Wandering Star: Renegade Craft Fair

This weekend some mega crafty fun is going on in Los Angeles - the Renegade Craft Fair. Penny, Nell and I jumped on the Metro Rail to venture into Chinatown and visit the fair. It was my first Metro Rail outing, and will definitely not be my last - the trains and the stations were clean and super easy to navigate, free parking for the car, and tons of very fun public art at each station - it was wonderful. We were even rewarded at the fair with a free issue of Juxtapoz magazine just for using public transport to get there!

Of-course we had to have some Dim Sum at Ocean Seafood to fortify us for the adventure, how could you be so close to Chinatown and not have dim sum? After a feast, and the joyous bustle of dim sum carts, chopsticks and lively conversation in many languages all around us, we wandered back through Chinatown to the craft fair.

Nell and Penny at Ocean Seafood

Free admission, tons of vendors, craft booths, photo booth, DJ, all set in a park, so apart from the crafties there were people having picnics and flying kites, sitting under shady trees, walking dogs - everyone from young single trendies to families with strollers to senior citizens, it was a delight.

Some of my fave sights were these recycled and repurposed treasures from Make Shop Live, the punched bottlecap/flower/button earrings were fun, the vinyl record accessory stands really stole my heart - was it just the vinyl, or the sewing spools in the construction? Hard to say, they were just so cool.

I fell in love with the repurposed silverware at Monkeys Always Look - not just the silverware pieces themselves, but the creative and charming displays - split peas, bread tin, graters, crates, all used to great effect.

I found "Famous $5.00 Earrings" at GemJunkie - seriously great value and very fun designs ($5 necklaces too) - buy 4 items and they gave a 5th item free. Just before we left Penny steered me back to LemonBird Jams - oh-my-goodness, to die for deliciousness - home made jams, honeys, marmalade, and herbal/spiced sea salts - do yourself a favor and check them out. The free samples were temptation beyond belief.

Penny and I had a go at the Renegade Owl look, Nell wisely declined the opportunity.

I picked up lots of cards from fascinating crafters - letterpress, jewelry, felting, sewing, bookbinding, screenprinting, you name it, someone was doing it. I'll post some links to those another time. We finished our time at the show making Gocco-print seed packets, and sitting on a comfy couch in the UrbanCraftCenter booth, reading zines (I fell in love with "I Hate This Part of Texas 5" - it actually has nothing to do with Texas at all) waiting for a raffle drawing - Penny won a very cool grab bag filled with fun crafty playthings. We wandered back to the metro station, took the Gold-Red-Blue-Green lines, and found our way home via connecting stations including the always impressive Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Ah, what a lovely day.