As you well know, I’ve done a week of posts about the awesome 2008 Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, a fest of handmade, do-it-yourself, Etsy-ian fantastic-ness.
There is only one thing to do after spending an entire week rounding something up, and that’s re-rounding it up. Yes, that’s right, re-rounding it up. So click on the images below to be taken away to various web-sites to see various wonders.
Or, just scroll through my entire collection of Renegade Craft Fair posts on Stickers & Donuts. Enjoy!
CLICK ON IMAGES!
(no worries, they’ll open in a new window)
I could go on and on about The Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn last weekend (in fact, I did sort of already did), but, alas, next week I think I will need to post something new!
So, for today’s final Renegade Finds: Knick Knacks & other things that found no other category.
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Everyone and their large-mustached-uncle seems to have posted about Something Hiding In Here’s presence at Renegade. Why? Because they’re just so darn cute and original and weirdly obsessed with mustaches. They’ve got a mustache charm, and two different kinds of mustache disguises (felt, for those of us on a low-budget, and wood for those high-class masqueraders). You can buy all kinds of mustaches (and they do actually make other things!) on their Etsy shop here.
Mr. Poncho makes these lovely ipod cases (~$18) in every design you can imagine (subject to the size of your imagination, but you get the drift)! And, the best part is, the wires don’t get tangled because of that clear round thing (very technical term) on the front.
The Small Object makes very small objects, and, by nature, things that are small are often cute (why is that?). My favorite good from The Small Object is the set of Crafty Organization Idea Cards (image above left, from artist’s website) which you can use to organize your most original and crafty ideas! They also make very cute doodle-y stamps (as shown above right, image from artist’s web-site).
And, last but not least, are 31 Corn Lane’s adorable bags (which I suppose should’ve gone in my Renegade fashion or jewelry posts, but my little brain was having a hard time categorizing bags).
“Years later and we still don’t have a mini-pony or a trampoline or a skate ramp, but! We’re finally taking the hot air balloon situation into our own hands” (31 Corn Lane web-site).
These hot air balloon totes make you want to spend a day at the beach in a bathing suit and bloomers. (And do you see the matching jewelry on the left!?) Also, if you visit their web-site, you may want to read those long blurbs next to the product, they’re worth it!
(Coming up soon… a round-up of all of these round-ups. Phew!)
(Part I and Part II are those places.)
These Shadow Theaters and Shadow Puppets from Owly Shadow Puppets remind me of the days of yore. (Not that I was alive in the days of yore, but they played with shadow puppets back then for lack of technical entertainment.) Anyway, what’s awesomest about these puppets is that they’re held together with brads, so they bend and move as you move the two sticks. Oh, and, as per the definition of a shadow puppet, they make cool shadows.
The Sea Monster (above) is my favorite, and is only $10.50 on the Owly Shadow Puppets Etsy page. The artist has also got some cool lesson plans for teachers on her website, so if you have kids, or you like to pretend you are a kid, you can make some puppets of your own!
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My Imaginary Boyfriend had lots of cool pillows, pictures, and, yes, a creature — if a robot counts as a creature, which I think it should. (And by “my imaginary boyfriend” I mean the craft shop, not my actual fake imaginary boyfriend.)
(My imaginary boyfriend would totally give that robot to me for my birthday, by the way.)
Below creatures are adorable. And a little creepy.
I sort of what to cuddle with these creatures AND run away from them! The image above is from the artist’s website, where there are a few more crazy creatures to wonder at. Unfortunately, the store isn’t up and running yet. We’ll be waiting!
The Cherry Box
I couldn’t get enough these deer heads. Usually, big ol’ deer heads on walls freak me out. They are dead animals. Heads. Hanging. For pleasure. But these plush heads mock that tradition, and thus crack me up. These poor plush heads are about $45, but range depending on size & type.
I also loved their hats, which came in many fruit varieties, but I was partial to the creature varieties:
I actually tried on the above hat and almost bought it (only $20… but where will I wear it?)! They’re available online in the “Accessories” section of the Cherry Box website.
Today/tomorrow I’ll be featuring all of my favorite creatures (stuffed, usually) I found at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past weekend (for all Renegade-related posts, click here).
DIYers really like to make random, sarcastic, ironic, and/or scary/cute creatures. It’s a thing. And these renegade crafters did not disappoint — especially on the random front.
My Paper Crane needs it’s own special call-out for two reasons:
Reason #1
It has stuffed (plush) DONUTS that look remarkably like OUR donuts on S&D! (Not that two chocolate-covered donuts should look altogether very different from one another, but these guys could be siblings, or cousins at least.)
Reason #2
I was told there would be moldy toast (plush, of course) at the fair, and there was (and burnt toast, and regular toast). Apparently, I also told others that there would be moldy toast. Later I discovered that this was confusing (”She is going to a craft fair to find moldy toast? But why? What kind of craft fair is this? Sounds like a science fair!” etc). Luckily I took this picture to clear that up.
Today I’m reporting back on just some of the prints I enjoyed at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past weekend (for all kinds of other Renegade Fun, click here and don’t stop scrolling!)
There were way too many lovely & wonderful prints for me to collect them all here, so don’t think this is a comprehensive collection of the creme de la creme. Although these guys are pretty, er, creamy.
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How adorable are these old school silkscreened prints (below) from animalsleep? If you want to go straight to buying a print, click here. They’re about $20-30. Very affordable for such lovely things. (**Oh, and can you not buy this one? Because it’s my favorite.**) They also make shirts and other whatnots, if you’d rather wear your art.
Sycamore Street Press is a letterpress studio that makes lovely, lovely letterpress cards (featured on all kinds of blogs these days, too!) — very delicate, a lot of pastel colors — so why is it that I gravitate towards the print below (available here)? It’s only $20 and I think it’s so funny!
I have a little place in my heart for linoleum printing (though I’m kind of/a lot jealous of these!), so I got pretty excited when I saw Tugboat Print Shop sitting right before my very eyes with their linoleum blocks out for show. (”These are the linoleum blocks you print from?” I ask stupidly, artstruck.) They range from about $20-80. (I happen to like this dragon and this house.)
And I can’t forget these Renegade Craft Fair screenprinted posters. They are like the posters you get at band concerts. Except better. And for a craft fair.
And I love the screenprinted posters from Strawberry Luna!
My (albeit limited, perhaps I’ll try again tomorrow!) quest to find the business card of the printmakers below has failed (hmm, why can’t I find that business card?). If you know who they are, please comment below!
Ruffeo Hearts Lil’ Snotty was one of my favorite booths at the Renegade Craft Fair because I love funky, bright (ie neon), & creative clothing. It’s wonderful to feel like you’re wearing art!
And, while I’m an obsessive layer-er, you can see why I might like an easier route to guaranteed originality. If you pop on one of these jumpers, kaleidescope dresses, or double barrel sweaters, then you are already off to funkytown without adding three more layers of T-shirts and two more skirts (though I wouldn’t prohibit it, of course).
“Such time and care goes into each kaleidoscope, tidy surged seams, safety backstitched to outlast a lifetime of quality guaranteed under warrantee. You can wear this dress inside out to floss your dedication to superior handmade craftsmanship. These seams are wicked technical, pulled off w/ precision” (RHLS etsy page).
Although the price range (generally around $100) is above and beyond what some pockets can afford, for those of you who spend a pretty penny on clothes anyway, this stuff is like buying a piece of art work to hang on your wall, but you get to wear it! And, it’s handmade, so you’re paying time & originality, too.
This T-shirt (shown above, $24) with the little sewn on pocket is from Sarah Hearts.
And this bright colored, graphically cool T-shirt (shown above, $15) is from Seibei. They make tons of cool T-shirts with monsters on them. Rar!
Dear Birthday
Dear Birthday (that’s the web-site, but you can purchase the clothes on Etsy) sews dresses from her own patterns and, lucky for those of us who can’t quite afford a dress at the moment, very colorful underwear ($20). How cute!
Today I’ll be posting on the all of the fabulous fashions I found at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this weekend.
For all my Renegade posts, click here.
I love the Stormcloud Bring Rainbows Etsy shop, because if there is lightning or a rainbow in your neighborhood, you can get 15% off!
Many of these sweaters also contain the bright colors I love & unique patterns that you don’t see in any other pieces in the shop. If you like the above, I encourage you to browse Stormcloud’s shop.
“These garments are made mostly of salvaged and up-cycled materials. i hand dye, construct and screen print my precious babies with loving care” (Stormcloud Brings Rainbows Etsy Shop).
Compai
Compai makes clothes out of other clothes, including a handful of dresses and skirts that have pockets in the most perfect locations. Look at part of the collection here.
Although many of the accessories at the Renegade Craft Fair this past weekend were fabulous, a lot of them were typical: chain, string, charm. This is not a bad thing, but it just made the bracelets, collars (collars? what?), headbands, and hats at The Candy Thief booth stand out even more.
These accessories all use the same detailed technique of layering brightly colored felt “leaves,” attached with contrasting stitching. Special details include little flowers, buttons, and beads, and a layer of dark fabric inside the bracelets (presumably for beauty and comfort, since felt seems like it might be itchy).
Despite (and because of!) the jagged leafy edges, and a material that some believe is reserved for elementary school art class, these accessories are beautiful & elegant.
The Candy Thief Etsy Shop allows custom orders on headbands (you can choose your colors and give your measurements) for about $35. There is also a whole slew of already-made headbands for you to look at if you need some Candy Thief eye candy.
The collars, though a bit more daring, would be the kind of accessory to stir conversation and turn heads (in a good way) and look most suitable for a trendy night on the town (though we all know I don’t look down on wearing anything anywhere!). These guys can be custom ordered, too (about $45).
And lastly, but not leastly: I love these adorable bonnet-hats that I am kicking myself for not looking into further, because I don’t see them in the Candy Thief Etsy Shop. With four coordinating fabrics, a little brim, and a tie for your neck, these vintage-feel hats seem perfect for a sunny day on the beach.
Geometric necklaces made of silicone rubber. Other cool silver geometric necklaces on the web-site!
Beautiful, simple nature-loving necklaces, like the twig above. These guys are “cast in sterling silver using the lost wax method.”
To start: the cartoon-y jewelry!
Shop the Brookadelphia Esty store for shiny, ironic jewels. Prices range from $30-50. (more…)
WARNING::WARNING::TONS OF POSTS COMING UP::WATCH YOUR WALLET
When I arrived at the Renegade Craft Fair, I started collecting business cards with two purposes in mind:
But, alas, with over 200 vendors, some of them sharing a table with a friend, there suddenly became way too many business cards to even carry in my pockets (see pictures above)! But, as it goes with pretty things, I couldn’t help myself and even forced my partner-in-crime to take some, too, if the back and the front were both pretty (I didn’t want to seem like I was hogging all the business cards, even if I was).
When I arrived home, though, the poor scanner couldn’t handle such a load of cards, and thus I laid-out a few (okay, a bunch) of my favorites on a bulletin board (click on the picture for a larger view).
One big business card theme was the use of Moo.com’s MiniCards, which are about 1/3 the size of a regular business card, and each card can contain a different image. Some crafters choose to place random images of their crafts on the back (front?) of their cards and others choose to alternate between a few images or logos.
Since this was a big gathering of DIYers, there were also lots of hand-stamped, hand-cut, hand-pasted cards. Others were printed more traditionally. One of my favorite business cards included My Imaginary Boyfriend, which had a black and white photo of a high school boyfriend on the front, and thus looked like one of those pocket yearbook photos you share with friends (near bottom of left of bulletin board photo). Another favorite was from Timber!. Their card was square, but still convenient for a pocket, and the back looked like tree bark (bottom right hand corner of bulletin board photo).
But my favorite business card, hands down, was from Iskra Print Collective. Although I usually don’t like business cards in the shape of large pamphlets or postcards (ie things I can’t fit in my pocket or wallet!), I was so pleased to see that these pretty business cards could fit on my face! There were many glasses types to choose from, but I picked these (it was between these and the aviators!). You can checkout Iskra’s print shop online.
One of my favorite things yesterday at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn was the Postcard Machine.
A woman sits inside this crafty little “postcard vending machine” with a microphone and speaks in very terse, robotic voice as you interact with it to get your postcard. (more…)
Today I went to The Fourth Annual Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, NY at McCarren Park Pool (yes, the pool is an actual empty community pool where concerts, free movie screenings, and a craft fair full of renegades all take place — if you are as curious as I was about what an abandoned pool looks, see below).
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This craft fair is one of the premier DIY and crafter fairs and occurs four times a year (twice in Chicago, and once in San Fransisco and Brooklyn). So many people want to fill the 200 available tent spaces that the selected crafters have to be pretty wonderful to have a spot. This year, Etsy had a big overall presence at the fair and its own table with magical freebies such as a “passport” to the fair, stickers, buttons, and temporary tattoos.
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While I’m still recovering from the heat, I’m mostly still recovering from the awesome-ness of seeing so many creative people in one room (er, pool). After a full day of oohing, ahhing, note-taking, business card collecting, and wishing “I had thought of that” I am returning to you with not just one post on the Renegade Craft Fair but a fabulous week of posts. I just couldn’t help myself.
Enjoy! (All Renegade Fair 08 posts will be collected here!)
