Renegade Craft Fair - Los Angeles

Whew! I'm still pooped from Renegade last weekend!

It was great to meet so many people who's work I've seen everywhere, and also to put a face to the name.

Here's a few of the fun folks I saw:

Paper Pastries

Erin Dollar

Sycamore Street Press

Dee and Lala

And of course, there were many many more! If you ever get a chance, you must visit a Renegade event, if only to see some of this great work in person. And of course, to support handmade work.

I should have some of my new products that debuted at Renegade up in the shop soon......

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Yudu?

There's been a bit of buzz on the Internet over the Yudu (pronouced You-Do), a new do-it-yourself screen printing system. Made by the crafty folks over at Provo Craft (the company responsible for the Cricut), this nifty gizmo is poised to hopefully bring the art of screen printing to the masses.
Arriving just in time in the wake of Gocco's North American end, whether it will fill the void left by an absence of Gocco products, remains to be seen.
From what I've seen in promo videos online, the Yudu seems closer to screen printing than the Gocco ever was, and looks like it may print cleaner images as well. The difference between the, though, is their methods in which to create a screen, and the fact that the Yudu is a lot bigger than the Gocco.
Yudu has a resuable screen the requires an emulsion sheet to be applied onto in order to create the image, with the emulsion later being washed away and then dried within the Yudu unit. The unit also uses bulbs to "flash" (burn the image) into the screen, much in the same way as Gocco, except for the fact that you can use the bulbs over again.
While many of Gocco's supplies were one time use only, Yudu's supplies, while few, have some that are reusable in addition to greater accessibility (you can buy the Yudu and supplies from HSN, Micheal's and Jo-Ann Fabrics). While I have yet to see any paper projects printed on a Yudu and see what their registration capaiblities are, I am excited to see what the possibilities may be. And starting at only $299, and having inks that are water based and biodegradeable, it seems to be starting off on the right foot.
(image from Yudu)

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Thank you

Thank you for all of your lovely ideas, as to who has been a great design discovery of 2009.

Can't wait to finish checking out and profiling some of your discoveries - we'll also be picking a winner for the journal tomorrow! (here's a pic of some great crafting I just found from Finnish crafters through Taikatunturi, to get us in the great discovery mood. The crafters on this site/shop specialize in Finnish felting).

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Give away time!

I thought it was about time that I did a wee give away.
What's up for grabs is one of my Golden Cassette Journals, filled with 50 blank pages waiting for all your ideas....
Extended now until February 28th , anyone who leaves a comment to this post will be entered in the drawing to win one of these journals. What you have to do, since I'd love to foster a greater sense of community here, is leave a link in the comments area to your own great design discovery of 2009. So if you've discovered a great new crafter, artist, furniture maker, graphic designer, whatever it may be, leave a comment (with your email address please!) with a link to what you've discovered, and I will pick one as a winner - and highlight your discovery as well!

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Save Handmade

I came across the Save Handmade appeal via Sugar City Journal, and was crushed to hear what is going on right now. While I don't make children's items myself, there is an act that has passed in Congress (and goes into effect February 10, 2009), that will effect many crafters and designers, who create items for children under the age of 12 (or could even be possible be used by those under 12). This includes clothing, school supplies, toys, cloth diapers, anything and everything.

The act, The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, came about in the wake of some toys  that were found to have lead and other chemicals in them. 

People/companies that make items for children, will have to have their items tested by certified third party labs, to prove that there is no lead or other chemicals present. As this will cost so much money, it can potentially ruin many small businesses in the process.

This means that items or toys, even made from materials like wood or paper that may usually never have such chemicals present to begin with, will have to undergo this strict testing.

While I'm all for protecting our children, it will be devastating to see so many crafters and small businesses ruined by this. The Handmade Toy Alliance has proposed for changes to this act (similar in model to what the FDA uses to exempt small producers), but whether Congress will listen up remains to be seen.

If you are a buyer, supporter or fan of handmade products, spread the word, as this act can destroy the handmade tradition.

Please check out Coolmompicks, for a list of resources and what you can do to help.

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Merit Badges!

Like many people, I was once a girl scout back in the day, and boy did I (along with my Mom's help) work my ass off for those merit badges - sewing, cooking, you name it!
So it was cool to stumble across Pod Post and see these contemporary crafty merit badges they have for sale. They must be the first people I have ever seen to create merit badges for letterpress! Their set includes 3 badges - one for setting type, one for type, and one for printing (on a Vandercook of course - but damn printing on an old school C&P is so much harder!). They also have great sets of badges for bookbinding and zine making arts - so I must give props to these crafty librarians for having merit badges for all these skill sets!

(image from Pod Post)

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