We are now accepting applications for Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair being held June 28 in Silver Spring, MD. Hurry! Deadline to apply for this show is April 16!

Please read the instructions carefully and have everything ready before you start. Pay particular attention to the payment and booth share instructions.

Payment:Once payment has been made at Paypal, all applicants must click back to the Washington City Paper/Crafty Bastards site to complete the registration process.

Boothsharing: If you want to share your booth, once you have paid your fee you will have the opportunity to send an email to your chosen crafters inviting them to join your table. They will enter their own information and upload their own pictures, so there’s nothing you need beyond their email addresses.

I know, I know, it all sounds so confusing! Perhaps this hypothetical will help:

I am applying and want to share a booth with Tina Seamonster.

1. Get Started: I read the instructions, make sure I have everything ready and click Get Started.

2. Contact Info: I enter my contact info, artist statement, choose my craftegories and hit submit.

3. Images: I upload my three lovely images and continue.

4. Terms & Conditions: I read the terms & conditions carefully, check the box and click submit.

5. Payment: I click the link to make my payment at Paypal, I pay the $10 application fee and look for the orange button on the confirmation page that says “Return to Washington City Paper”:

I see this button. I CLICK THIS BUTTON.

6. Booth Sharing: I enter Tina’s email address, tell her she is rad in the message field and send her the invite.

7. Finished: I’m done! I’ll get an email when Tina completes steps 1-4 of the process.

See, easy! Now get started.

Crafters:Applications for Bust’s Spring Fling Craftacular are due tomorrow!

Tina posted application and vendor info here. The show is Sunday April 27th in Brooklyn and will feature talented crafters, an all day dance party with an open bar and an entire room set aside for dancing and mingling. Visit the Craftacular site for more info and to apply.

Fiber addicts: Get your fix tomorrow afternoon from 2pm-6pm in Takoma Park at the Homespun Yarn Party.

Visit the Yarn Party blog for more pictures and interviews with the spinners, dyers and other vendors.

Are you the next big thing? Fred Flare.com’s annual design competition wants to know! Fred Flare is a super cute online store specializing in accessories, clothing, home decor, jewelry, and more. The competition gives you the opportunity to pitch your product to the FF buying department.

The deadline to submit your design is May 02, 2008. You can submit online here. There is a $5 fee. Of the thousands of entries, 27 will win and FF will order your product to sell in their store. Winners will need to be able to reproduce between 20-200 pieces. They have a really good FAQ about the competition. An important note is that you will need to provide a wholesale price for your products.

You could also win $1,000! Customers will vote on their favorite item and the designer with the most votes will be crowned 2008’s “fred fan fave” and will be awarded $1,000.

Some examples of last year’s winners and their products (including Crafty Bastard, The Small Object):




Check out all of last year’s winners.

So you see that winners are usually cute, colorful and fun. Good luck with your submissions!

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at http://www.ilikeseamonsters.com. She thinks that unicorns whine too too much.

This past Saturday night was the opening of Location in Baltimore, MD. Location is the travelling art gallery project behind Crafty Bastards Entertainment Alumn, AM Radio. Sponsored by Scion and composed of more than 40 members, AM Radio is a group of artists and DJ’s with impressive portfolios.

Location is the first stab at this type of project for Am Radio. Per their own blog, Am Radio descibes Location as, “A project in partnership with SCION where we’re transforming a chic 4 floor townhouse into a lifestyle gallery/residence by fusing original art and multi media elements.”

Am Radio presented just a sampling of their work at Location, in a tour du force opening night. I was invited by DJ Two Tone to get a sneak peak of Location while the paint was still wet on the walls.

AM Radio artist Buck delivered a short but sweet intro to the space:

Opening night hosted DJ’s and breakdancing on the first floor, as well as work from emergin artists. Two more floors showed off impressive murals, paintings and Munnys. The top floor boasted a room designed by industry notable Shop Gentei, and a shoe drive hosted by Grand High; shoes will be donated to The Carmelo Antony Youth Development Center.

Don’t take your sweet ol’ time to check out Location because this space is only open until April 18th. The art gallery is open 2-3 days a week, and AM Radio will host 2-4 different events. Location is located on 17 W. Chase St. in the Mt. Vernon area of Baltimore, MD.

Organizing a craft event? You’ve got your venue squared away, and now you’re ready to squeeze in as many vendors as you can..and not just any vendors, RAD vendors that make awesome stuff.

I organize a monthly outdoor craft market and have found some interesting ways to ‘tap into’ the craft community and get a lot of responses to our calls for crafters. Here is a step-by-step guide:

• First, you need to have some sort of web site for the event. It’s important to have a place where prospective vendors can easily get information on the show, how to apply, and how to contact you with questions. This can either be a page on your existing web site, or if you don’t have a web site, you can start one easily in minutes using Blogger or Wordpress (both are free!). Here’s an example of a blog my friend Moira of Bookish Lady put together for her Valentine’s Day themed craft event:Crafts and Kisses
• Once that’s ready to go, you’re ready to start posting. A great place to start is IndieCraftShows.com. This site is a great, free resource for crafters and organizers alike. It’s easy to create a login and start posting the call for everyone to see.
• Trade publications are another way to go. There are hundreds of magazines that focus on the craft industry. One that I’ve had luck with is The Crafts Report. For $25 you can list your show in their online ‘craft show finder’ and reach vendors on a national level.

Looking mostly for local artists? Here are some more easy (and free!) ways to find artists in your area:

• Craigslist…ahh, the neverending free resource that now reaches people in all nooks/crannies in the US and beyond! On Craigslist there are a couple of categories you could post your call in. Post in the ‘Artists’ section of the community bulletin board, or under ‘Creative Gigs’ in the employment section. Craigslist now allows for pictures and hyperlinks so you can really trick out your call and make it look appealing.
• Your local paper: A lot of local rags offer free or very affordable classified advertising for arts and events. Check out your favorite
  local newspaper and see about their online and print classifieds. If you’re in the DC area, the City Paper has their Crafty Bastards classifieds section which is free and has become a ‘go-to’ place for crafters and craft show organizers alike.
• and my new favorite way to find vendors in my region is Etsy. Etsy now has a ’shop local’ feature that allows you to search for artists by city + state. For my upcoming craft event, I did searches for DC, MD and VA and then contacted artists who had work I liked. You need to have an Etsy account to contact the crafters, but it’s free and easy to set up.

By following these steps you’re mailbox will be flooded with tons of applications from near and far, and your indie craft event is sure to be packed with cool vendors selling the hottest handmade products!!

Here are some of the vendors I found for my market using these ‘tactics’…(I’m gonna be broke by the end of the summer):

For the full list of 2008 Ballston Arts & Crafts vendors (which just posted yesterday!) check out our blog: ballstonarts-craftsmarket.blogspot.com.

If you build it, they will come!!

xo, kristina

kristina bilonick is a dc native and fellow craft-addict, cooking up only the finest from her downtown dc studio. www.kristinabilonick.etsy.com

The rumors are true and it’s finally official. There will indeed be an Artomatic in 2008.

May 9–June 15, 2008, right in the middle of DC, steps away from the New York Avenue metro, and in a brand new building. With 800 artists on eight floors of the Capitol Plaza 1 building at 1st and M Streets, NE, this year’s event promises to be bigger than ever before.

So, what is Artomatic? Artomatic is a five week non-juried event that brings together artists, musicians, performers, and an audience of over 50,000 people. From the artomatic web site: Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area’s artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington’s arts community.

The event opens in just seven weeks! And registration is moments away. But what do you do now?

1. Visit artomatic.org and sign up for email updates!
2. Start making stuff!
3. Want to help organize the event? Join a committee!

And of course, watch the Artomatic web site for details on registration.

Like any unjuried event, there’s good, there’s bad, and there’s downright creepy. But I’m not here to judge. Here are some pics from the last event in 2007, I hope you’ll decide to participate this year!

Photos by Sean Hennessey. See more at his Artomatic 2007 set on flickr.

Rania Hassan once coated herself in baby oil and rolled in cheeto dust. Imagine if she’d lost the bet! See the results at goshdarnknit.com.

The Charm City Craft Mafia is accepting applications for the 2nd annual Pile of Craft. The show will be held in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, June 21st from 10am-5pm.

Non-refundable application fee is $10. If accepted, vendor fee is an additional $55. Vendor spaces are 8 ft. in. length. Chairs and an 8 ft table will be provided. The deadline to apply is May 1st, 2008.

Applications and more details can be found on the Charm City Craft Mafia web site.

You can read the review and see the pictures we took at last year’s Pile of Craft. Plus, watch Kim Dorn’s video interview with Pile of Craft organizer Rachel Bone to learn more about Charm City Craft Mafia and get the walk through experience:

That’s right, folks! To celebrate the 5th year of Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair, the City Paper is bringing TWO Crafty Bastards fairs to the DC Metro area!

Get your craft on twice with Crafty Bastards at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan on September 28th, AND now Crafty Bastards at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring on June 28th!

We are excited to bring the Crafty Bastards festivities to Silver Spring and equally enthusiastic to be working with Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center, a non-profit contemporary gallery and interactive arts center on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, MD. This show will have a focus on learning, an emphasis on craft workshops, and highlight up-and-coming artists, and those newer to the indie craft scene.

We will be accepting vendor applications soon. Join the email list (go here, scroll down and look left) and we’ll let you know when it’s time to apply. For now, save the dates!

June 28: Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring, MD
Sept. 28: Crafty Bastards in Adams Morgan, DC

Congrats to Crafty Bastard artist and Dirtfarm creator Ben Claassen III, and all of the artists who participated in the art toy show Vinylmore, this past Friday, at Atomic Pop in Baltimore, MD.

Vinylmore had more than 50 (mostly) Baltimore comic artists, designers, fine artists, tattooists, photographers, collectors and more, design their own creations from blank toys such as Qees, Munnies and a host of others. The result was a show packed with politics, humor, horror, and crazy good design. Painting and transferring images on these blank vinyl toys isn’t easy, but all the artists (with a few exceptions) showed off their art and graffiti skills with complex ideas, vivid imagery and intricate details in each piece.

And, I can say that I am now the proud owner of Oui Marcel, created by Jordan Jeffries.

I live about 3 blocks away from Atomic Pop, the toy store sister of Atomic Books. Both Atomic shops are located on “The Avenue” in Hamden in Baltimore; if you’ve only come up to Balimore to explore Fells Point and the Inner Habor, your shopping, eating and drinking senses will be blown away by the eclectic selection of stores, restaurants and bars in Hampden.

Atomic Pop hosts book signings and art openings that are all worth checking out. The free drinks at shows, good prices on their merchandise, and a nice selection of craft and art books makes this place a must-see when in B’more.

Vinylmore runs through March 31st at Atomic Pop (3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD).

Don’t like the New Wave label? Here’s your chance to help define and shape the future of the handmade movement. You may recall my excitement last April after attending the first ever Craft Congress in Pittsburgh, PA. Craft Congress is back and will take place in craft-friendly San Francisco! From CraftCon.org:

We’d like to invite you to attend Craft Con 2008, a business development conference for the craft community. This remarkable gathering of leaders and organizers in the evolving craft and design movement will be held in San Francisco April 4-6. Last year’s Craft Congress was the first event of its kind, bringing together an amazing group of craft promoters from all over the country and as far away as England to network, share ideas, and discuss the future of the resurging movement.

Craft Con 2008 heralds huge growth for the project, bringing together event promoters, internet entrepreneurs, authors, store owners, craft teachers, and businesspeople to network, talk about the future of craft, and strengthen the community’s voice. With the explosive popularity of countless craft-related business ventures, the crafting world is poised to keep getting bigger and better - the question is, where do we want to go from here? This is our chance to help shape the future of the handmade movement and its place in society - we hope you’ll join us!

The cost of attending the event is $150/person, which includes a tour of San Francisco April 4th, meals and sessions April 5th and 6th, and a gala event the evening of April 5th where conference attendees will get to experience the unique culture of the San Francisco arts scene.

Hurry up and fill out an application to attend before the 250 seats available for Craft Con 2008 are filled!