Captain
I’m writing this from an Amtrak train approaching Los Angeles.
I’m writing it on my phone.
This is crazy.
YES CRAFTNIGHT! Wednesday!
YES 9pm – midnight yes at Akbar, yes yes yes!
Easter looms, eggs go boom, put ’em in a basket, not yer hands!
See you at the craft table,
JP Craft Captain
Easter Peep and Roses photo courtesy of S. Gallagher
This Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 from 9pm – 12(ish) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Tin Can Crafts • $2 processing fee, please
Drink Special: $4 Cosmopolitans
I bet you didn’t know that January 19th is Tin Can Day. Seriously, this was the actual day of the birth of the tin can, and the actual date that the tin can was patented in 1810! The first tin cans were so thick, you had to hammer at them like crazy. Like many “technologically advanced” inventions, it was a pain in the arse, but developments were still in the works.
In 1835, someone decided to put BEER in cans, and then pop-top cans appeared in 1959 making it a total party. Since then the cans have gotten thinner, we have fancy tools to open them, and the things inside of cans these days will blow your mind right out the window with all the leaves. If you don’t believe me, check out this blog of the weirdest stuff in cans, it’s got pictures! The trusty tin can is still entirely recyclable, corrosion resistant, and durable, and I think, very worthy of honor and merit.
So we’re going to do CAN crafts, we’ll have tin cans, and felt, foam, and glue, and some ideas, and we’re going to have a good ol’fashioned can-crafting party. You can make a string telephone, a pencil holder, a bank, a treat jar, salt and pepper shakers, vase, toothbrush holder, tea bag holder, etc.
And NO I’m not bringing tin snips or nails for you to punch holes in the cans. DRINKING and SHARP OBJECTS DO NOT MIX! But if you want to bring your own tin snips at your own risk, go ahead! If a fellow crafter wants to borrow your tools… smell their breath and ask them how many fingers you’re holding up, then use your best judgement.
Neither Akbar nor CraftNight is responsible if you slice through your finger, poke out your eye or remove someone’s spleen, you hear me? I can’t believe I actually had to type that, but California (The Golden State) is full of surprises… and court rooms.
I am gathering as many tin cans that I can find before CraftNight, if you have any that you don’t need, would you mind contacting me? I’ll take them off your hands! Here, you can use this handy contact form…
See you at the Craft Table,
JP Craft Captain
This Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 from 9pm – 12(ish) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Fusion Beads ••• $2 processing fee, please
Drink Special: $4 Cosmopolitans – well-fortified and robust!
Wow, now that the dumb head cold I had is gone gone GONE, we’re ready for CRAFTS IN 2011!!! Let me tempt you with something truly melty-fantastica. We’re gonna FUSE together our colors and thoughts and resolutions for the new year in BEAD form! This is a very exciting craft, because it requires heat to activate the melty-sticky action of all the tiny plastic pieces you’ve assembled. You’ve got to be committed if you’re going to fuse beads together, that’s why I like to do them at the start of the new year.
I’ll be here with my trusty iron and ironing board, to help glom all the little shapes together, and you can make a key fob, a coaster, an amulet, a sculpture, a what? Well, that’s for you to decide! Come in and do your first craft of 2011, it’ll be a fine thing to have you join us.
JP Craft Captain
This Wednesday (TONIGHT!) from 9pm – 12-ish, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: The Amazing Technicolor Wooden Bead-In
$2 processing fee, please
$4 cosmopolitan special (Akbar is the ORIGINAL sex in the city…)
Any experienced meditator knows that the mind wanders no matter how soft or hard your meditation cushion is. Our minds are being pulled apart by billboards, bench ads, bus ads, e-mails, tweets and phone calls. With so much crazy stuff bleeping, blipping and blooping at us all the time, we sort of end up hurrying through stuff, skimming our way through all that information, trying to get the gist of everything.
Can you “get the gist” of painting a bead? If your hands are covered in paint, it’s certainly hard to text someone on your Droid.
Well good, that’s what we want! Get in here and paint some beads, dammit! Depart from the constant toot-tooting of all your appointments, Facebook IMs, blah blah blah BLAH! Turn off your device(s) get a refreshing beverage, grab some beads and welcome the time and care it takes to glean some nuance, subtlety, creativity, concentration, detail and depth that comes from concentrating on something for more than 15 minutes! Amulets, chokers, love-beads, chestplates, all manner of configuration are YOURS this evening when you decide to rescue the mind from it’s constant barking and join the bead-in!
Tune OUT, Drop IN, Turn ON!
See you at the Craft table,
JP Craft Captain
TONIGHT! • May 26th, 2010 • 9pm – 12-ish at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: CRAFT STANLEYS
$2 processing fee, please
$4 cosmo special
Flat Stanley was started in 1964, a story about a kid (Stanley Lambchop) who gets squashed by a bulletin board gets to live a FLAT existence! The coolest thing about Flat Stanley’s new 2-D physique is that he can travel around by MAIL to visit friends! Since then, classrooms around the world have used Flat Stanley as a way to connect with other schools of many countries. The project has many similarities to the Travelling gnome prank except, of course, for the Flat Stanley Project’s focus on literacy.It should be noted, the most amazing Flat Stanley EVER (in my opinion) was on US Airways Flight 1549 which landed safely in the Hudson River. He was carried to safety in the briefcase of his traveling companion.
So… since it’s CraftNight, we’re making CRAFT Stanleys, and you can make one to send to a friend, OR you can join us in sending CRAFT Stanleys to TWO AMAZING PLACES:
1.) Craft Cousin Angie in Japan!
2.) Craft Comrade Jen in Prague!
These two generous crafters across the WORLD have offered to take care of CraftNight’s Craft Stanleys and show them a good time, and document some of Stanleys’ traveling adventures! We’ll be including journals for our Craft Stanleys, documenting their activities at CraftNight before we send them off. And, of course, if you’re reading this, and you are far away, and want a CRAFT Stanley to visit you, let us know, send your address, and we’ll send you one!
See you at the Craft Table!
JP Craft Captain
PS – Keep an eye out for Akbar’s upcoming HAPPY HOUR! Starts June 1st, every Tuesday from 4 – 8pm, featuring tasty specialty drinks, delicious edibles from the Kitchen, and your host, the extremely appetizing and alluring Jeff Rasul >>>> YUM!!!
