Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn, Summer 2013

FINALLY........I have a moment to begin writing this post.  It's been one helluva week, since Saturday I haven't had a minute to even go through the photo's and business cards I accumulated at the show (note to self....I must try and put the biz cards in order of receiving them instead of just throwing them all in my camera case.....this would make matters SOOOOOO much easier when going through the pics and matching the artist to their wares). 

Managed to snap this pic without getting run over by the cyclists, see the bike path sign there on the right?  They are VERY serious about keeping the path free of pedestrians in Brooklyn, we witnessed quite a few angry cyclists yelling at dazed crafters to get out of their way.

I think this post would be best suited to lots of pics and not too much chat, so without further ado, let's see if I can make that happen.....warning - there are a lot of pics!

First stop...port a potty.....I had been driving for 2 hours from Jersey, through Manhattan to pick up my side kick on the UES then onto Brooklyn.  The Chalkboard Tee even thought to advertise to the restroom goers.....genius!

Here's a sample from the front

Next up a lovely English lady that's her on the right in the red top trying to get out of the pic, ha, gotcha!  She was manning the fort for her boyfriend Adam Hawkey who owns Apartment B, Creative Window Shades ApartmentB on Etsy

Brilliant idea....love the London Tube stop shade, but then again I am British!

I loved the stationary and cards at Robinson Press

Robinson Press

Catia Chien had some beautiful and unusual illustrations and cards

Catia's elephant pic.

Noli Noli produce these wonderful wooden characters

Next up Holokai.  Michael Leialoha manages to somehow transfer art onto old barn wood

Pretty unusual right?

I love the modern design of these bells and birdhouses from l and m studio

I had no problem remembering this eye catching shop My Zoetrope.  Michelle was lovely and friendly to talk to.

Janine over at Thumbook TOTALLY put me on the spot.  I stamped my thumb and then had to draw a pic incorporating the thumbprint.  "Don't worry" she says, "it just comes naturally"  YEAH RIGHT!!!!  I decided NOT to show my thumb pic.  Still loved chatting to you Janine.

Art Star had a lovely display of goodies

There were some great wooden items from Seven Acre Toys

 

 

I believe this is Just a Jar

As is this

OK, this pic almost didn't make the cut as I couldn't find the card to match  the shop name.  Luckily enough I managed to find Meeralee by zooming in on the tea towels and searching google for Ama the bull tea towel.  PHEW!  Beautiful items

OH MY GOD I'M NOT EVEN HALF WAY THROUGH!!!!!!

Pressing on.....

This shop Book Journals takes vintage books and makes them into journals.  They incorporate pages from the book as well as the front cover.

This doesn't need much of an explanation....a comb that fits in your wallet......very clever idea.  go-comb

AND......it's lunchtime!
Funny story......I was so keen to get snapping before the crowds arrived that I took my beautiful map of the fair, shoved it in my bag and went straight to meet all the lovely crafts people.
With it being a VERY HOT day my side kick Angela was in desperate need of lunch and some refreshments, we jumped in the first place we saw not realizing there was a MASSIVE food court area with the most amazing selection of every food you could imagine.  You should have seen our jaws drop as we turned the corner of the last aisle of tents.  Still I was happy with my smothered hot dog and bock (at the time).

OK refueled, recharged....ONWARD!

Beautiful organic bibs by Twinko

Look at this gorgeous display of organic and recycled products from Earth Cadets.  Love the colours and design.

Check out the beautiful contemporary ceramics by Elizabeth Benotti I love that arrangement of clouds and those geometric patterns on the ceramics

Elizabeth Benotti

Beautiful display of letter pressed goods by Wishbone Letterpress

I think these coasters were my favourite, so beautiful I didn't know which ones to choose (again Wishbone)

Beautiful goods from my new friend Natasha over at Jumping Birds

How cute are those little girl's dresses? 

All sorts of textile lovelies from Zeena Shah

Looks a bit sad from this side of the water but it was really quite lovely

It was a challenge to get a pic of Genevieve Santos' display, there were hands all over it.

Cute display in a suitcase by Homako.  I really like the little house sign.

Beautiful ceramics from Young Alexander

Different idea for a price tag (Young Alexander)

Unique items from Mokuyobi Threads

I adore the packaging on these beautiful little creatures from Hello Morico

Meet Frank. Frank is a friendly little rabbit who likes to hold things for you.  Frank began life a year ago and is already in the MOMA store,  how about that for a quick success story.  Well done Frank

This is Line Posters.  They make posters, T-shirts with the maps of mass transit on them.  Pretty darn cool. 

 

This is nelle design.  I love the clean cut simplicity of this shop.

nelle again

Well I never saw anything like this before.... unusual lighting from gdg studios

Such neat ideas with birch bark from Bettula.  I love these votives

Look at this beautiful display by Oille Natural.  Soy wax candles from Brooklyn.

This reminds me of a high tech version of my Richard Scarry book when I was little.  Paper toys by Grand Circus

I loved the art here by Adrienne Vita esp that colourful bear 2nd from bottom on the right

Little felties by Petit Felts, such talent.

I adore the neon on these classic prints so eye catching from Printed Wild

One of my favourite displays, right up my alley, why does everything look good in a vintage suitcase?  These beautiful rattles are handmade by The Wind and the Sail

Screen printing demo's by DIY Print Shop  They make screen printing look so easy

Just like a vintage suitcase bunting makes everything look good too.  Not that Sloe Gin Fizz needs any help whatsoever, her products sell themselves.

Humorous paper printed fabric towels from Dirtsa Studio

Looking good, ladies from Greenwich Letterpress and Gold Teeth Brooklyn.  I'm sorry I didn't get a better close up of your beautiful products I was fading fast at this point and the exit was in sight.

This was one of my favourite displays, amazing art by Dolan Geiman

I love it when you have the shop name right by the products, makes my life so much easier.  This is In The Seam mixing photography and textiles in a unique way.

I got into trouble when I got home for not bringing the Social D artwork home, thank goodness I can find it online.  Scotty Roller Designs

PHEW!

That was a long post.  Such fun though looking through all the amazing artists work.  I had a great time at the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair.  And I'm contemplating having Textile Trolley make an appearance in the not so distant future.

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH to all the amazing artists who allowed me to photograph their beautiful items and for being so friendly, everyone was so lovely.

Renegade Craft Fair, Brooklyn.....are you going?

Hi guys.....it's been a busy week........despite the groopdealz not being as successful as I might have hoped.  I did sell some which is good news but not as many as I had hoped to....oh well....must mean there's something greater down the road.  The folks over there have asked me to do a second sale with bib and burp cloths so if they still have faith in me and that goes ahead we'll see how it goes.

This weekend I'll be going to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn I'm very excited about this.  I think they have about 250 vendors, all hand picked with cutting edge crafts!  They hold them every year in Austin, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Fransisco....AND London, England too!  VERY COOL!

So if you're in the Brooklyn area this weekend come out and support these amazing hand crafters.  I hope to take lots of pictures like I did at the Country Living Fair minus the rain!!!!!

Textile Trolley's Paper Chain Kit is on GroopDealz.com

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by someone from GroopDealz.com   WHAT???  You've never heard of it????  Neither had I!  LOL  Anyhow they wanted to feature my Paper Chain Kit.

Paper Chain Kit on Etsy

Of course I was a little wary having never heard of this site, so I did a bit of research and asked around with friends and came to the conclusion it was ligit!  It is a flash sale site selling only handmade items.  I guess they scour places like Etsy looking for interesting items.


Anyhoo to cut a long story short you can buy these paper chains here for 2 days at a special reduced rate, 30% off regular price.

I have them in patriotic colours and papers

 

Girl themed (so sexist of me)

And boy themed

Hurry while supplies last (do I sound like an infomercial or what!!!)

Turning doodles into art

 The other day Ms. I and I were going through all her art work, pages and pages of doodling, scribbles, writing, and some serious master pieces.  I left it up to her to decide which she was keeping and which she was recycling.  At first she was saving everything until we both looked at the pile and thought that we need to be a bit more serious about what we were keeping.  During this process she came across a piece of paper with scribbles, and non serious doodles but with this really cute picture of a bird right in the middle, she loved the bird but the rest she wanted to throw away and wasn't sure which pile to put the paper in.  I loved the bird too so we decided to cut him out and keep him and throw the rest away, here's what we came up with.

                        

 Here's what you'll need:-

A frame, I got a cheap one from IKEA

Art

Coordinating scrapbook paper

Scissors

Rotary cutter (not necessary)

Double sided tape or glue

Pencil

Here's our cute bird

Here's our cute bird all trimmed of pen markings (it doesn't have to be rectangle shape)

I marked the scrapbook paper with the mat so I could centre the picture

I cut the scrapbook paper to the size of the frame and used double sided tape to adhere the bird to the paper, I find I don't have to worrying about tape distorting the paper like glue can sometimes.

Pop him in the frame and you're finished.  Talk about 'cheep' art!

He fits in perfectly in my office