City of Craft sponsor love!

Did you know that City of Craft enjoys the assistance and support of very special sponsors for each and every one of its shows? We're very lucky and thankful that several local businesses and organizations are helping us for City of Craft Spring 2015 and we'd love for you to meet and get to know them!
 
First up is our amazing venue - The Theatre Centre - a nationally-recognized arts incubator, which serves as a research and development hub for the cultural sector.  The Theatre Centre's new space is a gem and we love being able to use it.

 City of Craft,  December 2014 ~ photo by Becca Gilgan

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For this show, our wonderful venue and amazing vendors will be captured by Laurie, the talented photographer behind Effie Watt.

Effie Watt Photography ~ Fieldguided tote

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Coriander Girl is pretty much the perfect floral sponsor for a spring show. Their Parkdale shop has beautiful flowers, perfect plants and sweet gifts.

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Each City of Craft show has its own poster, expertly silk screened by the talents at Kid Icarus - the wonderful print and gift shop, located both in Kensington and Parkdale.

City of Craft Spring 2015 poster ~ designed by Paul Dotey (see below) & printed by  Kid Icarus

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A long-time sponsor and friend of City of Craft, the workroom is Toronto's go-to place for fun sewing lessons, gorgeous fabric and friendly advice.

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Paul Dotey is our designer for this show and we love, love, love his minimalist forsythia! Look out for him at the show along with some amazing new printed textiles he's designed.

Fountain Drinks screen print by Paul Dotey

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Last by not least, you might not recognize the name Old Weston, but you definitely know GhostfaceKnitta (aka Kalpna), expert crafter, window designer/decorator and jewellery maker. Her sponsorship for this show includes basically organizing the whole thing. Thanks Kalpna, very nice of you!

You can come meet many of our sponsors at City of Craft Spring on April 18. Plus about two dozen vendors of handmade and vintage goodies. Yay!

Thanks again to our amazing sponsers...we love you so much!!

City of Craft Spring :: April 18!!

Citizens!

The rumours are true! Our 4th City of Craft Spring is happening at the Theatre Centre on Saturday, April 18!

Amazing poster by Paul Dotey

Over 20 vendors...many of them new to City of Craft! Handmade goodness, rummage and supplies...it's going to be terrific!

More details here. See you there!

February 8, 2015: Love & Rummage at the workroom

Citizens!

We`re so thrilled to once again be co-hosting our little February trunk show at the workroom this Sunday!

 

Fourteen amazing vendors will be selling wonderful items - it`s the perfect place to pick up something for your Valentine or yourself (...especially yourself)!

Check out this sweet handmade goodness:

 

Upcycled coffee cozies by Heart`s Haven

 Hand painted card by dreamsouth

Hexagon stud earrings by Moonlight for Violet

 Hug print by Dot Handmade

 

Zebra valentine by Krista Lalonde

Also up for grabs will be some great rummage...household goodies as well as art and craft supplies at excellent prices!

You can also bring your no longer worn sweaters to donate to The Lennie Project so they can be upcycled into hats and cowls and given to local shelters and homeless programs.

As always, Love & Rummage is FREE and there will be SNACKS! Need we say more? Come spend the afternoon in Parkdale...see you there!!

Sweater Drive at City of Craft: donate a sweater, help the homeless!

Today's the day citizens! City of Craft opens this evening at 6:00 pm!  

Whether you come Friday (6:00 - 10:00 pm) or Saturday (11:00 am - 6:00 pm) or Sunday (11:00 am to 5:00 pm), please plan to bring an old sweater (or 3) to donate to a great cause!

Local eco-accessories designer Nathalie-Roze Fischer is running a Sweater-Drive during City of Craft.

Please bring in your cozy old sweaters, and she'll morph them into Toques, Neck-warmers & Mitts to be donated to local shelters & homeless programs. And, if you like, you can help cut & sew these items during the show. Nathalie-Roze will be doing some production on-site, and you can get hands-on (if you like) or maybe sign up to volunteer at upcoming sewing parties.

 

NOTE: Warm winter-weight sweaters (ideally, wool) are best, please. Also, since most donations are given to men, partnering agencies have requested mainly low-key colours/patterns.

This Make & Donate Upcycling initiative is part of The Lennie Project, a series of deliberate acts of kindness aimed at helping Toronto's most vulnerable ~ inspired by the big-heartedness of Nathalie-Roze's uncle (Lennie) who died of cancer last year.

Please give to this amazing project!

Questions? Contact N-R at: info@nathalie-roze.com

Twitter: @NRandCo  Facebook: http://on.fb.me/oJ7VEg

See you at City of Craft!

Workshops at City of Craft!

Citizens! City of Craft is mere days away and along with the dozens of wonderful vendors with handmade goodies you'll love, we will once again be hosting some great workshops in the Craft Lab. 

This year, the workshops will be 'pay what you can' to help cover the cost of supplies, but for a few dollars and a bit of time, you'll learn a new craft and be able to take home what you make. Amazing!

Be sure to leave time during your City of Craft experience for one of these fantastic workshops.

Here is this year's line up:

Paper Marbling – Saturday 12:00 pm to 1:00pm

Participants of this workshop will be able to experience the joy of paper marbling in all it’s swirly glory.

Instructors: The OCAD U Student Press exists to foster critical engagement through publishing in the OCAD U community. It has grown into a body that publishes stellar work across all disciplines, organizes talks and events, facilitates workshops, and continues to evolve. 

 
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Collage Pinback Button Making - Saturday 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Make a pinback button using various collage material such as magazines, vintage textbooks and postcards from City of Craft's past.

Instructor: Marta Ryczko is the Craft Lab Coordinator at City of Craft. She is also also a designer, illustrator and zine maker.  She recently completed a creative challenge where she designed something every day for 1000 days!

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Book Binding – Saturday 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

In this workshop participants will learn how to bind a button hole book using up-cycled City of Craft postcards from previous years.

Instructor: Shannon Gerard writes and draws books, crochets (a lot), make prints, and produces large-scale installations incorporating stop-motion animation and wheat paste.

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Brush Lettering Workshop – Sunday 12:00 pm to 1:00pm

This City of Craft workshop will focus on brush calligraphy. We'll cover how to control the brush, and learn all the basic strokes of the alphabet. If time permits we will play some word games with your new found skill.

Instructor: KyleGallant is a letterer, designer, and co-founder of Ligatures, a typographic interest group in Toronto. From lettering workshops to movie screenings, Ligatures was built on creating a sense of community amongst YYZ creatives through sharing of information and resources. 

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Handmade Paper Button Making Sunday 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Participants will be able to press 1 inch pinback buttons using a wide variety of handmade papers created by Paperhouse Studio.

Intructors: With some cast iron and a whole lot of love, Emily Cook and Flora Shum opened Paperhouse Studio in 2013. Paperhouse is a hand papermaking facility in Toronto with dreams to share and explore this versatile medium with innovative research and teaching.

See you there citizens!

Volunteers needed for City of Craft!

Photo by Becca Gilgan

It's that time of year! City of Craft is coming up and we're looking for volunteers to help make our favourite Toronto craft show a reality.


Volunteers are extremely important to making City of Craft happen. Helping out at  the show is a fun way to support Toronto's awesome craft community.
Some of the tasks volunteers take on include:
- setting up and taking down tables/chairs
- handing out swag bags at the door
- taking admission
- selling official CoC merchandise
- helping out vendors by watching over their tables when they need a washroom/food break
- being generally helpful, friendly and welcoming to City of Craft
 
So easy! In exchange, volunteers get the chance to be part of a fun creative event and meet great people in Toronto's craft community (and beyond).

To be a volunteer, you must:
- be able to commit to a minimum 3 hour shift during the event (though you are welcome to sign up for more!)
- be a human being :)

Interested? Of course you are! So send a quick e-mail to cocvolunteer[AT]gmail[DOT]com and be sure to mark CoC down in your calendar - December 12, 13 & 14, 2014 at The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street West).

Thanks and see you at City of Craft!

Stay crafty,
Michelle
CoC Volunteer Coordinator 

Hex Appeal.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to our decor party last night. Want to see what all these hexagons and trianges turn into? you will just have to come out to the big show Saturday.

Pulling Strings Hamilton Library - Tea, Talk, and Tell this Sunday.

City of Craft co-founder Jen Anisef and tune spinner Tara Bursey may have flown the coop to Hamilton, but their ties to Toronto makers remain strong in their new project, Pulling Strings. Along with co-conspirator Thea Haines, Tara and Jen are hosting a Tea, Talk and Tell this Sunday, 11am-12:30pm at Needlework, Hamilton's creative workspace and cute fabric mecca. The event celebrates the launch of the Pulling Strings Reference Library which features textile publications of all stripes including, zines, how to books, artist monographs, and crazy old patterns.

The ladies of Pulling Strings have invited Toronto and Hamilton based textile heroes Anna Zygowski, Jennifer Kaye, Grant Heaps, and Kate Jackson to do a show and tell from their personal textile libraries and talk a bit about their own practice for the event. Also, there will be tea, coffee and treats. Nurse your City of Craft Spring Show shopping hangover at this cozy and FREE event.

If a trek to Hamilton isn't in the cards, you can check out mini textile book reviews on the Pulling Strings blog over here.

 

Spring Frolic!

Now seems like as good a time as any to introduce Emily Taylor, our designer for the entire year of 2014. This poster is just a small sample of her incredible talent. Aside from being a generally fantastic illustrator and designer, Emily is also a big fan of botanicals (in which realm she is currently cooking up a pretty fantastic project of her own).

It's a great priviledge to have her on board to do our annual design. We are all very lucky to see her work unfold over the year - for us, for others and for herself.

But for now, nothing feels more like spring than witnessing the frolic of spring beasts.

City of Craft Spring
Saturday, April 26, 2014
11am-6pm
Trinity St. Paul's United Church
427 Bloor Street West
(one block West of Spadina)
Toronto, ON
$1
(Kids 12 & Under FREE)

Decoration Nation - Come Help us Make Decor on April 23.

Ever wonder how the amazing decorations get made for City of Craft events? Short answer: Kalpna Patel. For the long answer, you can come down to our decor party and have Kalpna boss you around. For this year's spring show, we are working on Kalpna's recent and continuing obsession with hexagonal beehive structures. What better metaphor for spring!
We are extremely happy to be holding this gathering in the new Artscape Youngplace building on Shaw. If anything, this event is a great excuse to check out their space. Their Flex Studios are particularily of interest for artists as they can be rented for super cheap hourly rates (like, a dollar sometimes!)

City of Craft Spring Decor Party
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
6pm-9pm
Artscape Youngplace
180 Shaw Street (room 109)
Bring your paper scissor! (But don't run with them).

We built this City (of Craft) on Volunteers!

 Photo by Serena McCarroll

Greetings crafty citizens,

Do you love City of Craft? Of course you do! Do you wish you could be a part of such an amazing craft event? Absolutely! And you totally can!

Volunteers are a super important to City of Craft and helping out at our show is a fun way to support Toronto's awesome craft community. The spring show is Saturday, April 26 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm and we're looking for volunteers to help out in the following ways:

• setting up and tearing down tables/chairs before and after the show
• taking admission
• helping out vendors by watching over their tables when they need a washroom/food break
• helping put up decorations and signs
• being generally helpful, friendly and welcoming to the City of Craft

So easy! In exchange, volunteers get the chance to be part of a fun creative event and meet great people in Toronto's craft community (and beyond).

So if you have 3 hours to spare on April 26, send a short e-mail to cocvolunteer{AT}gmail{DOT}com and be sure to put the date down in your calendar. I'll be in touch with volunteers to tell them how they can get on the schedule and other helpful information.

Thanks and see you at City of Craft!

Michelle
CoC Volunteer Coordinator

Vendor Lovin' (Trunk Show : February 9th)

In 2 days, our annual Love & Rummage Show will be happening!

Here's a sneak peak of some of the vendors we'll be having, oh can't wait!!!

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SNAP + TUMBLE

Snap + Tumble is a letterpress line of small stationary goods designed and hand-printed by Tanya Roberts in her home-studio in Toronto, Ontario. Her specialty is printing original small-sized letterpress cards and artwork in short runs and also offers introductory tabletop letterpress workshops

website : snapandtumble.com
blog : snapandtumble.blogspot.com
shop : snapandtumbleletterpress.bigcartel.com

New cards will be debuting at the Love & Rummage 6 show and are all Valentine-inspired! The Pint-Size flat cards make the perfect hide-and-find love notes. There will also be the Black & Gold series of cards and the freshly printed Rock & Moon cards!

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NOBLE STREET ANTIQUES

Located in the heart of Parkdale, Noble Street Antiques are all pieces that are handpicked by treasure hunters : Joshua James and Vincent Luk.

website : noblestreetantiques.com
blog : noblestreetantiques.com/blog
instagram : @noblestreetantiques

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RCBOISJOLI

rcboisjoli is a small design shop in Toronto. Focused on domestic objects, we design function and form to fabricate handsome objects.
Every stage of production is created by us, in shop by hand, from our plaster models to our own silk screened decals, and hand printed textiles.
Inspired by low tech, the old, and by the everyday object we strive to create dynamic and modern wares.

website : www.rcboisjoli.com
shop : www.etsy.com/shop.rcboisjoli

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KID ICARUS

Kid Icarus is a screen print studio and retail shop located within Toronto's beautiful Kensington Market.
Aside the carefully curated selection of handmade items from local and international artists, Kid Icarus' screenprints their own line of greeting cards, gift wrap and original hand printed items. Each piece is designed and printed with quality in mind, resulting in a unique style that fits the aesthetic of the shop and appeals to a variety of customers.

website : kidicarus.ca
location : 205 Augusta Avenue, Toronto, ON
instagram : @kidicarus_store

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GOOD & BEST COOKIES

Good & Best Cookies are made of a mindfully selected group of organic, local and natural ingredients. They are thoughtfully made using a blend of organic sugar and flour, local farm fresh eggs, the award winning butter of Stirling Creamery, sea salt, and of course our special mix of premium chocolate-dark Callebaut and creamy milk. Our cookies are nut free, but not made in a nut or seed free facility.

website : goodandbestcookies.com

email : ask@goodandbestcookies.com

phone : 416-720-8273

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Portraits by ZEESY POWERS

Watercolour Portraits available live on site by Zeesy Powers. Zeesy Powers (known for projects like I Will Tell You Exactly What I Think of You) will paint your portrait in watercolour while-you-wait. The delayed gratification of waiting for the result is part of the fun, capturing you in a moment without the aid of a mechanical eye. 

website : zeesypowers.com

instagram : @zeesypowers

MORE VENDORS will be at the show, come show your love and support for local artists and handmade wares. Have a great weekend!!!!

Love's Around the Corner (Trunk Show February 9).

Citizens, save the date!

The Love & Rummage Trunk Show 6 is happening Sunday, February 9, 2014 at the workroom. Yes, our sixth year of bring you handmade goods, rummage and cheer for the cold, cold holiday of love. And what better thing to do for your sweetheart than to get him or her something sweet, handmade, local or salvaged?

We are planning a workshop on site, portrait painting, snacks...

More details to come in the very next days, but we just wanted to get everyone stoked. Y'all ready?

Artwork by Andrew Cloutier.

 

Taking Flight (Ceramics + Animation).

Look at this great video Michelle found of ceramics and animation intermingling beautifully. Happy 2014, citizens. Enjoy!

Thank You!

Thank you, Citizens, for another stellar year of handmade joy in Toronto. We were so incredibly amazed by the turn out in no less than a blizzard. You guys are amazing!

City of Craft will be sleeping for a bit as we get ready for an even more amazing 2014. See y'all then!

All photos by Becca Gilgan.

 

CraftLabs workshops at City of Craft!

Citizens! City of Craft is only two days away! I hope you've been following along on our Facebook page and enjoying the great portraits of our talented vendors, as well as the sneak peaks at the 100 swag bags that will be given away when City of Craft opens at 11:00 am.

But that's not all! Along with fantastic vendors selling unique handmade goods, cool art installations, and wonderful swag, City of Craft is once again holding some great FREE workshops at its CraftLabs! Amazing!

The workshops are taking place both days. Check out this great schedule!

 

Zine Workshop Saturday 12:30 pm

Did you always want to make a zine but didn’t know where to start? Well fear not because we are here to help! Artist and zine-maker extraordinaire Marta Chudolinska will give a short talk about the history of zines and will show you 3 easy book binding methods so that you can start your own independent publishing.

Marta Chudolinska (pronounced who-doh-lean-ska) is a printmaker, draw-er and zinester fascinated by the mystical narrative potential of images.

Paper Marbling Sunday 3:00 pm

The OCAD U Student Press will be on hand to show you how to delicately swirl water and special inks to create beautiful and mesmerizing marble patterns on paper. Paper marbling is perfect for great for stationary, book covers or cards.

The OCAD U Student Press prints and publishes the Shift series and Rivet, a biannual publication. The press also facilitates hands-on workshops for students and organize Function, a series of art and design talks. 

Geometric Paper Ornaments Saturday 2:00 pm | Sunday 2:30 pm

Using basic shapes and geometry you can create easy and striking ornaments for your tree or your pad.  Workshop participants will decorate paper templates and then cut and fold them into beautiful 3D paper decorations.

Marta Ryczko is a graphic designer, illustrator and zine-maker. She is currently designing one poster a day, for 1000 days.

Beginners Bookbinding Sunday 1:30 pm

Let the amazing Shannon Gerard teach you how to sew a book using the pamphlet stitch method, and then kick it up a notch and make a book using buttonhole binding. Perfect for those who are itching to make a homemade gift!

Shannon Gerard is a dork, dreamer and discerning bibliophile. She is a lady of many talents and is involved with many different projects, including the Carl Wagan Book Mobile, Mountain School Bookhouse and The Book Bakery.

Don't these sound great? So be sure to come out to City of Craft this weekend to buy craft and make crafts!

Special thanks and warm fuzzies to Marta Ryczko, this year's CraftLab Coordinator! (She did the pretty art images in above too.)

Weekend Craft Crawl.

Greetings, Citizens,

Just popping in to share this excellent map to help you get the most out of your crafty weekend. You can click on it to get a larger version.

This now means that there is no reason NOT to buy handmade this holiday season.

Go to!

Volunteer for City of Craft 2013!

 Photo: Becca Gilgan  Backdrop & props: Have & Hold Design (April 2013)

Greetings Citizens!!! Michelle here. Things are ramping up at City of Craft and in my capacity
as Volunteer Coordinator, I'm looking for a few dozen craft-lovin' people to help out at one of Toronto's most fun craft events.

Volunteers are a valuable component of the City of Craft weekend. Some of the tasks volunteers take on include:
- setting up and tearing down tables/chairs
- handing out swag bags at the door
- taking admission
- selling official CoC merchandise
- helping out vendors by watching over their tables when they need a washroom/food break
- being generally helpful, friendly and welcoming to City of Craft

It's easy work at a fun event! In exchange, volunteers get the chance to meet nice, creative people in Toronto's craft community (and beyond) and be a part of one of the city's awesome indie craft shows. In addition, City of Craft loves and appreciates its volunteers and will thank them with goodies. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's win-win!

To be a volunteer, you must:
- be able to commit to a minimum 3 hour shift during the event (though you are welcome to sign up for more!)
- be a human being 

Interested? Of course you are! So send a quick e-mail to cocvolunteer[AT]gmail[DOT]com and be sure to mark CoC down in your calendar - December 14 & 15, 2013 at The Theatre Centre (1087 Queen Street West).

In a few days, those who have written to us about their interest will receive an e-mail from me with instructions on how to sign up for a shift (or two) as well as other important info. 

Thanks Citizens!

Stay crafty,
Michelle
CoC Volunteer Coordinator

2013 Applications Extended. New Deadline: September 5.

Applications Extended for City of Craft 2013
New Deadline: September 5th at Midnight EST

Greetings, Citizens.

As a good handful of you have noticed, our application form has been having some problems this year. And while this is only affecting a small percentage of applicants, it is starting to cause some mild panic as our original deadline draws closer. So, In the name of alleviating undue stress and trying to get some technical friends to continue to work on the problem through the weekend, we are adding another five days to our application call this year.

If you continue to have issues over the next three days, please hold tight. We have some buddies working on it and are steadily trying to work our way through all the current submissions and emails we have in queue.

Thank you all so much for your patience and for the amazing applications that are coming in!

All application information and the form can be found here.

City of Craft 2013
December 14 & 15, 2013
Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm
Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm
$2 Admission
Children under 12 FREE

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Thursday, September 5, 2013, MIDNIGHT EST

All 2013 Artwork by Selena Wong.

Winter 2013 Applications Now Open.

Citizens! The time has come!

Applications are now open for City of Craft 2013 to be held December 14 & 15, 2013 in Toronto.

Interested parties are advised to make their way on down to the application page where they can find the all-important application FAQ (a must read for all applicants) and the web-based submission form.

The deadline to apply is August 31, 2013 at Midnight EST.

Some cool tips:
1.Watch your images sizes. Big images are the #1 thing that makes the form crash.
2. Why delay? Apply today!

Get on it, guys! We can't wait to see what you have been making.