Crafts (and Paris Hilton) take center stage at trade show

Paris Hilton seized the spotlight for an hour on the first day of the winter Craft & Hobby Assn. trade show this week in Anaheim, creating a controlled "Day of the Locust" scenario as hundreds of people crammed around the booth where she endorsed her new namesake line of fabric embellishment and scrapbooking kits for tweens and teens.

Although Hilton brought a bit of glamour to an industry familiar with rhinestones and glitter — but not so much with big-name celebrities — after she left, attention quickly turned back to the new art and crafts products that are what this show are all about.

CHA is a mecca for crafters. Even though you can't buy anything and take it with you (it's for the trade, so wholesale accounts only), seeing new products and hanging out with craft manufacturers, designers and retailers is as close to heaven as you can get. While perusing the aisles where hundreds of booths were set up, I found some terrific new materials and tools and noticed some industry trends as well.

The Accuquilt booth immediately caught my eye, with a new die cutting machine made just for quilters. Die cutting machines, both manual and electronic, have become a huge part of the crafting world, used by paper crafters, scrapbookers, jewelry makers and now quilters, to cut intricate shapes from a variety of materials with little or no effort. The consumer model Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter allows six layers of fabric to be cut at once in tons of shapes, including basics such as triangles and squares and more detailed applique designs like birds, leaves and flowers. A bundled cutter package, which comes with a die and cutting mat, will retail for about $349, and individual dies will be priced from about $24.99 to $54.99 (there's also a larger professional model).

I stopped in my tracks at the studioFLUX booth, coming upon a great find — kits for making assemblage metal jewelry and for learning how to use a jeweler's saw, rare sightings in the craft world. The kits are from renowned metal jewelry designer Thomas Mann. The Found Object Sandwich Kits include metal and other components for making assemblage jewelry, and the Learn to Saw kit includes a saw frame, blades, materials to saw, plus a DVD and book. Mann's timing couldn't be better, with jewelry and mixed-media art becoming increasingly popular and materials and instruction often difficult to find. He gave me a quick sawing tutorial, and I can happily report I only broke one blade.

On the fiber side of things, Artfelt is a new way of blending elements of needle and wet felting techniques into a simple process, with the help of a clothes dryer, easily turning wool roving into gorgeous scarves, bags and coats. Fabric and ribbon can even be incorporated into the design.

Lion Brand Yarn, familiar to most knitters and crocheters because of their omnipresence at big-box craft retailers such as Jo-Ann and Michaels, introduced several new specialty yarns, such as 100% cashmere and organic wool — typically not found in the acrylic-heavy aisles of those places. Lion Brand President and CEO David Blumenthal said consumers are slowly becoming savvier about luxury yarns, and they're also driving the desire for more eco-friendly fibers, like Lion's Recycled Cotton yarn, made from slated-to-be-trashed cotton fabric. "The world has gone in that direction, and we want to be eco-friendly," Blumenthal said.

Will the craft world find Paris Hilton hot?

If there's one thing the crafting world lacks, it's the pomp and zing of celebrities. Sure, Vanna White has her knitting and crocheting thing going on, and Leeza Gibbons had a scrapbooking line for a nanosecond, but so far there’s been no Big Name to add a little cachet to handmade stuff.

That is until now.

Debuting Sunday at the Craft & Hobby Assn. trade show in Anaheim is the Paris Hilton Creativity Collection of craft products, with scrapbooking and fabric embellishment kits aimed at tweens and teens. It's already causing a minor uproar in the crafting world, with skeptical blog and message board comments such as this:

"The PH line is another blatant attempt to attract younger, hipper, cooler, scrapbookers to the hobby. We are all saturated with product. They need to get some new blood to sell to."

And this:

"I do think this could be a good thing, though, to help scrappers lose the image of not being 'cool' or 'modern'. Even though, I am NOT one bit impressed with Paris herself, the more 'celebs' doing our craft should be a good thing. If she plays it right, which she probably won't."

Wooky Entertainment, the Montreal-based company bringing the line to the public, believes Hilton is just the ticket to infuse some excitement into the crafting world and fill a needed niche for the younger set.

"In the craft market we see a lot of demand for tweens and teens," said Genevieve Lecompte, Wooky's vice president of sales and marketing, "but there’s not much to offer." Seeking a personality to pair with craft kits, Wooky executives approached Hilton, who liked the idea. "She's a great icon for teens and young adults," Lecompte said. "And she’s a really creative person." Allegedly, she does scrapbook.

Hilton isn't actually designing the line herself, but she does have approval on products and, of course, her glam style and personality will influence the design. The fabric embellishment kits include iron-ons with rhinestones, embroidery and appliques, and the scrapbook collection features albums, papers and blingy embellishments (Wooky isn't releasing any images before the show). Kits are geared to teens who want everything coordinated and ready to go because, evidently, they're as time-strapped as the rest of us.

Hilton is scheduled to make an appearance at the show Sunday, and we have no doubt that the booth will be packed. But the world will have to wait six to eight months to see the stuff in stores. Will it be hot? Only time will tell.

--Jeannine Stein

Image courtesy of Wooky Entertainment

The inauguration, pop-up style

Commemorative inaugural stuff is everywhere, but let's face it — much of it is pretty tacky. Yet we found something ultra-cool, creative, and the best part is you can make it yourself. Did we mention it's free?

Book artist Carol Barton has designed a do-it-yourself pop-up inauguration commemorative card that's downloadable, comes with instructions, and is easy to put together. It depicts Barack Obama taking the oath of office with Chief Justice John Roberts, as wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia look on, all standing in front of the Capitol. Everybody loves pop-ups, and those cool books we had as kids are making a huge comeback as talented artists design intricate, dazzling books, cards and art pieces for kids and adults. There are pop-up books on everything from Star Wars and Alice in Wonderland to phobias and architecture.

Barton is a Maryland-based book artist, curator and teacher who owns Popular Kinetics Press and has published two books on pop-ups, as well as limited-edition artist books. Her works are in a number of collections, including the Smithsonian, the Getty, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She also designed a pop-up card for the election featuring both John McCain and Obama — that’s still downloadable, for you nostalgic types.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo: Carol Barton

For that special someone who has everything: Custom Lego portraits

Stumped by what to give that person on your list who has everything? Here's an idea. San Diego artist Nathan Sawaya makes custom portraits out of Lego bricks -- those tiny, multi-colored, modular bits of plastic every parent has stepped on and cursed on their way to the bathroom at night.

The portraits aren't cheap -- they start at $2,500. But compared to the 3-D sculptures he creates, they are a bargain.

Sawaya, whose work as been displayed in museums, was selected as this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog "His and Her" gift, which in the past has included outrageous, one-of-a-kind items such as mini-submarines and live miniature donkeys. The price tag for a life-sized sculpture of your loved one: $60,000.

For the rest of us who don't have that kind of cash, there are portraits made from the 1.5 million or so Lego bricks Sawaya keeps on hand at his San Diego and New York studios. Sawaya's website displays sample portraits as well as a gallery of his many quirky, thought-provoking sculptures. It also has contact information for ordering a custom portrait.

And, if $2,500 is out of your price range, try building your own Lego portrait or sculpture, with the help of special graph paper Sawaya uses to help plan his models. That's on his website too, and it's only $4.99.

-- Alex Pham

Photo by Nathan Sawaya

Some crafty gift suggestions for the holidays

Shopping for the crafter in your life can be intimidating if you’re not familiar with their particular creative niche. Trying to determine which size and what kind of knitting needles to get, what type of yarn is best, how many beads to buy and what kind of paper to choose can be baffling when there are thousands of choices. And what the heck is a dapping block, anyway?

Luckily, craft stores and the people who run them are used to this gift-giving dilemma and are more than happy to assemble items for someone just starting out or well into a hobby.

At Millie Papercrafts in Los Angeles, for example, owner Jennifer Hinkle recommends a scrapbook kit, pictured at left, that includes a 12-inch-by-12-inch embossed K & Co. scrapbook ($30), patterned and plain paper and cardstock (priced from 50 cents to $1), and some embellishments: Kaiser Scrapbook red and blue rhinestones ($2.25), K & Co. Berry Sweet Grand Adhesions three-dimensional stickers ($4.25) and Heidi Grace alphabet stickers ($3.50). Some basic tools round out the package: an E-Z Runner adhesive dispenser ($6) and a Fiskars 12-inch paper trimmer ($21).

The store also carries numerous items for more experienced scrappers and paper artists, including stamps, inks, chipboard and mini-albums.

Jewelry making is becoming increasingly popular, as artists express themselves via beading, metal fabrication, collage and wire work. Farrin O’Connor Design Studio in Pasadena offers tools, metal, wire and beads for jewelry designers at all levels, and the staff will happily explain what some of the unfamiliar equipment is and how it works.

For those starting out, owner Margo Farrin O’Connor suggests some basics, shown at right: 20-gauge sterling silver wire ($1.40 per foot), 26-gauge copper sheet ($6.50), a set of needle files ($6.95), butane torch (for connecting, altering, and softening metal and glass) ($39.95), ring clamp (for holding small objects) ($6.95), and various jewelry pliers and a wire cutter ($6.95 each). For those interested in beading, the store has hundreds of styles to choose from, plus related tools and findings. If the selection is too mind-boggling, ask for help in gathering beautiful stones, beads and pearls, which can be sorted neatly into a see-through plastic case.

If fiber arts are what your recipient is into, Wildfiber in Santa Monica is like a candy store for yarnaholics. Walls are lined with every color, texture and weight of yarn imaginable, plus other items to help a knitter or crocheter on their way, including books, magazines, needles and hooks, ribbons and buttons. The staff knows its way around a skein of yarn and can help amass a collection of items to make even the most well-stocked crafter happy.

Shown here at left are two skeins of Manos Del Uruguay wool yarn ($14.95 each), the book "Knitting School: A Complete Course," ($24.95) and a set of Bryson Distributing rosewood knitting needles ($13.75).

All of these stores (and most independent craft stores, for that matter), also offer classes for beginning to advanced levels. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to throw in a gift certificate for a class along with the goodies. You could even sign up, too.

Oh, and that dapping block? It’s used for making raised, domed shapes in metal.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credits, from top: Millie Papercrafts; Farrin O'Connor Design Studio; Wildfiber

If you're looking for unique, it has to be handmade

Crafters, artists and fans of handmade goods were out in full force at Unique Los Angeles during its debut at the California Market Center. About 6,000 people showed up to peruse goods made by some 200 vendors (most of them local) offering lithographs, jewelry, hair clips, letterpress stationery, T-shirts, clothing, leather goods, stuffed animals, children’s clothes and much more.

The setting — the unfinished top floor of the center — gave the show a loft-like, airy feel, perfect for the fun and funky items displayed in booths. Letterpress cards and stationery at the Tiselle booth caught our eye, the delicate graphics and lush colors standing out. Owner and designer Tianyi Wang, an Art Center graduate, said she draws some of the designs by hand before turning them into polymer letterpress plates. "My background is in oil painting," she said, "so I love mixing inks."

Next stop was the Purrr booth, where designer Junko showed us her one-of-a-kind clothes made from recycled vintage items: youthful mini-dresses fashioned from oversized men’s sweaters, embellished with little bows, and men’s shirts crafted into feminine blouses, complete with ruffles.

Local merchants hold "Avoid the Mall" sales

Not to be outdone by price slashing and sale racks at area shopping centers, local independent merchants are trying to woo shoppers from malls this holiday by offering their own discounts. 

Artisans have designs on consumers' consciences, offering bargains on goods that usually are local artisan-made, sweatshop-free and eco-friendly. 

Here are a few upcoming sales:

• The UNIQUE Los Angeles sale features items from more than 200 independent designers, artists and merchants, with proceeds going to CREATE NOW, a charity connecting high-risk youth with art; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 and 14 at Penthouse at California Market Center, 11 E. 9th St., Los Angeles 90079. $5 donation at the door.
• Cactus Gallery is holding its third annual Tiny Treasures Cash and Carry Holiday Show, with original miniature art pieces starting at about $15 from more than 40 artists; 5 to 10 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Cactus Gallery, 4534 Eagle Rock Blvd., Eagle Rock 90041.
• Peach Tree Pottery has already launched its third annual Holiday Extravaganza, featuring handmade items starting at $5; 4 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 11 and 1 to 5 p.m. from Dec. 12 through 14 at Peach Tree Pottery Studio and Gallery, 3795 Boise Ave., Mar Vista 90066.
• Revolution Glass has its weekend studio sale featuring a daily raffle prize and handmade gifts like glass tumblers, paperweights, ornaments, vases and bowls; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 13 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 14 at Revolution Glass Studio, 108 Arena St., El Segundo 90245.

--Tiffany Hsu   

Arts & Crafty: Bauer pottery sale

J.A. Bauer Pottery Co. created simple yet beautiful stoneware from the late 1880s to the early 1960s and became a darling of collectors because of its colors and retro designs. A few years ago, the work of J.A. Bauer was reintroduced by Janek Boniecki.  The new Bauer line, Bauer 2000, emphasizes items originally manufactured in the 1930s and 1940s -- though unlike the originals, the modern ones don't contain hazardous levels of lead. To see a photo gallery of the company's operations, click here.

On Saturday and Sunday, Bauer Pottery will have its annual warehouse sale offering factory seconds, samples and current stock at up to 60% off. This year, shoppers can see the newly remodeled showroom at the Rosslyn Street warehouse. 

If you can't make it to the sale in person, discounted merchandise will be available online after the bricks-and-mortar sale. Customers can order online beginning at 5 p.m. on Dec. 21, but merchandise will not be shipped until after the holidays. The online sale ends Jan. 5.

Bauer Pottery is at 3051 Rosslyn St. Los Angeles, CA 90065. For more information, call (818) 500-0655

-- Julie Makinen

Photo: Janek Boniecki, owner of Bauer Pottery 2000, at his manufacturing plant near San Bernardino earlier this year. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

50 ways to save money this holiday season

Considering everybody on your holiday gift list -- friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, your kids' teachers -- you might be needing a stimulus package before you even get to the big-ticket items this year. So why not take a page from your grandmother's playbook and make the smaller gifts yourself?

Not only are homemade gifts less expensive, they also capture the spirit of holiday giving in a way that purchased gifts simply can't. And if you consider the ubiquitous traffic and holiday crowds, a leisurely morning spent baking breadsticks or whipping up a batch of homemade marshmallows seems positively Zen-like by comparison.

Gifts you make yourself can triangulate personal taste with both economy and invention. Make a stack of shortbread cookies spiced with your neighbor's favorite lavender, then tie them up in cellophane the color of her kitchen. Or wrap up a tin of brownies in the sports page for a friend who's a rabid Lakers fan (maybe the standings -- an idea you might need to finesse if your friend is a Clippers fan).

Use antique bottles found at flea markets (sterilize them first) to show off a rich caramel sauce spiked with Cognac or a batch of vinegar you've infused with thyme and peppercorns. Just tie the tops with velvet ribbon and thread on greeting cards and you have terrific gifts, at once pretty and practical.

These are just a few of many possible ideas. If you have more than 50 people on your list, riff on some of these, invent your own -- or e-mail your Facebook friends pictures of gifts instead. Read more here....

-- Amy Scattergood

Photo: Homemade marshmallows. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Arts & Crafty: Budget-minded gifts at Etsy

If you think of calendars as gifts that shout "I didn't know what to get you," check out these ideas from artisans at www.etsy.com.

Satsumalynn has a wall calendar inspired by Japanese textiles perfect for fans of letterpress. It's $44, and you can see a photo below. Another, CecilyInk had a $14 printed calendar, whose modern graphics in pumpkin, chartreuse and raspberry, sure to brighten the desk and mood of a co-worker. (Photo at right.)

Scouting around for deals on Etsy, you'll also find personalized teacher gift sets by saratams; a calendar that doubles as postcards by SureAsBlue; calendars with reminder lists by pixelimpress; and a letterpress calendar by SycamoreStreetPress that benefits orphans in Ethiopia.  Also worth a look are artistscs28, InkspotWorkshop, pistachiopress and TurtlePapers (search for them under "sellers: usernames").

And if your list is bigger than your budget, try littlebrownpen, AnaPapeterie and bluetricycle. For $5, you get a PDF file that lets you print as many calendars as you need. They're perfect as party favors, too.