renegades, all.

Brought the camera with me to the Renegade Craft Fair yesterday, but turned out to be too busy foraging to take any photos of interest. Too. Much. Stimulus. (No worries: plenty of folks on Flickr did.)

Spent far too much cash on far too many goods and goodies but haven’t an ounce of regret. All of it handmade, my heart steered me (as it so often does) to stacks and stacks of letterpress and screen printed goods (because you’re always going to need another birthday card, right? or print to hang on your wall. or a lovely hand-screened long sleeve tee from SuperMaggie...)

Rather than reveal all my transgressions, I thought I’d just lay down some links to a few of the more notable merchants. Many of them are Etsty celebrities, most of them have some kind of web presence. Some, miserably, do not, but at least put out an email.

Have to assume that the day was a good one for the around 300 crafters who lined up to show off their goods -- come near 5PM many of the folks had run out of business cards, and I came away with a handful of scribbled URLs.

supermaggie
Still kicking myself for not hitting the ATM to get the cash I needed to take home one of SuperMaggie’s sweet felt scarves (too labor intensive, they’re slowly going out of production and are no longer for sale on her site) -- my followup email came too late, and the one of a kind creation lives with someone else now. But her T’s are lovely -- took one home, will be ordering another one up soon. And a little trivia: SuperMaggie herself models many of them online.

souldier
Straps. For cameras, guitars and banjos. Belts too. They have my camera strap, I’m almost sure of it. A few at the show came close but didn’t quite hit the sweet spot, so I’ll be trawling them online until I find it. They have a build a strap feature online that unfortunately doesn’t extend to camera straps, but will do ya if you’re looking to strap up your instrument. (I’m guessing a well-directed email might just get me a customization.)

sonnenzimmer art & print studio
Brilliant silk screened posters. Gorgeous good stuff. Unfortunately you need to drill down to see any of them, and then they present in funky little popup windows. Checking out is a challenge too: you need to backtrack to add your shipping costs to the cart, but well worth the hassle. (Wonder if they’d trade art for a little online merchandising consultation...)



fernworks
Extraordinary works in resin. The artist, Faryn Davis, was showing jewelry, mostly, at the show. A peek at her website reveals sculpture and artwork as well. The photography doesn’t do it justice: the pieces have a depth and luminosity that’s unreal. I would have dropped some coin if the booth hadn’t been so crowded. May have to contact her for a piece via email.

figs & ginger
More lovely jewelry; mostly sterling.

the small object
Sticker and stamp-like; Japanese influenced. The Loop Troupe Gang is a great example of what they’re all about -- sweet little creatures done up in vintage Japanese fabrics that serve a purpose unknown to me -- but simply make me happy.

avec mes mains
Handmade lamps in the tradition of Noguchi’s Akari, but utterly, entirely unique. And they take custom orders. Website coming soon (it’s killing me -- I want to show you how beautiful they are!) -- drop Catherine a line in the meantime: catherine [at] avecmesmainsdesigns [dot] com

orangyporangy.com
Skirts are my favorite way to be, and orangyporangy’s opal skirt hit the sweet spot for me. A little bit more elaborate than I usually wear, but so sweet and appealing. Want.

Owly Shadow Puppets
Because you need a shadow puppet -- you know you do. Unlock dreams and stories for a bargain price.

VAYA
Well-made, industrial grade messenger bags. Here again the online pics don’t do them justice. Hands-down quality.

katie parker
Porcelain and cut paper. Pretty.

CitzenShay
Affordable art for the people. ‘Nough said.



PAPER! etc
Seems unfair to give these guys short shrift, since I spent the large share of my dollars with paper merchants -- so much good stuff. And many if not most sell more than just lovely letterpress and screenprinted paper goods. Wish I could go into the nuances here, but time is short: a linked list of notables will have to do.

• MamaRobot

• Pearl & Marmalade

• Pink Loves Brown

• Imogene.

• Yee Haw Industries

• paperbat

• Giddy Up Press

• Loose Leaf Collective

• The Little Friends of Printmaking

• Papered Together

• 16 Sparrows


So feed a starving artist: go buy a little something.