by guest contributor Heather Buzzard
A new kind of vinyl has been released at the record store, and it’s cute, cozy, and cool enough to hold all of your favorite monies. The re-purposed vinyl wallet was one of a thousand and something stuffs and things for sale at the maker’s paradise, Indie Craft Experience Atlanta, brain baby of Christy Petterson of a bardis and Shannon Mulkey from Patina. Local music hub Criminal Records recently morphed into a pop up shop for independently designed goods, or, more obviously, a place for price and environmentally conscious shoppers to get all their holiday gifting knocked out in one fell swoop.
Pop up shops are to grown-ups what pop up books are to the younger set: interactive, fun, exciting, and better and better with repetition. This year is Atlanta’s lucky 13th ICE market!
Originally modeled after handmade shopping ops in Austin and Chicago, the Atlanta tradition has now grown into a major indie arts mecca.
Notably, this year’s market featured many squid and cupcakes. Thankfully, there was no shortage of super heroes.
To follow in the footsteps of the indie aesthetic, the grand opening extravaganza featured well-loved food trucks, “Oh Goodie” bags chock-a-block with free swag, and local independent musical act Christ, Lord, a band that magically wrenched attendees from the checkout line to the dance floor and back again in the best of ways.
Watch out for one of these handily-dandily made Christmas markets to pop up under your feet and shake the ground with grassroots goodness!
| About the contributor: |
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Heather Buzzard is a freshly hatched graduate of Emory University, where she studied creative writing, sociology, religion and environmental science. Her time is spent frolicking as a musician in two Atlanta bands, dressing up for silly photoshoots, inventing recipes, and drooling happily over her Indie Fixx work. |
On Saturday, I visited Charm City and the Pile of Craft indie craft show. I live pretty close to Baltimore and I try to make it to the city for various events at least a few times a year and the Charm City Craft Mafia craft show is usually one of those events. Always a good mix of new faces and old friends participate, so it’s a fun time for me.
The next event I have my eye on is Super Art Fight 11 coming up on August 20th. Read more about it here.
Here’s some of what I saw at the Pile of Craft…
spot.on designs – I LOVE Penelope Rakov’s delicious glass work.., I even own a couple of her pieces!
Designs by Night
Found Studio
The Littlest Bean - felt = love as far as I’m concerned.
Green Star Studio – Danamarie has contributed to a couple of issues of Joie mag. Nice to get to meet her in person and see some of her work.
Volta Organics – bought some soap from these guys at Art Star Craft Bazaar and I bought some more at Pile of Craft. Good stuff.
Brainstorm Print & Design – love Briana and Jason. They are adorable and their work is pretty awesome too—I have a few pieces hanging in my house.
Yummy & Company
Survive Design – I couldn’t resist and I bought a couple of bags from this shop. The blue one with the owl on the right is mine now!
I’m heading to the Pile of Craft indie craft show in Baltimore tomorrow to do some shopping and visit some peeps that I know. If you are in the Baltimore/DC/Philly greater area, you should stop by too. Here’s the deets:
What: Pile of Craft
Who: Put together by the Charm City Craft Mafia and featuring 65 local and national crafters
When: JUNE 25, 2011 – 10am to 5pm
Where: 2640 St Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21218, inside St John’s Church
Here’s some of what I’m looking to:
The Littlest Bean | Flourish Bath & Body | Paper Acorn | spot.on designs | Tigerlillyshop | NAMOO
image by Arcane Arts
As a continuation of my craft show series this season, I thought I’d share a list of what to bring with you to a craft show. I’m going to focus on outdoor shows, considering we are in the midst of the outdoor season, but most things will apply to an indoor show as well. My last posts in this series were: 15 Tips to increase your craft show sales & 14 Craft Show Display Do’s.
What to Bring With You to a Craft Show?
- Scissors
- Tape (Various types – Scotch, double-sided, masking & duct)
- Pens
- Cash – $120 is a good amount to start with. $40 ones, $40 fives & $40 tens.
- Someplace handy to store your extra cash and credit cards slips.
- Credit card processor. Whether it’s a knucklebuster and slips or an iPhone app.
- Clipboard for customers to sign credit card slips.
- Business cards
- Bags and boxes & other packaging
- Your crafting tools to make minor repairs.
- Signage – both on the tent and on the table.
- Notebook for newsletter sign-up
- Mirror
- First-aid kit
- Sunscreen
- Change of shoes & clothes (in case it rains).
- Apron with pockets!
- Tent with removable walls.
- Plastic sheeting for rain coverage. You can use it to cover your tables in an emergency.
- Bungee cords
- Twine or rope
- Sewing kit
- Handiwipes
- Lint Roller
- Ibuprofen, Anti-histamine & and other meds.
- Paper towels
- Trash Bags
- Toilet paper
- Snacks
- Water
- Lunch – you can never be sure what will be there.
- Chair or stool
- Tent weights
- Helpers!
- Extra price tags
- Stick pins – pin lightweight objects to table to keep from blowing away & pin the edges of table cover to keep from blowing.
- Binder clips – can be useful to keep table coverings from blowing around as well as for other stuff.
- Camera
- Calculator
- Mints!
- Basic beauty kit for you – brush, lip gloss, hair-ties, barrettes, hand lotion, deodorant, etc.
- Receipt forms for cash transactions.
- Tissues
- Basic tools – hammer, screwdriver
- Dolly or luggage carts
- All-natural insect repellent – don’t be spraying chemicals around other people.
- Sunglasses/hat
- Cell phone
- Laptop – if you need it for processing credit cards. Otherwise, leave it at home.
- Blank notebook to record sales, take custom orders, etc.
- Promotional materials besides biz cards. Stickers, pins, pencils. People love freebies.
- Candy to give away and to eat!
- Fishing line – good to hang stuff from tent and affix items to table.
- Paper weights
- Extra backs for earrings & other extras suitable to your craft.
- Business license
- Craft show details – starting time, break-down time, organizer’s contact info, etc.
- Sales tax chart
- Credit card sign. Don’t assume people will ask.
- Checklist of everything you want to bring.
- And, of course, all your crafts, tables, display stuff, etc.
image by Modern Crush
image by caitlin is nice
image by by birdtracks
Over the weekend I visited the Art Star Craft Bazaar, and as always it was a good time. The weather wasn’t all that nice and I really felt bad for all the vendors and the performers, but I didn’t let a little rain keep me away. In fact, I forgot my umbrella and ended up getting soaked, but nothing was going to deter me from some indie shopping!
I did end up making a few purchases, mostly for myself, but I did buy a necklace for my sister from J Davis for her birthday present. For myself, I bought some earrings from pear and peacock, a bracelet from cold picnic a print from cayetano valenzuela and some more earrings from species by the thousands and lauren markley.
Here’s some more goodies that I had my eye…
kate durkin
namoo
sarah louise davey
made by hank
laura george
cayetano valenzuela
miss millie
just a jar
Every year I go to the Art Star Craft Bazaar…no exceptions. As one of the best indie craft shows around, I just wouldn’t miss it for the world. The organizers behind the show, Erin and Meghan of the Philly indie boutique Art Star, do a fabulous job of organizing the show. The music, the artists, it’s all great.
I really love that from year to year, I can expect to see a good mix of artists from previous year’s as well as plenty of new fresh talents. I also like that the show is right before my birthday, so I make sure to take plenty of money so I can by myself a few presents. 
You can see some of my coverage of past ASCB’s here…
Here’s a few artists I’m looking forward to seeing in person this year.
P.S. Full disclosure - Art Star is one of my sponsors; however, that in no way influenced my desire to write this post. I would have written it, whether they were a sponsor of mine or not.
Abby Berkson
Isette
Janelle Haskin
Hillery Sproatt
Cold Picnic
Kate Durkin
