The Richmond Craft Mafia is pleased to announce it is collaborating with GayRVA.com to bring you a fabulous holiday event. The Divine Design and Craft Boutique, is a holiday gallery to benefit the Gay Community Center of Richmond. You've probably seen or even visited the GCCR and not even realized it: Diversity Thrift, Thursday night Diversity Bingo, and the GCCR Gallery all share space in the rainbow-bedecked building on Sherwood Avenue, right by The Diamond. Please visit us during the opening reception Friday, November 13, 7-9pm for some great shopping for a great cause.

Opening reception: Friday, November 13, 7-9pm
Gallery open daily: November 14-December 6
Location: Gay Community Center of Richmond
1407 Sherwood Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220
804-622-4646

... This is Tasha McKelvey's article reposted from
http://rcm-offtherecord.blogspot.com/ ...















Handmade Nation, the new documentary about the indie crafts/DIY movement is going to be showing at the Naro in Norfolk, VA. The screening is at 5:15pm on Saturday, October 24th.

Please see the movie’s website for a full description, the director’s blog, and more. Also see the Naro’s website for location and ticket info.

I was lucky enough to get to see Handmade Nation in August in Philly while I was at the Buyer's Market of American Craft. I also got to meet the director Faythe Levine and get a copy of Handmade Nation the book autographed by her. The Richmond Craft Mafia's founding date and our indie craft show Spring Bada-Bing are mentioned in the indie craft timeline in the book.

Thanks to the 7 Cities Crafters for posting the screening info!

ps - The 7 Cities Crafters will also be having a trunk show/sale outside the Naro from 3-5 pm so come out early and check out their handmade goods!

RVA crafters representing at the Crafty Bastards show in DC! This was my first time attending the show. There were SO many great artists and crafters there. It was hard to take it all in. My camera batteries were dying (even though I had just changed them!), so I didn't get to snap pics of much more than the Richmond artists who were vending.


Ceramics by fellow Richmond Craft Mafia member Tasha McKelvey.



Phil Barbato name checks our fair city on his sign. Sweet!


And here are some of Phil's Whiskerbears!


There were so many people around, I couldn't even get a good shot from the front of the Pretty Silly Things booth, so Jackie hammed it up for the camera.


And the folks from Pop Idiot rock their tees next to Rob Ullman of Atom-Bomb Bikini.


On a non-Richmond note. . .
I loved these suitcases by Final Approach.

The First Fridays Artwalk in Richmond is HOT! And I mean that literally. Gallery 5 had fire artists performing in front of of the building. I know nothing about what they do, but it was awesome to watch. Here are some pics.





Hoopers performed in between the fire burners. Unfortunately, at this point in the evening, the local police came through and told everybody watching that they had to move onto the sidewalks. This left very little room for any more performing.





On the way back to the car, Mark and I noticed one of those "Your Speed" devices which tells you how fast you're going when you drive by. So, because we're goofs, Mark and I ran at it really fast. . . Twice. . . Each time it read that we were going 7 miles per hour. So I tried to catch a pic of the 7 on the sign, but since I was running and taking a pic with my phone, I didn't have the best aim. But I really like the pic anyway:



After my failed attempt at catching a pic of the 7 on the sign, Mark offered to take a pic for me. Unfortunately it seems to need at least 2 people running at the sign to get it to register a speed. But look how blurry I am at the left! I look speedy!

I got a pleasant surprise when I was on the plane to Denver. Usually when I fly (which isn't very often), I remember to get some magazines ahead of time. This time I wasn't quite so organized, so I figured I'd just have to pass the time by laughing at the SkyMall catalog and flipping through the airline magazine.

I reached into the seat pocket in front of me and grabbed AirTran's magazine "Go". When I started flipping through it, I saw that they had done a whole page featuring products from Baltimore's Charm City Craft Mafia! Hooray for the Charm City Craft Mafia and for AirTran for supporting independent artists and the DIY spirit!

In case you aren't traveling on AirTran this month, here's a link to the article.



Photograph copyright Claire Benoist, who I hope won't mind that I've included it on my little blog. But I'll remove it if she prefers. I just think it's a great pic.