Craft Lake City

Yesterday was the first annual Craft Lake City. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks, and Cameron even postponed a backpacking trip to come with me. We were not disappointed.

Photo by Triplesee, the talent behind Cavalcade crafts.

SLUG Mag organized the whole thing, and put out this adorable cover last week designed by Gentry Blackburn.

I'd been waiting for the chance to find local Utah printmakers, silkscreeners, jewelrymakers, knitters, and assorted craftsters all in one place. I snatched up business cards and scribbled notes as I went along - and now, thanks to the internet, I have a handy guide to all my favorites for future gifts and purchases. The following are some of my faves.


Claire Taylor's adorable booth, filled with little animal prints. (I can't find a website for her, but here's the little write-up on her in SLUG). Cameron and I loved her work, especially after we started talking to her and learned of the little fantasy world of animals she draws inspiration from.

Needless to say, Cameron was thrilled to buy a button symbolizing Claire's imaginary holiday, where you hop like a rabbit at minute 11 of every hour on the 11th of every month.

My new chrysanthemum ring from MD Sparks. (I also found a pair of earrings that I loved but limited myself.)

My new succulent teacup planter from Cavalcade. I got compliments on this all day as I carried it around - and I lovelovelove it. Their etsy shop doesn't have anything in it at the moment, but their booth was filled with little pieces of goodness like these planters, vintage cake stands, screenprinted tees, and flowers for your hair.

Now onto the shops I wasn't able to buy anything at, but bookmarked for later.

I really wanted this embroidered tshirt by Noelle Sharp. Her booth had amazing knitted and embroidered goods, and I enjoyed what I found of her online artist's portfolio. Her etsy shop, Aporta, here.


Sycamore Street Press was a standout in the letterpress genre. It's hard to pick favorites from their stuff, so I picked five. The print above would be particularly perfect for all the whiskers in our little family, and I loved their gift tags. I thought the alphabet and numbers prints would be lovely in a baby's bedroom. And finally...

I almost bought this card for my friend Heather - "Great job on that thing you did. Really super." (Heath, consider this your e-card.) It just kept cracking me up, and would be so appropriate to her major accomplishment I just learned about! Anyway, Sycamore Street Press makes all this stuff on a vintage letterpress in the little town of Heber, they are a married couple who makes art together, and all that cute stuff. They've also got an etsy.

My awards for best booths go to:

Tommy Dolph, for overall creativity and use of materials. Those are cardboard wizard cutouts he sells from a handmade lemonade stand (an actual business venture which he says didn't work out). Article on his Wizard Music Festival here (I can't find any other web presence.)

Teresa Flowers' Sleepictures booth for best united aesthetic and branding. (Though I may have been biased because her color scheme happened to match my outfit exactly - see below.)


All the above were artists and shops that were new to me, but it was also nice to see the immaculate booths of what I consider to be SLC craft standbys:

Leia Bell - I particularly liked her new peacock print.
Potter Press - Always impressive, and I seriously considered buying a Dead Presidents drawing. Someday.
Frosty Darling - Adorable as ever, with some hilarious state fair freak show figurines thrown in for good measure, and a few lovely Great Salt Lake felt pillows.

All in all the perfect day! I'm so happy with the little gifts I came home with. We got to enjoy vegetarian bbq sandwiches and peanut butter brownies from Sage's Cafe.

We got to watch Cub Country perform for free.

Cameron bought some cute finger puppets for his nieces. The Gallivan Center was about 10,000,000 times less crowded than it is during Twilight concerts or Library Square is during the arts festival, and we had cool autumn-like weather (note my cardigan in August!) without getting rained on. And just count the number of times I use the words "cute," "little," and "adorable" in this post and you will know I had a good time!