Handmade Nation

ATLANTA ATLANTA ATLANTA ATLANTA!!!!
A few things I wanted to mention before I talk about our trip-
Thank you to everyone who has been buying our shirts and other items on our etsy.com shop, I cannot tell you how much your support means to the project. Also, since my camera is m.i.a. I cannot update the shop with the rad donations from Tracy of Happy Owl Glass. Tracy has made an exclusive rooster badge for us to help raise money!! Also Melissa of Lekkner has donated a box of goodies that are just super cool--- they will go up on the site soon!!!

If you are interested this is what Micaela & I did on our first weekend shooting for the film. I'm just going to say one more time that I am so sorry to not have all the stills to make this entry more interesting and to see all the amazing people, places and stuff we saw!! (my digital camera went missing on the plane ride home- rats!!)

Friday June 9th
Evan drove us to the Milwaukee airport and we were off. We got to Atlanta around 8:30 pm and it was hot hot hot! An easy drive to the hotel that was located near the venue where ICE was being held. Out for a few drinks and in for good nights sleep because our first day of shooting was just a few hours away.

Saturday June 10th
We visited the Silver Skillet for real southern breakfast. With grits and biscuits were in our bellies as we headed over to the Defoor Centre where ICE (Indie Craft Expierence) was getting all set up!

Upon arrival was the normal scene of taping off booth spaces, unloading of tables and stuffing of swag bags. Our first interview of the day (and of the entire project!!) was with the fabulous Ileana Rodriguez of India Romeo. We sat in the bar area and ran through a list of questions which she handled very very well. I have to say I think I was more nervous then she was!! After that the vendors started streaming in and setting up.

Micaela shot tons of footage of everyone’s lovely items for sale at the show. There was a lot of great work on display and we both did our fair share of shopping (I got a snowflake 66 shirt, Gypsies Tramps & Theieves shirt, and a crochet corn dog from sweet honey complex for the boyfriend) .

We did a few interviews with vendors including Alena Hennessy and August Design.

There was a great fashion show MC’ed by Garth Johnson of extremecraft.com where my personal favorite was the fabulous dresses made by ICE show organizer Shannon Mulkey of Revamp Designs.

We ended the night with an interview with Garth (in the background was kids breakdancing and every once and awhile someone would do a flip while Garth was talking about "extreme" craft, it was amazing). I could of talked about art and craft with him all night but the venue had to be cleared out by 1 am so we wrapped things up. We did however get to meet Garths rad fiancé Claire who makes glitter paintings (which you can read about on Garth’s website) which I had drooled over on-line, so I felt like I was surrouned by pure radness.

Some special shout-outs of the day go to:
• Christy, Susan and Shannon the ladies of the hour!!!
• Maggie & Kelly of Young Blood Gallery & Boutique for selling Flying Fish Design stuff so Micaela & I had money to eat!!!
• The ladies of Angel Court for being so kind and letting us rock their fancy necklaces (which I have gotten tons of compliments on so far!)
• relic boutique- thanks for the super sweet sail boat ring & kind words!!
• Garth & Claire who are an inspiration to make this film!

We made it back to our hotel and had a late night meal of Waffle House (which was conveniently connected to the hotel) and slept with our bellies full of pecan waffles.

Sunday June 11th
Out to breakfast with Claire (the glitter painter extraordinaire) at this great spot called Java Jive. After we were all full with tofu scramble we headed over to the Young Blood Gallery & Boutique to do interviews with the owners Maggie White and Kelly Teasley! On of the amazing things about Young Blood is that they have been around in some shape or form for 9 years. What an inspiration- the space was super rad and we got great footage of them and the shop.

We then zipped across town through various streets named “Peachtree” (which is very confusing) and met up with Petra who is the owner of the Beehive co-op. Her store is very beautiful and the collective aspect is really great. Petra is fordging new grounds with her store and the direction it is headding so keep your ears open for big news about Beehive!!

At Beehive we then gathered with the coordinators of ICE who had caught up on their sleep a bit. We went to lunch at this amazing restaurant called R. Thomas where Micaela was able to order a raw food dinner and was in heaven. It was super fun for me to get to chat with the ladies off camera about organizing a show and all the stressful silly things that can happen while planning. Something that I wish I could do with all show coordinators, and I guess maybe I will durring the course of this project.

After we ate we did individual interviews and Susan Voelker went first, then Shannon Mulkey and then the fabulous Christy Petterson. We talked about not only organizing the show but their individual lives, businesses, day jobs, legal matters and their feelings about the craft community. The interviews went so well and we got more information then we will possibly ever get to use!!!

All of the sudden we realized it was 7 pm and we needed to be at the airport, we said our good bye's, got incredibly lost going the wrong direction on the freeway and ending our trip with the last two seats on the plane right next to the bathroom (ewwwwwww).

But we made it! Shoot #1 a major sucess!

The trip to Atlanta was amazing, I am so thankful for everyone’s kind words, support and excitement. I am more inspired and motivated now to make this film then ever!

Can’t wait to get to Brooklyn in TWO DAYS for Renegade and tons of interesting interviews including people from Cinders, Sodafine and Cog & Pearl!!