Artist and designer Amalia Versaci loves zippers. She loves zippers so much that she seeks out vintage zippers and spends hours figuring out new ways to use each and every part of it.

And her work is paying off.

Amalia will be offering her unique zipper jewelry and accessories at Crafty Bastards. What is so very neat about Amalia’s designs is that she takes a found and used object, the zipper, and turns it into something fun and new. This is often called upcycling.

The other great green thing about her designs is that she uses every part of the zipper, coming up with new and creative ways to make zipper jewelry and accessories.

Check them out for yourself at booth #10

If nature is near and dear to your heart, why not honor the great outdoors with forest inspired jewelry by Figs and Ginger.

Choose from a fawn ring or a bird or mountain necklace, knowing that Figs and Ginger strive to use the most environmentally sound production practices in their jewelry making, so nature is left in tack for future generations to enjoy.

Each of Figs and Ginger’s pieces are made from a minimum of 50% recycled/reclaimed silver and/or gold and all of their printed materials and mailers contain a minimum of 50% post consumer recycled content.
Each piece is made by hand and much of their work is inspired by the simple beauty found in forests, both imaginary & real.

Find Figs and Ginger at booth #22.

It seems that the most elusive thing to new crafters or “dabblers” is how to create a product line. How do you go from the early phases of making stuff to give to your friends as gifts to making stuff that you want to sell (and that people want to buy!)?

Here, I put this question to Annie of Imogene, a jeweler who uses mostly sterling silver and traditional metal fabrication techniques to create simple and lovely pieces.

Annie says:

I went to university for jewelry and metalsmithing, but when I graduated, I discovered that I didn’t know how to market these skills or where exactly to go with it. Shortly after school ended, I was offered a job as an assistant to a jeweler. I turned this down because the pay was dismal and offered no health benefits on top of that. Instead I worked as a legal secretary. By the time I left my cubicle, I was earning almost three times what I would have earned as an assistant to this jeweler AND I received health benefits. While working at the law firm, I opened up a little online boutique representing indie designers. I guess this was my own way of keeping craft in my life. I began to sell my own jewelry creations in the store alongside the other work that I carried just to “see what would happen.” I also participated in craft shows as the boutique. I then realized that my work was as marketable as the work of the artists I carried in the shop! The income from my day job and craft shows allowed me to expand my jewelry line and eventually quit my day job. I’ve been selling my work now for about four years and have been self-employed for a little over one year. Now I carry only my jewelry line in the boutique.

My advice to everyone is to believe in yourself, your vision, and your product. You have to push forward with no fear. I’ve been rejected to many shows (even Crafty Bastards!), I’ve encountered criticism, skepticism, you name it, but you just have to pick yourself up and move forward. Constantly work to improve and innovate.

Annie’s comments about fear are really valuable. When asked this same question myself recently, I answered that the real failure is the fear. Many new crafters are afraid of failure and the truth is that as long as you are making something that you are not failing, you are learning and getting closer to your goals.

You can check out Annie’s lovely jewelry at Booth #119 this Sunday, September 28th from 10am-5pm at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

I have no nostalgia for listening to cassette tapes. All that rewinding. Fast forwarding, rewinding. But I do have an old picnic basket way back in my closet full of them. Mix tapes, Cindy Lauper, long lost lo-fi projects and me doing a radio show at age 6. What to do with all these tapes?

Librarian Barbarian in Glasgow, Scotland, makes unwanted tapes into the cutest little change purses ($20). These would be even more awesome with a strap to turn them into wristlets.

This one has a cute little strap, making it perfect for a small camera:

Here, Kate Black turns an old tape into a notebook ($20):

And this rad necklace ($155) from Goblingblinggo has a tape as it’s focal point.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at I Like Seamonsters.com.