Hello y'all... today I am going to try my best to capture my favorite findings from this weekend's Renegade Handmade craft fair that took place in Williamsburg's McCarren Park.
It was completely overwhelmed with the craftiest, most artistic and creative vendors, some of which I recognized from Etsy and even from the craft fair I had a table at a few months ago. It was a perfect weekend for the fair...and although it was ridiculously hot and humid, the rain held out til 4 PM on the second day.
Overall I was really impressed. Between gorgeous displays, awesome products, and very creative tables, it was hard to decide what to highlight here. I'll try my best to include everything.
My mom and I arrived at about 11:30 and the vendors were still setting up. Since it was early, there was NO LINE for the photobooth by Magnolia Photobooth Co., so we jumped on, grabbed some props (we're into mustaches lately, so...) and took some silly pics. They posted all of the pictures from both days on their website too, very convenient.
On to the shops!
The first thing I bought was a really cute floral pencil skirt from Mary Savel. This isn't the skirt, but I was having a hard time deciding between a dress like this and the skirt. I might just have to go back and get this dress though.
I wanted to buy a piece of jewelry that was special and that I knew I couldn't make myself. It was a hard decision, but I decided on a similar pair of salvaged cutlery earrings from Ball and Chain. I've seen different variations of this a lot at other craft fairs and always regretted not buying one, so I'm glad I finally have my own pair of pretty cutlery jewelry.
Something that I've been seeing a lot of recently are these silly illustrations by Berkley Illustrations. A couple of months ago I got coffee with someone who bought one of my prints at the craft fair that we were both vendors at, and we talked about how to do well selling art on Etsy and at fairs. Well, Berkley Illustrations have sold over 17,000 prints on Etsy and now have a deal with Urban Outfitters. He must be doing something right, not to mention that his prints are awesomely ironic and hilarious.
Miniature Rhino definitely won overall for best booth. She had a little table set up with a typewriter and you could write your own message, place it in the bottle and then she will ship it for you! The art of letter writing... it's not totally dead!
Towards the end of the day, while waiting for my mother to try on a thousand different pairs of necklaces, I was looking through the racks at Les Enfants Sauvage. Before I looked at the price tag, I was considering buying this skirt, which is a African print fabric with a silk screened printed design over it. All the pieces they displayed were gorgeous... but the prices were a little too steep for me.
Bettula was one booth that I fell in love with. Their jewelry and home designs used birch bark finished with a shiny gloss that looked so fabulous. I've never seen anything like Bettula which was why I loved it so much.
Bloodmilk was another booth that was really unique and different from the other vendors. Their jewelry was very gothic looking, and I enjoyed hanging around their booth looking at all of their interesting designs.
Something that I was looking for that I didn't find was Blue Gear Works' booth. I've wanted an anatomical heart necklace for the longest time, but sadly I couldn't find their booth. I totally would have bought this necklace, though... probably in silver.
I saw a lot...a LOT... of embroidery hoops and embroidered things at Renegade. Since I am getting into embroidery recently, I enjoyed seeing everyone's versions of their take on embroidery hoops and all the fun things they can do with it.
McBitterson's stuffed ciggy is really adorable... I met the girls who ran this booth at the craft fair I did in March and they were super sweet. Their sense of humor comes out in their designs.
Mean Cards definitely had the funniest cards and prints on display. I also enjoyed reading the stories they had on display.
Finally, Mimi Kirchner wins for the best "stuffed people." This one is probably my favorite, but she also had matryoshka dolls, tattooed girls, men in suits, and other cool things. The price was steep though, at about $250 for one of these dolls. I think I'll just look...
So, that doesn't even cover a quarter of what was at Renegade, but you get the idea. Awesome and friendly people, creative displays, wonderful art, beautiful jewelry, clothes, etc. Lovely day!!!
-g.
