Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Views from the Renegade Craft Fair- 2012

Hello! Wow Wednesday! I'll have to get better at writing my posts ahead of time because this was supposed to be my Monday morning post- oops! Still adjusting to my new life/work/art schedule so I just have a project sneak and some photos of the Renegade Craft Fair.

No kittens! No 5 socks for the price of 1 packs! No sweet floral prints or hand painted flower pots!
This is a craft fair for those who like neon, typography and ironic t-shirts. LOVE IT!
A was most awesome event. Not a cheesy project in sight.

One thing I noticed right away is that the vendors seemed a little... underwhelmed by the crowd?
I personally went 3 times on sunday and I saw a lot of people looking but few actually buying.
I think many of the price points where high even for NYC.
That may have been an issue for the usually broke Brooklyn Hipster crowd.
I'd like to think it's because "we" spend our money on sky high rent but every day I pass crowded bars selling 10 dollar pints of "craft beer" so lets be real.
Most Brooklyn Hipsters have other priorities.

This pair had me pulling out my wallet- $275 for him $250 for her so I had to leave them at
their stall- so very sorry nonetheless.
The Art & Craft of Mimi Kirchner
This was one of my favorite stalls. I really wish I had just sprung for something.
This Chicago based artisan made beautifully rendered NYC photos transfered onto wood blocks.
blandonconner.com
One thing I gladly paid up for was the chance to work my own silk screen machine to make my very first ironic t-shirt.

HA! Thanks Gowanusprintlab.com! I even signed up for a class. (woo hoo!)
I've wanted to make my own Brooklyn themed pillows for years!
The weather was gorgeous but the sun was so bright it felt great to be inside the
booth messing with paint. I am positively hooked!!!
Here are a couple other things we did that day:
Free photo booth (from Magnolia photobooth Co.) I guess you can rent these for parties?
 They had a super friendly attendant, lots of fun props you could use and great color photos.
One thing we needed was a flash. Since the day was so sunny the flash was disabled and
we had no idea when the camera was taking the photos.
Peebeo was there with lots of paint, Ed Roth Stencils (LOVE!) and ceramic squares
 for you to make your own wall decoration.
Mine broke on the concrete floor- and I can't even blame Ms.Lola for it. (waaaah!!!)
So I didn't get the name of this artist- those are hand cut modern paper lace designs making up a map of Brooklyn. TOO FABULOUS!! I didn't do anything but DROOL after her gorgeous creations.
I stopped taking photos- I just felt so BAD for the vendors!
I don't think Williamsburg, Brooklyn is a good place for this type of event right now.
A lot of the people here are young and struggling through the economic downturn.
Or maybe everyone just needed more time to learn the fair was being held inside the park?
I wanted to run and buy something from each stall- not a healthy mindset for someone so broke.

This page is coming up over at True Xoxo Girls in July!
A sneak of the July True Xoxo Girls challenge- we had 1 hour to make a page.
I took exactly 1 hour and 14 minutes (I lost my SC mini stars halfway through the process)
Can you saw AWKWARD pose???
 I blame the lack of a flash to let me know when the last photo is taken and the next one is up.
(yeah ok Michelle)
A parting shot:
Love you BK! MUAH!!!
MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

4 comments:

  1. I loved seeing all your photos on Instagram as the day progressed :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. looks like a fun day! and i am really loving that sneak. i cant wait to see the whole thing!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my. That Renegade Craft Fair...I would have been drooling right there with you. My husband and I have some good friends that live in Williamsburg and we visited a few years ago. We just loved it. I love the t-shirt you made. I am so interested in silk-screening, but can't allow myself to get into one more thing. My wallet already suffers from my trips to the art supply store!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like a great place to visit.

    I feel for those stallholders. It must be a global problem because the last fair I did was full of people looking and touching but not buying. I thought it was just me but the stallholders around me were the same apart from one doing sand art with kids who seemed to be raking in the cash.

    ReplyDelete

Ok peeps lets CHAT! You tell me what you REALLY think and I PROMISE to keep it open minded here.