With only a couple of weeks remaining until the Boss returns to Philly (a friend of mine has been using her gchat away message to count down the days until her Springsteen tickets for approximately six months), here’s a shirt from etsy dude Communitea, who we first saw at a Philly craft event even though he’s based in Harrisburg. Maybe don’t wear it to work unless you’re self-employed, though.

Speaking of the Boss, remember that DIY Born to Run set of coasters we mentioned a while ago? Yeah, those were also pretty sweet.

In honor the death of Plan C last week, which would have closed the libraries (and the courts, and the parks, and a bunch of fire departments, and laid off a bunch of policemen, and gotten rid of trash pickup, and… wait, these things seem awfully well-chosen to piss Philly residents off), here’s a beautiful statement necklace for your favorite librarian. Each one is made of eleven antique-leather-and-Strathmore-paper minibooks, in which you can actually write very small words! By Philly etsy maker Margeaux Kent of Black Spot Books.

And speaking of libraries, remember: Marjane Satrapi, author of 2010’s One Book, Persepolis, is appearing for free at the Central branch of the Free Library at 7:30 tonight.

For that special bike lady in your life. I kind of dig the simplicity of the lock necklace above and the bike cutout; both are from Philly etsy maker Maggie Wood.

I have a thing for papercraft; in my former life as a receptionist, I used to kill down time by assembling tiny pandas and turntables and parrots, the patterns for which were offered for free from Yamaha for some reason (note: if you have a menial-type job in which you may be asked why the fuck you’re making an okapi, I recommend that you maybe not go to that site; it’s an amazing resource but I strongly suspect that my little animals were a big factor in my getting canned).

But if you enjoy the zen of Elmer’s glue/x-acto knife/glue-tab-A-to-space-B assembly, have local pride and are not on the clock, check out Daymaker’s patterns for standard Kensington/Fishtown/Port Richmond sights (have I mentioned that I’m boycotting the term Port Fishington?). There’s lunch carts, Kenzinger trucks, Fishtown rowhouses (complete with tiny star bolts), a modern interloper, even-teenier-than-usual Trinities and a bunch more that are surprisingly evocative of the area.

They say they even have a teeny little Memphis Taproom, although that pattern doesn’t seem to be available yet, and have a custom option where it appears you can get a quote on your own Philadelphia home, place of work or favorite bar. Yay! Although we imagine it’s waaaaay more expensive to get something custom than the $3-$5 it costs to get one of the above prefab patterns printed on card stock and mailed to you.

I’m imagining the miniature train set running through a little country village that our neighbors set up around Christmas every year when I was growing up, the idea of popping in a few lunch trucks amidst all the glittery fake snow makes me very happy.

]]> http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2009/08/31/mini-kensington/feed/ 2 http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2009/08/20/atomic-catwalk-craft-up-session-1/ http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2009/08/20/atomic-catwalk-craft-up-session-1/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:03:06 +0000 bianca http://style.pwblogs.com/?p=7010

Hey DIY/ETSY kids, remember that post I did a week or two back about Atomic Catwalk? Well, if you haven’t been in touch with Kim-Thao or anyone from B.A.N.G., this is your chance to connect and be a part of the Philly Fringe Festival! I recieved an email reminder about the first meet up:

This Thursday, the 20th, we will have our first design meetup at the PNA office, from 6PM-8PM. We are located at 251 South Camac Street, 19107 (between 12th and 13th on Spruce).

Bring your ideas, crafts materials, and your most outlandish accessories– be ready to create! Remember, we will provide the actual clothing. Bring your friends– we have a shortage on male models!

We have also just signed on to GreenFest Philly for Sunday, September 13. PNA will have a booth there, and will also be participating in the GreenFest fashion show. Additionally, for all interested artists, select works will be featured in the AxD gallery for a 2010 show.

I hope to see you all there!

Philly local, Kim-Thao Nguyen of B.A.N.G, had an interesting idea. She wondered what you would get if you mixed a platform on nuclear awareness with couture/costumes/ wearable art.

Well, what do you get? A new form of activism, perhaps? Throw in local sponsors Philly AIDS Thrift and the answer happens to be pretty cool.

You get the Atomic Catwalk at the Philly Fringe Festival! More deets to come and hopefully an interview soon about this budding project.. check out the copy from the press release below: 

“Livening up age-old tactics of tee-shirts and political buttons, BANG is taking fashion activism to a new level in their interactive performance, “The Atomic Catwalk.” Working with a collection of young artists, guided by nuclear experts from mother organization Project for Nuclear Awareness, BANG youth advocates will display customized “disarmament couture”…

Ban All Nukes Generation leader Kim-Thao Nguyen explains, “By combing art and theatre with policy, we hope that this unusual association will capture the vital attention that is needed in the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.”

I’m excited. I’m entering a piece or two, actually… and for all you ETSY/DIY folk, if you’d like to enter a piece too, or would like to find out more info,
email Kim-Thao at ban.all.nukes@gmail.com

FRIDAY:

//8bit & Beyond Gallery at Brave New Worlds Comic Book Shop I love the kids over at Brave New Worlds on 2nd street. Their First Friday events are always a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to seeing the 8bit & Beyond show tonight! Event opens at 6pm. Thanks to Geekadelphia.com for the info and Juanma from The Autumn Society for this sweet promo image.

//Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at The Piazza at Schmidt’s It would appear the sad news about John Hughes made it’s way to the Northern Liberties, and the folks at the Piazza are paying their respects all day to the man that brought us Sixteen Candles and Home Alone.

//UHURU Flea Market at Clark Park I’m a fan of UHURU. I’m a fan of flea markets. I’m a fan of Clark Park (ice cream, LARPers and all!)… so naturally I’m 300% about this spring-summer-fall happening on 43rd & Baltimore. Deets here. OH! aaaand I heard a rumor our friends catFlowers may even be there.

SUNDAY:

//MakePhilly Bottlerocket BBQ Make Philly, The Hacktory and Hive 76 provide Philly with a lot of DIY fun… so I’m not surprised to hear that they’re having an awesome potluck-bbq-DIY-make-stuff-fly day. Here’s some deets I stole from their site:

Come on our for our 3rd annual MakePhillly potluck BBQ and shoot some WATER ROCKETS with us!

 

Bring food! Brink drink! Have a grill? Bring it! As has become tradition, we’re going to be holding a potluck BBQ and launching water rockets.  Water rockets are made from plain old soda bottles which are filled half way with water and then pressurized with a bicycle pump.  Pimp your water rocket out with fins, colors, and bedazzle.

 

It’s super easy to make one…. check out how here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Water_Rocket/

IMPORTANT:  We will not launch anything that burns, explodes, or uses any fuel other then water and compressed air.  No bottle rockets, no potato cannons, etc.  We will be in a public park, and we need to make sure things stay safe!

What’s going on here?

The coolest thing about this shirt is that it depicts an actual historical event! On May 3, 1808 Monsieur de Grandpre and Monsieur de Pique ascended over Paris in hot air balloons to duel for the affection of a famous dancer. One source clains they chose to duel in balloons because they believed they had “elevated minds”. In any case, after ascending to about 2000 feet, they fired at each other from a distance of 80 yards. De Pique took the first shot and missed. De Grandpre, however, scored a direct hit on his opponent’s balloon and De Pique was tipped out of his basket, falling to the rooftops below. I have yet to find any information regarding how this impressed the dancer they were fighting over.

Balloon duels? Clearly I was meant for another era. Here’s a detail if you’re squinting:

Balloon Duel shirt, Communitea, $15.

Texas is what the split-city pair pair behind Brookadelphia has up as an example, but they’ll laser cut you any state out of any color with a heart or star over the capital.

If you want another country, providence or region, email brookadelphia [!at] gmail.com and we’ll work something out. Prices may vary for this option.

Statehood for all necklace, Brookadelphia, $45.

Shavingkit has some of the neatest, most obscure clip art you’ll ever see. She, who calls herself a “book dork,” scans and offers as high-res downloads the weirdest medical illustrations from the ’20s, Victorian monster-identifying charts, and 17th-century engravings of owls and sells them in topical packs for $4.50 a download for use in silkscreening, making Christmas cards, framing and pretending it was expensive or whatever floats your boat.

Digital clip art downloads, shavingkit, $4.50.

Seeing as how I’ve been putting off sewing covers for the sad, wan IKEA cushions on my couch for perhaps five months now, these pillowcases, sewed together by Nicole Mercurio out of upcycled vintage fabrics, are starting to look mighty appealing.

Swirl and dots pillow cover, Couch Design, $30.

I saw these wood circles from Adorn Natural at the Art Star Craft Bazaar a couple of weeks ago, and I was seriously impressed. I loooove how there’s so many contrasts between the sterile aluminum/salvaged wood, perfect modern circles/chaotic wood grain, organic/inorganic, etc. all going on in this one little piece of jewelry. Or belt buckle:

The makers are a married couple, who also had some really beautiful furniture for more than I could think of affording, and their wearable pieces are all made from recycled or salvaged wood. From their mission statement:

Alexandra Snook and Edward Way are designers and makers of modern adornments, furniture and accessories. Their works blend a modern sensibility with a deep understanding of the intrinsic value of wood as a material. They met while studying furniture design and construction at Purchase College, and over the last nine years have developed designs that speak to both contemporary and traditional sensibilities.

If you missed them at Art Star, the Adorn Natural etsy site is here.

Incidentally, the couple was recently featured on Etsy’s new home tour video series, “There’s No Place Like Here…” giving the internet a look at their enviable renovated Philly loft space. Including their globe collection.

Here’s the video…

I was sure I’d seen that globe collection somewhere before, and indeed, the couple’s digs had been featured on Design Sponge, ReadyMade Magazine, Apartment Therapy Chicago and other big-traffic blogs.

But I’m confused, Apartment Therapy thinks they’re from Pittsburgh? It’s clearly the same space, and that issue didn’t come out too long ago… ah well, write it off to out-of-staters.

Something’s hiding in here etsy

There’s no place like here…

Apartment Therapy Chicago