CRAFTNIGHT!

This Wednesday (tonight) January 27th, 2010 from 9pm (ish) until 12-ish at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Groundhog Craft

$2 processing fee, please

$4 Cosmo Drink Special, OOOH LA- LA!

I know all of you have been working hard on your Groundhog Day Resolutions, and hopefully, everyone will get the customary 5 days off in observance of the most important weather prognostication holiday that falls on February 2nd. It’s very dire, in Los Angeles, understanding whether we will get 6 more weeks of winter or otherwise, as winters in Los Angeles are so freaky! So I’ve prepared a groundhog craft for you, and you can mail it to Punxatawney Phil (worlds most famous groundhog) or someone out on the east coast who is probably kind of cold right now.

ALSO: Next week on February 4th is WIG-OUT at the Bordello, we’ll be giving out some FREE passes, and some HALF-OFF passes from the lovely Jean Spinosa AKA Jeanatalia! It’s going to be a WESTERN HOE-DOWN, awesome squaredance boogie and amazing performances cabaret-style! I’ll be performing a mini-craft on stage, so come check that out if once-a-week crafting isn’t enough and you need to fit MORE crafting into your busy schedule.

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

This Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 from 9pm until 12am at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!

Project: Rainy Day Pet Rocks

$2 processing fee, please!

BRAVE the RAIN! You heard me! It’ll be worth it! I’ve got the rocks, do you have the time? PET ROCKS! Who doesn’t need a pet rock? A pet rock requires no feeding, doesn’t need grooming, won’t chew your slippers, will never pee on the carpet or wrack up expensive vet bills. These smallish white rocks just need a little paint, and googly eyes, or glitter. Make a friend today! TODAY! BRAVE the RAIN! BRAVE IT! Cable is for sissies, come out come out wherever you are and be warm and creative with us at Akbar!

See you at the crazy-cozy craft table,

JP Craft Captain

CraftNight’s Website

Akbar’s Website

This Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 from 9pm (ish) to 12 (ish or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Black Magic

$2 processing fee, please!

In the words of Prince “It’s time we all reach out 4 something new, That means u 2.” And no, when I say “Black Magic” I’m not referring to the dark arts or some kind of sorcery or spirit possession (this week.) I’m talking about our specialized adaption of the sgraffito process known since Renaissance times, whereby a surface is scratched or scraped revealing another colored surface below. Woo!

It all started when I was talking about crayon etching last week, and a crafter exclaimed “OOOOH! I haven’t done that since the Reagan administration!” Thus, we bring this time-honored practice to CraftNight ASAP, no delay shall be permitted!

You’ll use good ol’ fashioned crayon to color the entire surface of your cardstock background. You will then cover  the color motif with “black magic” black paint, wait for it to dry and then busy yourself scraping/etching a design into the dark surface, revealing the color below. It’s an utterly easy process, and it offers up quite a soul-satisfying feeling! No matter what design you end up creating, it looks supernatural-colorific, and it makes anyone who sees it want to make one of their own.

As usual, I’ll be there with the supplies: black paint and crayons and what-not. Please note – don’t wear the white organza taffeta, as black paint is SUPER CHARCOAL-TASTIC, meaning it will get on your clothing, and it will want to stay there. Paint with care!

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain

PS – February 10th is going to be VALENTINE SQUARE-DANCING, get ready…

CraftNight’s Website

Akbar’s Website

This Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 from 9pm until 12 or so, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT! First CraftNight of the YEAR! Wooooo!

Project: DIY “Stained Glass”

$2 Processing fee, please!

Welcome back! Hope you’re ready for the year of the WHITE METAL TIGER, I’m going to try to sneak in some tiger crafts all year long! Don’t panic there will also be seasonal favorites, best-loved crafts from the archival selection and NEW and auspicious projects in the months to come!

I’m not bringing lead or actual glass into CraftNight this week, I shall instead be greeting you with construction paper, tissue paper and CON-TACT®Brand clear vinyl film with pressure-sensitive adhesive! From these glorious supplies, you will fashion a faux stained glass design fit to hang in your home, or someone else’s home, or anywhere with a window facing the sun! This is one of those crafts where you can be as minimal or complex as you like, spending hours or minutes on what strikes your fancy. It is a very hands-on kind of project, and before you let that “crafter’s block” creep up on you, here are some ideas:

1.) An ice-skating pickle (complete with snowflake beanie)

2.) Your little sister’s plumber’s cousin’s new baby’s initials

3.) An endearing fluffy-eared critter licking a rainbow

4.) Abstract cubist representation of a pine tree in Iowa

5.) The Official Flag of Sturm and Drang

6.) One of your New Year resolutions

7.) Funky Maloon Goodness with a pink Pegasus clogging the watusi on  the head of a pin with three angels

8.) John Henry or Paul Bunyan or BOTH

9.) Half an Apple

10.) Demons eating popsicles

These are just to get you started, you might think you know what you’re going to make, but that could change after a cocktail, or listening to music, or meeting new people with staggeringly unbelievably WACKY ideas you want to try. Gonna find out? You better, it’s a new year, time to bring it!

See you at the 2010 Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

CraftNight’s Website

Akbar’s Website

This Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 from 9pm until 12-ish, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Ornaments

$2 processing fee, please!

We’re having our annual Ye Olde CraftNighte Craft Faire, where you can support some of your favorite local artists and makers of awesome things, and select unique items for the season. Come in and get some cool stuff! This is also the LAST CraftNight of 2009, so if anything, just pop in to say hello before our double zeros are done and 2010 begins.

It is the holiday season, many of you are dashing from party to party, eating lots of exotic and dynamic appetizers, making enough small talk to form an advanced masters degree in peppy quotidian frivolity. Last but not least, some of you will be fabricating love tokens for those close to you. It is here that I will share the most important craft knowledge I have, in order to help you save energy and give yourself the gift of sanity this year. Are you ready? When all else fails and the stress and pressure of social-function-family-freakout crawls into your cerebral cortex, here’s how to fight the doubt and cold sweats:

Step 1 - Add macaroni

Step 2 - Spray paint gold

Step 3 - Roll in glitter

You cannot go wrong with this holiday formula, it is fool-proof. It seems too simple to be true, but trust me. This advanced schematic has everything to do with finding the lost paradise within and offering for someone a spirited home made creation that is part of the heart, not WalMart.

See you at the Craft Table! And if not, see you next YEAR!

JP Craft Captain (who wrote/directed/is starring in a puppet show you should see this weekend…)

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site