The Haberdash Fox

Have you heard of The Haberdash Fox? Well, you're in for a treat.

The Haberdash Fox is "a collection of the best menswares on Etsy." In short, they scour Etsy for the most amazing handmade and vintage men's goods and then share their best finds. All the hard work of digging through endless pages is done, and the curated collection is a dream to browse.

The creators of The Haberdash Fox (our super cool friends, Marco Suarez and Mason Stewart), have made something incredibly wonderful and completely new. It's not a shop that sellers must pay a fee to list their goods, nor do they take a cut of any sales. It's a labor of love, a desire to share quality vintage and unique handmade goods for men and to connect people with the makers and finders of those items. If you are interested in purchasing an item you see on The Haberdash Fox, you are directed back to the original Etsy listing, and can complete the transaction as usual.

The collection changes quite often, so check back for new items weekly. It's not too late to shop for Father's Day! If you want to get Dad a gift he'll really love, choose something from The Haberdash Fox. This is one to bookmark, a perfect resource anytime you need to shop for the guy in your life (or if you're a guy, to shop for yourself!).

The Haberdash Fox showcases a trend we've been loving: the growing presence of men in the indie craft scene, and the ever-increasing market for unique, high quality men's goods. Guys are joining the modern craft movement, which used to be primarily a girl's club. We've seen more males exhibiting and shopping at our festival every year, and we are delighted to play a small part in spreading the belief that handmade art is for everyone.

Are you a dude who makes awesome things, or do you know someone who is? Apply for the 2013 Indie Craft Parade festival!All the details are here; applications are open through June 23. Of course, ladies are welcome to apply as well!

Furniture Makeovers Launch Party

We'll be introducing our 2013 jury very soon, but in the meantime, we want to share and celebrate a huge accomplishment by one of our previous jury members and a longtime supporter, Barb Blair. We select each Indie Craft Parade jury member because of their involvement in the Greenville art scene as well as their contribution to the creative community at large. We think these folks have a lot to offer, so we're thrilled when they get recognized well beyond the scope of our city. This weekend, Barb will be celebrating the release of her first book, Furniture Makeovers, with a book party at her studio. The celebration starts Friday at 5pm, complete with amazing freebies for the first 100 guests in the door! Check out all the event details here.

If you're not familiar with Barb or her work, she specializes in redeeming found goods and furniture, often giving discarded pieces new life. More about the book from Chronicle:

Furniture Makeovers shows how to transform tired furniture into stunning showpieces. You’ll never look at a hand-me-down dresser the same way again! The book offers 26 easy-to-follow techniques that can be applied to all different types of pieces, from bookshelves to desks: painting, applying gold leaf, wallpapering, distressing, dip dyeing, and more. In addition to the core techniques, author and Knack Studios founder Barb Blair shares 30 beautiful before-and-after makeovers from her studio and outlines how to achieve each look. With helpful step-by-step photographs, a visual glossary explaining all the tools and materials needed, and a lovely contemporary aesthetic, Furniture Makeovers is a treasure trove of ideas and instruction for the home decorator.

Join us at Knack Studios this Friday to see Barb's work in person and celebrate with one of Greenville's many creative entrepreneurs!

Craft night workshops hosted by the SC Etsy street team

Listen up, South Carolina Etsy Shops! There is a special event, just for you, organized by the SC Etsy Street Team. On April 27 in Greenville, SC and on May 11 in Charleston, SC, the Etsy Street team will be hosting workshops to benefit fellow Etsy shops. Each Craft Night Workshop is an opportunity to network, learn some ways to improve your shop, see a product photography demonstration, and make an awesome craft! On top of that, food and beverages will be provided, and the whole thing is free! Simply register in order to attend. (Don't forget this part.)

Also, to get more information about the event, pop over to the Etsy Team Page and check out the Discussion Thread. And don't foget, if you decide to attend, make best use of this opportunity. Be ready to discuss your shop. Find out the successes and difficulties of fellow shop keepers. And of course, come armed with business cards to trade with other attendees. You don't want to forget all of those cool people you're going to meet (and vice versa).

South Carolina etsy street team

Did you know that there's a local network of etsy sellers that you can get involved with? Whether you want to learn to better present and sell your own crafts or just make connections with other local makers, the South Carolina Etsy Street Team has something to offer everyone. Led by our friends Jessica Sharp and Brooke Jones, the SC Street Team's goal is to help improve members' Etsy shops and business practices through discussions, meetups, mentoring, shop critiques, team promotions, and information sharing.

A treasury of handmade goods by Street Team members.

They just finished their 2013 Team Survey, the results of which can be found here. The survey results will help Jessica and Brooke guide the team for the year. They've informed us that they'll be making some exciting changes soon, like adding regional leaders to help team members outside of the Upstate feel more connected and engaged. They're also hosting a series of craft night workshops with opportunities for networking and mentoring.  The workshops will help participants improve upon skills like photography, product styling, pricing for profit, and other important issues for crafters. (Stay updated on these workshops via Twitter.)

The Street Team might hold some exciting potential for your Etsy shop. To learn more about the Team or to get involved yourself, check out their page on Etsy's website.

Guest Tutorial by Shop-Keep (part 2)

Welcome back to the upholstery tutorial from our friends at Shop-Keep!  Last time Mandy Blankenship shared the beginning of her long but rewarding journey to recovering her lovely chevron chair. If you missed part one of the story, please check it out here.

Now to continue...

7) Sewing and Stapling

All your hard work laying out fabric, thinking about which direction the motif should run, and planning how the seams will meet pays off when you begin sewing the pattern pieces together. I began by sewing the decking to the lip fabric, an odd rectangle piece of chevron that has mitered corners. Decking fabric is usually not the same as your pattern fabric but of a similar weight, so choose wisely. Once I joined the grey decking fabric to the lip, I returned to my chair frame to staple them in place. Staple the bottom of the lip to the front bottom of the chair, starting in the center and evenly distributing your fabric over the batting to the right and left, a little bit at a time. Staples should be a couple inches apart–not super close, but not really far apart. When stapling fabric, don't stretch it too tightly, or it will weaken and possibly tear. Finesse it, be gentle but firm. The fabric will go where you tell it to, but don't be harsh with it.

After stapling the fabric to the bottom of the lip, pull the top of the decking fabric underneath the chair back and staple to the chair base, starting at the middle and working your way to either side. Next reach the sides of decking fabric underneath arms and staple them to sides of the chair base. You may need to cut slits near the base of chair arms so that the fabric stays smooth and doesn't fold awkwardly. Use a curved needle and upholstery thread to anchor the decking to the springs below, near where decking fabric is sewn to patterned fabric.

Now it's time to sew the welting. Join 1 1/2 inch wide strips to one another to form one really long strip of fabric the same way you would make bias tape (but ignoring all the double-folding). Then wrap the strip of fabric evenly around cording, place under cording foot on the sewing machine, and sew in place. The cording foot on the industrial machine is so dreamy to use.

To make the arm covers for the Chevron Chair, I placed the welting on top of the center top strip of arm fabric with all the raw edges facing the same direction, then pinned it in place. After pinning, I basted the welting in place to keep it from moving around during sewing. If you omit basting, you MUST remove each needle before it goes under the sewing machine foot. I have broken way too many sewing machine needles by not doing this. Basting the welting in place is really the best method, looks the most tailored, and is how all the couturiers make garments of old. Sew welting to arm top fabric, then sandwich the welting in between the right side of the next piece of arm fabric to be attached, pin and baste; then sew from the side you haven't sewn on yet (this ensures the welting will be evenly placed between layers). Fit arm fabric over chair arms, remembering to smooth the batting. Staple inside arm fabric on top of where you placed the sides of the decking fabric. Before I stapled the outside arms in place, I made sure to place dust cover fabric over the outside arms in order to have a surface on which to place outside arm batting. Staple both in place, fluff batting, then cover with outside arm fabric.

I used cardboard tacking strip to give a nice, sharp edge to the welting and arm fabric that reaches down the side of the chair frame past where the arm ends. Sneak cardboard tacking strip underneath the arm fabric, and carefully staple in place. Staple outside arm fabric underneath chair frame at the sides. Lastly, staple the back of the arm covers to the back of the chair frame.

8) Reuse Old or Cut New Foam

For several decades now foam has replaced traditional stuffing like horsehair in making chairs cushy to sit on. I'm really not a fan of petroleum based products (one of the many reasons I hate polyester), but it's increasingly unavoidable. You can purchase soy foam, but it's only about 20% soy-based with the rest of the mix produced like polyfoam. The healthiest, least toxic chemical-laden option is to use natural latex rubber foam made from the rubber tree. But in terms of cost-effectiveness, reusing your chair's old foam is the winner. Again, if your chair came from a smoker's house or has cat pee on it, look into buying new foam; otherwise reusing the original stuff is the cheapest and greenest option.

I reused all my old foam and batting for the Chevron Chair cushion, arms, and inside back. If you purchase new foam, cut it into the same shapes as the old, using an electric turkey carver. Sounds crazy, but it works. Staple it in place, and cover with batting.

9) Sewing the Deck Cushion

Sewing the deck cushion is just like making the arm covers. Pin and baste welting to the top and bottom pieces first, then sew in place. Reuse your old zipper, if possible, for the middle piece of the cushion cover. Sew the zipper to the middle piece, then pin and baste the middle piece to the top and bottom of cover. Remember to sandwich the welting between right sides of the cushion cover, this time sewing from the side you haven't done yet. With the cushion foam wrapped in batting, stuff it into the new cushion cover and zip closed. You can sew a simple muslin cover to go over the foam and batting first, and then put that inside the upholstery fabric cover, but that is an extra step you may not want to take. I didn't.

10) The Inside Back

Completing the inside back of the chair is one of the easiest parts to do because it requires no sewing. Place chevron fabric right side up (because you marked which direction that was) over inside back foam and batting, making sure the batting looks smooth. Staple in place at top and bottom first (on the backside of the frame), working from the center to the right and left. Distribute taut fabric evenly. Then draw the fabric through the left side and right side and staple the same way. This was when I noticed where all the change from your pockets disappears to over the years. You can reach your hand pretty far back between the decking fabric and inside back fabric.

11) The Outside Back

You're almost done! Staple dust cover fabric over the outside back of the chair frame, the same way you did for the outside arms, and place batting over it. Staple the batting in place and fluff it over the staples. Next, take the remaining welting and staple it, raw edges facing inward, around the outside back of the chair. I stapled welting on the top and sides but not the bottom of the chair back because I wanted the bottom of the chair to look the same on all four sides.

How do you staple the outside back cover of the chair, you ask? You don't. This is where you employ flexible metal tacking strip. It's tricky to use and will definitely bite you, but magically works. Staple the metal tacking strip inside the welting, with claws poking outward at you, but in the center of the chair. You're going to bend these claws toward the welting, grabbing the outside back of the upholstery fabric and enclosing the back of the chair. Bend the claws toward welting with your fingers, then pound completely closed with a rubber mallet.

After finagling the flexible metal tacking strip, the only part of chevron left to staple is the bottom. Work from the center to either side of the bottom of the chair frame like you have before.

12) The Dust Cover

¡Finalmente! You're really almost finished! Carefully turning your chair upside down on a clean surface (you don't want to get the fabric dirty), place dust cover fabric over the bottom of the chair. Tuck raw edges in and staple in place to keep critters out.

13) Reattach Chair Legs

Lastly, importantly, reattach your chair legs by screwing them in place through the dust cover fabric. Dust cover fabric is not super strong and easily tears. But that's ok, because you need to have chair legs go through it. Once the legs are secure, turn your chair over, and sit in it. Revel in a job well done.

You can use these instructions as a supplement to a book about upholstery, such as Furniture Upholstery by Sunset Books. I also HIGHLY recommend taking an upholstery class at your local community college. Hands on experience with a teacher at an affordable price + whatever you spend on fabric and tools you'll keep. Happy upholstering!

Guest Tutorial by Shop-Keep (part 1)

We love living in such a creative community (as we've said a million times). We learn so much from the makers around us...and sometimes we even get to share their talents and experience with you, our followers. Today, I'm pleased to share with you the talents of Joshua and Mandy Blankenship, creators of Shop-Keep. Shop-Keep is a wonderful jack-of-all-trades in the creative scene. The Blankenships both source and craft all manner of creative goods. Whether it's handmade paper cards or refinished vintage furniture, Shop-Keep is your one stop shop for something unique and wonderful.

Mandy has a particular knack for upholstery projects, and she has graciously shared with us the story of how she turned a frumpy old chair into an updated, reupholstered beauty. This is a long story/tutorial, but Mandy has done a great job simply explaining the involved steps of the reupholstering journey. I've always been fascinated with this process, so it's great to have a detailed step-by-step.

So take it away, Mandy!

If you don't like details, maybe reupholstery is not for you. This is not the blog post to tell you how to hot-glue fabric to your dining chairs. I am not that girl. I dream of making things--all kinds of things--and doing it the proper way, the way the professionals do.

When my husband and I starting collecting vintage furniture, we collected more than our fair share of chairs. Often wooden dining chairs, or aluminum Goodform and Steel Case office types; but we couldn't turn down the occasional comfy side chair–envisioning a graphic, modern fabric in place of that dingy corduroy or yucky tweed. Around 30 chairs into our collection, Joshua and I decided it was finally time to sign up for the upholstery class at the local community college. It would cost more than $170 per chair to hire someone to redo them, so we figured it was money well spent even if we decided we hated the process.

The 8 week class turned into 18 weeks, attending extra classes once or twice a week to finish our little preciouses (caveat: we could have finished the chairs in MUCH less than 8 weeks if classes had met more often). Joshua became increasingly frustrated with the detailed parts of the process, but he discovered he's exceptionally adept at tear-down (a tight grip comes in handy). I enjoyed it all but needed some extra help with staple-removing and de-nailing things. We're a good match.

What follows is a rough overview of The Making of The Chevron Chair. Once upon a time it was The Comfortable But Aesthetically Needy Corduroy Chair. To create the Chevron Chair, I made some design decisions like removing the skirt to expose those lovely turned legs. You need basic sewing skills to reupholster furniture. An industrial walking-foot machine and upholstery staple gun with air-compressor are also really necessary. I'm not saying you can't do this on a home sewing machine or with a manual staple gun, but your wits will be tested and your hands will be bruised if you go that route.

SUPPLIES

Claw tool: a forked-end tool used to remove tacks and staples Hammer Pliers Masking tape Rubber mallet (white is best, but you can cover a black one with fabric)/ Curved upholstery needles Straight pins Sewing needle (for basting) Seam ripper Flexible tape measure Yardstick / straightedge Spring twine: also called laidcord, a waxed jute twine used to tie springs together Burlap Fabric shears: sharp scissors used for cutting fabric only Flexible metal tacking strip Cardboard tacking strip Tailor's chalk Dust mask Goggles Leather work gloves Upholstery fabric (common yardage for different chairs) *Foam *Batting Dust cover fabric Cording *Zipper Upholstery weight thread

*Can be reused from old chair upholstery

1) Studying the Chair

This is an essential first step to reupholstering any piece of furniture. Most upholstered chairs have an inside back, an outside back, inside arms, outside arms, deck, lip, and some have wings, welting, and cushions. If you can't identify where all these pieces are, you will not end up with a fully reupholstered chair, and that will be sad. Make a simple diagram of your chair labeling each part. Place masking tape on each section of your chair and label appropriately: inside left arm, outside left arm, inside right arm, outside right arm, etc. Label your chair, left and right, as you face it, not as if you were sitting in it. Do not skip this step, or you will be confused later on.

2) Tear-Down

Remove chair legs, and place your chair on a sturdy surface for the duration of the reupholstery project. Our chair stands were about 2 feet high and large enough to hold each person's piece with a few inches to spare on each side. Deconstruct your chair with care and gusto, wearing a mask, goggles, and work gloves. Old dust, splinters, and pet hair fly during this phase. Remove staples and decorative nails completely, but do not rip or cut the old fabric. You need all the old fabric to use as a pattern for the new. Also save the batting and foam under the old fabric if possible. Throw away damaged, bug-infested, or smelly chair innards. A smoker's chair stuffing will always smell like the smoker who nestled in it. Rip all the seams of the old fabric and separate the various pieces. Double-check to make sure each piece is labeled before you rip the seams. Consider using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_irrigation">neti pot</a> after a tear-down session.

3) Repair Springs, Webbing, and Frame

Some springs are zig-zaggy and others are classically coiled. Every coil is joined by spring twine to create a firm, bouncy base on which to rest your tush. The BEST chairs, we learned, have eight-way hand-tied coils. Our teacher could not say enough good things about eight-way hand-ties. If there is an upholstery hall-of-fame, I wonder if people reminisce about Sir So-And-So's eight-way hand-ties like legends about Helen of Troy's beauty or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. I hope so.

Make sure your coils are properly tied together with spring twine, that frayed webbing is replaced with new, and that any defects on the wood frame of your chair have been dealt with. Now is the time to completely remove stubborn staples or hammer in broken ones, yank out unnecessary nails or pound ones that are loosely holding the frame together. Make the frame of your chair completely stable and ready to carry the weight of the most robust visiting relative. Once you've repaired all the essentials, lay burlap over bottom and back springs, tuck raw edges under, and staple in place.

4) DO NOT WASH YOUR NEW UPHOLSTERY FABRIC

Learn from my mistakes. I'm used to sewing quilts and garments, and pre-shrinking fabric is a must when you expect to launder anything regularly. Upholstery fabric, however, comes with a sort of protective coat on top, a sheen to repel moisture or food spills. You can, of course, choose a fabric that's not strictly for upholstery, but even those come off the bolt with a finished look. Just remember, you are not going to launder your chair. You will spot-clean it. If you desperately want to pre-shrink the fabric, for goodness sake check the washing instructions for what you bought. Luckily washing the chevron fabric was no big deal, though completely unnecessary. Washing the turquoise fabric for Joshua's chair was a big mistake, as you can see. Fabric.com has wonderful customer service and sent me new fabric at no cost.

5) The Old Upholstery Fabric Is Your Map

Lay out the old fabric on top of the new and use it as a pattern, tracing its shape onto the new fabric with chalk. Make sure that each peace of new fabric you cut faces the same direction, as light will reflect differently on upside-down fabric grain vs. right-side up fabric grain. Decide whether to "railroad" your fabric or leave it vertical, where the straight-of-grain runs vertical (parallel to selvedge edges) and the cross-grain is perpendicular to the straight of grain. Railroading fabric is turning the bolt sideways so that it runs left to right and will shift the motif completely. This works for some patterns and definitely not for others. If you're reupholstering two chairs to match, make note of whether or not you railroad the fabric. You don't want to end up with one vertical plaid and another horizontal plaid. Label each new fabric piece with masking tape to show which direction is up.

Look at the pattern motif of the new fabric, and plan where the pattern repeats will meet at the seams before you trace with chalk. Seam allowances are included in the old fabric piece after you rip out the seams. Notice if that allowance is 1/4 or 1/2 inch and take that into account when deciding where to place seams. My chevron fabric is made of a series of Vs, and I had to think about how those Vs flowed from section to section (from the lip of the chair to the front boxing of deck cushion to the top of deck cushion, etc.). If they can't match perfectly, at least make it look purposeful. I chose to center the chevrons on the lip of the chair first and planned my way up the chair from that point. The top of the chair arms don't match the inside back perfectly but are positioned in a pleasing way. The sides and back just continue the chevron pattern in a way that makes sense. Cut new fabric along traced chalk lines.

Welting, sometimes called piping on garments or smaller projects, is fabric sewn around a cord and used as decorative edging. The Chevron Chair has welting on the deck cushion, down the arms, and around the back of the chair. Fabric used for welting is often cut on the bias, but for my chair I cut 1 1/2 inch strips vertically down the chevron motif so the welting would look kind of like a candy cane. Measure the length of welting on the old fabric to decide how much you need for the new upholstery, or just measure parts on the frame where you think it would look good. Be generous in your measurements. I used less welting with the new fabric than the chair previously had, but I still needed some extra to sew it all together. Use chalk to trace 1 1/2 inch strips as long as you can on the new fabric, and cut along traced lines.

6) Batting Isn't Just for Quilting

Batting is commonly thought of as the fluffy, scrumptious layer between the top and bottom of a quilt, but it's a must for upholstery too. Every place your chair will be covered with fabric, it needs to be covered in foam and/or batting. Any upholstery fabric that rubs agains raw wood will tear over time and ruin all your hard work, plus it's not comfy to sit on. Before fitting sewn fabric over top of chair arms, place batting over arm foam and raw edges of wood, staple it in place, and fluff batting over staples. Fluffing the batting makes sure that you won't see any divots in the fabric after you place it on top of the batting. If your batting is smooth, your fabric will lay smoothly; if your batting is lumpy, your fabric will look lumpy.

To be continued...

Holiday Event you don't want to miss: December First Fridays, Kid Art show, and Joey Bradley Heirloom and ornament show

If you're weren't able to attend our Holiday Fair (or even if you did), here are a couple of great art events that are taking place this weekend. Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month, which means it's another great night for an art crawl. Studios up and down the streets of West Greenville will be open to the public, and two of our food favorites---Neue Southern and Asada---will be there to make it a party! In conjunction with the December First Fridays is a fabulous show (AND GIVEAWAY) by one of our long time artist friends--Joey Bradley. Joey has exhibited at Indie Craft Parade for the past two years, and we're continually amazed with the beauty of his work. At this event he'll be doing two giveaways, so be sure to check out the details on his Facebook page and attend the event for a chance to win some amazing fine art.

And to finish things off for tomorrow evening on Pendleton Street, you have to check out a show that will steal your heart. It's the annual Kid Art Show, featuring 5 young artists. The show will be hosted at the photography studio of Jeff Hall, Aaron Green, and Christine LeGrand. Here is a video from last year's show!

http://vimeo.com/14185061

Edit: Another great event we almost forgot to mention is the Art Bomb Luminary Christmas Show! The Art Bomb is a shared artist studio located just down the road from Joey Bradley and the Kid Art Show, at 1320 Pendleton Street. To find it, just follow the luminaries lining Pendleton Street. You can't miss it!

Holiday Fair Gift Guides Part 2

We're back with more handmade suggestions for all of those people on your Christmas list.

FOR THE COLLECTOR:

For those who are always looking to add to their gallery wall.

Benediction print by Chris Koelle

Operatic Dragon print by Cory Godbey

Collage art by Emily Jeffords

Felt cactus garden from Once Again Sam

GREAT STOCKING STUFFERS:

Need just a little something for a party, gift exchange, or stocking? These artists will have items under $10.00 at their booths.

Assorted Bobbies from 17 Dove Street

Letterpress greeting cards from Quill and Arrow Press

Hand spun yarn skeins from Merciful Hearts

Locally made soaps and scrubs from The Herb Garden

Animal magnets from Juxtaposition

Two more days! See you Saturday!

Holiday Fair Gift Guides Part 1

We're just days away from the Holiday Fair, and we can hardly hold in our excitement! We've made our shopping lists, and I want to share these ideas with you. Here are some ideas for all those special people in your life.

FOR HIM:

Know a creative guy or someone who just appreciates the cool things in life? Be sure to visit these vendors at the Holiday Fair to pick up a gift that will leave you looking awesome!

For the socially conscious guy with good taste: handprinted Toms shoes by Matt Butler.

For the guy who loves jeans: Locally printed and designed tees by Parachute Clothing.

For the Perfect Gentleman: hand sewn ties from The Cordial Churchman.

For the Man Cave: prints from Shed Labs.

For the Cycle-phile: prints by Matt Butler.

For Her:

All girls love jewelry, but not just any jewelry...something that sets them apart from the rest. We'll have quite the selection at the Holiday Fair. Plus other awesome fineries for the chicas you know.

For the bibliophile: Leather wrap bracelet from the found'ling.

For the nature girl: animal rings from Audrey Laine.

For the Explorer/Adventurer: felt fungi necklaces from Heather Keew.

For the Accessorizer: hand woven scarves from Teri Goddard.

For the Coffee/Tea Connoisseur: hand thrown and carved mugs from Rachel Feece.

Who's on your list? I guarantee we'll have something for everyone! Stay tuned for more guides.

String Art Demo from Dapper Ink

A few months ago, we shared our love of string art---that is incorporating string into an existing piece, or creating art entirely out of string. So we were pretty excited when our friends at Dapper Ink (a local screen print and design shop here in Greenville) decided to do a new installation that featured string art. Over the past years, Dapper Ink has hosted installations created by local artists. With the addition of letterpress printing to their shop, however, they wanted to do something that showed off their love for all things print, and the Long Live Print plans began. So check out their behind the scenes video. They've proved that string art (though time consuming) can be an accessible form of art. Maybe this will even inspire you to try it yourself.

http://vimeo.com/53853809

If you're interested in making some string art of your own, Jen from Dapper Ink has shared a few tips:

1) Rather than just going at the project with nails and string, have a plan. We actually printed our design on a banner printer, attached it to the plywood and used that to guide our nail holes. The paper is also great because it keeps your wood underneath clean. Our hands got REALLY messy because of the oxidation on the nails. Chances are you might not have access to a banner printer. No problem...as long as you're not doing a huge installation, print outs from home should work fine.

2) Recruit friends to help you put in the nails. It WILL take you longer than you think.

3) Look at string art inspiration online to give you an idea of how you want to wrap your string, that is, how you want the pattern to look. Do you want it to be very uniform? Or is it ok to be messy and random? Either choice can be fine, but it's difficult to change your tactics once you've started to fill in the nails with string.

4) Use one continuous strand of string or yarn for as long as you can to maintain an even look to the design. However, tie off the ends often. If it starts to unravel, you could lose all of your work to your last tie off point.

Upcycling Vintage Crates and Boxes from Maiedae

We've had such an incredible response to Emily's DIY Chalkboard Lettering a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't wait to put up a new guest blog post from another talented lady. Today I'm introducing Savannah Wallace from Maiedae--an artistic, fashion, and lifestyle blogger. Two years ago Savannah and her business partner Jenny participated in Indie Craft Parade as jewelry artists, and I've been mesmerized with their work ever since. Besides her work in jewelry, Savannah is also a graphic designer and photographer. I've been pestering Savannah to do a guest blog post, and fortunately, her busy schedule has allowed her to share this adorable tutorial with us. Thank you, Savannah!

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DIY: UPCYCLING VINTAGE CRATES & BOXES

Hello friends! Savannah from 

Maiedae

 here to share with you a simple DIY and tips on up-cycling your vintage crates and boxes. Last year I spent some treasure hunting time at local antique stores in search for wooden finds. I found old coca-cola crates, small wooden boxes and a few larger crates. I built up my little collection and have found over the past year that they've served for many uses! I used them as display pieces for my handmades at a craft show, stacked them together to make night stands for my husband's and my pallet bed, put plants on them outside and used them for pretty storage. Today's DIY shows how I used simple elements to up-cycle one of my favorite wooden boxes as a "free for all" things box.

SUPPLIES

* Multi-surface paint - I used Martha Stewart's metallic gold paint.

* Stencil or silk screen - I found a great selection of stencil pieces and some beautiful Martha Stewart silk screen letters at Michael's. You can find things like this at your local craft shop.

* Dresser knobs.

STEP BY STEP

1. Using a drill, make holes into your wooden piece for knobs or hooks. Use these to hang your keys, add a little visual interest or hang other treasured items from.

2. Paint the inside of your crate with a color of your choice to give your box/crate dimension and a little pop or color or metallic flair.

3. Stencil a word or pattern on your box to match its use.

IMG_2721small

Just by getting a little creative you can easily up-cycle any of your favorite wooden antiqued pieces and give it a little extra charm! Try using your favorite colors, fun stencil patterns and trying it out in different places in your home. I love that my "things" box can be used for mail, main floor nick-nacks, make-up and bathroom supplies. So many uses and way more attractive than a plastic bin.

Thanks for having me! Stay warm.

-Savannah

Holiday Fair Etsy Treasury

Want a sneak peek into some of the goodies available for the Holiday Fair? Check out this Etsy treasury we made, and learn to make your own! But don't stray far. Over the next two weeks we'll have more holiday goodies to share including gift guides and details about other local partners we've picked up.

2012 Scholarship Winner!

Thank you to all of the teachers who applied for the 2012 Indie Craft Parade Scholarship Program. We received some really great applications from schools around the Greenville area. And as always, we wish we could help every single one of them. But we're happy to announce that this year's winner of the scholarship is Gateway Elementary School in Traveler's Rest. Joanne, the school's art teacher, shared with us that her classes are the only creative outlet for many of her students, who don't typically have access to art supplies at home. Also because of severe budgeting, her own program is lacking in many resources. We're so happy that we were able to more than double her yearly budget with our scholarship.

We can't wait to see what great things her students will produce. And we're looking forward to sharing that with you in the near future!

Indie Craft Parade Holiday Fair: The official details

What: Indie Craft Parade Holiday Fair When: Saturday December 1, 10 am – 5 pm Where: A smaller, more intimate venue in the Pendleton Street Arts District Artisan Traders, 1274 Pendleton Street, Greenville, SC 29611

We're less than a month away from our first annual Christmas event, and we're getting ready to celebrate a handmade holiday! Please share the word with friends, family, and anyone else you know who would love Indie Craft Parade.

New Venue! For our smaller, one day event, please note the change in venue from the Huguenot Mill. Here's a map to the new location.

We're so excited about all of the artists who are on board for the show. Here they are!

2D

Emily Jeffords Cory Godbey Shed Labs Chris Koelle

3D

Rachel Feece Pottery

Fiber Arts

Heather Keew Merciful Hearts Farm Once Again Sam Teri Goddard Handweaving Heartfelt

To Wear

17 Dove Street found*ling Hand Printed by Matt Butler Fox to the Opera Parachute The Cordial Churchman Audrey Laine Jewelry 

Paper Goods

Quill and Arrow Press The Gilded Fete Royal Buffet

Everything Else

canoo juxtaposition The Herb Garden The Chubby Cupcake Annie Koelle

**We're not joking about helping us spread the word. We've got stacks of postcards ready to share. Please email jen@indiecraftparade.com if you'd like some to put out at your work, school, local coffee shop or anywhere else.

The Makers Summit

Registration for The Makers Summit is now open!

Check out TheMakersSummit.com to purchase tickets, see the schedule , and meet our amazing speakers.

All the details are there, but here's a brief run-down:

What: A one-day conference for the art, craft, and design world.

When & Where: February 2, 2013 in Greenville, SC

Who should attend: Any creative individual who wants to start or grow their businesses.

What is the cost: Conference tickets are $100 and include breakfast and lunch. Our evening event, The Best Craft Party Ever, will feature an amazing supper followed by a time of crafting, and is $50 to attend.

Head over to see all the wonderful details!

DIY Chalkboard Lettering with Emily Jeffords

We've said this before, but one of the best things about Indie Craft Parade is getting to know the awesome people in the maker community. These connections can provide new friendships, networking connections, business opportunities, and they always supply creative inspiration. For this guest post, we called in one of the amazing connections we've made---the ever lovely Emily Jeffords. 

We asked Emily to supply a project for us...and she did something awesome: DIY CHALKBOARD LETTERING. This is an amazing idea. Who doesn't love beautifully hand lettered designs? And now you can do it yourself!

So without further ado, take it away, Emily!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Hello!  I’m so happy to be guest blogging for one of my favorite groups, Indie Craft Parade!  I’m sure you have noticed the growing chalkboard lettering craze sweeping America and Europe right now.  It’s pretty awesome.  Well, it’s awesome if you have freakishly amazing handwriting (which I don’t!)  I can barely write an address on an envelope with grace. Sadly, I’m going to have to leave the hand-lettering to the likes of Dana Tanamachi and Molly Jaques.

The good news: those of us who aren’t Dana Tanamachi can still have amazing chalkboards with freakishly amazing typography and precision (we just need a teensy bit of help from the computer….  Shhh.)

Oh, and lefties, you’re in luck.  Because you don’t have to do one bit of writing, you can work from right to left!  You should have seen me working on this baby upside down, sideways, and backwards!

This chalkboard DIY is so stylish, so trendy, and so, so easy.

Things I leaned during this DIY:

1. Chalkboard spray paint is a total joke.  Just use flat black paint and mix in a tiny bit of clear gesso or unsanded tile grout.  I didn’t try the paint can variety.  Maybe it’s amazing? 2. Really, really, really cover the paper with chalk.  It will save you so much time in the long run. 3. You might want to do a few words with larger text…  not going to lie, this took quite a while because my text was so small (and I’m a bit of a perfectionist.) 4. A small paintbrush + water is like a magic eraser.

I hope this inspires you to have fun creating something amazing and original.

Greenville Open Studios 2012 this weekend

Many of you probably work or live right around the corner from a Greenville artist, and you don’t even know it. Local artists don’t always work out of galleries or official studios, which is why you should take advantage of Greenville’s annual Open Studios. This event not only gives the community a chance to meet more of Greenville’s artists but also to tour their work spaces, to get to know their processes, and to connect on a more personal level. Open Studios is THIS WEEKEND! Saturday, November 3, 10am – 6pm & Sunday, November 4, Noon – 6pm. A few artists are even open on Friday evening.

About Greenville Open Studios from the Metropolitan Arts Council: Now in its eleventh year, Greenville Open Studios began as an idea cast about during a casual conversation between a small group of artists several years ago; they discussed doing something to raise awareness in the greater community of the tremendous creative energy in the area. The idea has evolved into a full-fledged annual event.

The 2012 self-guided tour will feature 140 artists and their studios this year.  Studio locations vary throughout a 15-mile radius of downtown Greenville with Easley, Greer, Travelers Rest and Dacusville included. Catalogues are available at MAC as well as at each artist’s studio. 

Open Studios even has a smart phone app that you can use to guide you to the artists and tell you about their work. Check it out at greenvilleopenstudios.com.

Indie Craft Parade Holiday Fair

It's time to announce yet another fun project we've had up our sleeve. This December, we'll be hosting the very first Indie Craft Parade Holiday Fair! This will be a much smaller scale version of our main event, featuring 25 previous Indie Craft Parade participants.

The Fair will be held at Artisan Traders in Greenville's art district (see map below) and will be open from 10am - 5pm Saturday, December 1. Come support local artists and give one-of-a-kind gifts this year.

Admission is free, so mark your calendars and plan to bring your friends and family! More details will be coming soon.

What: Indie Craft Parade Holiday Fair When: Saturday December 1, 10 am – 5 pm Where: A smaller, more intimate venue in the Pendleton Street Arts District Artisan Traders, 1274 Pendleton Street, Greenville, SC 29611

The Lamp Post Guild on Kickstarter

We love sharing with our community the newest resources and trends in the world of making, which is why I nearly flipped when I saw this new Kickstarter project called The Lamp Post Guild. Three professional illustrators from Greenville (2 of which have been Indie Craft Parade vendors) have created an online course to teach people how to turn their passion of art/illustration into a career.

Statement of purpose from The Lamp Post Guild:

Every kid drew pictures until someone told them they couldn’t.Millions of people wanted to become artists when they grew up,but they were told that being an artist is not a "real job."Only a few of them will actually make it as professional artists.It doesn't have to end this way.

We want to make this story end differently for these aspiring illustrators and artists by teaching online courses that will help them improve their craft and earn a living doing what they love.

This presentation is done beautifully, and if you have people in your life who would benefit from taking these classes, you should seriously consider supporting!

Knack Studio Grand Opening This Weekend!

We love this time of year in the arts and craft world. It seems like between now and the new year, every week there is a show, a market, a gallery crawl, or (as in this announcement) a studio grand opening! We've got so many events to tell you about in the coming weeks, so make sure you're checking back with us. Today I want to share an upcoming event for the creative genius that is Knack Studio--Barb Blair. She's been a long time friend of Indie Craft Parade, serving as an exhibitor as well as a jury and board member. Not to mention, she's a foundational piece of the arts scene here in Greenville. Barb specializes in remaking antique furniture, often finding beauty in pieces long overlooked. Not to mention she has an impeccable decorative sense which means she has a wonderfully curated line of "found goodness" for sale. Over the past few months she's been renovating a new studio that has its Grand Opening this Friday night! We've had a sneak peek into the new venue, and let us tell you--it's worth going to see.

The new studio opening will be in conjunction with another Indie Craft Parade friend, Lily Pottery. To check out the details, head on over to Barb's blog. We can't wait to go!