Let's Share: The Berkley Blog

Renegade Ho!

We're about to embark on our big California Renegade Craft Fair tour and I still have about 2.3 million things to do before we leave.  Doing two shows back to back (I'm talking to you Los Angeles and San Francisco) certainly makes everything a bit more of a challenge.  Double the challenge, you might even say if you are into math.  How is it that no matter how hard we work, we just never quite finish getting ready?  

Perhaps it's because I keep thinking of new things to add to our sales repertoire.  This time around, in response to public demand at Renegade Brooklyn, we created some animal pennant strands like the ones we use to decorate our booth.  

I'm really happy with these because they are made entirely from images with slight printing errors that otherwise would have gone straight to the recycle bin.

One of my favorite things about the frenzy of production is the looks of the scraps and discards.

If you stop by our booth, make sure to grab a business card because we'll be filling these thought bubbles with all kinds of nonsense whilst sitting at the table.

I loved doing this little project at Renegade Brooklyn.  It is extremely possible this is the type of project that only amuses myself but, you know, I'm cool with that.

Back then we only had cardinal cards so I can't even imagine what kinds of insight will be coming from the mouth of the T-Rex.

For a bit of progress report from the last post, here is my most up-to-date floor animal spread  featuring bonus feet:

Now we just have to pack all those up and we'll all be on our merry way.  The Lion has never been to California before and he's really excited to go rollerblading.

July Etsy Release

We're pretty pleased with ourselves right now because we've managed to release our new July animals within the first week of the month. Because the United States just turned 233, we decided to do a couple American-y animals for our country's birthday present.

Please welcome the Bald Eagle:

and the Wolf:

I thought this might be the month I'd finally get my bison, but I'm cool with suspense too.  Actually, Ryan did want to do one but with all the Renegade prep we still need to do, it just wasn't in the cards. 

Speaking of Renegade prep, here is a taste of what my day is going to look like:

And here is a taste of what our Fourth of July looked like last night:

Ryan took a bad tumble over a log stump at a french fry stand.  Don't worry, that isn't blood - it's just mysterious unidentified danger sauce. Ouch.  Not only is his leg all scraped up, but he lost all but two of his french fries after waiting in line for 15 minutes.  It was a bittersweet day for America.

Action Figure Friday - Skeletor's Henchmen!

Action Figure Friday is back and, because I really owe you AFF followers, I'm giving you FOUR times the reviewin'. It's also a little early birthday present for America. Because, as you know, the only things that spew patriotism more than Old Navy Flag Tees are old-school action figures of Skeletor's Henchmen.

First up in the bad-boys posse: Beast Man!

As far as actual likeness to the "real Beast Man", this guy comes in fairly close. Close, that is, if you ignore the fact that he seems to be wearing an orange bathing cap and has been drinking too much blue raspberry Kool-Aid.

The erratic spritz of blue spray paint on the breast plate makes him look just crazy enough, don't you think?

Mer-Man:

Well, yeah, so what we have here is obviously a guy who just doesn't make any sense at all. Fact: Cats hate water. Why, then, would they construct an aquatic creature to suddenly have feline-style ears?

Are you seeing it? I'm not seeing it. Ryan is trying to tell me some business about three different Mer-Men and the chronology of the toys, TV show, and comic but to be honest, I stopped paying attention about three words deep. I just know that I have a strange love for all aquatic superheroes and villains and I would prefer if they stayed on the amphibian tip.

Tri-Klops:

As any Action Figure Friday fan knows, I am an extra fan of toys that have interactive parts. I just can't get enough turning of the eyeball dial.

I call this one, "Who, Me? But I'm So Wide-Eyed And Innocent!"

This one is just "Stink Eye":

And, when the mood calls for a crescendo of dramatic flair, "Bloodshot Stink Eye":

Here is the real version of Tri-Klops at Threat Level Two: Stink Eye.

Trap-Jaw:

Aside from a glaring lack of eye-contact, I actually think Trap-Jaw might be the strongest dude in the line-up.

The lack of eye-to-eye conversation makes more sense when you realize that Trap-Jaw is the only one of these henchmen who can't give a thumb's up.

and he keeps gets getting left out of the weekly thumb-wrestling competitions...

Poor guy. At least it looks like he gets to work out at the same gym in the Snake Mountain basement - these guys have some eerily similar physiques.

As a collective legion of doom, I'll give these guys four tentacles. Individually, it's 3, 1, 5, 4.

Oh hello, what's this? I happen to have promotional announcement corresponding directly to these figures? You say that Ryan drew versions of these four characters in the future, attending Skeletor's Wake? Well, that is a funny coincidence.

These original illustrations are available now through July 20th in the Pop Pop! show at the Pink Ghost Gallery. [Scroll down the page - just after the piece by the esteemed Beau Berkley.]

Enchanted Summer

Summer just isn't slowing down.  In fact, I've invented the new word, "summertiming" to explain all the sunny adventures we've been taking lately. You can use it in a conversation like this:

You: "Oh, hey Lucy.  What have you been up to lately?"

Lucy: "Oh, you know.  Just summertiming, man.  To the maximum."

It's a helpful word to summarize all the picnics and barbecues and mini-golf adventures you've been going on.  Feel free to use it.

Anyway, picking up on what my last post alluded to, it turns out I was totally right about the secret picnic spot.

(Adorable heart PB&J's by our enchanted travel companions.)

We crashed Oregon's own tiny and time-warped Enchanted Forest theme-park with a posse of grown-ups and I didn't feel one bit creepy that we were the only ones there without children.  In fact, I think we might have been even giddier about the sites than most of the under-13 crowd we saw there.  Click on this map link and tell me you wouldn't be excited too.

I don't mean to bore you lovely readers who have been there before, but the park was built in the 1960s & 70s and hasn't had a lot of updates since then.  It's hard to pick a best part but I think we were all pretty dazzled with the initial walk down Storybook Lane.  How often to you get to see these things while on a stroll in the woods?...

I hadn't been to the park since I was a little lady but the two things I vividly remembered were the Crooked Man's House and the Haunted House (the latter of which I'm pretty sure I had to abruptly leave due to extreme panic at age six).  Funny thing - these two things stood out to me the most as a grown lady too.  

I wish I could tell you that I had outgrown my fear of the Haunted House but alas, no such luck.  In fact, I may have screamed more than I did when I was six.  I mean, who wouldn't crouch in fear of a site like this?

In cheerier news, we procured these trinkets for ourselves.  I'm smelling a Summer '09 collection box of amusement prizes coming on.  It was rather amazing how many of their trinkets had been on the shelves since the mid-70s.  I was tempted to purchase the magnet that said "T.G.F.M." (which stands for the topical, "Thank God For Microwaves", obviously) but I resisted.   

If you like fun and if you are ever in the greater Salem, Oregon area with three to five hours to kill, you should probably stop by.

Oh, and if you love summertiming too, check out Ryan's newest t-shirt design for Monsieur T. Do you like it when I have awesome marketing segues?  

One week of summer

One week of summer down!  

That's just the first week!  Rounding the corner into our second week, we're planning on a friendly bbq tonight and tomorrow a picnic at a location I am really way too excited about.  I'm trying not to make too much of a big deal in case it's not as cool as I remember it, though.

Oh yeah, I guess we should really be preparing a lot more for Renegades LA and San Francisco too.  Our big California crafty roadtrip is coming up really fast.  Look up over there to the right to see the dates. Somehow I'm sneaking prep in in between all the summertiming, so don't worry California.  We've got your meerkats.

Also, lest you were wondering what became of all those arcade tickets in the bottom photo, voila: 

Ryan wasn't able to join us for our mini-golf/arcade adventure so we brought him back plenty of presents!

Urban Jungle, Farm, and Arctic

We've been getting reports of animal sitings in urban outposts around the country for the last week or so but we've been reluctant to make a formal announcement until we had a stone hard link for you.

Now we do!

Exciting news!  You can now buy three Berkley Illustration animals from Urban Outfitters right here:

You've got the Cheetah:

the Goat:

 

and the Polar Bear:

As you can see, they all come neatly, ovally framed.   We love that look.  There is also picture hanging wire on the back so they can go from shop to wall in the time it takes to hammer a nail.  They are the ancestors you never had!  Or maybe you were lucky enough to have a polar bear for a great-grandfather?  If this is the case, would you mind if I ask you a few follow-up questions?  I'd really like to hug a polar bear one day and if there is any chance this can be achieved without mauling or slashing, I'd be much obliged.

Pro environment, pro sale!

Edit: The sale is over now - thanks for shopping!  

We are really quite excited about this new announcement:  

We are converting all our print packaging over to biodegradable bags and 100% recycled backing boards. Our new packaging bags are made completely from plants and are certified biodegradable and compostable!

This means you can throw any future print wrapper from us straight into the compost.  Really!  It's exciting!

Yes, these are a little more expensive.  And yep, we're going to have to raise our prices a bit to compensate. We hope you'll understand.  To say thanks though, we're going to offer a buy two, get one free print sale starting right now and lasting until 11:59pm Friday (Pacific Daylight Time), June 19th.  

To take advantage of the sale, simply buy two prints at regular price and let us know in the "notes" field at checkout which extra print you would like.  Obviously the customary small print applies, ie. the third print must be of equal or lesser value.  This sale does not include the limited edition prints, originals, or buttons/magnets.  For each two prints you buy, you're entitled to one extra print so if you bought six, you'd get three free.  Make sense?  

Please note, too, that this only includes prints purchased between 12:01am Thursday, June 18th and 11:59 Friday, June 19th Pacific Daylight Time.  That is just about 48 hours of Berkley Sale Madness.  Have fun!

This stuff was made in New York City

Well, actually, it was not all made in New York City but it was all found in NYC.

I wanted to show off some of the awesome finds/people we found at Renegade and in the city at large.  I am also highlighting the carpet tiles we decided not to order for our art room floor in the background.

From Renegade:

Well, first of all let me explain that I haven't worn necklaces for years, if ever, because I have this whole phobia of things touching/clinging to my neck.  Have I mentioned this before?  It's bad.  Even Ryan can't usually touch my neck without me squirming.  Well, somehow at this Renegade a light clicked in my head (or neck) and said, "Hey!  Idiot!  You can wear LONG necklaces".  Okay, light.  You are right.  Check this out:

Leaves necklace by Cursive. Let it be known that I want everything Sarah and Jon of Cursive make.  Let it also be known that they are incredibly sweet and charming people.

Keeping the whole long necklace, yellowish colored, feathery shaped trend alive, I also nabbed the last gold feather necklace from Erica Weiner.  (More are available on her website, though.  I won't think you're a copycat.)

Still gold, but not feathery is this THIRD necklace by a vendor whose name I can't recall because the necklace was procured in a frantic last-minute trade during closing time of day two.  If you made Mr. Donkey, please step up and identify yourself.  

The wood magnets are by Wook Woodworking.  (Type that five times fast!)

Charming letterpressed coasters by ________ (I'm hoping Ryan will fill in the blank on that one because he bought them.  Man, we did a bad job of documenting names. This is probably because we had to go to our shopping during the mad little bursts of free time.)

From the "I want everything they make" category again, here is a vase from Kindling:

and here is the vase at work next to another Kindling purchase from Renegade Chicago last year (it's the twig photo holder).

We also bought a couple t-shirts and a poster from Magick Outlaw.  I really liked their booth because it was different from a lot of the stuff you see at Renegade.  A little more "in your face" if you will.  

Black light posters for the indie craft kids is definitely an untapped market.

Other notable acquisitions from other places in the city include:

Top: Handmade bird paper holders from Kate's Paperie

Middle: Books and zines from Printed Matter, one of my favorite shops/ideas in New York.

Bottom: Vintage math glasses begging for me to create a math inspired cocktail.  We got these at Ugly Luggage in Brooklyn (a ridiculously great vintage shop).

I think one of the best things about going to do these big art shows is how you get to immediately get to turn-around and support all the other amazing artists and craftspeople.  Not only does it feel awesome to put your money into good people's pockets but you get to take home great things to boot.  Win-win!

Magnetic Personalities

Ugh.  Sorry about that lame subject line.  But guess what?  We finally have magnets for sale!  

If this was the 19th century I might grab a bell and ring it around town shouting "Magnets For Sale" in a half British/half southernly drawl but luckily for all of us, this is the 21st century and typing will suffice.

Sorry again, I'm a little punchy after a day spent digitizing and posting all these guys.

Anyway, here they are!

We've debated for the better part of the last year how best to offer magnets and we're both really happy with how they turned out.  Obviously this line is suited for additions in the future too.  (Honestly, no pun intended on that one.)

Here are a couple close ups:

See the whole line at our shop here.

*Bonus* If you are featured on any of these yearbook pages, you get a free magnet!

I'll Take New York

Obviously it's not easy to sum up a week's adventures in New York City because it's taken me almost a week to write anything about it.  Suffice to say, we love New York and if it wasn't for this whole pesky desire to have more than one bedroom, a yard, and no trash on our property...  Oh wait, I found a discarded crockpot in our wildflower patch last week.  Strike that last one.  I guess we'll just stay in Portland for now.

Here is the edited NYC daily diary recap:

We called numbers for Polish instructions we couldn't understand

Ryan found his dream graffiti

We got the cutest bill in the entire world

"Seven happy blueberry"!  (Or maybe this was only cute because our table had consumed seven of these happy blueberries.)

We battled rain without an umbrella thinking we were tough Portlanders but really we just kind of looked like soaked rats.

Went to Renegade with our friends Bossanova Baby and Arcane Arts and had beautiful weather and amazing crowds.

Thanks to all the awesome shoppers who came by!  We can't wait to do the Los Angeles and San Francisco Renegades next month.  [More Renegade photos here]

Went to the Natural History Museum

which gave us lots of inspiration for the future and I also found my new favorite animal ever:

(too bad it existed millions of years ago).

And then on the way home we got stuck at the airport for five hours and didn't get home until 3am west coast time.  I slept for 85% of the next day.

Oh yes, one other thing you might be interested in from our visit to Chinatown.  We got our auras photographed!  Check. It. Out.

As you can plainly see, we're both really busy but we have success coming our way and I have a pain below my waist (which is obviously that stupid knee that I hurt a couple months ago).

Okay, that was definitely a really abbreviated version of the trip but it will have to do for now.  I need to make room for lots more announcements in the upcoming days!  If you'd like to see more photos of the entire trip, though, please go here.