So, you want to visit the Renegade Craft Fair

  

Blah blah blah it's all I ever talk about these days, I know! The Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair, if you missed my half dozen other posts about it, is one of the hugest independent craft fairs in the land, where 300 makers of stylish, splendid hand created wares flog the hell out of them to thousands of visitors for two days in June.

Thinking of coming by? Here are some things you should consider bringing:

Coming up for Air, and A Story

In case some of you were wondering why I haven't been posting lately, it's because I'm in full swing preparing for Renegade Craft Brooklyn in early June:

I'm busily preparing little pendants, little boxes and little kits that play music. I'm also busy getting my transportation sorted out, getting things printed etc. The fair is a HUUUUGE fiesta and you'll find me in the track and field park at booth #195

So anyhow, there's a story that's been on my mind for the past few days called Who Owns the Land?

Dance for me! Pictures of a Thorens Movement/Rotational System

I was restoring an old Swiss musical manicure kit and I wanted to share pictures of this one.

She's very beautiful, but she wouldn't spin.

Before I exposed the movement I had never seen a rotation system quite like hers. I'll share some of the pictures I took for my records although it is probably a very common Thorens system. However you don't come across a great Thorens movement very often anymore.

Happy ending: she works now and when her lid opens she dances to the tune The Happy Wanderer

Friday Confessional

My confession today is that housecleaning is 40% more fun when I can annoy my obnoxious neighbour in the process.

He has this THING where he starts banging our shared wall manically whenever he hears people talking, my cat walking, or papers rustling in my apartment. Whenever he feels justified by the sound of a closet door opening in the still of the morning, he likes to turn up his radios so loudly that people walking by on the street look up. He also likes to stomp up and down his corridor, banging intermittently like a poltergiest when he's feeling oppressed by the masculine footfall of my roommate or the Mister, or when I need to sweep the hallway (barefoot and on tip toes so as not to arouse his terrible displeasure).

What can I say, Life is sweeter since I stopped worrying and learned to roll with the tantrums. My confession is that if I can toss mats across the hallway instead of placing them gently, or drag the recycling and rubbish bins instead of lifting, or clatter the cutlery against the plates on the dishrack - if it makes Mr. Bang Bang apoplectic it make me happy and I'll be supressing a smirk. I'm not sorry.

Do you have a confession to make this week?
or if you prefer to stay remain angelic
Have you ever had an annoying neighbour? How did you cope?

12 dancing princesses

These little dolls are getting their finishing touches before being used for my latest project. Can you guess what they're being prepared for?

The two on the far right look like they're going off somewhere to giggle and share secrets.

Clockwork Fantastica will be at Brooklyn Renegade

By the way, it's official - Clockwork Fantastica will be participating in the awesome Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, NY on June 5th & 6th

Yaaaay!

This will be my first time at a Renegade show and I will be flogging my wares to you with Molly Gee.

I'll share more info about this a little closer to the date, but I will tell you now that I'm working on some exclusive and wonderful items that will only be available from me in person at this fair. Wheeeee!

Damage Control: How to Tiptoe Away from the Smoking Wreckage of your Latest Screw-Up with a Minimum of Harm to Your Reputation

I would like to have this book in my life. Not just because David Eddie is completely charming in interview, or because of his advice to "I skipped my sister's mother-in-law's funeral", or because he's actually laugh out loud hilarious sometimes.

But, like some brethren and sistren klutzes that I know, you might consider me a case study of what happens to your social skills when you weren't invited to any parties in 7th grade (which is kind of a chicken or egg situation isn't it? We have a few theories about this, but the chicken might have been my unfathomable straight-laced demeanour, the result of my party-harder-bohemian-mama & fire-and-brimstone-pentecostal mixed-heritage - probably an entire blog entry on its own).

Anyway I am that weird, shy person who suddenly roars the wrong thing at inappropriate moments at dinner with your mother, or who hides in the bathroom during your friend's cousin's band's raucous gig trying to finish the last chapter of a good book and hoping no one notices. Although I haven't gotten to the Smoking Wreckage stage of screw-ups, fire insurance is always wise.

New Tunes in Stock

Nothing makes the elves here at Tuned Teeth happier than a new shipment of music box tunes. There is singing! There is dancing!

My favourite new arrival is called Shadow of Your Smile. You can hear what it sounds like here: Shadow of Your Smile

Brooklyn Renegade

It looks like the Renegade craft show has just posted the artist list for Brooklyn. I'm burning with jealousy! I am still on the waitlist, but applying for this show actually helped me to see all of the places where I needed to improve my application, all the important details I left out and the photos I'll need to take. It was the first big show I've applied for this year so it's a good time to know this stuff. All in all, even though I'm languishing on the wait-list, I still think this is going to be an amazing year for me.

The line-up looks very good: http://www.renegadecraft.com/brooklyn-artists?site=bk