Artsy Fartsy Holiday Crafty ShowsSo in the last few weeks I have gone to ...4 craft shows. Some good, some bad, some ugly.
Let's start off with the One Of A Kind ShowThis one was at exhibition here in Toronto..and it's huge. I went with some friends and it took us about 4.5 hours to get through the entire show.
The food featured at this show is amazing. The clothing is usually very nice, but very.."out there" I would say. A lot of Earth-mother types and retro/babydoll/emo kid types probably get a lot of their signature pieces here, if they can afford it.
The accessories are great - The purses at one of a kind tend to be very varied, nicely made and there really is something for everyone.
The hats are mostly knitted or sewn (There are some true miliners here..) and are very cool too - if you're a hat person(I'm not,really). This show IS the only place I've seen that you can get a toque with like, monster ears and horns and things ;)
The jewlery is a bit pricey, but there are some very neat things to be found here.
I ended up buying a metal pendant with a bunny on it from a person called Stick-Man. He has no website though, so I cannot show you all.
I also found there was a lot of baby stuff this year. One place I particularily remember was
Mally Bibs - Leather baby bibs ...SUCH A CUTE IDEA! And SO practical. My hat is off to this young woman.
By the end of the show I was tired, but happy. I purchased an awesome acid green suede business card book from "Tigo Enterprises" (No website either)
and I marveled over the nice design of
Kanvas ink who does some great wedding invitations and greeting cards.
So my overall rating of one of a kind:
Size: GINORMOUS!
Variety: (on a scale of 1 to ten) 10+
Price Range: $$$$$
Will I go back? Heck Yes I will!
The "Yule" Craft Show - Ottawa, OntarioThis show was not very noteworthy other than the fact that I had some friends selling there, and it was raising funds for the humane society. It was very small, cramped and was poorly advertised. (I actually only knew of it through a friend, who knows the organizer somehow). We got lost trying to find it once we were in the building (No big signs, only a couple of photocopies telling us to go up to the second floor). Basically the show consisted of people selling beaded jewlery, crystals and some rather unexciting artwork. *Dodges any bullets that might fly her way after that comment*
Happily, my friends had the nicest jewelry - and I bought my sister a necklace. The show was rather pagan themed, And as such my good friend found something nice to add to her altar. Not being pagan myself, I didn't have much interest in those wares. We did get a free fortune-telling fish, though. (Anyone remember these???)
So...
Size: Tiny, but this is it's first year I believe.
Variety: 5
Price Range: $$
Will I go back? Meh. Probably not.
Next up (same day) was
Ladyfest's Not Your Grandma's Holiday CraftSale! Ottawa, Ontario
THIS one I enjoyed much more than the Yule Craft show. There was a lot of variety and interesting, quality merchandise for such a small show. I believe there were 40 vendors in all. There was baking, soaps, clothing, accessories, toys, Very neat lamps, and even a girl selling Vintage art on toilet covers and switchplates! (Very cool, but they had none for the newer style "fat" light switches...so I was DeNiEd!)
My very favourite person here (and the only one to pry money from my cold dead hands) was
The Grunge Papers. This man is very talented. He makes his own paper and then prints on it using a letterpress. The poems he picked to print, while all a bit morbid (most about death) were beautifully typeset...as well, the one I bought had a lithograph at the bottom. I like it, and can only imagine the time that went into making it. He doesn't charge enough!
My inner design geek is pouring out love to this particular vendor. Go you, paper man!!
So. The Verdict on Ladyfest's little shindig?
Size: Middling.
Variety: 9
Price Range: $$$
Will I go back? If I get the chance, I'd love to go back..or even be a vendor!
The final show I have to comment on is the Speakeasy Holiday Sale which I participated in this last Thursday. It takes place at the Gladstone Hotel here in Toronto.
Again this show had about 40ish vendors..perhaps a bit more (I'm not sure). The venue was very nice and unlike most craft shows it ran at night..from 8pm until midnight, actually. It was also a bit different in that it took place in a bunch of rooms, 3 or 4 vendors per room.
From what I managed to see, the large part of the show was jewelry vendors.
Some nice girls that I got to talk to were Allison of
Papersnake Jewellery (There are too many ways to spell that word) who does beautiful silver necklaces..the scissors being my favourite.
I also talked to Relle of
Goblin & Crumb who had really neat little monster toys...all will little poems to go with them. They were mostly selling hair accessories and such.
Another favourite was
Banjo Puppets who make very muppet-esque puppets.
Gunther was my favourite..and if I had the money I would have brought him home with me!!!!
Kitsch did quite well at this show, and no one had a product even remotely close to what I do - which is always nice. :) This one is a keeper as far as I'm concerned. And a big thanks to my friend Chris for driving me to and from, for getting me a table..and for keeping me company all night! What a guy. ;)
So. Speakeasy Holiday sale?
Size: Middling.
Variety: 7ish. Loooots of jewelry though.
Price Range: $$$-$$$$
Would I go back? Definitely. I would love to participate in this show again.!
So that's it for my Kitsch craft show reports. Phew! What a post this is, compared to my usual ones!
P.s., I saw Happy Feet. My toes are still Tappin' !!!!
