Felt Club is a twice yearly indie craft fair featuring the best and brightest of the SoCal craft scene. I dragged my butt out of my comfy Sunday computer chair nest down to L.A.C.C. to check it out.

I have no idea why Felt Club is the chosen name of this little community of artisans. There are goods made of felt, little cupcake markers made of stacks of circular felt cut-outs, stuffed animals with glue on felt eyeballs, felt chocolate chip cookies meant to be left on a plate to screw with your fat cousins over the holidays; but for the most part, the people who were involved in this craft fair were pretty adeptly skilled at many techniques. Jewelry, fuzzy one eyed japanimation-reminiscent stuffed animals, dresses, bags, and offset printing and letter-press postcards were just some of the goods at this awesome set up at LACC on Sunday. What was missing was the QVC pot and pan sets, the crap wire wrap jewelry, swap meet piles of tube socks and cheap underwear that “craft” fairs have become outlets for. This was the real thing, the “Legit Craftsman Guild” was in full effect, and though I was freezing my ass off, I was digging it.

It’s funny. I have a friend who is totally addicted to etsy.com, a website committed to bringing you adorable hand made things you would never need, but that are so creative and unique you have to buy them for yourself or your friends. So many of these craftspeople (I’m assuming this is the p.c. term) are represented by etsy that I was wondering if this is the common thread that brought Felt Club into being? The answer is no. The Felt Club is curated by a jury that seeks to highlight a variety of style and types of items. I would, as a super critical jerk-person, argue that there was an overabundance of japan-inspired renditions of stuffed animals, but beyond that, would have to say that it was an even spread. Anyone shopping for Christmas would have found a great spread of unique and useful things to stick under the tree. Style was huge at this event, and as an art slut; I must stress that the print-makers involved in this event were extremely talented. I bought 3 prints and 6 handmade postcards just for me. Because I’m selfish. Suck it.

Anyhow. Just to highlight a few of my favorite stuff makers:

N-E-R-V-O-U-S had a few latex jewelry pieces that I thought were very unique and beautiful. They are getting a webstore up, you can check their site at www.n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com, here is a photo of a necklace that I stole from their website.

Boy Girl Party has a really great illustrative style. They have done work for Poketo as part of there artist wallet series. They sell magnets, hoodies, card sets, mousepads, mirrors and other stuff. I think it is one woman - Susie Ghahremani - who is the pilot for these products and is apparently in a band called Snoozer which is kind of pop-punkish. Check out that website here.

Sappy Moose Tree is a company run by a girl named Mandy. According to her website she likes candy, kittens, legos, TV and fluffy toys. This girl is seriously talented. She makes the most kickass sock monkeys I have ever seen in my life. We are talking zombie mutilated sock monkeys. Sock monkeys for sick grown ups. I am basically in love with her sock monkeys. OK. Ill shut up now. Here is a picture of one. Its missing a leg. It’s eye is hanging by it’s roots. Are you people feeling me on this or what?

Tanya Aguiniga I most remember for the felted bird ornaments she was selling. They were elegant, had a simple construction, beautiful, and rich colors. An ornament that would look good on anyones Christmas Tree. I would even venture to say, worthy of a family heirloom. Check them out on her here. She also creates some of the most unusual furniture I have beheld - including felted folding chairs. Freaking awesome.

I bought one of Jordan Crane’s prints (featured at the top of this article). It is a man and a woman kissing surrounded by wailing ghosts. I know that is a pretty rudimentary description, so look at his work online. He makes very originally stylistic illustrations for zines and books and if you are lucky you can buy some of his images on a t-shirt and wear them around town.

As far as the apparel selection at Felt Club, mother and daughter team MyRebe had some fantastic gear. Combining textile super style with artistic flair they have come up with some great takes on the pea-coat, building it out of super think 2-ply jersey with off to the side buttoning and big collars. I was also very fond of their dresses, which were slim pickings on sizes on account of my late arrival. Thank god for the inter-web.

Another great vendor was Made by Tess, who seriously excelled in the apron department. She also sells one of a kind garments remade out of vintage pieces. One of my favorite aprons was the “Spring Green” beauty, complete with scalloped edges. Buy one here.

Last but not least: hats. Who doesn’t love a hand-knit hat with earflaps made with at least 10 different kinds of yarn? No one. Especially when they are made with love and rosette patterns by Monica Burnett . You gotta check these out. She also makes headbands that you will never see again. I know, because when I got there, they were sold out.

I must thank Laure Joliet for the photos to the left. Unlike me, she had her shit together and brought a camera. I should also thank her for dragging me to Felt Club in the first place. It was so nice to feel like I was revisiting something from my childhood, where I could meet and talk to people who actually make things by hand and set up a tent and sell them with pride. I hope and pray this starts some sort of craft fair revival that has all those jerks with a resellers license and non-stick cookware running for the hills.

Anyone interested in being a part of Felt Club should check out their site.

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