Back in December, I did a post about Dose Market, a newish monthly market in the River East Art Center, close to Navy Pier. I’m happy to say that I will be a fellow Doser at the next Market on February 10th! I’ll be selling my jewelry from 10am – 4pm. If you happen to check out the event, go hungry. Trust me, you’ll leave happy. Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 in advance online. With your ticket, you get 2 drink tickets. If you happen to go, stop by and say hi!
This time of year is when a few great art festivals and craft fairs open their doors to allow so many talented artists to share their handmade goods. I can’t get enough of it. The last 2 weeks have been so much fun, bouncing around to all the different booths and seeing what treasures people are making these days. Two weeks ago was Renegade, where I found a great handmade something-or-other that I can’t announce since it’s a birthday present for Kyle. This past weekend was the One of a Kind Show at the Merchandise Mart, where we found a laptop bag made from vintage leather by Poetic Earth in Syracuse, NY.
On Sunday, we finally made it over to Dose Market. I’ve been hearing about Dose for a few months now and I can see why. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an indoor market held once a month at the River East Art Center. It was started in 2010 and the focus is food and fashion, with a selective bunch of midwestern artists. It does cost $8 to get in ($10 at the door), but it is so worth it. That $8 gets you 2 drink tickets. Yes, you can drink while you shop the fair. (Bonus: We noticed that nobody seemed to care about the tickets) We decided we were getting the most out of this experience, so we went hungry. There were so many great things to choose from—hand spun cotton candy, popcorn, pickles, chocolate—but we went with a spicy bloody mary from Koval Distillery, a mixed concoction from Bittercube, a stout from Begyle Brewery (a new Chicago brewery), a donut from Do-Rite Donuts, and a couple sandwiches from the Brown Bag Lunch Truck. We are pigs, yes. And it was all too good. Aside from the food, there are seriously beautiful handmade goods for sale like jewelry, posters, knits, ties, clothing, home goods, etc. Think Renegade, but a bit higher quality and price point. All in all, we had a fantastic experience and I’m hoping to be a Doser myself at the February 10th market. I’ll keep you posted if it happens.
For the longest time, my supplies for making jewelry have been unorganized and all over the place. Everything would end up in piles on my desk and I’d have to push it out of the way to make room for my laptop. For a while, I had my eye on this cubby hole organizer, but did not want to pay that price. Plus, I didn’t like that you can only fit so much into a 5×5″ square and I really wanted some sort of pole involved to hang finished jewelry from. A few weeks ago, Kyle and I browsed through Roost on a whim and I that’s where I saw this. An old wooden toolbox! And the price? $69. It was perfect. I brought it home, turned it sideways and screwed it into the wall (using heavy duty anchors, of course). The dividers in the toolbox work perfect as shelves and the handle acts as a pole to hang my jewelry from. At some point I’ll change out the original handle (pole) for a skinnier dowel rod so I can fit the spools of chain on it, allowing more shelf room for materials. But this works great for now.
I just came across the handmade jewelry of Natalia, a girl who was born in Costa Rica then moved to the States, then Australia and now calls Gautemala home. She makes everything by hand at all hours of the day. She made the 11 tiny rings above in 1 weekend while she watched TV. Her jewelry is thought up by whatever mood she’s in with no rhyme or reason. It’s just a reflection of her at that moment in time. I love the simplicity in her designs… and the imperfect shapes that come with things that are handmade. She’s taking a break from her Etsy shop at the moment, but check out her blog to see some of her works that have sold.