Monthly Archives: August 2012

Spotlight on Mimi Kirchner and her Amazing Dolls

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Ever since spying Mimi Kirchner’s work online several years ago, I have always been smitten with her beautiful handmade dolls depicting tattooed men and women, decorated soldiers, lumberjacks and much much more.  I still remember the very first time I saw one of her tattooed dolls, and there was that twinge of excitement when you lay eyes on something you know is really special.  And time after time, I still get excited when I walk past Mimi’s booth at the craft fairs and get to have a look up close – wondering if this will be the fair where I buckle and take one home with me.  Folks, this might just be the year!  Have a look for yourself, and be sure to catch her at this year’s 10th Annual RCF in Chicago:

 

In Technicolor

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Maybe it’s the super blue skies and bright sunshine we’ve been experiencing around these parts lately, but whatever the reason, we’re really struck by these extra saturated colors by some mega-talented RCF London artists. Makes us think of the last days of summer. How sweet it is.

1. Cheese Note by Lovely Jojo’s 2. Horse Brooch by Custom Made UK 3. Prism Necklace by lovely pigeon 4. Circus Cushion by Butterscotch & Beesting 5. Birds Screenprint by helloDODO 6. Cotton Necklace by Rhea Clements 7. Color Triptics Overlap Ring by plastique* 8. Red Ice Lolly Print by Sean Mort Print Shop 9. Little Piggies Note by Kinaloon 10. Oak Leaf Sachets by Heart Zeena

London Artist Spotlight on Kate Sutton

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One of our favorite people in the whole wide world is our graphic designer, Kate Sutton.  She has played such a big part in the look and feel of Renegade’s marketing and materials, thanks to her amazing illustration skills.  Did you know she’s based in the UK, and that she will have a booth at this year’s 2nd Annual London RCF?!  Yes, that’s right folks – you can meet her in person and marvel over her drawings and handmade goods too!

Check out the flyer she did for this year’s fair:

Here are some sample flyers and ads for past events:

 

 

Her booth was super cute last year, and we can’t wait to see what she’s got in store for this year’s fair!

 

We might just have to come home with one of her Cuckoo Clocks:

RCF London Spotlight on What Party?

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Oh man. Kudos to embroiderer extraordinaire Stephanie Tillman of What Party? for making us laugh out loud several times here in our office. (We’re super professional.) We can’t be blamed, her cheeky embroideries are just that funny. We had a really hard time narrowing down a few to feature. What are you even doing here, go check out her shop!  The bitchy flamingos are our favorite. See Stephanie and her awesome (and by awesome we mean awesomely hilarious) embroideries at the 2nd Annual RCF London! And for even more hilarity, check out the What Party? Tumblr.

Spotlight on Teeny Screenies

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There is sure to be a long list of things you can buy and use at the upcoming RCF in Chicago, but if you’re looking to buy something you can use to try your own hand at making something be sure to check out Teeny Screenies. Their screenprinting kits are the most novel item we’ve ever seen at the fair, and perfect for trying out screenprinting without needing to have any of the equipment to burn your own screens.

They’re simple and small, perfect for making a card – or repeating the design over and over so you can make something larger like a print. Check out a few of their designs below…  Or you can even make your own designs and they will burn a teeny screen for you – awesome!

And see how easy it is in this cool video they made of printing and cleaning your teeny screenies:

The Vintage Bazaar at RCF Chicago!

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Since this is the 10th anniversary of RCF Chicago (!!!), we really had to pull out all the stops to make it an extra special one. We’ve got a few more secret tricks up our sleeves, but one thing we are MEGA excited about is the pop-up market hosted by The Vintage Bazaar that’s going to be at Division & Wolcott the weekend of the fair! TVB is a  wonderfully curated vintage market that occurs one magical weekend each month here in Chicago, and we couldn’t be happier to join forces with them to create a juggernaut of handmade/DIY/vintage goodness. Just another reason to be excited about RCF Chicago (which is, incredibly, in two weeks. GET READY, CHICAGO!!!).

 

 

Chicago RCF Spotlight: PieBox

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Let’s be honest: we all like pie. Sweet, savory, doesn’t matter. If it’s baked in a delicious golden crust, we’re in. So you can imagine our excitement when we first saw PieBox. It’s just exactly how it sounds: a reusable handmade box to carry your homemade pies. The brainchild of Chicago-based food stylist Adrienne Blumenthal, the PieBox is one of those things we just plain love: a simply beautiful and simply functional handmade piece. We’ll be sure to stop by the PieBox booth at the upcoming 10th Annual RCF Chicago.

{all photos by Steve Karl Metzer}

Shout Out to Aeolidia.com!

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Having a business in the creative industry, and having worked with thousands of artist entrepreneurs – we’ve found that it can be challenging at times to find like-minded people who value creativity to handle your web design, marketing, copywriting and other more technical aspects of your business.  That’s why we were so thrilled when we found out about our friends at Aeolidia for our web design needs!

We’ve been working with the fine folks of Aeolidia for the past several years, and couldn’t be happier with their hard work, reliability, friendliness, and plain old know-how.   They love helping crafty businesses reach that next level with a more professional and polished look for their own website.

They offer all different kinds of services too, acting as a kind of one stop shop for creative entrepreneurs - web design, logo design, product photography, printed marketing materials, packaging design, copywriting (product descriptions, “about” pages, blog posts), and even marketing your site.  So, if you’re on the lookout for a resource for any or all of those services, you should definitely get in touch with them!

Here’s a sampling of  some of the work they’ve done recently:

RCF Homepage Layout:

Shop Category Pages:

Product Listing Pages:

Mailing List Templates:

Photos & Logos:

And this is just the tip of the iceberg!  View their complete portfolio here, and all the services the offer here.

Thanks Aeolidia!  We love our site, and we love you!

XO The Renegade Gang

Spotlight: Tumbleweeds Handcraft

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We at RCF love (LOVE!) seeing a first-time-at-Renegade artist who is making something that we don’t see a lot of. Enter Tumbleweeds Handcraft. Doug and Becca are self-described gypsies who currently call Chattanooga home and who make some seriously awesome sunglasses. Yes, handmade wood veneer sunglasses. They are every inch as awesome as they sound. We can’t wait to see them at the 10th Annual RCF Chicago (September 8+9).