Monday, August 2, 2010

Lisa & Jill's Big Day In The City, Part I

I had a dandy Saturday! Jill and I went to The Renegade Craft Fair in my favorite city by the bayeeeay (sorry... big Journey fan, can't help myself), San Francisco!

But before we get to all that I got a little show & tell for you... If you're going to a big ol' craft fair, you need a big ol' market bag. I didn't have one, so I made one! Proud to say that this was the very thing I've made from a pattern (McCalls 5898) ALL BY MYSELF. No advise, no help. Just me, myself and I. Cutting patterns is time consuming, delicate work. Me no likee. I'm sure I could have done a better job, there are a couple of areas of the bag that I would like to cut open and do over, but I was in a hurry so that'll have to wait. This bag is fully lined too and I made it in one night! You don't want to know what time I went to bed that night. This lavender monster is HUGE and has six very large outside pockets. It quite comfortably held all the treasures I accumulated on Saturday, and also probably could have easily held the entire population of a small island community. No joke. It's big.
(Don't try to hard to read those buttons, especially the light blue one... heeheehee)

Ok, San Francisco! Ah, I love that city, don't you? Teeming with life! I've always wanted to live there, not forever, just for a while. Alas... S.F. isn't kind on the wallet. But I digress...
The venue for the fair was Ft. Mason, at the Festival Pavilion.
Who, whooo's a happy geek? Me!

Many hundreds, perhaps thousands of happy shoppers supporting handmade, hand crafted items, awesome!

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of the individual booths. I didn't want to make any of the vendors feel weird. Sometimes they're not cool with that, and I understand why. I think that establishing your craft, especially in an area like San Francisco, which is loaded with talented artists must be a challenging, competitive place to make, and keep your own, unique mark. Having people snapping macro quality, detailed photos of your hard work might inspire a wee bit of paranoia in anyone, even if it's completely innocent. Somewhat like plagiarism... except crafty.. is there a word for craft-plagiarism? Hm... I don't know, but I get why they wouldn't like that, so I didn't even try. Having said that, every single vendor I spoke with seemed genuinely happy to discus their wares in detail. These people are proud of the work they are creating, many of them at home on the kitchen table, long into the nights after working a full-time day jobs, and caring for their families. How can you not respect that? I have a lot of admiration for these folks. They bust arse.

Also sorry I didn't take a picture of our killer lunch Knish! It was yummy!

Etsy was there! They had an entire make & take craft section upstairs at the end of the hall. Jill and I got our craft on! We made mini bunting! I love bunting, and it was very popular at this fair, it seems like a lot of the vendors had booths surrounded in bunting.

Making mini fabric bunting with Elmer's Glue was not optimal, but we had fun.
Sticky & clumsy, like being a kid again!

I got some goodies at Renegade, yes I did! I can't share them all because a few are gifts.
But here are a couple...
This terrible picture does not do any justice to this gorgeous wool blend felt from OhMa Felt. I've already used a bit of it, and it feels so incredibly nice to the touch, compared to the craft store felt that I'm used to.

This is the most deliciously scented whipped body cream ever. This is from I Melt With You.
I want to put it on scones and eat it.
No seriously.

This awesome hand printed scooter art came from Riley Noehren Originals. I talked to Riley for a few minutes about scooters, we bonded. Scooter love is strong love.

Another small scooter indulgence...
This terrible picture also does no justice to this great pendant... and sadly neither do I. For the life of me, I can not remember who I bought this from. But it rocks. I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow.

We saw so many amazing things... I collected dozens of cards and fliers and swag. It'll take me a month to visit all these artists on their websites, blogs, and Etsy shops.

This was just the first part to a great day! Jill and I had the chance to do something special after Renegade too, so stay tuned! I'm going to try and post again tomorrow for the second half of our day.

Tea lovers, be prepared. My next post will be a feast for the eyes!
Keep it crafty!
Lisa

5 comments:

Jill said...

Fun! Fun! Fun! Loved getting my crafty on at the fair! Can't wait to see the next post ('cuz I was there!)-- ((squeeeeel!!))
Hugs,
Jill

Riley Noehren said...

Lisa--

Thanks so much for stopping by my booth and featuring my Vespa print on your fabulous blog. I, too, enjoyed a lunchtime knish and seeing all the amazing work at the fair, but I'm sad that I didn't have the time to collect 1/10th of the swag you did (usually my favorite part of any craft fair). Your market bag is amazing. Perhaps you'll be there next year selling them ;).

parTea lady said...

Your large lavender bag turned out great. The Renegade Craft Fair sounds like a fun place to spend the day. You made some very nice purchases too.

Looking forward to seeing your "tea lovers" post.

Beedeebabee said...

Oh what fun, Lisa! That looked like the best fair ever! It's so great that you and Jill can go gallivanting around together to such fun places. OMG, I LOVE your tote bag! You go girl!!!
Can't wait to hear about the rest! xoxo Paulette

Melissa said...

Part two, part two, part two!