a little white noise: Renegade Craft Fair

On Saturday, Hubby & I met up with creative genius, Danielle Goates of Sunday Hatch, and her husband Rob to scope out the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, TX. There were close to 200 booths set up at the Palmer Events Center, with a range of crafty offerings. I was surprised at the number of paper goods and screen printed tshirts, a lot of which were very clever. There were some of your typical "crafts" (beaded jewelry and handpainted shirts, etc) but for the most part all the vendors were really polished and professional looking and their products were very neat.

It was interesting how few vendors I spoke with were actually based in Austin. I was a little disappointed by this, thinking it was more of a locally attended and promotional event. However, it was cool that so many vendors chose the Austin Fair to attend, since there are others all over, including San Francisco & Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, & London.

There was music playing, alcoholic beverages were available, and the environment was pleasant and not pushy or overrun. The center was a great location. It was stifling & miserable outside and so often these booth affairs are held outdoors. I wouldn't have gone, had that been the case.

Now to the fun stuff...

Paloma's Nest - http://palomasnest.com/blog/

handcrafted modern heirlooms

http://www.palomasnest.com/

This was a vendor Danielle and I were on the lookout for as we arrived. This is a husband-wife team, located in Austin. Their little etsy store has been hugely successful and they now have an actual storefront in ATX. Her trademark is handmade ceramic ring-bearer bowls, but here were a few other things that caught my eye...

carved wooden bracelets would make sweet gifts, maybe for your bridesmaids?

"where we met" maps.

old fashioned looking wooden picture ornaments

Leah Duncan - http://www.freshlychopped.blogspot.com/
illustration + design + textiles

http://www.leahduncan.com/

I swooned over this booth just a bit. The textiles were such cute patterns. She had scarves, tea towels, and pillow covers that were adorable. Leah is also a local Austinite with an etsy store (http://www.leahduncan.etsy.com/). Here are a few of her items I really loved.

Above: scarves & fabrics.

Below: pillow covers.

The Weekend Store

http://www.theweekendstore.com/

This vendor takes old typewriter keys and makes all sorts of jewelry with them. I found their lettered cufflinks to be a neat idea for a gift for Dad on father's day, or possibly for a groom to give his groomsmen.

B bags

Lora Bunge - http://www.bbags22etsy.com/

Lora makes women's bags and cardholders, men's wallets, and laptop sleeves out of all upcycled materials. The ones I found most interesting were made from sailboat sails. Hubby purchased one made out of old menswear.

Upcycled Billfold Wallet in Light Gray with Geometric Applique

weather & noise
http://www.etsy.com/shop/weatherandnoise

http://www.weatherandnoise.net/

Another booth where I fell in love with screen printed textiles was weather & noise, created by chirstine sharp-crowe. I thought her designs were very trendy and fun.

Gleeful Peacock
http://www.gleefullyvintage.etsy.com/

This place just had one item that really caught my eye. Their pocketwatch necklaces!

Isette

http://www.isette.com/

The ampersands and mustache jewelry at this booth were really cute. I could see these making great wedding party gifts! These photos are actually from their website since mine did not turn out.

mustache earring studs

mustache love & ampersand necklaces

All in all, I'm really glad we went. We were only there for an hour or so and saw a ton of crafts. I purchased three little ferris wheel prints from my favorite booth called millions of people happy. . .

(http://millionsofpeoplehappy.blogspot.com/). Michelle is based in LA and makes really sweet paper goods and prints, but what I really loved was not for sale... these completely recycled-goods garlands. She sews these from tea bags, coffee filters, and scrap paper. I kept trying to convince her people would buy them, but she said they take a really long time to make!