June 23, 2008

Atlantic Market presents... Craft Mafia Night!

I don't know if you know this yet, but I am a member of the Atlanta Craft Mafia. If you didn't know, or you don't know what that is, perhaps you should take a moment to absorb it.

Ready? Okay. Here's the Big News. The first-ever ATL Craft Mafia public boothy-type event is coming up. It'll be the evening of July 18, and I am setting up a booth! You will know me by my Gangbusters collection. It will be my first time out with it in public, where I'm forced to stand behind it and explain how it came about, et cetera — something I'm not particularly known for enjoying, but I'm proud of Gangbusters, so I'm going to do it anyway.

The whole event is taking place on a Friday night, as a precursor to the general festival that'll be going on Saturday and Sunday. Our special Craft Mafia-only evening begins at 5:00, so the deadly heat will by then have abated, and there will be lovely lights and lovely booths and lovely shops. Everything. Lovely.

I really like Atlantic Station, and I really like the Craft Mafia, and I'm kind of vibrating with anticipation over how cool it's going to be.

Don't get me wrong... by absolutely no means am I ready for it.

P.S. Click here to add it to your Google Calendar. I don't want you to forget!

Written by a very excited K Monday, June 23, 2008 at 14:27

June 15, 2008

House on Fire... that's me!

A few months back, when I was thinking about marketing the jewelry I've been making, I thought the line might need a name of its own. And I thought, as long we're making changes, is it time to shed "House on Fire" in favor of something without the negative connotations of a burning home? Over the years, I've discovered that not everyone is familiar with the expression, "like a house on fire," and I had begun to wonder if people who weren't were getting the wrong impression of my artwork. On the other hand, I've used the name House on Fire since my first show, during my last semester in college, so to change it now is to risk of losing some people in the shuffle.

I asked the question aloud on my blog at House on Fire (before I redesigned the site and culled the blog archives) and got some helpful responses. Ant from Antrabbit.com told me that expression or no, he had always just thought it sounded cool, not scary. Krissy from Speckblog.net said that although she had never picked up any negative connotation she might herself be an anomaly, and encouraged brainstorming new names. A few others echoed my concerns over a change of name after four years shaking up the very delicate population of people who know who I am.

I took it all into consideration. I brainstormed the hell out of some new names. When I got stuck, I went through a wiki listing every planet, character and location ever mentioned in the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. (There were some front runners.)

In the end, it came to me in the car, and I wasn't even driving.

I like House on Fire. I get to keep it if I want, and I want to, and damn the naysayers — maybe my being here will help educate the masses on what is probably, in essence, an outdated figure of speech. But to underscore the positive, I shall name this new thing with an equally appealing word that means the very same thing, and any future endeavors will be titled similarly. This, I decree, is the new House on Fire Naming Initiative (hofni).

How can you not pick up the exuberant nature of "House on Fire" when it says "Gangbusters" right next to it? I ask you!

So that's how I decided.

Written by a proud and satisfied K Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 14:54