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!

Call for Participants: Zine Dream 6.

Citizens, it is time once again to start dreaming your self-published dreams again. We just got word that their call for applications is now live. Zine Dream is a fantastic event reminiscent of a lot of the fair and shows that spawned City of Craft. You get a smallish table, fees are utterly affordable and the whole day has a wonderfully social vibe.

Got a we book you have been dying to make? Small crafts in your head that want to get out? Now is the time!

Zine Dream 6 is happening August 4 and applications are open until June 28th. Get on it!

More details can be found on their website and the application form is here.

Feminist Zine Making Symposium (April 25-27, 2013).

As you may or may not know, many of City of Craft's earliest vendors, founders and inspirations have deep roots in both the zine scene and myriad feminist movements. Although this may not always be overtly obvious as the show evolves, we would not be much without our solid grounding in these spheres. That is why the She Said Boom Feminist Zine Making Symposium is such and exciting happening, especially as the craft scene seems to feel increasingly adrift in a sea of commercial competition. And it doesn't hurt that so many of our past and present collaborators are involved!

It is coming up this weekend, too! Full listings can be found here. To read a more thoughtful, poetic and personal run-down of the event, check out record holder for most-jobs-at-City-of-Craft-ever, Tara Bursey's, blog post on the subject.

Fat Goose Craft Fair Today In Kingston.

Greetings Citizens,

Just popping in to let those of you in the Kingston area know that your very own indie craft fair, the Fat Goose Craft Fair, is happening today. It's an afternoon/evening affair, so no need to rush your brunch or hurry out of bed. Just mosey on down later in the afternoon. Check out their website for more details. And keep it crafty!

A Craft Fair Every Weekend!

Check it out, Citizens! From this week until Christmas, there is a craft fair every weekend! No only do these fairs offer a diversity of makers, they also happen in four distinct Toronto neighbourhoods (Leslieville, Kensignton Market, Queen West West & The Beach(es)). What a way to explore your city while crossing everyone off your list and shopping local/handmade.

Big thanks to Lisa Pijuan-Nomura for suggesting we all team up to make these postcards. You may be seeing them around the city already.

The fairs mentioned (in chronological order) are:
Crafternoon Tea
A Handmade Holiday
City of Craft (naturally)
Movies & Makers

Canzine City.

Just popping in to share a few pictures from our table-top paper city at Canzine this year. I forgot my camera so I am extra thankful to Danielle for taking these lovely shots. You can see the whole collection here. Pictured (from top) are houses by Tara Bursey & Michelle Renaud; Kid Icarus & Ian Phillips.

The Ephemeral City at Canzine (Sunday).

Canzine is this Sunday and we hope you will come down to check it out and say hi.

This year's show boasts even more vendors than ever before (193 is the number I have heard bandied about) and a full bill of programming - panels, readings, death matches. You know, zine stuff.

City of Craft is really excited to be using our table space this year as a tiny installation venue. Above is the beginning of our display, a paper town, being figured and fussed with on my kitchen table. The houses up there are by Ian Phillips and Kid Icarus. Over the rest of tonight and tomorrow I will be adding work from Cecelia Hayes, Michelle Renaud, Tara Bursey, Reverend Aitor, yours truly and more!

It has been really thrilling to open attachments and envelopes to find the surprises within. Airplanes! Igloos! A whole block of Nassau street (by Kid Icarus, above).

So c'mon down, check out our tiny village, pick up some of the swanky new postcards that Sandi designed, say hello and check out our archive of merch from past years! Then check out the other 192 vendors and have your brains filled with indie goodness!

Canzine 2011
Sunday, October 23
918 Bathurst Arts/Culture Centre
918 Bathurst Street
(North of Bloor)
Toronto, ON
1pm – 7pm
$5 entry includes the fall issue of Broken Pencil

Tickets available at the door or online in advance.

Canzine!

That's right, Citiznes, the air is finally cooling (maybe) so it must be time for Toronto's biggest and baddest-assed zine culture explosion - Broken Pencil's Canzine!

We have been chummed up with BP for a while now - since very close to our inception, in fact - and we love them to pieces. Canzine is always extra fun for us because it affords us a rare opportunity to do outreach at a non-City-of-Craft event. Trust me, not being in charge is a real relief around here when it happens. In the past we have set up a one day general store, hosted a pinback button making station and generally chatted our faces off.

This year, as always, we are using the opportunity to do something altogether different. The City of Craft staff (and a few friends near and far) are working together to construct a collaborative table-top installation - a tiny paper city. Since we are all working on our own elements, even we don't know what the final piece will look like. How exciting! Keep checking here for previews as the big day draws closer.

We hope you will come down to check it out, say hello, dive into the other programming and support all the busy zinesters who descend on the city for the day.

Canzine 2011
Sunday, October 23
918 Bathurst Arts/Culture Centre
918 Bathurst Street
(North of Bloor)
Toronto, ON
1pm – 7pm
$5 entry includes the fall issue of Broken Pencil

What's more? This year, you can even buy tickets in advance and circumvent the line-ups! Just look in the BP store for options.

Holiday Multiples Fair at O'Born Contemporary.

Just saw this call from O'Born Contemporary's Holiday Multiples Fair via Akimbo and it seemed like a noteworthy thing to post, not just because it is a timely call for a unique holiday sale but also because there seems to be much confusion in the indie craft world surrounding what art multiples are. So much, in fact, that I am removing the category from our applications - it was just being used so often by such a wide range of inapplicable products.

So here is my attempt at a run-down of what art multiples are:

Art multiples/Artist's multiples/Multiples are objects or prints, usually released in limited edition and usually signed that are made specifically for commercial purposes. They are designed and released to be relatively accessible. Their production is often semi-mechanized to support this goal. What differentiates these works from other craft fare is at least some amount of conceptual backing (ie. work that is purely functional and/or decorative probably does not qualify). With many things in our current indie craft world, lines are blurred and definitions are malleable, but these ideas can provide a starting point.

Below is one of my personal favourite projects in multiples, the Velcro Pins by Sandy Plotnikoff (circa 2004). In this image you can see how he has taken a very standard object (the pinback button) and transformed it into and unruly and interactive piece with endless sculptural possibilities. Existing between craft, art and commodity, I find this a really playful example of what multiples can become from a starting point very recognizable in our indie culture sphere.

Applications for the O'Born fair are being accepted through November 1. Full details and a downloadable call for submissions can be found here.

Craftstock 3.

Craftstock 3 Poster by Selena Wong

Every once in a while, a notice or call for vendors passes by me that reminds of the good old days, like when I saw the vendor call for Goldsoundz' Craftstock 3 (via the Toronto Craft Alert). It's a rock show with craft makers and the tables are free! I've always like shows like this for exposing my nerdy, old ears to cool new tunes. They might even have a few vendor spots left. Vendors seem to be curated on a rolling basis and selected for their symbiosis with an indie-pop aesthetic. For more info, look here!

Other Shows (That You Can Still Apply to).

Photo by Handmade Detroit

While we tally numbers and consult floor plans for the 2011 show, I thought it would be a good idea to do a wee round up of other shows (near and far) that are still accepting applications for their 2011 holiday shows. Deadlines are very rapidly approaching on some of them!

It's far afield, but the folks at Halifax Crafters are accepting applications until tomorrow night. Although there is some sort of complicated cheque delivery system that may get in the way of out-of-towners applying now. Still, we have pals there and have heard great things about the show so it is worth checking into.

A drive, but not as long of a haul, The Detroit Urban Craft Fair is also accepting applications for their sixth annual show on December 3rd and 4th.

Closer to home, there are two shows on the east side still accepting applications. First, Movies and Makers at the Fox Cinema in Leslieville. Applications can be found via their blog. The show happens super late, December 17, which is a great time to get in on the frenzy of last-minute shopping.

Nathalie-Roze's Crafternoon Tea is also accepting submissions for their November 26th edition through October 3. To apply to that show, you just need to send her an email with some product images and a blurb about what you make.

And, as always, for local listings we recommend checking in with the calls for vendors page in the Toronto Craft Alert forums.

Calls for Submission: Canzine and TCAF.

Greetings, Citizens, just checking in to share news from some friends in the book arts, comix and literature worlds:

1. Canzine currently has calls open for both zinesters to table and artists to take over rooms at their November event. It's great! Zinesters can sign up on a first-come-first-served basis and artists rooms are decided upon in a more conversational manner with Broken Pencil's editor, Lindsay. Find more information here.

2. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) 2012 is also accepting submission for sequential artists to table in the vendor section of their massive event. Over the past years, TCAF has become a real player on the comics events circuit and vendors spaces have become very much in demand. Be sure to read their guidelines before submitting to up your chances of getting in.

Good luck, Citizens!

Dream a Little Zine.

Yes, City of Craft loves Zine Dream. We love its organizers, too. And if you love all things ziney, literary, doodly and designy, you will love it, too!

Zine Dream happens Sunday, August 21 at the Tranzac in Toronto. For more details, check out their flashing website.