My sister, Maria, used to own a tailoring shop located in the Goodyear headquarters in Akron, Ohio. It was this amazing little storefront and it was stocked with all these vintage sewing notions. Some of the thread was so old, it wasn’t even usable anymore. One of the tailors that worked there was this 80 year old man who would sew on an antique Singer sewing machine and put his sewing needles in the side of his chair! I thought it had a lot of charm and was inspired to take some photos. Recently, I had 8″ X 10″ prints made and was really happy with how they turned out. So now, you can purchase copies of your own from our etsy store.
Fondly,
Crystal
We put a few new things up on Etsy. They are things that we’ve been holding onto for awhile, but I’m not sure why. A few small felt pouches (I have one of my own that I use for my Metrocard), a duffle that Andrew made awhile back, and a set of vintage salt and pepper shakers. Random, I know. But you should check them all out! We’re working on more duffles, some new dolls, and possibly some photography prints in the near future.
I visited a friend of mine today that I haven’t seen in a really long time. She has two amazing kids that were born a couple years ago. Last time I saw her, she was pregnant with them! I made a doll for each of them along the same lines as the bear from the Japanese craft book (see a couple posts down) but with more dog heads than bear. I am really happy with how they turned out, but unfortunately I forgot to take photos of them!
Fondly,
Crystal
Anyway, Etsy stuff is selling. A little slower than I had expected, but a few items have gone since we last updated. The nested bowls were sold to a very lovely lady in Texas. She said they were very special to her and she was so happy when she received them. As for our own stuff, Andrew made another duffel. After much cursing and sweating, I made a little lined zipper pouch.
One Mandor is done, but i’m not really happy with him. His arms came out too skinny and he looks generally, rough! I sewed most of that one on the machine, but it’s really hard to control when you’re working with such small pieces. I don’t know why I was avoiding hand sewing like the plague, but the one i’m workin on now has been mostly hand sewn. Now i’m also realizing that I probably should be using different material. Back to square one, dang.
Andrew started making these bracelet thingies too. I’ll post pictures when I get a chance.
Fondly,
Crystal
As for the Toby Goodshank line. Dang, it’s taking long. But here is a sneak peek of one of the bags that will be sold in the Toby Goodshank line, if you weren’t already stoked enough:
the fabric pattern was designed and drawn by Toby and we silkscreened the fabric. also, the bag itself was designed and sewn here at yes, have some. I know I keep saying this, but keep your eyes out for these. I promise, the wait will be well worth it.
Fondly,
Crystal
I won’t even show you the mess I made of it. I was, of course, at work when I was doing this. Working in publishing, naturally we have an in-house retoucher so I hit him up for advice. I sent the image to him over IM and asked him how it would be easiest. I shit you not, literally 10 minutes later he sends me this:
Voila! as they say in France. Jeez.
Fondly,
Crystal
Our stuff has been slow going mainly because of my work schedule and us being away. But another huge factor was the fact that our apartment looked like a war zone and our work area was buried. Right before we left for Ohio, we were in the middle of moving all our craft stuff into a new storage cabinet that we bought from Build It Green (everyone should check this place out and volunteer if you can!) and we finally finished organizing it this weekend. Too much stuff and so little space.
Alas, all was not lost to cleaning this weekend! Andrew made a couple duffel bags and I’m pretty much done with two doll prototypes and I started a final of one of them last night. We’re waiting to post for sale any of the Toby Goodshank stuff until it’s all done, but we may give you a peek at what we’ve been working on so you can get excited for when they do finally go on sale. We have yet to set a final, final date of release until we can get our schedules under control.
I know I talk a lot about our apartment. Mainly because I spend most of my time there (other than in the office) and both Andrew and I are pretty specific about what makes us feel at home and comfortable. In order for me to be productive I need good lighting; Andrew needs everything to have a place. So I thought I’d share the evolution of our apartment a la Sneak Peek over at the Design*Sponge blog. If you’ve never read her blog I highly recommend it.
Fondly,
Crystal
Last night we finally had our meeting with Toby Goodshank and the wheels have been set into motion for our next project. You can read more about this project a few posts back. There had been some setbacks, but yes, have some: Toby Goodshank (this is the tentative name for the project) is finally happening. We have yet to decide on the release date, but we’re hoping for sometime in May. Our meeting seemed ambitious and we’re hoping that everything comes together without a hitch. Toby is an unbelievably productive artist, so we don’t imagine the slacking will be on his part!
In other news, I recently worked with local musician Phoebe Kreutz to lay out her new CD entitled Big Lousy Moon. Phoebe is from NYC and she is a brilliant wordsmith and quite a lovely lady. Here is the bio from her website:
Phoebe Kreutz is a boozy floozy with a heart of gold. She sings silly songs about the things she likes best: boys and bars and vikings and tacos.Growing up in New York’s East Village, Phoebe learned a lot about all these things. She also learned a lot about rhyming from Dr. Seuss and the joys of thinly-veiled social commentary from “He-Man” and “The Smurfs”.
Now she’s all grown up and still loving life in the big city. She gets to sing in all kinds of fun places like The Knitting Factory, Fez, Birdland and The Sidewalk Café. It was there that she found the jolly antifolk scene, which has nurtured and indulged her like a benevolent uncle these past few years. It was also there that she met the boys who would later join with her to become the world’s greatest art-indie-rock band that only sings about animals in the city, Urban Barnyard.
When not rocking out on stage, Phoebe works as the puppet wrangler on the hit show, “Avenue Q”. While there, she grabbed every musician she could get her hands on and turned them into The Phyllis Newman Health Initiative Dancers – a band that blends uptown excellence with downtown crudeness with lively and sometimes dashing results.
But sometimes Phoebe hears the call of The Road and has to set off on wild adventures. She’s played in fun towns like Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Albequerque, Flagstaff and Las Vegas. She’s also brought her message of ridiculousness to college campuses such as Oregon State University and Stanford.This year, Phoebe is proud to have played twice in the “Voices for Change” benefit series for John Kerry, sharing the stage with fancy folks like Tom Wopat, Cady Huffman, Charles Busch and Christopher Durang. Also, she’s been honored to have her songs sung by “Avenue Q” stars John Tartaglia, Ann Harada and Jen Barnhart at caberets around the city like Ars Nova and Joe’s Pub.
She has been the recipient of many awards including an Emmy for her work on Sesame Street, the coveted Sportsmanship Award for her team’s pleasantly incompetent performance in the Broadway Show Softball League and $25 in the “Hot Buns” competition at the Rickshaw Karaoke Bar in Seattle.
There wasn’t much actual design work to be done on her CD because Phoebe already had the artwork she wanted to use. She really just needed someone with technical layout skillz ASAP to get it all together before her tour. It was still fun nonetheless! You should check our her musical projects here.
Fondly,
Crystal