Chicago Artisan Market

chicago artisan market, a. favorite design

Visit us at the inaugural Chicago Artisan Market!

Come support 100+ local artisans (including us!) on July 22 at the Morgan Manufacturing event space. This event will feature Chicago made food, fashion, home goods, and art.

Chicago Artisan Market
July 22nd, 2018
10am-4pm
Morgan Manufacturing, 401 N. Morgan Street, Chicago

General admission, goodie bag, and group tickets are now available.

Hope to see you there!

Chicago Print Crawl

Come see our space! See what we do! Shop our letterpress goods!

The Chicago Print Crawl is Sunday, June 24 from 12-6! Hosted by Spudnik Press, it's a self-guided tour around Chicago, featuring 20 different venues, all of which are showcasing the processes of local printmakers... Including us! At our studio, you'll get to see what it takes to design and produce a letterpress card.

Chicago Print Crawl
June 24th, 2018
12-6pm

Visit our studio at 4222 N. Ravenswood, #202 in Chicago!

Come say hi, and be sure to support other local artists and printers, as well! Download a map here to create your own print crawl.

Ravenswood ArtWalk

RAW

Come see our space! Shop some letterpress goods! Catch a letterpress demo! 
Stroll along Ravesnwood and tour arts and industry along the way.

2017 Ravenswood ArtWalk
September 16th & 17th 
11am to 6 pm
4222 N Ravenswood#202

We even have special guest, Rhymes with Twee joining us for the weekend!
Come say hi, share a beer and support your neighborhood artists, makers and businesses. Hope to see you there!

Giving Back with New Life for Old Bags

finished mats New Life For Old Bags finished mats

One of my goals for 2016 is to give back to my community more. I've been thinking about this for over a year and finally committed to volunteering in late December but was unsure where to start. I heard a commercial on WBEZ for Chicago Cares and thought it was serendipitous. I signed up on their website, found several opportunities that sounded fun so I committed to two; one in January and one in February.

cutting plastic bagscut plastic bags

New Life for Old Bags was my second & by far my favorite volunteer opportunity. It was amazing. The organization makes mats for homeless people out of old plastic bags. The community is huge and very inspiring. I volunteered on a Saturday morning, at a local church. The hall was full of volunteers. I spent most of my time folding, then cutting bags and tying them together to finally make balls of "yarn". Once the yarn was made it's passed off to volunteers who crochet the mats. It takes approximately 700 old plastic bags to make one mat. So much loves goes into each mat & so many hands touch each piece, each one is a labor of love.

 plastic yarn balls plastic bag "yarn"

My tasks were not glamorous by any means but the organizers really make you feel like you're making a difference. Each volunteer had an important task to contribute and no time was wasted. The energy of the volunteers was extraordinary, ages ranged from 8 to people in their 70's, maybe even 80's. To inspire volunteers they have creative samples hung up and piles of finished mats for you to see.

patterned matinspiration mat

It was the perfect way to start my weekend. I'm thankful I found the opportunity and am excited to go back in March!