery. Preview a few with your own work, and optionally choose a published spotlight project to lead the gallery. Your photos keep their original colors.

Getting started

1. Choose My Profile → Edit Profile. Add your display name, story, and optional website, Etsy shop, or social links.
2. Save your text, then upload a profile photo separately if you’d like one. Profile photos have their own 8 MB limit; changing project photo allowances does not change this. Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest links belong in their named fields.
3. Choose Gallery templates, pick a style, update the private preview, then save the appearance you like.

Save your profile and publish at least one project to open your personal gallery. Use View my gallery or My Profile → View Profile to visit it. Your gallery link stays the same; saved changes to a public profile appear immediately. Your public profile also appears in the crafter directory, where visitors can find you by name, story, or a craft you have published. If you unpublish all your projects, your profile and directory entry are hidden until you share eligible work again.

The idea: A collection brings separate projects together around a shared story. Think of it as a named shelf in your making room or a small exhibition in your gallery. Each project keeps its own details and photos; the collection explains why those pieces belong together.

• Autumn at home: Gather a ceramic bowl, a carved tray, and a crocheted throw that share warm colors, even though they use different crafts.
• Gifts for the family: Keep planned and finished presents together in a private collection as you work through them.
• My first year of crochet: Bring together pieces that show your progress, then share the published work as a story of what you have learned.

Tags help you find projects by a quick label; collections let you deliberately gather a set, give it a name and description, and optionally share it through one link. A quilt could belong to both “Autumn at home” and “My favorite quilts” without making a second copy.

Try it: Choose a small theme, add a few related projects, and write a sentence about what connects them. Keep it private for your own planning, or publish it to guide visitors through a thoughtful selection. Adding a project does not move it out of your journal.

Getting started

1. From My projects, choose My collections → New collection. Give it a name and save.
2. Choose projects, search your journal, and use Add or Remove. Each change saves immediately; a project can belong to several collections.
3. To share it, open Sharing → Publish collection. Add at least one already-published project first.

Collections start private. Shared collections show only eligible published work; adding a private project never publishes it. Saved changes appear immediately. A shared collection with no eligible projects is hidden until eligible work returns. Choose Make private to turn sharing off.

Removing a member or deleting a collection keeps the original projects and photos.

The idea: Your gallery celebrates the story behind a piece; an Etsy listing gives interested visitors a place to explore buying it. Link each creation to its own listing so visitors do not have to search your whole shop. You can also keep a finished or sold piece in your gallery as part of your making story.

Try it: A finished sunflower tote could be “Available on Etsy.” After it finds a home, change the label to “Sold on Etsy.” If you offer similar totes by request through that listing, choose “Made to order on Etsy.” A quilt you made as a family gift can stay “Gallery only.”

1. In My projects, edit the project and find A home on Etsy.
2. Paste your own listing’s full HTTPS browser address beginning https://www.etsy.com/listing/. Use a listing address, not a shop address or shortened sharing link. Tracking details are removed when saved.
3. Choose Public availability and save. The three Etsy labels need a listing address. Gallery only hides the link, while allowing you to keep an address saved for later.
4. Check Gallery preview. Publish when ready; if the piece is already public, saved changes appear immediately across galleries.

Visitors can filter the main gallery by availability and open View Etsy listing on a creation’s page. Labels are supplied by the crafter: check Etsy for current availability, pricing, shipping, and ordering details.

These links do not connect your Etsy account, verify your listing, or synchronize stock. Keep labels current yourself. Your private project status is separate, so changing it does not change this label. Purchases and arrangements are between the buyer and seller on Etsy; craftio.space does not handle checkout or sales.

The idea: Your account keeps your private making journal and publishing choices under your control. Email verification confirms that you can receive account messages; password recovery gives you a way back if you forget your password.

Which option should I use? If you can sign in and know your current password, use Password in My Profile. If you cannot remember it, request a reset email. A verification email confirms your address; a password-reset email lets you choose a new password.

Finding your way back

Forgot your password? Use Forgot password on the sign-in page and follow the email instructions. Check your spam folder if the message doesn’t arrive.

Already signed in? Choose My Profile → Password to change it. If an email verification link has expired, use resend verification.

Your materials notes, tags and unpublished work stay out of the public gallery. Publishing shares the piece’s description, craft labels, photos and captions; public profile links are visible too. Review them before sharing. Unpublishing stops future public access on this site, but cannot recall copies someone already saved.

The footer links to Privacy, Terms & acceptable use, Cookies and Accessibility. The cookie notice explains the cookies used for sign-in, form security and remembering the notice. The footer version opens Development updates so you can see what changed.

Etsy account connection, automatic listing creation and stock synchronization are not available yet. Current Etsy features are links and labels that you maintain yourself.