Recraft

Today was a beautiful, crisp, almost fall-like (say it ain't so!) day, so we headed over to Union Square's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ... Recraft craft fair, hosted by the good folks of Magpie and the Somerville Arts Council.


These guys were playing when we arrived - I think perhaps they were The Blind King? Apologies if I'm wrong. Whoever you are, you provided us with some good tunes for browsing recrafted items.


This little guy came running up mid-set, wrestling with a shirt or something. I'm not sure quite what was going on, but he was feeling it.


I wasn't in much of a shopping mood, but it was nice to be out amidst a throng of the young and indie-minded. Things that caught my eye were letterpress notecards from Albertine Press, cute little bags by Applecart, surprisingly polished-looking glasses made out of old SOL cerveza bottles from Greenward, and the wise sphinx creatures of Fern Animals. I think those transfixed me the most - little embroidered birds and lions - the things I yearned for most and needed least.

I love the idea of crafting from recycled materials, and find myself leaning towards such work myself (vintage clothespins, painting on grocery bag paper), but I think you have to work extra hard to make a finished product that's polished and professional. Just being recycled isn't enough - we can all figure out how to make bottle cap refrigerator magnets. That's the complaint I've heard most often about this kind of craft fair - "I see all the stuff and think I could buy it, or just make it myself." The trick is reusing these materials to create something with an original spark of its own, constructed with enough skill to set it apart from the creations of your average kindergartener.