All About Downtown Festival pics

There were some great and unusual crafts at the All About Downtown Street Fair.  I was able to snap some photos of a few of my favorites and I'm sad I wasn't able to take more.  This only shows a small portion of all the artists, so apologies to the vendors who were missed!

Stylish reusable tote bags from Bag The Habit.  They fold up into adorable zipper pouches.

Little clay monsters fromTimid Monsters.  Each one is different and they can live in little jar habitats.  

Channel some 80s video game style with prints and matching stuffed animals from Fluffy Goodness (they have a fun website too!).

 

Printed gift tags from Sophia Design Shoppe.

Graphic skull pillows and "powered by veggies" tee by Ula Nice, plus Healing Herbs tea towel (I adore tea towels).

And lastely, Damaged Wear showing some local pride!

Upcoming craft fairs in Jersey City

If you live in Jersey City, NJ you know that one thing the town can't seem to get enough of is street fairs. At times these events are just an excuse to blast remixes of Gasolina under the guise of honoring a Saint or nationality.  But often times, the vibrant and active local art community will put on a great street fair.  You can always expect really unique handmade indie crafts, live music, and tasty snacks from local food trucks.  There are two such festivals right around the corner.

Coming up this Saturday, September 17th, is the first annual All About Downtown Street Festival.  Move info is available on their facebook page.

Right on it's heels is the annual Fourth Street Arts and Music Festival held on October 1st.  

The craft fair portion is hosted by Not Yo Mamma's Affairs as part of the JC Artist's Studio Tour.  More info at 4thstreetarts.com.  Unfortunately, I'll be out of town for this one, but if you live in the area you don't want to miss it!

Know of any great craft fairs coming up?

A summary of woodcut printing

Below are the simplified steps to how the Octopus woodcut print was created.  Now you can view it in one place instead of navigating through a dozen different posts. By the way, after several proofs and buying lots of supplies, I finally got the hang of printing this piece.  I will still be posting a final, well photographed print as soon as I can transport the good paper home without it becoming rain soaked.  

Just to note, I've shifted to the term "woodcut" as opposed to "woodblock" because the former uses wood cut along the grain, and that is what I'm doing.  Nowadays the terms seem to be pretty interchangeable, but it's better to just be correct, right?

In summary, here is woodcut printing:

• Step 1: Get some wood. And yes, I do mean that as a double entendre. 
• Step 2: Create your design. Even if it takes some practice.
• Optional: Prepare the image to be transferred, part 1 and part 2.
• Step 3: Separate the colors, one for each block, if printing 2 or more colors. 
• Step 4: Transfer the design onto the wood.
• Step 5: Cut, cut, cut, and cut again.
• Step 6: Repeat steps 4 & 5 if you are using a second block. 
• Step 7: Oil the wood.
• Step 8: Run prints.

Whoop, there it is, the basics of woodcut printing.