Made In Baltimore

The craft scene in Baltimore has exploded and we’re all too happy to pick up the pieces—in the form of jewelry, ceramics, soaps, pillows, tees, and stationery. We rounded up 50 locals who create—many in their spare time—some pretty astonishing work. They’re a super prolific bunch—quite a few are experts at jewelry and soap making or weaving and painting. (With MICA in the heart of Baltimore—we shouldn’t be too surprised.) We’ve also got five featured profiles of crafters—including a married couple—where we learn even more about their methods and daily juggling of family, work, and art. We delve into the craft wars—the battle between the classically trained and the self-taught artists and weekend crafters. And we offer some suggestions about launching a DIY craft business of your own from those who have found success. One of the most charming things about Charm City crafters is the assistance and advice they offer to each other—often traveling together to shows and promoting each other’s work. What’s more, there are many area shops that stock local goods—generously offering crafters another platform to showcase their work. And that’s where you come in. If you’re anything like us, you’ll spend the next several days visiting these artists’ websites and checking out the stores that carry their work. Sure, malls are fun, but there’s no better feeling than shopping local.

Kathy Beachler
illegibleink.com

Kathy Beachler’s fourth grade teacher in Connecticut did not appreciate her young student’s sense of style. “We were learning cursive, and I was a really good student, but I had this different spin on how to do cursive, and she gave me a C plus!” recalls Beachler with a laugh. “She wrote a note on the report card that said, ‘The cursive is too illegible. You took too many creative liberties.'”

These days, Beachler has that teacher to thank for inspiring illegible ink, the fledgling printmaking business she runs out of her Patterson Park brick rowhouse on weekends, evenings, and whenever she’s not working with Arts Every Day (a nonprofit that strengthens arts education and cultural experiences in Baltimore City schools).

Beachler’s delicately lined, whimsical “linocuts” (in which an original design is transferred from paper to a linoleum surface and hand-carved to create a raised relief that gets inked and impressed back onto paper) with owls, onions, and snapdragons are a nod to her love of nature. Her inspirations come from a variety of places including produce stands at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market under the JFX, the wild beauty of her neighborhood Patterson Park, books on ornithology, and historical botanical prints.

When Beachler entered Ohio’s College of Wooster, she actually had her sights set on geology or anthropology, but everything changed after a sophomore art class, and she graduated with a degree in studio art. “I took this 8 a.m. introduction to drawing class, and I called my parents and said, ‘This is the only class I can get up at eight in the morning for!'” she recalls. She told her parents, “I’m sure it’s what I want to do.”

The 32-year-old printmaker, who is a member of the Charm City Craft Mafia, a local support group for independent craft artists, will never forget the heady feeling after her first sale. “I do what makes me happy,” says Beachler, “and it’s an extra bonus when people like it enough to buy it. When I did my first craft show in Baltimore and someone came up to me and said, ‘I really like this,’ I was like ‘This is really cool. This is not my family or friends, and they are not just trying to make me feel better.’ I e-mailed a good friend that I had sold my work, and she’s like, ‘I don’t know what your problem is. I’ve been telling you you have talent for years.'” —Jane Marion

Danamarie Hosler
greenstarstudio.com

Danamarie Hosler thought she needed to move to New York to become a real artist. She departed shortly after graduating the Maryland Institute College of Art thinking she’d live “the dream.” A mere three months later, the enterprising twentysomething was running back to the eccentric embrace of Baltimore, which was cheaper, friendlier, and a whole lot quirkier.

“Baltimore’s a weird city,” she says with pride. “We’re weird people. We like things that are quirky and unique. It’s a very [inter] connected, very approachable little city that I think is a good place to be an artist. New York was too big, too separate, and competitive.”

The 30-year-old artisan, muralist, illustrator, and teacher certainly hasn’t wasted any time here. There’s evidence of her everywhere: She’s done murals on parking garages (the Baltimore City Health Department), underpasses (columns under Jones Falls Expressway, home of the long-running Baltimore Farmers’ Market), and supermarkets (the Waverly Crossroads Giant); her popular Knitimals don the shelves of area toy stores and tables at local craft fairs; and she’s inspired many a happy drawing by the children and adults she teaches at The Walters Art Museum, School 33 Art Center, and her alma mater.

Growing up in Miami, it never occurred to Hosler that she’d ever be anything but an artist. She attended the city’s famous New World School of the Arts, and started doing murals around the city by the tender age of 12, completing nearly 50 by the time she for left for MICA.

The Charles Village resident’s energy to create seems limitless, as evidenced by the sheer volume of what’s for sale on her online gallery, greenstarstudio.com (not to mention the fact that she brings yarn—always produced locally, she adds—into movie theaters and, yes, knits in the dark).

Perhaps best known for her lumpy, lovable Knitimals (which look like a cross between cartoon animals and kids’ doodles), Hosler believes that art’s true place is not framed on a museum or condo wall, but with the people who need it most—a homeless person passing one of her murals, she explains, or a child hugging one of her hand-knit creations.

“I can get you to look at art and you don’t even know you’re looking at art,” she quips with delight. “Art is bigger than a gallery. I don’t necessarily think that something has to be in a frame to have value.”

Craft-Friendly Shops

Want to shop locally for these local crafts? Check out some of the brick and mortars doing their part, plus websites dedicated to the craft scene.

Hampden

doubledutch Boutique
3616 Falls Rd., 410-554-0055

Earth Alley
3602 Elm Ave., 410-366-2110

Lovely Yarns
846 W. 36th St., 410-662-YARN

Mud and Metal
1121 W. 36th St., 410-467-8698

Red Tree
921 W. 36th St., 410-366-3456

Shine Collective
1007 W. 36th St., 410-366-6100

Belvedere Square

Lilac Bijoux
511 E. Belvedere Ave., 410-323-4333

Fells Point

aMuse
1623 Thames St., 410-342-5000

Cupcake
813 S. Broadway, 410-522-0941

Trixies Palace
1704 Thames St., 410-558-2195

Zen at Zoe’s Garden Wellness Center
1924 Fleet St., 410-342-7255

Federal Hill

American Visionary Art Museum Sideshow
800 Key Hwy., 443-872-4926

Funky Beehive
906 S. Charles St., 410-685-4483

Mt. Washington

Baltimore Clayworks
5707 Smith Ave., 410-578-1919

Timonium

Hopscotch
2 Oakway Rd., Timonium, 410-252-7801

Ellicott City

Art & Artisan
8020 Main St., 410-203-9370

Original Souls
8120 Main St., 410-461-2300

Downtown

Amaryllis
200 E. Pratt St., #1100, 410-576-7622

The Baltimore Woman’s Industrial Exchange
333 N. Charles St., 410-685-4388

Websites

American Craft Council

Baltimore by Hand

Baltimore Etsy Street Team

Charm City Craft Mafia

Michael Bracco & Shawna Pincus
spaghettikiss.com and pinkkiss.etsy.com

The couple that crafts together stays together? Hey, the formula works for Michael Bracco and Shawna Pincus who create a line of shirts, ceramics, comics, and prints out of the basement of their Hamilton home. They also both spend their days as full-time art teachers in Howard County. “Neither of us is happy unless we’re productive,” Pincus says. “The real foundation of us is our artwork.”

Both graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art—he with a B.F.A. in illustration and she with a B.F.A. in sculptural studies.

The couple met when Pincus attended one of Bracco’s art openings at Blue Moon Café in 2001 and were married five years later.

Immediately before the couple got married, they started making jewelry and T-shirts with iron-on transfers as wedding gifts. They founded Spaghetti Kiss in August of 2006.

“I really wanted a name that sounds pretty and feminine, but when you look closer, it’s absolutely grotesque,” Bracco says of the science-fiction logo.

Eventually, Pincus branched out with her own project, Pink Kiss—an homage to her last name—and they now run two distinct businesses. He screen-prints mythical illustrations onto T-shirts and hoodies using a tabletop press. She hand-builds bowls, mugs, and other dishes, paints them with an underglaze, and screen-prints images on them for a worn, layered look.

“I try to use romantic and nostalgic images,” she says. “I hope they get people to take a break from their day to stop and think.”

Bracco’s other passion is comic books. Birth—published in 2008 by Alterna Comics—is about two alien species with evolutionary differences that destroy each other’s populations. The Birth of Novo, which follows the last survivor of these two cultures, was awarded “Best Comic Book” by City Paper. And his latest volume, Novo the Pride, hits bookstores this month.

“The books are me trying to do a simple and objective take on the war,” he says.

While they both love teaching, their dream is to make a living solely off their art. “There are so many stores like Red Tree that give us a huge amount of support,” Pincus says. (The couple also sell their goods at local craft shows.)

In the mean time, they are encouraged by the fact that more consumers are appreciating the value of local craftsmanship.

“A lot of great people want to see this city reach its potential,” says Pincus.—Jess Blumberg

Juliet Ames
ibreakplates.com

The craft world should have seen her coming. In high school, Juliet Ames won “most likely to be a millionaire” for making and selling original hemp jewelry. It’s no wonder that she now runs her own successful craft business, The Broken Plate Pendant Company.

As the name suggests, Ames smashes vintage plates and turns the remaining shards into bold and modern jewelry. A former craft major at Towson University, she turns discarded plates into necklaces, rings, pendants, earrings, belt buckles, and even cufflinks.

“I had no idea people held such sentimental value for plates,” she says. “People say they didn’t know what to do with their broken plates and now they do.”

While working at the Howard County Arts Council, Ames was inspired by mosaic artist Ginger Peloquin and decided to make a new mailbox (one that still hangs outside of Ames’ Lake Walker home). After completing the project, she had a bunch of leftover plate shards, which she soldered and made into necklaces. She sold some pieces at the council’s gallery store and says she was hooked after her first craft show.

She opened her Etsy store in August 2006 and quit her day job five months later. Driving home on her last day of work, she picked up a pregnancy test—it came back positive. “That threw a little wrench into my plan,” she says.

Now, even while juggling her 15-month-old and work load, business is good. Ames says that during his naptimes she has a chance to make about 30 pieces a week. In her basement studio, she breaks the plates with a hammer, grinds the edges until smooth, wraps the pieces in copper tape, and then solders them. And she’s constantly coming up with original ideas—like her recent line of belt buckles and custom jewelry.

“I call it an ‘artgasm’ when I come up with something totally new,” she says. “I’m always seeking that.”

One day, the full-time crafter and mom wants to have a studio outside of her home and eventually a shop that houses multiple local artisans.

“Trends will change, but hopefully the handmade part of it will remain,” she says. “I hope it’s just getting started.” —JB

Craft WarsA rivalry within the craft movement? Can’t we all just get along?

While craft in Baltimore has long been associated with the annual American Craft Council’s highly regarded juried show featuring the works of national (as well as local) classically trained, high-end furniture makers, sculptors, and metalsmiths, an independent, progressive craft movement has been born in Baltimore. A younger group of self-taught artists and weekend crafters, as well as some with degrees in fine art, have given rise to a new kind of design featuring handmade soaps, jewelry fashioned from broken plates, and soy ink note cards.

“Is there a rivalry?” asks Jen Menkhaus, who founded a team of local Etsy artists, a national coop/virtual store for buying and selling handmade items. “In some ways yes, but rightfully so. These fine crafters have done their time—Baltimore has a lot of very fine jewelers out there—they make their own clasps and chains and when you looked at someone who made a bead and put it on a piece of string, it’s hard not to feel a bit of snobbery and, on some level, some resentment.”

The new craft movement has sparked debate between “old school” and “new school” crafters. Baltimore artist Annie Chau (pictured), a metalsmith who makes handmade jewelry out of her Mt. Washington studio, attended the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) symposium last spring at which widely regarded metalsmith Bruce Metcalf discussed “The New Alternative Craft” and ended up having a public disagreement with one of her mentors. “I was so excited to hear him speak,” says Chau. “But when he talked about old craft versus new indie craft he used price point differences as a discussion, [suggesting that] less expensive equals not so good, and he said something like ‘the average level of craftsmanship is low.’ He said he considered us all hobbyists, but this is my full time job, and I feel very successful. I just sat there with steam coming out of my ears then went up and told him he had had hurt my feelings and that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.” (She later confronted him again through a series of emails and eventually concluded, “I didn’t need him for validation.”)

But many “old school” artisans have a more egalitarian view of their fellow artists. “Is being the best soapmaker in the country as valid as what I’m doing?” asks David Bacharach, who has been a metalsmith for 45 years. “Of course it is. As long as the job you’re doing is the best there is, there’s room for everyone.”—JM

Jen Menkhaus
littlestbean.com

“I’ve always been making stuff,” says Jen Menkhaus, 34, who spent the first 11 years of her life in Baltimore City before her parents moved to Howard County. In the early ’80s, there were lots of “little hand painted ornaments, goofy things—with googly eyes.” She wasn’t sure what exactly she wanted to do—she just knew that she wanted to be an artist. After college—where she received a degree in English with a concentration on writing and art (the perfect combination to never get a job, she jokes)—she landed at retail store Anthropologie in Rockville and spent the next three years creating their displays: wiring lighting displays, making chairs out of straws, and fashioning lamps out of gumdrops. “It was intense,” says Menkhaus, now a Baltimore county resident. After Anthropologie, she worked for Nouveau Contemporary Goods at their old Charles Street shop as a store designer and then became the assistant director of the Buyers Market of American Craft. She left when her daughter, now 3, was a year old. “That’s when I decided to do my own thing.”

Her company—The Littlest Bean, which sells mostly vintage-inspired jewelry—was a natural progression. “I’ve always been a fabric and textile addict,” she says. And “if you see my house it’s about 300 different colors.” The combination of the two—plus a desire to create something she could do safely around her daughter (no chemicals, no easels)—led her to felt. Her broach collection is made from wool felt and vintage plastic. Her site now includes rings, earrings, barrettes, necklaces, and even the occasional mobile and wall hanging. She’s had more than 200 sales on her Etsy site. Last January, Menkhaus helped start the Baltimore Street Team—a group of 60-plus crafters who have a presence on Etsy. The site is still evolving as they’ve come to realize that their main focus shouldn’t just be on the online marketplace but area craft shows, service projects for local charities, and skill sharing as well.

Menkhaus recently quit her nonprofit job at Maryland Citizens for the Arts and is making a go as a full-time crafter. “I don’t know what the future holds,” she says, citing the economy and a second baby due this spring. One recent highlight—her Etsy site has been marked as a “favorite” by viewers over 2,500 times this past year. She puts on her best Sally Field voice, “They like me, they really like me!”—JED

D.I.Y. D.I.Y.Becoming a creative entrepreneur takes more than creativity.

Four years ago, Jean-Baptiste Regnard stuffed his old Cadillac full of T-shirts, and, with business partner Kevin Sherry, set off for a city-by-city marketing campaign for their then-fledging clothing company, Squidfire (pictured).

“I literally packed up every piece of inventory that we had and put them in the car,” he recalls with a chuckle.

Regnard never had a doubt that shop owners would fall in love with their quirky t-shirts, some populated with dancing veggies, others with squids, whales, and squirrels.

Now the Baltimore-based brand is sold in 100 stores around the world, and the duo—Regnard is the businessman, Sherry is the artist—recently opened their first storefront in Hampden.

Squidfire’s story is the ultimate DIY—do-it-yourself— victory. And while it’s inspirational, no success story can ease the confusion, trepidation, and overall overwhelming-ness of launching a DIY craft business.

Artists are hungry for knowledge of the basics of launching a business to sell their work but can often feel clueless or intimidated about how to get started or take things to the next level, says local crafter Jen Menkhaus, founder of baltimore-etsy.blogspot.com.

To meet that need, Menkhaus will be leading a seminar on how to be a creative entrepreneur at the Patterson Park Creative Alliance on January 25 that will feature a lawyer, an accountant, a marketing specialist, and a photographer, all chiming in on the best ways to be your own one-man-band craft company.

“It can be tricky and there’s no easy answer,” says Menkhaus, of starting a craft business. “Most people ease into this world, they don’t just quit their job.” She offers some pointers. First, do your research. Find out who else, if anyone, is making items similar to yours before you buy boxes of materials and launch a website. Then test the waters at local craft fairs to gauge potential interest and marketability. And find a community of like-minded artists to toss ideas around with and even set up group shows.

As for advertising, both Menkhaus and Regnard agree that street and craft festivals rank as one of the very best—and cheapest—ways to market and promote your merchandise. The best part? Instant customer feedback.

As for the whole number-crunching, when-can-I-quit-my-day-job thing? Just be patient, says Menkhaus. “It’s a pretty big learning process.

Accessories

12 Linden Eliza Mundy borrows ideas from Mother Nature. Using metal to imitate what she sees, she creates earthy, serene pieces, which pick up on the world’s natural textures and patterns.

Bake Sale Designs She does it all, that Rebecca McCoy—from fabric pinwheel hairpins, to bangle bags, to necktie chokers (exactly how they sound), to vintage fabric pins and very cool one-of-a-kind felted scarves: a mishmash of recycled felted wool sweaters, cable knit, and funky buttons. All very playfully retro and handmade.

Beth Pohlman Beth Pohlman draws directly from nature when making her metal jewelry. Her sterling silver earrings, necklaces, and brooches take their shape and inspiration from pine needles, petals, and pebbles. Her pieces range from delicate to bold, just as nature intended.

Block Party Press Colorful and whimsical, Tamara Shea’s rings, necklaces, cufflinks, and pendants are not for wallflowers. She uses hand carved stamps to create textures on polymer clay and adds bold hues with acrylic paints—so pieces like her poppy ring and patchwork tree necklace really pop.

Carlybird Weaves Just looking at Carly Goss’s work makes us feel warm and cuddly. She hand weaves cloth the old-fashioned way—laboring over a loom—to make patterned wrist cuffs, scarves, baby blankets, and other works.

Dandelion Blu Working mostly with enamel, Sherry Insley designs necklaces, earrings, rings, and brooches that are hauntingly beautiful with strong colors and interesting shapes. Enamel doesn’t always mean heavy: Insley’s lace collar necklaces— traced from a vintage pattern onto copper and then pierced and sawed by hand—are delicate and lovely.

Elisa Shere Jewelry Crafter Elisa Shere’s original passion was pottery and after turning to metal, she never lost that inspiration. She constantly plays with shapes in her sterling silver and bronze jewelry, making each piece three-dimensional and unique—like the pop of her “littlest flower” necklace.

For Queen Victoria Christy Zuccarini is positively polycraftic (okay, we just made that word up). She knits and crochets neck warmers and scarves, shoots beautiful still life photography, and creates uniquely striking jewelry—inspired by vintage beads—all while blogging about the indie craft scene at her popular Baltimore by Hand site.

Gnomegarden Dawn Doran’s passions are fiber, knitting, and spinning. Her site is filled with handspun yarn, stitch markers (vital little knitting accessories that help you keep track of where you are on your row), and some really unique felted jewelry. Her Frida Kahlo necklace combines felted beads, Swarovski crystals, Milagros, and a mini framed portrait of the Mexican painter.

Hilary Hachey Her unique metal pieces are showstoppers. Earrings, necklaces, cufflinks, pins, and rings manipulated into wondrous shapes, some playing house with coral, turquoise, lapis, and onyx in an unexpected way. Like something you’d see in a New York gallery.

Imogene It’s hard to see Annie Chau’s work and not whip out our credit card. Her playful silver sterling jewelry is shaped into seahorses, insect wings, and birds, and manages to be delicate but ultra-hip. Her signature “pretty in pink” ring with a coral, plastic flower adds punch to anything.

Jennifer King Designs Jennifer King’s pieces are bold, yet graceful. Some are gold with precious stones like London blue topaz, labradorite, iolote, and mystic topaz. Others are simple, like a sterling silver lotus blossom pendant or tree of life. King has an eye for detail and each piece—bracelet, necklace, earring, and ring—is perfectly crafted.

Jill Popowich Designs After traveling around the world with her work as an environmental graphic designer, Jill Popowich likes to pull from different cultures and her many experiences abroad. Each piece is an individual and takes on its own personality during the creative process, she says.

Liz Mathews A Towson University grad with a degree in metalsmithing and jewelry design, Liz Mathews’s pieces have an old-fashion flair with a modern twist. Most images are hand drawn or printed and colored on artist’s Lucite, including trains, butterflies, feathers, and ships.

Motobus Illustration Simple and delightful, Catherine Wang’s pins are inspired by Zakka—a Japanese design phenomenon that refers to anything that improves your home, life, and outlook. Find demon cats, ninjas, birds, spacemen, and monkeys tucked into one-inch buttons. Also, don’t miss her mini coloring books.

Pistol Designs Looking at Ali Dryer’s purses transports us to a different era. Her simple and geometric patterns evoke the mod-lover and her six different designs (from clutch to knitting bag) are practical for nearly every occasion. Plus, the hand-cut wood handles and vintage buttons make them truly one-of-a-kind.

Stephney Stephney Wallace works out of her home studio in Mt. Vernon, using her background as a silversmith to make jewelry out of new materials and recycled materials—like silver spoons and copper tubing from her plumbing. She prides herself on her re-fired colored glass jewelry set in silver—so beautifully crafted it’s two-sided.

Tigerlillyshop Allison Fomich, a Highlandtown resident, is a hunter. At least when it comes to her jewelry. She can be found scouring Patterson Park or the Baltimore Museum of Art Sculpture Garden for twigs, maple seeds, pinecones, acorns, and seedpods. She then uses electroforming to grow a thick layer of copper onto the organic object.

Which Goose Emily Zych loved playing dress-up as a little girl. Now, she creates gorgeous combs, headbands, and crowns inspired by nature, antiques, and fashion. Total fantasy, the pieces are made from various bits including woven wooden vines, dried leaves, acorns, and pinecones.

Beauty

Biggs & Featherbelle Sisters Kasey and Kelly Evick work out of a warehouse in Clipper Mill creating their handmade, health-conscious bodycare line of soaps, lip balms, bath soaks, belly balm, body scrubs, and body butter bars. They use botanicals, vitamins, vegetable and nut oils, and various herbs and spices. And it’s all packaged in recyclable paper.

Spa Therapy Works, LLC Abingdon’s Jussara Hurley, is a soap artisan—creating bath and shaving soaps, whipped body frostings, vegan deodorants, and hair treatments in scrumptious flavors like lemon meringue, sweet fig, pink cupcake, and vanilla ginger. Everything that promotes relaxation, pampering, and awareness of the environment inspires her.

Worn Dress Designs Maria Vashakidze, a current MICA student, started making soap and jewelry as inexpensive gifts for her friends. Her vegetable-based soaps are a blend of rich oils (ranging from olive to flax seed to avocado oil) and herbs (like sassafras, rose hips, and safflower) and come in scrumptious scents like Mexican hot chocolate. Her jewelry is hand drawn and painted with pen and ink on shrinkable plastic—and is both beautiful and affordable.

Clothing

Dennya Company Dyanne Marte believes every woman should look and feel good in her clothing. So she uses Modal/Spandex blended fabrics (machine washable and body friendly) to create handmade threads including wrap dresses and tunics in delicious colors like eggplant and bitter chocolate.

Nicolette Le Faye Yes, she’s the one with the weekly trapeze act at Club Charles. Now, onto her stuff. The Hampden resident has been studying fashion her entire life and started sketching when she was just 9 years old. Her collection—vintage inspired, a tad kooky, “attention grabbers,” she calls them—is displayed with great flourish on her site. Over the next few months, her style will include more recycled and environmentallyfriendly materials.

RayGun Robyn Robyn Anderson has a wicked sense of humor and it comes through in her goods and marketing. Her Etsy site proclaims: “Listen up, Citizens of Mars! No longer will you be forced into totalitarian Gap-wear! No longer shall you be drafted to serve in the Old Navy! . . . Don we now our raygun apparel!” Anderson’s site is loaded with retro/sci-fi felt hair clips (very large and very noticeable), fleece arm warmers, and T-shirts sporting everything from robots to squids.

Red Prairie Press Rachel Bone might just be one of Charm City’s most talented. Her hand printed tees, scarves, and totes are witty and smart—topped only by her gouache paintings that she sells individually or in a lovely calendar.

Squidfire A crafter success story. Two guys (Jean-Baptiste Regnard and Kevin Sherry) start making tees for men, women, and children. They expand to hoodies and jackets, messenger bags, and shoes. And just a few months ago they moved into their very own storefront in Hampden.

Paper

AlignwithDesign Yeona McEntire’s paper goods are incredibly charming. Each one is precisely perfect for the sentiment: elegant and contemporary for a “thinking of you” card, silly and retro for a birthday card. McEntire also produces gift tags so adorable they may actually one-up the gift.

Bowerbox Press MICA grad Val Lucas uses a 1901 Colt’s Armory Press rescued from a Baltimore basement. She does custom letterpress printing (announcements and invitations) and bookbinding by hand with found maps and charts. She’s inspired by patterns that occur naturally, especially the intricate details in maps of terrain and cities.

Miscelena At a young age, Anita Knight was taught the benefits of a hand-written note. Her simple and chic handmade cards—usually left blank inside for your own personal musings—will inspire you to put down the keyboard and pick up a pen.

Of Machines Kelly Laughlin’s site is filled with lovely wonders: beautiful card sets, journals, and the occasional earrings and necklaces. Items like her tiny leaves journal is made from a salvaged book board (headed for the trash) and recycled brown paper pages. Her greeting cards feature ink and watercolor designs printed on cardstock.

Phampersand Press Phuong X. Phan, a book conservator at the Smithsonian, carries that passion to her Etsy site. Phan creates interesting artist books and journals, one with Asian-inspired decorative paper, another with a Bush’s Baked Beans label—both bound with waxed thread. Plus, a beautiful embossed journal—perfect for slipping into your bag.

Sugar Paperie Monica Stroter creates beauty by embellishing her cards with found items: fabric, buttons, maps, trims, and lace. Her combinations are charming: vintage lace, floral paper, and a tiny shell or gingham ribbon and a hot pink vintage bead.

Three Wheels Design Vicki Shield’s road to design was a familiar one: She decided to create what she couldn’t find. Her birth announcements, birthday invitations, note cards, and personalized stationery are modern but still kid-friendly—with fun handcrafted patterns including giraffes, retro cards, and spaceships.

Home/Other

Benny and Heidi After Karen Park quit smoking, she started sewing to keep her hands busy. Her therapy is our gain. Using different fabrics she’s accumulated over the years, Park creates colorfully fun pillows and bags. And coming soon: a new site that’ll dabble in fashion.

Cotton Monster Jennifer Strunge, a puppeteer, makes her goofy/scary monsters out of recycled clothing and linens. Even with their bulging eyes and giant teeth, it’s hard to take them too seriously—what with their colorful fabric and soft bodies. The MICA fiber arts program grad promises no two monsters are alike—she also maintains that monsters need love, too.

Curious Zoo Though artist Leah Bloomfield has dabbled in almost everything (jewelry, knitting, pottery), she concentrates on art prints. They draw from the world of fantasy, featuring cats, birds, and even the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

Dear Frances Six years ago, woodworker Myles Poland came to Baltimore to apprentice with a family friend. He went out on his own four years later and started making handcrafted kitchenware out of his Bolton Hill basement shop. Last winter, a table saw accident put him out of work for some time, but he’s back to cranking out his two popular spatulas: a real simple flat version and a curvier one.

Green Room Lana Kole’s modern home goods include pillow duvets, coasters, placemats, mirror sets, and a new wedding collection. Kole works out of her sunny little design studio in West Baltimore and likes bold colors (fuchsia, emerald green), has a wicked sense of humor (see Little Drunken Bird Coasters), and is eco-conscious (she uses renewable, sustainable materials).

HVM Designs Creativity oozes from Heather von Marko. Her Etsy shop captures her spirit: mixed media collages, floral hair barrettes made of wool and angora, embroidered tree cards, and super original crocheted necklaces made from premium bamboo yarn.

Space Moderne The work of Momi Antonio-Barnes is as functional as it is beautiful. She uses ’70s-inspired felt designs for her iPod cases, wine pockets, clutches, and pillow case sets. A Hawaiian native, she also uses Polynesian floral designs to great effect.

TLane Tricia Lane-Foster spends a lot of time in the kitchen—well, her tea towels, lunch sacks, and totes do. Each product carries its own unique, but simple and modern handmade stencil. Lane-Foster draws inspiration from vintage kitchen items and road trips, and all of her work is re-usable and washable.

Yummy & Company Jennifer Wilfong—also known as “jenygwen”— is something of a Renaissance woman. While her background is in painting—and her abstract oil pieces are mesmerizing—she also sells jewelry, customized stationery, prints, and apparel. One unique touch? She actually sews designs directly onto her stationery to create a threaded, nostalgic look.

Ceramics/Glass

ClaycrazyPottery Judith Frederick lives and breathes pottery. She teaches ceramics at CCBC Essex for both kids and adults and is a member of the Potter’s Guild of Baltimore—a co-op of about 55 potters from the area. The cut outs she creates on the exterior walls set her pieces apart from more traditional pottery. And she is starting to dabble in Raku— a form of Japanese pottery characterized by low-firing temperatures.

Kiss My Crafts Busy with grad school and work, Sara Allred keeps her craft time silly. Finding inspiration in everything from billboards and bumper stickers to song lyrics, she uses the language in the world around her to create adorable, hand-painted clay tiles which can be used as coasters, trivets, or wall décor.

Van Wagoner Studios Megan Van Wagoner is inspired by the landscapes in Ohio where she grew up. She prints sketched images of farms, factories, and plants onto bowls, plates, vases, and mugs. She also makes smart art: impressing dimples on the surface of her coasters, for example, to collect condensation.

Babies/Kids

EllieBellieKids The best kid stuff is the kind that doesn’t plug in or need to be turned on. Jennifer Cooper’s tutus and capes are fueled by imagination. The perfectly crafted tutus, with yummy layers of tulle, come in girl-friendly hues like pink, lilac, and lavender—and are reversible. The classic capes are super-hero worthy with lightening bolts, stars, hearts, or monogrammed letters sewn on the back.

FortCloudy Because babies deserve more than ducks and teddy bears on their onesies, this bi-coastal business (out of Seattle and Baltimore) creates tot tees with characters like Walfred the Radish, Mr. Moustache, Sad Muffin, and, yes, Sal Monella, the fried egg. If you can stomach those—you’ll love the ninja plushies.

Presto Bingo Proving that kid art doesn’t have to be pastel or cutesy, this off-shoot of Spur Design, a graphic design and illustration company, creates animal, alien, and robot prints in modern shapes and hues. The limited edition giclée prints are reproduced with archival inks on cotton paper—and are a steal.

Sweet Pepita Because your kids should dress hipper than you do, designer Shannon Delanoy blends 100-percent organic cotton with thrifty T-shirts (Patti Ann’s Pizza Parlor, Sonic Youth) to make shirts and dresses, plus infant pixie hats, scarves, and bibs. Now your toddler can relive your youth.