Renegade Craft Fair 2009

A few weeks ago on July 18^th & 19^th the Renegade Craft Fair took place at Fort Mason in San Francisco. I had applied on a whim on the last day with my reasoning being that if I got in I would be able to participate in this awesome DIY craft fair and get to go on a road trip!

Since it’s beginning in 2003 Renegade has become known as the largest show of its kind, now traveling to different cities and showcasing hundreds of unique artists! I was thrilled when I got the news that I was accepted !

Visiting San Francisco was a lot of fun, I had a great to walk around the city. The show its self was amazing, there were so many quality crafters there and so much to see! I really had a great time and did some awesome trades with some other crafty people. Here are some pictures of a few of the incredible items I picked up! It was inspiring and so cool to meet so many new crafters! I can’t wait till next year!

Etched glasses from www.breadandbadger.com
These posters from Montreal were my favorite! I could hardly pick and got another with CCM bicycles on it! Love! www.cinqunquatre.com
Tiny Sparks Design had the most darling wood creations! www.tinysparksdesign.com
These little felted hair clips are so sweet! www.islacorbett.com
I love this matching jewelry set in gold and silver! www.tasidesigns.com
These are going to look good in my renovated kitchen! www.beyondher.com
This feisty lady was my neighbor for the show and so much fun! I traded for these hand cut leather earrings early on and got so many compliments! www.tarynmccabe.com

Prep for Renegade San Francisco

As I write this I am in a rented cargo van hurtling down I5 in southern Oregon. I am on my way to the Renegade Craft Fair www.renegadecraft.com in San Francisco! Renegade is a huge DIY event and I am excited to get to participate. I have been getting ready for a week or so and feel pretty prepared. Yesterday went off without a hitch and thanks to my UPS hero I was able to get he American Apparel stragglers to fill in the holes in the inventory printed in a timely fashion! No crying in the alley wondering where the delivery truck is this time! My good friends Steph & Shannon came by to lend me a hand folding, tagging and getting the bottle openers done. We hit the road in good time last night and it is hard to believe that we will be in San Francisco later today! I am looking forward to seeing all the amazing crafts that will be there! Here are a few pics of the activity in the studio getting it all together!

Sneak Peek

Several months ago I started going to Joy of Pilates http://www.joyofpilates.net/  classes twice a week with two of my good friends. Ella who owns the studio, is the instructor and is super enthusiastic, of course, upon discovering that I am a screen-printer she needed some cute clothes with her logo on them. One thing led to another and we decided to team up on a photoshoot together. This was a few months ago and when it comes to creating new designs and clothing lines it takes me a little while! However I am proud to say that last Friday I put the finishing touches on my new Women's Workout line suitable for running, biking, Pilates and Yoga or anything else you can think of. Yesterday we got together at Ella's studio with my favorite photographer Sandi Heinrich http://www.sandiheinrich.com/ and six lovely models and rocked out a great photo-shoot. These pictures are a few I took of the shoot happening, the ones Sandi took will be much better! You can see the beautiful Pilates studio and get a sneak peek at the new clothes coming to the Red Boots booth at the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturday May 9th and on the interweb at Http://www.redbootsdesign.etsy.com in a few weeks!

Sandi gets the picture of Ariel in the Koi Capri pants

Deborah models the Daisy LS Hood and Sandi works the camera

Ursula shows us how its done in style in a Wildflower yoga skirt and Daisy tech top!
Cata looking good with a smile in her Koi sleeveless top!
Michelle is focused in a pretty green Daisy top!
All together now...
This is what Sandi does and she is very good at it!
Waiting for the action to start before the shoot at the Joy of Pilates Studio

Making sure we are ready to start!

End of an era

When I first moved to Bellingham it was in the fall of 2003. I moved in with my Uncle, got a job and moved out. Through my job I met Jeff Kraus. He had a screenprint shop and made his own hemp shirts for his business Naked Clothing. At some point, I think in the spring of 2004 I started helping him in his shop with his printing. I had taken a class back east at NASCAD 5 or so years before and I guess that qualified me for the job. The print shop was in the basement of an old office building facing on an alley. The space its self was huge and kept moving back into catacombs filled with so much crap and junk, Jeff was a bit of a collector. The press and ancient oven (which would sometimes stop working without warning) were in the front near the garage style roll up doors, that were the only source of natural light. Heat was optional and came and went as different heaters were installed and then broke. Printing in the winter was really pure misery. However, this was the printshop and it was where I did all my printing and started Red Boots in the spring of 2004. I helped Jeff up until this July whan I finally got set up to work in my own studio. All together Jeff and I spent 4 plus years there together. There are some stories I have! Yesterday I went over to clean the rest of the screens that had piled up before we need to move them all, there were about 50 in all!! The space is mostly cleaned out and nearly everything is gone except for the printing equipment and the fish tank which will be the last to go. I felt rather nostalgic looking around, as much as I hated it at times it was a really cool experience. I guess I feel like I have earned where I am now with all the luxeries like heat and light!! Jeff has a new place in Sedro Wooley and we will still see each other, I will still be cleaning his screens, and we will still eat lots of sushi!

VOTE VOTE VOTE

I promise to be a better blogger. I get that no one will read this Red Boots Design Blog more than once if I only write something once every six months! There are so many things I could think of to say but I think I will focus on my new VOTE T shirt. I am pretty worried about the election and I think it is terrifying that some people don't vote at all. Funny how these people always can be heard bragging about it at the bar and then complaining about their non-democratically elected government at the same time. I don't know what to do, so I made a VOTE shirt. Nice big VOTE on the front and a non-inflammatory quote on the back. I was hoping people would buy it (for cheap) and then wear it and inspire conversation and hopefully voting. I am happy to say it has been popular and has inspired a childrens version to be launched this Saturday at the Bellingham Farmers Market. I can only hope for the best, but when I hand them over it is with a wink and I say, "Please vote responsibly". 

Photo Shoot at the Printshop

Last Friday I was getting caught up on some printing and my friend Sandy Heinrich (www.sandiheinrich.com) came down to the printshop to take some photos of me. Sandi is a professional photographer here in Bellingham and she did an awesome job. I have finally come to terms with the fact that while I can shoot a decent picture of my dog, taking pictures of myself while screen-printing is outside my skill set. We hung out for about 3 hours and she took tons of pictures while I printed. I was so excited today I just ordered some mini moo cards  www.moo.com and some mini moo stickers. here are some of the pic's I liked best:

I roll on 12's

Well in all honestly there hasn't been very much exciting blogging going on here. That's really because there hasn't been very much exciting Printshop building happening either. I am mentally planning my little galley kitchen I am going to build, but holding off because I am supposed to be doing productive work type things, like new kids designs and such. So far so good, here is my new tricycle design, I like it and I drawed it myself. So there. At least the sun is finally shining and that's enough for me.