Renegade Craft Fair: 10 top picks

For those who may be missing the Renegade Craft Fair, L.A. at Home has made its scouting runs to check out makers' holiday gifts, home accessories and other modern craftiness. Our roundup of picks from the show starts with Robert Mahar's rubber stamps for making DIYer gift tags. The one above is complemented by another that says: "I baked your gift. It's delicious. You'll love it and agree it tastes way better than anything else money could buy." The Mahar Craft stamps are $12 apiece and come in a gift tin, perfect for those who would rather give the stamp to a baker than do the cooking themselves.

The monster doll craze seems to have ebbed, we're happy to report, though mash-ups of cartoon drawings with profane messages on greeting cards and T-shirts is popping up more than one would hope. (Yes, that cute animal is swearing. How naughty.)

Foxes are the new owls, as witnessed in the booth of the Riverside outfit Peanut Butter Dynamite, right. Its menagerie of knitted pillows also included a monkey and penguin, each $45.

For the rest of our picks, keep reading ...

Victory garden posters: propaganda as affordable modern art

Joe Wirtheim showed the latest prints in his Victory Garden of Tomorrow series, on view at the Renegade Craft Fair last weekend.

Inspired by World War II propaganda posters, the artist from Portland, Ore., has been creating his own Victory Garden of Tomorrow posters since 2007 -- something he likes to call "artful advocacy for the modern home front." Decades have passed since the original call for Americans to produce food, but Wirtheim's simple slogans -- "Break New Ground, Plant an Urban Farm Garden" and "We've Done It Before, We'll Grow It Again," among others -- are similar in spirit. 

The limited-edition screen prints are numbered and signed and come on acid-free paper with recycled content. The works range from $12 for an offset-press print to $40 for a hand-pulled screen print. Three-pack bundles are available for $30 on Wirtheim's Etsy shop.

I fell for the illustrations and bought a 12-by-18-inch "Eat Real Food" poster for my kitchen. I placed it in an IKEA birch frame, bringing the total cost to $35 for finished art. 

--  Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Victory Garden of Tomorrow 

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Sarah Bocket dot bowls serve up some retro flavor

Sarah Bocket's hand-painted wooden bowls, spotted at the Renegade Craft Fair over the weekend, sent me back in time.

Put an ashtray and a glass grape cluster next to the leaf dish above, and you have a coffee table vignette from my family's 1974 living room.

The bowls made me smile, and not just because they made me feel nostalgic. I love what the Los Feliz artist, pictured at right, has done with the thrift store finds: Using a tiny paintbrush, Bocket paints each dish with acrylic, covering them with multicolored dots.

The result is a fanciful mix of past and present, particularly when styled with vintage books or tabletop piece, as pictured at top.

Bocket says the dishes are "lightly food safe," meaning they can be wiped clean with a damp cloth but should not be submerged or scrubbed.

They start at about $40 apiece on Bocket's Etsy shop.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits, from top: Sarah Bocket, Francesca Balaguer

From bathtub to couch, one way to reuse

When it comes to upcycling, some waste items are more difficult to redeem than others. Take the cast iron bathtub that's been transformed into a couch by a Kansas artist. The bathtub couch was one of the finalists announced Monday in NBCUniversal's first Art of Reuse contest. The contest was conducted in partnership with Etsy, a website for customers and artists to buy and sell handmade items. 

Designed as a one-off for a gameroom when it first posted to the Etsy site last year, the couch inspired so many compliments that it is now in production. The 225-pound couch costs $1,700.

Shipping not included.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Cast iron bathtub couch. Credit: Etsy.com

L.A. Flea Market: Q&A with the man behind the event Sunday at Dodger Stadium

When the L.A. Flea Market premieres at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, it will feature about 400 vendors of vintage home decor and furniture, gourmet food trucks, bands and more. The all-day event will even offer carryout services if you don’t want to lug your purchases to your car.

The monthly market is organized by Phillip Dane, who also founded the Melrose Trading Post, the defunct South Park Flea Market and farmers markets in Eagle Rock and Glendale. Dane, who thinks of his latest creation as more of an event than a market, spoke with L.A. at Home about what to expect on Sunday, why he chose Dodger Stadium and what makes a good flea market.

Question: Why Dodger Stadium?

Answer: If you were to ask yourself what is the premiere location in Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium is the first thing that comes to mind. It has the most incredible views, it is a fantastic space, it has wonderful breezes and it is evenly accessible. And the parking is better than any other location. The Dodgers are a great organization and it has been fantastic working with them. It was a long process to make it happen but a very amicable one.

How will the L.A. Flea Market differ from the region's other outdoor markets? 

I think if we offer something that is a bit different, it benefits everyone. Our whole goal is to give L.A. a more upscale version of the Rose Bowl Flea Market, which has been around for 40 years. My concept is to take the flea market to the next level by offering amenities that no one else has and adding fun things to the mix. Bands aren’t just meant to be background music. Our food court will be unsurpassed with 18 of the most tweeted gourmet food trucks.

What are the criteria for vendors?

I personally look at every single e-mail application that comes in along with photographs. We’ve had more than 1,000 applications and have accepted 400. I’m looking for a good cross of antique and collectibles, vintage and new merchandise. I’m not looking to duplicate things. While something like jewelry is more individual, we will have only one person doing high-end bedding, for example.

With the rising popularity of craft fairs and Etsy, will arts and crafts have a presence?

Quite a few vendors came to us through Etsy. They will have a team block of eight spaces with 22 members.

For more questions and answers, click to the jump ...

Etsy pick: Dundee coffee table from Galahad Dumfries

Architects Evan Mott, Brian Shepherdson and industrial designer Steffan Clousing playfully describe  Galahad Dumfries as "the noble yet whimsical pet project of three Georgia-based designers going crazy with power tools."

The Dundee Coffee Table above, however, shows the designers have not completely lost their minds with a pneumatic nail gun. The striking, one-of-a-kind table is made from 3/4-inch plywood and measures 48" x 22" x 16". The designers also welcome custom requests.

"We can modify dimensions, swap finishes and design from the ground up," Mott says. "The three of us come from design backgrounds, so we welcome the opportunity to work directly with clients on one-of-a-kind pieces."

The coffee table shown above is $495. Shipping to L.A. is approximately $250. For more examples of their work, click here.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Galahad Dumfries.