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

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.

2013 Applications open on Friday!

Citizens,

August is just around the corner, and you all know what that means. City of Craft winter applications are just about to drop!

Applications will open this Friday, August 2nd, 2013 and will remain open through the month of August.

While we all toil behind the scenes to get the apps ready, please feel free to fill the hours by perusing all of our new artwork and our redesigned website courtesy of the inimitable Selena Wong.

Happy Crafting!

Winter in July...

Greetings, Citizens.

Since spring, City of Craft has been in its cyclical post-show slumber. Now, as we enter the dog days of summer, it is time to reawaken and get the wheels rolling for winter.

Our December applications are not quite open yet but will be by August 1st and will remain open, as usual, until August 31.

But before then, those of you checking in online will start to notice changes around here. Even with the mercury rising outside, we will be giving the website a make-over with a beautiful cast of wintery characters courtesy of our Winter 2013 designer, Selena Wong. Get ready, citizens! Hopefully these chilly images will bring some cool to these hot summer days.

Spring Photo Booth Images Online Now.

Hey, Citizens!

The images from the spring photo booth are now online! Go check 'em out at Have & Hold Design. Big thanks to stylist and prop-designer, Samantha Dubeau and photograpger, Becca Gilgan, for making the booth such a splendid part of our spring event!

Thank You!

Photo by Serena McCarroll

Thank you so much, Toronto, for braving some truly awful last-splash-of-winter weather and making our second annual City of Craft Spring such a fantastic day! What a day! What a crowd! What a rush!

Big ups also go to our entire staff - our designer, Kirsten McCrea; our publications manager, Arounna Khounnoraj; our maven of decor (and other things), Kalpna Patel; our volunteer coordinator, Michelle Renaud; our master of music, Mark Andrada; our prodigal co-founder, Leah Buckareff; and all the volunteers who helped run, decorate and tidy up the event.

I'd also like to thank Trinity St. Paul's United Church for being such a lovely venue with a staff full of truly community-oriented, friendly and helpful staff.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

See you all in the winter,

Becky

Ring Leader

City of Craft

Spring Photo Booth Preview.

As the minutes, hours and days count down to our big spring show we are happy to bring you a little stream of previews to get y'all super excited. Above is a preview of the spring back drop for our ever-popular photo booth by Have & Hold Design. Ever a stickler for details, Sam has also promised us all-new thematically-inspired spring props for lucky visitors to pose with. Even we don't know what she's cooking up! But we do know that she is a photo booth pro. What's more? It's free for all attendees!

And if all that is not enough, the photographer for this show's booth is the talented and wonderful Becca Gilgan, a very good friend of City of Craft. What could be better?

Sakura Spring.

Above is a little preview of the spring decor planned by our ever-beguiling maven of decorations and head thug, Kalpna Patel.

Last year, Kalpna filled the Trinity St Paul's gymnasium with April showers but this year they seem to have given way to May flowers by way of hundreds of delicate paper sakura blossoms. You'll just have to come out Saturday to see it all yourself!

For more wee previews of all sorts, feel free to follow us on twitter.

Who else is getting stoked?

Spring 2013 Look Book.

With City of Craft's second annual spring show just around the corner (Saturday, in fact), it is time to release our spring Look Book. Take a gander, browse a sampling of our vendors' work and start strategizing your weekend!

Huge thanks to Arounna Khounnoraj for doing the design, concept and layout and to Kirsten McCrea for her design for all of our spring materials. Now, get flippin' through those pages!

One More Week!

Just one more week until the big spring show. Can't wait? Why not start perusing our preview board on Pinterest?

Oh, and that poster? Designed by the ever-talented Kirsten McCrea.

At City of Craft, the volunteers are YOU!

 

 (Gorgeous art work by Kirsten McCrea)

Happy spring crafty citizens! (Just ignore that freezing rain outside and hopefully it will go away!)

I feel like almost every time I post here, I am asking for something, but I guess such is the role of the Volunteer Coordinator.  So here is my semi-annual call for volunteers!

Volunteers are a super important to City of Craft and helping out at a CoC event is a fun way to support Toronto's awesome craft community. The spring show is Saturday, April 20 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
• helping put up some amazing decorations
• taking admission
• helping out vendors by watching over their tables when they need a washroom/food break
• 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). This is my fifth show as Volunteer Coordinator and I can assure that it's always a great time!

So if you have approximately 3 hours to spare on April 20, send a short e-mail to cityofcraft[AT]gmail[DOT]com and be sure to mark CoC down in your calendar. I'll be in touch with volunteers soon 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

Poster Power.

Just a little teaser from the good folks at Kid Icarus who are currently hard at work printing the posters for our upcoming spring show.

The posters are design by Kirsten McCrea and are...pretty outstanding. You'll see.

Love & Rummage Trunk Show 5 (February 10, 2013).