Bust Craftacular 2010

It's that time of year again! BUST CRAFTACULAR! For me, Renegade Craft Fair is the half-year big fair, and Bust is the end-of-year big fair. Good deal. It's interesting to see what vendors are up to and what they're not up to—considering that some of the vendors sell at both fairs and bring in new goods. (I think Renegade is more regionally diverse though.) Some vendors from MakerFaire NYC 2010 were there too.

I didn't get a chance to go to Bust Craftacular 2009, so I don't know how the crowds and atmosphere compared, but the 2008 event was PACKED. Maybe it's because they introduced a second floor of vendors that the Metropolitan Pavilion wasn't so packed this year.

Thoughts? Less of a crazy free for all with the repetitive (generic) "crafty iconography"—flora & fauna, bicycles, mustaches/beards, diamonds, etc. There were a few new vendors with CAD jewelry and laser cut metals/prospects, but nothing too exciting. In fact, I thought there would be more of that stuff since there was just so much of it in the past couple of years (but hey, production may be getting expensive.) I also saw a few vendors selling shit that tries to play off the whole "craft" culture—GUYS, PRINTING UNCREATIVE CLIP-ARTY ICONS ON PREFABRICATED PRODUCTION LEATHER GOODS IS NOT WHAT THIS CRAFT NATION IS ABOUT!!

Maybe this over saturation of similar goods and the crumbling of our economy will force people to diversify and not just pump out junky shit that's indistinguishable from one cutesy "brand" to another. AND be the cause of the end of shitty prints on flimsy tote bags that sell for an unjustifiable $15+!! (Which I surprisingly didn't see any of, so I'm counting that as a good thing.)

And now to the spoils!

3 samples for $10: Butter Cookie, Nefertiti's Garden, Peppermint Patty


Magician coins!


Other stuff I liked. (Glass shit by another successful Alfred graduate!)


Unrelated. But isn't he so adorable?!