Are you waiting til the last minute? Taking photos of super new products? Trying to figure out your vendor statement? Don’t wait too long! The application deadline for this year’s Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair is July 5, 2009. That is this Sunday!

To help, Kimberly Dorn worte an awesome piece on applying to craft shows for the Etsy Storque. Check it out: Craft Show Applications Unravelled.

Now get to work and apply today!

Some of the Hello Craft/Crafty Bastards crew will be in the Etsy Virtual Labs today at 5 p.m. for a workshop on applying to craft fairs. What some extra tips on applying to Crafty Bastards? Join us today, June 25! Just go to the Etsy Virtual Labs and log in.

The Crafty Bastards deadline is approaching! Don’t forget to apply. We wanna see what you’ve been making!

Steampunk jewelry has never been my style, but I still respect people making things in this currently popular style. So I often find myself searching for Steampunk stuffs on Etsy.

I recently found and can’t stop thinking about these awesome converted toy guns by River Wraith.

Can you believe this is a converted Nerf gun, made of plastic? It has been painted, aged, and sealed with a gloss. The gun no longer fires Nerf bullets. It is strictly a prop or costume gun. For just $28.00, this gun makes me want to write and film my own little space opera.

And look at this one!

Seriously, these are amazing. Check out River Wraith for even more.

Saturday, June 20th

Baltimore, MD

This weekend, Charm City Craft Mafia is presenting their annual Pile of Craft. Shop handmade and have fun at this year’s Pile of Craft, a DIY art and craft show. There will be over 50 amazing, local, crafty vendors showing off their astounding apparel, jewelry, accessories, ceramics, paper goods, fine art and so much more!

Saturday, June 20th, 2009
10am - 5pm
@ Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
(Inside St John’s Church)

Drinks and snacks will be available from Red Emma’s.

Check out the vendor list here.

Screw your Facebook event invite. The rock poster is alive and kicking here in D.C., and poster maker and Crafty Bastards veteran, Anthony Dihle wants you to know about it.

Civilian Art Projects is presents its second exhibition of music-based posters following last summer’s Screams & Screens exhibition of artists from across the country. PAPER JAM: The Art and Grime of the East Coast Rock Poster includes the works of 27 artists from the East Coast. The exhibition will open to the public on Friday, June 12, 2009 and will be on view through June 27, 2009. Public exhibition hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday, June 12, 2009 from 7pm to 9pm.

James Heimer

Paper Jam features a cross-section of artists, designers, and printmakers who make music posters. The exhibition is limited to East Coast postermakers, ranging from New Jersey to Virginia, and is intended to shine the spotlight on what is going on here, in our own backyard, in a world increasingly de-emphasizing local focus. Organized by artist Anthony Dihle, the exhibition stages the most fun, interesting, and experimental work from the area.

Ana Benaroya

According to Dihle, “both well-established and newly emerging artists are featured. Their methods of production range from high-end offset lithography to silkscreen to Xerox, and their styles are equally varied, from the rock poster standbys of skulls-n-babes to experimentation where text and form are pushed to convey music using symbols and abstraction. Bands represented extend from internationally known acts to garage bands making their debut show. Most of the work is home-brewed, by the artist, and merges the illustration of sound and lyrics with the requisite need for a poster to simultaneously advertise a show and commemorate it.”

Triggered largely by a renewed interest in live music and analog sound, the recent revival of poster art is being made possible by the availability of imaging software, adaptability of silkscreen to at-home methods, and a burgeoning community of postermakers who share ideas, resources, viewing spaces, and markets for their prints.

Artists in Paper Jam include, Ana Benaroya, Jordan Bernier, Rick Bowman, Chris Cernoch, Kate Crosgrove, Anthony Dihle (Dirty Pictures), Jefferey Everett (El Jefe Design), JP Flexner, John Foster (Bad People Good Things), Jeff Fry, Tim Gibbon (Dynamite Printworks), James Heimer, Adam Juresko, Edward Kelley, Daniel Kent, Chris Kline, Nick Kulp (Undercover Zero), Large Mammal, Robb Leef, Drew Liverman, Magick Outlaw, Nick Pimentel (Planaria Design), Gregory Pizzoli, Post Typography, Brian Potash (Devilish Ink), Public Domain, and Warm.

Tim Gibbon

There is a really great gallery of the work presented at this show over at the Civilian Art Projects web site.

Each week, the Hello Craft Podcast collects stories of making and buying handmade.

In episode 12, Laurie Gonyea tells us about her business, Knit Outta the Box, which sells knitting kits for desperate knitters (in places like airports). Also in this episode Jenny Hart talks about her business, Sublime Stitching.

Click here to listen to the episode (or download the episode by right-clicking and choosing “save as” on PC, or control-click and choose “save as” on Mac)

Check out more episodes of the podcast at Hello Craft and learn how to contribute your story.

Wanna learn to stitch? Check out Jenny’s awesome instructions and fun patterns.

NEW THIS YEAR! Hello Craft, the Washington, D.C. based non-profit dedicated to the handmade community, will be spearheading the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair. Hello Craft’s Directors includes Crafty Bastards Organizers Sara Dick and Kimberly Dorn, as well as Cut the Craft blogger Tina Seamonster, and local arts writer Kelly Rand. Since all of us have been working on Crafty Bastards for some time (since the beginning for Sara and Kimberly), you won’t see too many changes to the fair. We just plan to infuse it with more awesome.

The Hello Craft team is excited to be working together to produce this bohemoth indie craft extravaganza. Find out more about Hello Craft at hellocraft.com where we not only have a blog but also a listener generated podcast.

Are you sad that there is only one Crafty Bastards Fair this year (October 3, Adams Morgan, why haven’t you applied yet, slacker?). The craft gods of D.C. have your back and are providing you with Handmade Mart this Sunday in Silver Spring.

Bring the family for a unique one-day shopping experience along Ellsworth Drive in the heart of Downtown Silver Spring. The Handmade Mart will feature more than 50 craft vendors selling handmade goods, awesome live music, and hands-on workshops will be held inside the Pyramid Atlantic Store all day! Bring your own T-Shirt to screenprint an official Handmade Mart Tee and learn to make jewelry. Pyramid Atlantic will also be hosting fun art activities for the kids. The Floating Lab will also be doing live demonstrations and hosting cool activities from their Floating Museum truck at the intersection of Ellsworth Dr. and Fenton Ave.

Be sure to check out the live music on the main stage:
12:00pm -12:30pm Pash
1:00pm - 2:30pm The Paul Green School of Rock Music
3:00pm - 3:45pm The Aquarium
4:15pm - 5:00pm Yell County

You can check out all of the Handmade Mart vendors and fabulous sponsors on pyramidatlanticartcenter.org, and see vendor profiles on the official Handmade Mart blog at handmademart.blogspot.com.

What: Handmade Mart
When: THIS SUNDAY, May 31, 10am-5pm
Where: Downtown Silver Spring, MD, Ellsworth Drive (between Georgia and Fenton Ave.)
Questions? Email handmademart@gmail.com

Download the vendor map!

The Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts is a really helpful organization who “supports artistic expression and innovation by serving the legal needs of Washington, Maryland and Virginia’s arts and cultural communities”. Below you will find their May and June workshop and clinic schedule.

On the evening of May 21st, join the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts for their workshop “The Basics of Starting a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization” at host law firm DLA Piper. The workshop is geared toward artists. The workshop is free for WALA members, $30 for non-members. Please email legalservices@thewala.org to register (required).

On June 11th, artists can meet with a volunteer WALA attorney at the WALA’s Artomatic booth (see www.artomatic.org) to ask questions about their legal issues. While there will be attorneys available for walk-ups, they ask that to ensure you will have an appointment you register by emailing legalservices@thewala.org. Please include your legal inquiry, and let them know if you are already a WALA member. Clinics are free for WALA members.

On the evening of June 19th, join the WALA for their workshop “The Basics of Copyright for Musicians and Webcasters: How to Protect, Publish, and License your Musical Compositions and How to License Others’ Works” at host law firm Finnegan Henderson. The workshop is free for WALA members, $30 for non-members. Please email legalservices@thewala.org to register (required).

I am always amazed by something that Heidi Kenney is making, but when I checked in at her blog yesterday, I found something that kinda blew me away. Take a look.

It is Luke in the dead Tauntaun from Star Wars. She writes that this piece is for a show later this summer called Stitch Wars .

Is it just me, or doesn’t this piece need blood? I guess that is kinda what I like about it. I think it is interesting that she leaves the blood out.

Check out Heidi’s blog for more photos of this amazing piece.