I love when people have an idea, and can execute it well. I love crafted, handmade, things, IF they are well made and don't look cheap or hand made. Does that make sense? If you are going to craft things and sell them, the quality should be good enough that others won't know that it's hand made. No offense to kindergardners and their cute craft projects, but when I buy something, I don't want it to resemble those...
What are things that I loved from the festival?
The first booth that we went to was Mistura Designs (www.Mistura.com).
Eco watches. Made of wood, leather, plant matter, recycled materials, etc. These were very well crafted and very cool! I would have loved to have bought one but they aren't exactly cheap (I believe they said they run from about $140 - $250) and I am broke. They are very cool though. The clasps and faces of the watches (except for the recycled ones) are carved wood. The watches are light, durable, and very comfortable. You can see the different styles below.
Next on the list (and the list doesn't necessarily mean order of what I thought was best. Just a list at random), You Got Mojo (www.yougotmojo.bigcartel.com).
They make jewelry out of metal from cars. Above are necklaces and below are rings. They also do mens accessories, bracelets, earrings, etc. They are delicate and have a southwestern/modernness to them that is pretty cool.
Next up is Fat Cat Jewelry Studio (www.FatCatJewelryStudio.com). Similar to the above, they make re-purposed jewelry but instead of from cars, their metal comes from vintage tins. They had some cool things. I was especially drawn to their bracelets.
This picture is one I took at the festival. I love the bracelets. I wish I had shown all of the one on the left. It's a logo and I can't remember what it was for exactly. Lemon Heads, Lemon cookies...., IDK, something. I checked out their website and I don't feel like it was necessarliy the best website out there, which isn't bad but if I were going to buy from them, I would go to their Etsy store rather than their website to do so. You can find that at: www.etsy.com/shop/fatcatjewelrystudio. They had a cute business card too. I'm loving it. It's about 2" square (shown with another for size comparison):
Next is Bykali (www.bykali.etsy.com). Up-cycled, unique belts and jewelry. I believe I've seen these guys at the festival in past years and have always been impressed by their work. Very creative and original and the quality seems to be great so that's even better. Below is a picture of a belt and belt buckle that they sell. You can see that it's washers and nails. Very fun. Doesn't look how you wold expect if you were to just explain these to someone.
And the last one from the festival that I'm going to tell you about is, Octavia Bloom (www.octaviabloom.etsy.com). Handmade jewelry. Mostly bead-works from what I saw. I am not normally too impressed with bead jewelry as most of what you find at craft fairs and things like that are not great quality and seem pretty elementary. However, I did like these designs quite a bit. They are delicate, simple, and have a soft, feminine feel.
I believe in supporting local artisans, craftspeople, small businesses, etc. You can find more unique, one of a kind pieces when you shop that way. Plus, it's just nice to support people that are trying to make it doing something they love. I wish I had enough focus to come up with a plan for something like that. My problem is that I have to broad of a range of interests so I can't seem to pick just one thing and stick with it. Maybe one day....
One last thing before I call it a day on here:
There's a craft blog that I sometimes like to read called Stars for Streetlights. You can read it at: www.StarsForStreetlights.com. Some of her projects are really cool and some others I'm not very crazy about but I think that is just the nature of crafting in general. Anyway, she posted Friday about something she's partnering with a start up craft company for. It's for a magazine purse kit, see below (picture stolen from her blog):
I think that these are actually pretty cool. You can buy the kit at: http://www.darbysmart.com/projects/magazine-clutch for $29, which I feel is pretty reasonable for the kit. The kit comes with the current Vogue magazine. I'm not in love with the cover so that doesn't excite me too much but it would be cool to do with a different cover.... not sure what exactly but I'm sure you could find something cool that matches your personality (and she talks about that on the site). The site says that there are only 164 kits available left, so if you want one, you might need to jump on it.
That's it for today. Support small businesses, crafters, local stores, etc. :)
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