Vendor Spotlight: *Might

What type of music do you listen to when you're hard at work?
Andrew Bird, The Decemberists, They Might Be Giants & Neko Case tend to keep me motivated & hard at work.

Do you have anything new that shoppers can look forward to?
I'm very excited to be debuting a brand new line of art dolls, which I'm tentatively referring to as "YetiBabies"... I'll let your imagination work with that for a while. I've also got a bunch of new images available as high quality giclee prints and I think folks will be excited by the new additions to my home goods line (the small craft advisory)-- things like decorative pins, embroidery samplers and beautiful wearable pieces.

Where else can we find your work (online or stores)?
You can find my children's and plush work at *might (www.mightSHOP.etsy.com), my home goods at the small craft advisory (www.thsmallcraftadvisory.etsy.com) and my prints at greenstarstudio.etsy.com

If you're more the see it in person type-- find me locally at Trohv in Hampden & The Women's Industrial Exchange in Mt Vernon.

Vendor Spotlight: Home Sweet

 
List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process.

My name is Jennifer Nelson, and I run Home Sweet, where I offer block printed, sustainable fabrics and home goods. The process starts with a design that's usually inspired by old houses or my local beaches. These same sources tend to inspire the ink colors that I mix and use. I cut the design into a printing block, and use it to transfer the inks onto sustainable fabrics like hemp and linen- there's even a new recycled hemp fabric that I'm really excited about! Then, the fabrics are made into pillows, lamps and drum pendants, table linens and other goods. People can also buy just the fabric if they want to cover a bench or chair seat, or make a bag or something that requires a hefty sort of fabric.

  

What type of music do I listen to when I'm hard at work?

I love Pandora. I think it's a modern marvel that I can tailor something to play Harry Belafonte, the Drifters, U2 and Ray LaMontagne in the same stream of music. It's not always 100% awesome, though. Because I have an AC/DC station and also a station for a Christian artist named JJ Heller, Pandora thinks that I must also love Christian Heavy Metal, which I don't. I have to give a lot of songs the thumbs down, but the anticipation of what's going to come on next is energizing in itself!

Describe your studio. What makes it a creative space?

My studio started out in a spare bedroom of our house, and moved into the basement when we had our second baby. Even though I've sort of outgrown the space, I love everything in it. There's a bright green set of stairs that leads down into the studio that puts me into the right mindset right away. There's an industrial sewing machine that we acquired from an old sewing factory that was being renovated. There's also a big printing table and lots of space to hang fabrics to dry. I also made the studio inviting so that people would keep me company! There's a comfy chair for my husband, and a small table and chairs for my kids to work on creative projects of their own- I try to engage them in the process as much as I can.

Rachel Bone affordable art prints on Fab.com!

Rachel Bone's PRINT SALE at Fab.com through May 31

Craft Mafia member Rachel Bone (of Red Prairie Press) is teaming up with Fab.com this week on a huge print sale of about 40 of her original gouache and ink paintings! This is the first time these are being offered, and the ONLY time that some of them are offered at all(a small selection of the more popular prints will be for sale at a much higher price on redprairiepress.com AFTER the Fab sale ends on May 31st). In conclusion, get these prints while they're extra affordable, and extra available!

Here is Fab's description of Rachel's work:

Rachel Bone’s intricately drawn illustrations are filled with lovely ladies on excellent adventures: sometimes on bicycles, and sometimes wearing matching dresses. We don’t mind saying that the world she’s created in this collection of art prints is strange—charmingly so. These prints are all around $20 each and perfect for all your summer birthday, baby and wedding gift giving needs, not to mention your living room. (And kitchen, bedroom and guest bedroom to boot).

Ready to buy some prints? CLICK HERE for a direct link to the sale! (you need to sign up for fab.com first - which is free and no hassle).

Vendor Spotlight: Recycled Rowhouse

List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process. 
Recycled Rowhouse is a project that continues the stories contained in old and unwanted materials by recombining them into functional objects for the garden and home that encourage environmental sustainability.

Do you have anything new that shoppers can look forward to?
We will be introducing tea light candleholders made by collaging scrap pieces of wood to join our birdhouses, planter boxes, toolboxes, and taper holders.

Where else can we find your work (online or stores).
We work with several very cool stores in Philly, but folks in Baltimore can find our work at our Etsy site and at anthropologie.com.

Vendor Spotlight: Tiny Peepers

List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process.
My name is Kelly Smith-Tilly and I’m a screen printer living in Raleigh, North Carolina. I print on tea towels, kids’ t-shirts, and scarves. 


Describe your studio. What makes it a creative space?
My studio is pretty much the back half of my tiny bungalow. I burn screens on my light box in the laundry room. I print everything on my kitchen table, and dry my prints on IKEA racks in the living room. The stuff I make gets stored in the empty dresser in the guest room. Everything else is in my sunroom. It’s tight, but it’s everything I need at the moment. Plus my kitchen is orange, and that makes me really happy. And working in your own kitchen has the added benefit (or curse) of having all your food right at your fingertips.

Do you have anything new that shoppers can look forward to?
I noticed at craft shows that men liked my designs, but didn’t give a flip about buying tea towels (I know). So I started making paper prints just a few weeks ago, and they have been a hit with the gentlemen crowd. Turns out I love printing on paper. After three years, I really hadn’t tried it much, and now I’m really excited. I made sure my prints are a standard size, because nothing is more annoying than buying a really great print and then realizing it’s a difficult size to frame. I’m all about immediate gratification when it comes to decorating my home. If it requires custom treatment or multiple trips to Home Depot, I’m out.

I’m a Towson University grad with family ties to Baltimore, so I’m really excited to be in Pile of Craft. I’m working on a Baltimore tea towel just for the show. And I promise it won’t have the word ‘hon’ on it or have anything to do with crabs.

Vendor Spotlight: Fisticuffs Leather

List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process.  

Fisticuffs Leather;  I hand craft wrist cuffs and watchbands of all shapes and sizes from reclaimed leather and found objects.

What type of music do you listen to when you're hard at work? 

I stream pandora radio on shuffle!

What is your favorite summer ritual? 

Making ice cream from scratch.

Describe your studio. What makes it a creative space? 

My studio is a small room in the basement of the house that's jam packed with creative inspiration. It has bins galore filled with miscellaneous found objects and hardware as well as piles and piles

of leather. Every inch of space is piled with leather and my workbenches have a tin space in which to work due to all the scraps from previous work.

Do you have anything new that shoppers can look forward to? 

My wares are constantly changing. You are able to find something new and cool every time you check out my display. The newest cuffs are chunky with a large ring that is able to come off for a 2 in one cuff design.

Where else can we find your work (online or stores)?   

My website lists all the various stores that sell the cuffs for me in the USA.

Vendor Spotlight: Hannah's Ideas in Wood

List your shop name and give a brief description of your work and process. 

My business is called Hannah's Ideas in Wood. I design and make personal accessories made out of solid cherry wood. My most popular items are my iPad stands and iPhone stands. All of the wood that I use is carefully harvested from well maintained forests, I don't use any glue and I use an oil finish on the wood (not a stain).

What type of music do you listen to when you're hard at work?

When I'm working I like to listen to Sufjan Stevens, Feist, and Bon Iver. I most often have a Feist Pandora station playing in the background, though...to be quite honest, I occasionally indulge in a Justin Timberlake/90s pop song station.  

Where else can we find your work (online or stores). 

In addition to Pile of Craft this June, you can find my work on Etsy at ideasinwood.etsy.com. I also sell my work to a number of galleries and gift shops. In Baltimore The Calico Cat on Gwynn Oak Avenue and Emporium Collagia on Thames Street carry a few of my things. Check my website to find a fuller list of the stores I sell to. BUT you'll get the best selection and the best prices at Pile of Craft. Hope to see you there!

Pile of Craft Vendors REVEALED!

Guess what - our PILE OF CRAFT 2012 Vendor & Sponsor page is UP and running! You can start pre-gaming this awesome event by clicking RIGHT HERE! Check out our 45+ vendors, awesome sponsors, and grab some promo images and info to help you help us promote the fair! We'll be doing some special features on our MOST helpful sponsors, as well as some interviews with our super talented vendors - so check back soon & often! In the meantime, RSVP to Pile of Craft 2012 on facebook! Although we spend gobs of money on advertising in print, radio and web - we still need everyone's help to spread the word with us. Thank you for always making this our favorite event of the summer!!

Transmodern Festival 5/17-20

Love Parade from Transmodern Fest 2011 from FluidMovement

It's time again for The (9th Annual) Transmodern Performance Festival May 17-20th, 2012 in Baltimore! We're so blown away by the uniqueness of this festival each year that we aren't even sure where to START describing it. Luckily, we're allowed to let the festival's official press release do the talking for us: "This year’s Transmodern Festival is pleased to announce the very singular experience F.E.A.S.T. (food entertaining as specious theatre). F.E.A.S.T. is a culinary extravaganza taking place in the back of Current Space on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night between 8 and 10:30. This performative regalement has limited seating for an unlimited superlative aural, visual and palatable experience. Each night Tyson Alley will host Alley OOOOPs an array of projections, installations and performances by Bethany Dinsick, Meg Rorison, Omar MrOz, Sam Shea, Graham Coreil-Allen, and many more throughout the night to enliven this beautiful corridor between Franklin St. and Saratoga St. The D:Center and The 14Karat Cabaret will be featuring local and national artists. Friday night at The 14Karat Cabaret is the Fashion Extravaganza The Body X-tended featuring Eric F. Avery, The Dandy Vagabonds, Lurch and Holler among others, while upstairs in the D:Center@MAP the Effervescent Collective will dance with and around the interactive installation exhibition Crowd Surfing. Saturday night at The 14Karat Cabaret is The Quiet Show where language artists such as Lauren Bender, Adam Robinson and Bob O’Brien coo to you through headphones and upstairs at the D:Center@MAP the performance/installation Crowd Surfing will be joined by local musicians Weekends. Each night at 10:30 in the lot behind Current Space after F.E.A.S.T. will be a stage show featuring Tabat Monroe, Puppet Tyranny, The House of Ebony’s Mini-Ball, Susanna Cook and many other radical, genre-defying artists." - Taken from transmodernfestival.com For info on the fest including Schedules, locations, events, and hilarious photos of what you're in for: www.Transmodernfestival.com

MD Film Fest begins TONIGHT!

Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best

Wuthering Heights Maryland Film Festival starts tonight with an opening night of short films at MICA's Brown Center. Following tonight is a weekend FULL of film that is not to be missed. I'm always most excited about the animated shorts programs, but I can't help also being interested in this still frame from director Ryan O’Nan's debut feature: "Brookyln Brother's Beat the Best", or feeling slightly giddy about Andrea Arnold's dramatic take on a Brontë sister classic. Not to mention the annual Jon Water's pick or closing night's debut of Todd Solondz film "Dark Horse" Starring Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair, Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken, Justin Bartha, Donna Murphy, Mary Joy. Excited yet? There are so many more to choose from. Something for everyone - and if you're attention deficit like most of us, there are PLENTY of shorts programs. In fact, they're a MD Film Fest specialty! This festival is truly one of Baltimore's shining gems and we can't encourage you enough times to come on out and see some films. Festival Passes and tickets to individual screenings can be purchased online, or on the festival grounds on Charles St. this weekend. For a full list of programming, and links to the director's picks (because really, you'll be overwhelmed with amazing options & need guidance) visit MD-Filmfest.com