Recap of Awesomeness

Super Quick Recap of the past few weeks:

1. I taught a class and a workshop at the Summit of Awesome, and attended lots of super-awesome classes and workshops in turn. I got really inspired! Susan Beal is doing a bang up job detailing the Summit week on the Craftzine blog here, here and here (I was quoted a lot in the second link). There are hundreds of photos from the event on Flickr too.
2. I've been creating a whole new ecommerce site using Wordpress, but it's kind of tedious and there's a lot for me to learn. The good news is that it should go live within the next week. Yay!
3. Sean and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with some fabulous baked brie (and more!) at The Farm Cafe. It's amazing to look back and reflect on all the great things we've done together in the past 7 years.
4. We've been clearing out old wood piles, killing blackberries and English ivy, and re-roofing our shed on sunny days. We also planned out our bathroom remodel when the medicine cabinet started dismantling itself, and we've been to every furniture store 3 times since then. We've already started re-planning our kitchen remodel, which won't happen until next spring.
5. Custom orders! We've had tons of custom designs to work on recently, from wedding favors, to baptism candles, and some collaborative work with other artists thrown in.
6. I finally got my badger tattoo! The blurry photo above doesn't really do it justice, but that's the best I could do while trying to click the shutter button with my left hand.
7. A new webcomic is in the works! We're still in the planning stages, but the amazing Kim Werker and I are putting together a fun crafty webcomic based on a concept that she's been carrying around for awhile. Despite being so busy with everything else, this is one of the most exciting things for me right now, and I can't wait to get it together.

[Tattoo by Lew Hess at Atlas Tattoo in Portland, OR

I love this so much, I can't even describe it. Just for reference, I asked Lew to base his design on this old Sailor Jerry tattoo of a panther with a snake.

I shouldn't have to say this, and I know it's weird, but I'd really appreciate it if you're considering getting a badger tattoo like this to have your tattoo artist redraw the design themselves and not just duplicate mine. Someone else found one of my original tattoos on the internet and got the exact same thing (same colors and everything) and it kinda weirds me out. Thanks.]

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Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show

We'll be vending at Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle next weekend, July 10th & 11th! This is a perfect time to pick up birthday gifts, wedding presents, and a little something unique for yourself.

We'll have our newest dinosaur designs, plus cute little juice glasses and some one-of-a-kind ceramic mugs and teacups for you to purchase. There's also a diy craft area, so you can make something fun to bring home with you, and the first 100 shoppers in line each day will get a sweet swag bag!

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Hello Craft: Summit of Awesome

I'm going to be a guest speaker at the Summit of Awesome event put on by the lovely people of Hello Craft! This is a huge crafty learning event, held at the Kennedy School McMenamins for 3 days next month. Crafty celebrities from across the county will be there to speak and inspire.

My class is called "Finding Your Niche", and I'll be sharing my experiences and insights at 2pm on Wednesday, June 16th. I'll also be teaching a workshop on glass etching at 1pm on Thursday, and selling my wares at the Show of Awesome from 10am-3pm at the Doug Fir Lounge on Saturday (the day before Father's Day). Whether you have your own small business and want to learn ways to improve it, or you've been thinking of selling your crafts, you should register for the Summit of Awesome now!

Get the full event schedule here. Quote from the Hello Craft website:

The Summit of Awesome is three days of business and technical education seminars as well as hands-on workshops produced by the non-profit Hello Craft. Taking place in the Alberta Arts District of Portland, OR, from June 16 to 18, this year’s Summit is co-produced by Hello Craft’s event partners and PDX craft superstars, Crafty Wonderland and DIY Lounge. Summit seminar topics range from how to organize craft fairs and develop successful product lines to teaching crafters how to prepare taxes and form LLC’s. At the 2nd annual Summit, Craftnote speakers are crafty renaissance man Mark Montano and BuyOlympia founders Pat Castaldo and Aaron Tuller. Full speaker list can be found here. A special addition to this year’s event is the “Show of Awesome,” a 40-vendor craft show on Saturday, June 19, at Doug Fir Lounge.

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Crafty Wonderland's Spring Sale

Crafty Wonderland's Super Colossal Spring Sale!
Saturday, May 1st + Sunday, May 2nd

 at The Oregon Convention Center, Hall D 

(777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR) 

from 11am-5pm

FREE * All Ages

www.craftywonderland.com

Our first event of the year is coming up this weekend! We'll be at booth #89, between Crafty and Knotpile. We'll be debuting our newest juice glasses, plus we'll have an assortment of fused glass jewelry, all our most popular tumblers, soap dispensers, oil & vinegar bottles, and super discounted less-than-perfect items.

Check out the other reasons to come to the Super Colossal Spring Sale:

* 200 goodie bags stuffed with fantastic treats from local and national crafty businesses that will go to the first 200 shoppers through the doors - EACH DAY! That's right...200 bags on Saturday morning and 200 bags on Sunday morning!

 

* Local craft supply super store, Collage, doing free workshops both days in the DIY area.

  (a complete schedule is below)

* The lovely folks from Hello Craft running their Make Something Awesome area to help spread the word about the upcoming Summit of Awesome.

 

* Crafty super star Mark Montano will be signing books and leading a craft project in our DIY area!

* A fancy event program featuring a fun craft project, an interview with a local crafty superstar, and a full vendor list + map of the room!

 

* Lots of food options - including vegan and vegetarian options.

* Space to sit and relax between shopping and crafting!

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1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse

I'm in a book!! It's pretty crazy to see a bunch of my products in a real live printed craft book, but it's even crazier that one of the photos actually has me in it! My fantastic mustache pint glass model, Zoe, (screenprinting helper and daughter of Salmon St. Studio owners) is also featured in the book, and I can't wait to give her a copy.

Garth Johnson's 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse book is a huge image collection of re-purposed crafty projects, products and art. There aren't any instructions for remaking anything in the book, but it's a treasure-trove of glossy, colorful inspiration.

 I would have bought this book, even if I wasn't a contributor. It's great for setting on the coffeetable (or in my case, next to my computer), ready to browse for a little creative boost. I've flipped through it a dozen times, and I'm still discovering new things I hadn't noticed before!

Check out Eye Pop Art's Recycled Record Mandala bowl on the left page here, which is in the same colors as the clock she gave me!

I love that this book includes such a wide range of projects, from wearables to installation art. I keep getting new ideas for furniture and decor items that I want to make (or shop for--let's be realistic, now). I really love the cinder block drawers on the left page above.

This book would make a perfect gift for any crafter, hobbyist, or consumer interested in sustainable design, and looking for some eye-candy. Buy your copy on Amazon, or support our local bookstore, Powell's.

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Pop-Up LEGO Buddhist Temple

I've always been a huge fan of LEGOs, but I was the type of kid who followed the exact directions on the box and then never dismantled my structures. I bow to those makers who can create their very own design with LEGOs as their medium.

This replica of the Kinkaku-ji Zen Buddhist temple in Tokyo actually pops up out of its "box", and was made by the very talented talapz.

[via Laughing Squid]

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Adventures in Stamp Carving

I've always wanted to try linocutting or woodblock printing, but I never wanted to drop the money for all the little carving tools and paint roller and such. I saw a tutorial a couple years ago for carving your own stamps from rubber erasers, and I was immediately intrigued. I could do that!

I got a really basic carving tool for fine detail work, since my designs were going to have to be pretty small. I bought a Magic Rub eraser at the craft store and made my first "Fragile Glass" stamp, which I've been using for about a year and a half to mark all my postal boxes. I was never really happy with that stamp though, and I really wanted to make something more fun.

I was having an especially inspired day last week, and I finally pulled out the extra erasers I got at SCRAP months ago. I made a second "Fragile" stamp, which looks a lot nicer than the first. It was so fun!

I've been working on this badger design for awhile, and I thought I'd just test it out for carving. I'm so pleased with the results! I don't know what I'll use it for, but I'm just thrilled that I can put that toothy badger face on pretty much anything I want to. Now all I want to do is pick up more rubber to carve into little stamps...

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Skeletal Dropkick Mugs

Remember when we went to Renegade Craft in San Fransisco all those weekends ago? I know, I haven't talked about it much. Well, one of my favorite things from the event was picking up some handmade pottery mugs from Skeletal Dropkick!

The first time I discovered these awesome skull creations was when SD were the featured sellers on Etsy. It's so great to finally meet an artist in person and be able to touch and hold their wares for the first time, especially if you've been secretly admiring them online for a really long time. I loved hearing the story behind how this mug shape came into being, and learning a bit about the firing and glazing process.

I love that these mugs are like the big and little brother of caffeinated pleasures. I had a tough time choosing between these and all the other monster jars, bowls, and teapots that were available. I guess I'll just have to add to my collection over time.

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Shop in Person this Sunday

I'll be vending at Crafty Wonderland this Sunday, August 9th. If you'd like to pick up a specific glass, shoot me an email now, since I don't always bring every single design.

I'll have a box full of seconds (ones that didn't etch perfectly, or the glass has a minor flaw) for you to dig through. Now's the time to pick up something for yourself, because nothing beats these great deals!

There will be 40 other vendors there too, plus a DIY table for you to get your craft on. It's supposed to be rainy on Sunday, so come on down to the cozy Doug Fir!

Crafty Wonderland
The 2nd Sunday of Every Month
at Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside, Portland, OR
11am-4pm * All Ages * Free Admission

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Tea Time with Anda from Etsy

A few folks from Etsy.com are traveling around the west coast, visiting some of the street teams between Renegade Craft Fair events. We were lucky enough to have Anda (who does the social networking and webgraphics for Etsy--if you follow Etsy on Twitter, you've been reading her tweets!) stop in for Tea Time in Laurelhurst Park!

It was a beautiful day to be in the park, and I loved getting to see some of my crafty friends. We need to hang out more often! I also got to knit a few more rows on the banana silk scarf I'm working on.

From the left are Ryan (littleputbooks), Lea (leakarts), Leah (leahpellegrini), Aimee, Danielle (misspurl), Judi (curlygirlglass), Kirsten (piperewan), and Anda.

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Renegade San Fransisco

We'll be at Renegade this weekend with pint glasses, soap dispensers, jewelry and more! Come say hi and pick up some birthday gifts, wedding presents, or a little something for yourself.

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Recycled Cardboard Cat Scratcher

Design*Sponge has a great tutorial on creating a cute round scratching pad for you cat out of recycled cardboard. I saw this when it was first published, and I immediately made one out of all the cardboard boxes I had laying around from the glassware we purchase.

Rupert loved it right away, but it was a lot of work to cut down some of the box parts to all be the same height. Also, I used duct tape, which just didn't stick to the cardboard very well.

Pint glasses come in a case of 24, and have these great dividers between them inside the box. After the first scratching pad project, I decided to save all the dividers to make a new one, which wouldn't require any cutting since all the pieces would start out the same height. I also used wide masking tape this time, which worked perfectly!

The d*s tutorial tells you to wrap the finished scratcher with decorative paper, but I'm just not fancy enough to have decorative paper laying around my house. I suppose I might have some holiday wrapping paper in a closet somewhere, but that just isn't my thing. Rupert gets the rustic look, and he seems to like it just fine.

This is a great afternoon project, and an inventive way to recycle some cardboard. Try it yourself!

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Plush Raffle Loot

I was one of the very lucky raffle winners at the Bazaar Bizarre this year, and I got a box full of designer plushies! These little guys are so soft and cute, I can barely stand it!

There were three adorable creatures from Woolly Hoodwinks (I got Junco, Ludic and Reddy), plus a set of 1" buttons and postcards with the little lovelies. (Did you know that the Woolly Hoodwinks even have their own book?!)

I also got a Ninja, Bearded Lady and Gnome by Sweet and Sour Goodies. Previously, I'd thought the Ninja was my favorite Sweet and Sour doll, but that Bearded Lady has totally won me over.

I'm going to send out all 6 postcards to some lucky Twitter followers of mine, and save these fuzzies for gifts, if I can bear to part with them!

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Home from Maker Faire

This was such a crazy week, wow!

I wanted to take tons of photos, but it was too crazy on Saturday and Sunday to walk around and see anything. I also missed my opportunities to photo the Bazaar Bizarre, which I'm really bummed about.

Here are the rest of the photos I took (there aren't that many, since I only brought my camera on Friday during set up): http://www.flickr.com/photos/breadnbadger/sets/72157619216519718/

Maker Faire & Bazaar Bizarre 2009 Recap
(The Short Version)

We drove a lot, worked really hard, made a bunch of money, met TONS of amazing people, saw some great spectacles, ate some incredible food, and drove home. It was super fun, and we hope we can have the honor of doing it again next year.

We completely mis-judged the amount of pint glasses to bring with us, and completely failed to bring some designs that were in high demand. We're sorry! This was really hard to plan out. To make it up to you folks, we're going to be running a big Father's Day Sale this weekend to help offset the cost of shipping. Join our mailing list here, or stay tuned for more details!

Maker Faire & Bazaar Bizarre 2009 Recap
(The Very Long Version)

Sean and I filled our little car to bursting and drove from Portland, OR to our friends' house in Berkeley, CA on Thursday. It was a great drive, with great weather. We set up our booth on Friday afternoon, and walked around the faire to see all the great stuff we'd be missing while we worked the Bazaar Bizarre indoors. We got free beer and paella (which was amazing), and said hi to our friends Cathy Pitters and Sister Diane.

Our Berkeley friends were missing us, so we headed home to play some Arkham Horror (board game based on H.P. Lovecraft stories). Late in the evening, I had my friend take me to the ER (while Sean attempted to get some sleep before the big day ahead) for an infection that turned out to be kind of serious. I finally left around 5am, after a catscan, IV fluids and a mysterious un-diagnosis.

Saturday was a little rough, due to the complete lack of sleep and general not feeling great, but we had so much fun anyway! People visiting the BazBiz were amazingly friendly, chatty, and fascinating. There was always someone walking by in a great costume, or with a great story to tell. I was blown away by the number of people who were already familiar with our work online, since we'd never sold in California before. I was also struck by the professionalism of the other crafters at the Bazaar, since I was already a fan of most of the work that was there.

Our booth was next to the Swap-O-Rama-Rama area, so we got to see the mayhem of massive crowds of people, all digging through piles of donated clothing for screen printing or sewing. I wish we could have had time to participate! Sunday afternoon, Daryl Hannah was spotted getting her craft on at one of the sewing tables, and she hung out 'til closing!

We rested as much as possible, and had an other fun but tiring day on Sunday. That evening, we headed in to Oakland for some grub at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, which I believe is owned by one of the guys from Green Day. It was exactly what we needed!

The drive home on Monday was uneventful, except for an impressive lightning storm that we drove through when crossing the mountains in southern Oregon. Man, I'm a fan of lightning! Especially when it's flashing across blackened mountains. That was some of the heaviest rain we've ever driven through, too. Really amazing!

So now we're back to work, with a little detour to Urgent Care yesterday to switch my antibiotics. Things are finally improving, so I'm feeling relieved. We shipped out all our orders today that had accumulated over the weekend (19, total!), so we're ready for gear up for our Father's Day Sale and release of some new designs.

Oh, and I just found out that I'm one of the 11 raffle winners from the Bazaar Bizarre, and I'll be getting a whole gift basket of fun items from other vendors!! There was so much talent represented there, I can't wait to find out what I've won. Unbelievable!

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Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire

We're packing up today to get ready for our long drive down to San Mateo for the Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire! We're leaving tomorrow, which means there's a lot of scrambling around to make sure we have everything. Luckily, only one glass broke in the process! (I accidentally dropped another pint glass inside this one from about half a foot in the air. It really takes a lot of impact to break one of these, but it makes an impressive "pop" when it happens.)

We're bringing our most popular pint glass designs, plus the new, unreleased Cassette Love design. We'll also have shot glasses, soap dispensers, hand-engraved necklaces on clearance, tons of fused glass accessories, and other tidbits of etchy goodness. This is a great opportunity to grab some Father's Day gifts and not have to pay for shipping!

The Maker Faire runs for two full days, and has tons of amazing creative things to see and interact with. I highly recommend bringing the whole family down!

If you're not lucky enough to be in the Bay area this weekend, you can still order Father's Day gifts from our website our Etsy shop, and we'll make them and ship them when we return at the beginning of June.

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Alberta Art Hop

Sean's parents have been visiting us from Florida for the first time this week, and we've been seeing the sights all over Oregon! We've really enjoyed showing them around our new city, plus the Gorge, the coast, Mt Hood, and a day trip down to Corvallis (to meet an author friend that's just written a book on climate change). We've been eating amazing food everywhere we go, and I don't know how we'll adjust to our normal lives once they leave!

They're heading out tomorrow, which is just as well, since we'll be attending the Alberta Art Hop. I'm excited to do this fun street fair because it's a great way to hang out with some artist friends in the beautiful weather! Come down to Alberta St and see us and a bunch of new products (we'll be at 28th).

We'll have new jewelry and bobby pins, plus unreleased pint glass designs like Cassette Love, a Snail, a Hen and a Mermaid. See them before they're online!

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Now Available...

We just found out that we've been accepted into the Renegade Craft Fair in San Fransisco this July!! This will be our second drive down the coast, since we'll also be at the Bazaar Bizarre at the Maker Fair at the end of May.

If you're not on the west coast, you can look for our glassware at the upcoming Female Art Collective shop in Louisville, KY. This is going to be a great artist collection (plus, one of the founding members has fantastic jewelry), and our first account in the south. If you're in their area, you should go to their launch party--there will be cupcakes! (Click the image below to read the details.)

Thanks to everyone who's voted on the poll for our new chiclet glass accessories! You can vote for more than one product (in the poll on the right sidebar), to give us an idea what you'd like to see us make. We love your feedback!

Visit these webpages for more info on our upcoming events, or see our Where to Buy page for other shops and events:
http://breadandbadger.com/where.html
http://renegadecraft.com/
http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/
http://www.myspace.com/femaleartcollective

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Larry Nelson Pottery

I had the pleasure of visiting the convention center this weekend to see new glass, metal and ceramic work from the local guild members. I came away buzzing with inspiration, and wishing I'd had some extra money to snatch up some new treasures! I'll share some of my favorites with you this week.

One of the artists I met was Larry Nelson, who makes the most amazing pottery which looks like it's been fashioned out of metal! The tea set above just blew my mind. He uses molds to make a lot of the shapes in his Acme Boilerworks line, but each piece is one of a kind. I wished I could take these home with me.


If you're in the Portland area, you can see Larry's work at a number of events, or contact him to make an appointment to visit his studio. If you're not local, then I bet he'd be nice enough to ship something to you if you asked.

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Teresa Sullivan beaded art

I'll admit that I'm not really a fan of the seed bead. I've tried to like those little glass pixels, but it wasn't until this weekend that I started to really "get it". One of the amazing people that I met was Teresa Sullivan, a Portland bead artist. To call her a beaded jewelry maker would completely miss the mark, however. Teresa creates sculpture and wearable art. She doesn't just string beads on thread, she really paints with her materials.

I had the pleasure of talking with Teresa about her work, and she got me excited about the inspiration behind her pieces as much as the work itself. The necklace above (along with other pieces of hers) was inspired by sci-fi pulp comics from the 1950's where bold, curvy women got themselves in and out of trouble without having to be rescued. She also likes to think of this woman as possibly being the mother of Zap Comic's Checkered Demon, which just adds new dimensions to the thought-provoking nature of her work.

The necklace above is titled "Wanted on Six Planets". You can read more about it and Teresa's other work here.

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Craftgasm Weekend

I had such a fabulous weekend, I can't believe it's over! On Saturday, I went with my friend, Adrienne, to the second day of the Handmade Nation movie premiere here in Portland. Before the film, we got brunch with Twitter friends Heather Mann of CROQ Zine (and her 2 adorable boys,) and Melissa (aka KnitFemme). It was great for me to finally put some faces and voices to the people that I virtually chat with all the time!

We stayed for the panel discussion after the movie with filmmaker Faythe Levine, and other crafty celebs Betsy Greer, Susan Beal, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Jill Bliss and Garth Johnson. It was refreshing to hear their views on the current DIY crafts movement, and to hear about their own backgrounds.

While we were at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and I completely fell in love with Mandy Greer's exhibit of mossy green dripping chandalier-like fiber/bead/buttony yumminess. I can't really describe it better than that, but I want some!

Sunday was spent vending at Crafty Wonderland, which was packed with people all day! It was really encouraging to kick off the month with some good sales and lots of positive feedback about the new jewelry line. I got rid of some seconds that have been taking up space in the studio, and I got the message (loud and clear!) that you guys really want to see some Astronaut Love designs. They're on their way!

I picked up a copy of the Handmade Nation book and got it autographed by Faythe Levine and a whole bunch of other people who had a hand in the making of the book and film. I sort of wanted to pass it around "yearbook syle" and have all the Crafty Wonderland vendors sign it, since it felt like such a magical day. I also traded for a pair of earrings by Giant Jewels. I'm trying to decide if I should give them as a gift to someone, or keep them for myself!

[The first 3 photos are by the amazing Lee Meredith. You can see more of her photos of this weekend here. The 4th photo is by me--it's of my awesome friend, Autumn Drey of Autumn Comfort Candles. Check out our collaborative etched wine bottle candles on the top right!]

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