From now until the fair, we’ll be spotlighting awesome items that you will find at this year’s Crafty Bastards. Check out the complete vendor gallery to plan your shopping!

Steve Strawn has a story to tell. It is a fascinatingly beautiful tale of robots kicking the crap out of us. Since he is the world’s only photojournalist war correspondent sending back photos from Great Robot War, I was lucky to get the chance to ask him a few questions about his photography. Here we go:

Question: How long does it usually take to set up a scene for your photos?

Answer: It can take from minutes to days, depending on the inspiration, complexity, and the amount of stuff needing to be blown up. In particular, if something is to be destroyed, the setup needs to be much more meticulous, because the ligthing needs to be exact.

Question: Are you constantly searching for new toys to use?

Answer: All the time. My wife is convinced it is an excuse to just go ahead and buy more toys. It kind of is.

Question: Your robots are very simple, unlike most toys in stores today, where do you get them?

Answer: They are from Stikfas, who makes these wonderfully unbranded and incredibly articulated toys. They are not Power Rangers, they are not Transformers, they are some ambiguous robot from another world who is perfectly posable.

Question: Do you build/make any of the items in your photos?

Answer: I am starting to build more of my figures. There’s a lot that goes into my shoots that is hand-built, and a lot that is store bought. I do want to get away from the store-bougth stuff more for creative and lawsuit reasons, though.

Question: Do you have a true fear of the kinds of attacks that you are creating in your photos? Are they therapy? (That question isn’t meant to be rude, most of what I make is about zombies, even though I am not afraid of zombies. I am really afraid of sharks and seamonsters, actually!)

Answer: Robot invasion scares the shit out of me. Zombies are scarier because they were once people, and now they are something else, and for some reason that is far more terrifying than an automaton that’s here to tear us up. That being said, a zombie can only do so much damage, a robot can blow shit up hard, and really wreck things badly. And yes, it is therapy.

You can pick up some of Steve’s work at Crafty Bastards on September 28th at the Marie Reed Learning Center, 2200 Champlain St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Check out more of Steve photos at www.splutphoto.com

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at I Like Seamonsters.com. Her biggest fear is men with shark heads. What the hell does that mean?

Charm City Craft Mafia just announced that applications for their winter craft fair – Holiday Heap 2008 – are now available online.

Holiday Heap will be November 15th, 2008 from 10-5pm at St. John’s Church in Charles Village (Baltimore). 40+ of the country’s most crafty vendors will be carefully chosen by a panel of jurors to sell their wares and thousands of shoppers are expected, much fun is guaranteed! Click the words “apply now” below to do just that:

APPLY NOW!

Applications are due October 5th. Jurying and acceptance status will be emailed by October 15th. There is a non-refundable $10 application fee required to complete the application process. Accepted vendors will pay an additional $65 for a space. (includes an 6 foot table & 2 chairs).