Author Archives: jp

This Wednesday (TONIGHT!) from 9pm til’ midnight, at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: DRUMS!!!

$2 Wednesday cosmo special (and don’t forget Akbar’s delectable Happy Hour from 4-8pm with food and cheap drinks!)

DECLARE INDEPENDENCE!

It’s the big weekend of blowing stuff up in Silverlake and Echo Park! I’m sure you’ve already heard quite a few preliminary snap-crackle-pops of eager pyro-centric locals. If you’re not all that jazzed about Independence Day, please know that all the hubbub need not be in the name of xenophobic patriotic jingoism. As a matter of fact, July 4th is more than one holiday, it is actually:

1.) BUILD A SCARECROW DAY – If you have a garden, crops are really starting to come up, so build that scarecrow now, if you’re going to build it!

2.) NATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY – Country music isn’t just a whole lotta twang, it’s an entire lifestyle. Crack open a cold one and watch an episode of HEE HAW!

3.) SIDEWALK EGG FRYING DAY – We’re not going to get the unbearable hotness of being in Los Angeles until August, but in other places across the world it’s HOT! Get out those eggs, clean off the sidewalk, make an omelette.

We’re making drums, so that you can declare your independence and decide what July 4th is for YOU. These are really cool little drums, high-end materials, very adorable, and very uh… drummy. Drum-like? Drummish? Anyway, move to the beat of a different drummer, build and decorate and then drum your way down the street!

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

TONIGHT! June 23rd, 2010 at Akbar, from 9pm until midnight it’s CRAFTNIGHT!

Project: I think it’s Pins -n- Magnets

$2 processing fee, please

Uh… it was going to be bottlecap night, but I just switched it to SOMETHING ELSE. This happens sometimes. I think it will be pins-n-magnets, but check back in a few hours, if you want to be sure! I have to rummage through some supplies to be certain this is what we’re doing.

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site

TONIGHT! (Wednesday, June 16th, 2010) at Akbar, from 9pm until 12am it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!

Project: Shrinky Dinks!

$2 processing fee, please

$4 Cosmos

SPECIAL AKBAR NEWS: HAPPY HOUR at Akbar every week, Tuesday – Friday 4pm – 8pm with tasty drink specials and FOOD! Sexy bartender Jeff Rasul at the helm, AND sometimes we play SPORTS on the TV… how crazy is that?)

BACK TO OUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING:

Dear Crafter, if you have not seen where I live, simply picture your friendly neighborhood gathering of craft supplies, put it in a blender, and swirl it around a few times. While it does look a bit chaotic at first glance, there is no doubt that the household is a place of creative uh… freedom.

That said, I’m not going to lie to you. I have miss-placed the toaster ovens. Are you giving me a blank stare? That might be better than piteous wails of despair, because it might mean you’ve never made a shrinky dink. If you don’t know what a shrinky dink is, you won’t have a total freak-out if I don’t find the toaster ovens, and we have to downshift to a different craft.

But if you DO know what a shrinky dink is, and you’ve made them at CraftNight before, you understand unequivocally how dire the situation is. Therefore, I implore you: use the force, send the vibes, pray that I find the hallowed shrinky dink toaster ovens.

Shrinky dinks are hands-down one of the most popular crafts I run, announcing their imminence can result in a sort of stampede that leaves everyone’s hair looking like one of those little plastic trolls that go on the end of pencils. The hard work, followed by the fascination of curling plastic and instant gratification of the fabulous end product it delivers makes Shrinky Dinks one of CraftNight’s most popular projects.

Like I said: send those thoughts toward my spelunking through the garage for the toaster ovens, I have a mostly good feeling about it, but I can use any metaphysical cosmic rays you want to send my way.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

PS – LAKERZZZZ!!!!

PPS – At this moment, while I type “C’mon Spain, HIT THE NET!!!” (FIFA)

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This Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 (TONIGHT) from 9pm – midnight at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Attack of the CORK People

$2 Processing fee, please

$4 Cosmopolitans!

What does this project mean? It means there’s going to be cork. Sometimes, when all is said and done, you just have to make weird stuff out of cork, that’s what we’re here for, after all. At the end of the day, when all that stuff you have to do from sun-up to sun-down is finished, we’re here to ply your embrangled mind with some relaxing, entertaining, frivolous activity.

Yes, embrangled is a word. Spellcheck keeps trying to tell me something is terribly wrong… but “embrangle” is really and truly a legitimate word! It was first used in 1664, and I guess the word police got ahold of it, and decided to morph it into “embroil.” But I like embrangle, because it’s sort of like a blend of “embrace” and “tangle.” We need to bring this word back, because if today’s rat-race-oriented population isn’t embracing the tangle, I don’t know what we’re doing!

So now… back to corks.

Corks commonly get overlooked as “that thinger that keeps my wine from going all over the place” when actually, it takes a LOT of effort and resources to make a cork! Cork is so much more than bulletin boards, stoppers and a county in Ireland! It takes a cork tree 25 years to reach maturity, and a cork tree can only be harvested about every 5-9 years. Cork oak forests are home to one of the most endangered species in the world, the Iberian Lynx! Also, let it be known, that there is nothing, I repeat nothing that can replace the excellence of a cork handle on the end of a Koh-I-Noor No. 127 N nib holder on a calligraphy pen.

There are so many cool things to make with corks, and if you are having a mental block about it, CraftNight is here to inspire you. Come in, make a cork family, a cork space pod, a cork animal farm! Cork! It’s not just for bottles, it’s for life-enhancing creative enterprises that FLOAT. Heck, your CraftNight project could save your life if Los Angeles were to suddenly drop into the Pacific Ocean!

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain

PS – NEW HAPPY HOUR at AKBAR! Tuesdays from 4 – 8, cheap drinks, cheap food, served up by the rather hunky Jeff Rasul (growwlllll).

CraftNight’s Site

Akbar’s Site