Handmade's Tale

Hey buddies.


(kg + ab)

We're really excited for Crafty Bastards.


(elloh)

Many creative-type extraordinaires will be gracing our one-horse town this weekend, bearing boothloads of dazzling (and sometimes felt-y) wares. Read on and learn more about a few vendors that we went out of our way to stalk.

Megan Auman lives in Jonestown, PA, and does quiet, sexy exercises with steel, somehow turning it into this beautifully rhythymic, sculptural jewelry. "When I started working in steel," Megan tells us, "it just clicked."



"I work mainly in wire, and I love the welding process because at jewelry scale it has an intimate quality, like drawing or embroidery." She adds: "I started researching floral patterned textiles in grad school, and that imagery has inspired a lot of my current designs."



We are just oob-sessed with the repetitive quality of her work. We can't stop staring at these earrings.

Next: MICA graduate Val Lucas of Ellicot City, MD, masterminds Bowerbox Press, a business platform for her exquisite crafted books and tactile print designs.

"I treat all my handbound books as little sculptures," she says. "If I could, I would do every step of every process myself - even down to casting the type that I print from." While space constraints prevent her from doing all the work herself, she says, "It's magical to start out with a ream of paper, bookboard, type, and an idea, and end up with a finished book."



"As soon as I walked into the shop," Val says of taking her first letterpress class, "full of cases of tiny type, big old machinery, and the smell of ink, I knew that I was in the right place."



Val can make pretty much anything your heart desires - "If you want a journal with Helsinki on the front, just ask!" she says. She's currently working on a book of her prints. Excitement! We really can't resist her artisanal reverence to process and the clean beauty of her finished product.