Crafty Bastards!

On Sunday I attended the Crafty Bastards! arts and crafts fair in Adams Morgan. It was really great to be able to go, since I am usually photographing a wedding on the same day(s) that these events happen in the spring and autumn. It was a bit overwhelming, actually, and I saw a lot of cool wares for sale, but I will list a few of my favorites.

This will officially be the "If I had more than $20 in my pocket, I would have bought everything in their booth" list.

1. Rebound Designs - Artist Caitlin Phillips (craftpunk on ArtDC.org) takes old books and makes bags out of them. I soooo wanted one, and someday may get one. There were quite a few that I really liked, but I couldn't make a decision. Fortunately, she has a website, so I can decide that one at a later date! To make matters even more difficult for someone as indecisive as I am, you can also ask her to customize a book bag for you, with the book of your choice. You can catch her at Eastern Market in DC if you want to see the goods in person.

2. Lindsay Bishop - Lindsay had some really incredible jewelry at her booth. I mean, really, REALLY cool. I could have walked out with all of it and been happy. Some of it was so unusual that it bordered on not being functional... in a cool way, of course. I see so much jewelry at these types of events that it all tends to blend together to me, but this work really stood out. There are no photos on her blog, unfortunately, so you'll have to take my word for how cool her jewelry really is. You trust me, right? There's some info in her bio section though that's quite entertaining...

3. Damned Dollies - Dana De Kuyper makes some really awesome t-shirts. Very cute, kind of twisted, and very much my style. I pondered quite a bit about buying one, and am now regretting that I didn't. But there's always online ordering... She also apparently has some of these tees for sale at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, among other places around North America if you want to see them in person.

4. Sticky Fingers Bakery - Owners Doron and Kirsten have a wonderful vegan bakery that produces edibles that are both animal friendly and extremely tasty. They make special order sweets including wedding cakes (for all those brides who might be reading this!). I plan to check them out when they move to their new store in November and to redeem my free cookie - fair-goers got a coupon for a free cookie for visiting their new location! Mmmmmm.... cookie.


5. GoshDarnKnit - Artist Rania Hassan has some really cool fiber and mixed media pieces that range from "connected" paintings of women knitting across time (literally connected by their knitting), to colorful hand knitted catnip toys, to gocco printed illustrations, journals, ornaments, etc...., to lots of other little odds and ends that are all just beautiful. She shows a lot of the work that was at the fair on her blog, so check it out!

6. Rob Ullman - This is probably the most amazing story of my fair visit. Rob and I attended Kent State University at the same time in the 90's, and he drew a daily comic for the Daily Kent Stater that was entitled "My Noise". It was one of my two favorite strips of my entire Kent career. I still have a few that I cut out and pasted on numerous college dorm walls before they finally came down and ended up in my journal (see images to the right). I know several other KSU students who clipped Rob's comic as well. Schmidt, you out there? I know we clipped a few of the same ones! So I knew I recognized his name from somewhere, I walked around a bit, and then it hit me who he was. I had never met Rob at Kent, so I asked if he was the same guy who created "My Noise," confirming that I had the right person. We talked a while about Kent, comics, and other stuff, and I bought one of Rob's newer comic books (Lunch Hour Comix), and hope to have it read soon... but the best part of all was that he signed it for me!

There was just so much to see at Crafty Bastards that I'm sure I'm missing some great vendors. But these were the ones that stood out to me, and therefore, the ones that make my blog!

And then, to top off this day, I was given a gift by my great friend Devlan who accompanied me to the fair. What was it? This:

My very own garden gnome! And before anyone asks, that's a Finnish flag he's holding. Why? It's a really long story...
(Oh, and Devlan, you totally rule!)