plains and simple.

after making things and trying desperately to catch up on ethereal concerns, today's outings began with a visit to a much-recommended shop, spartan. housed on the ground floor of what looks to be a new condominium development, spartan shares its space (and one dividing wall) with bows and arrows, a harmonizing sister shop that tends more towards apparel. both stores sell housewares although spartan leans more towards gifts and paper. they occupy a space of cool southwestern design that snowy tourists like myself are easily taken by. there is really not much to say. both shops are so thoughtfully stocked and arranged that i may as well just let my pictures speak for themselves (click on any image to find out which shop it came from).

batting average.

we tried to see bats tonight and failed. i think we were too late. a free night dip in barton springs provided more than cold comfort, though. it has been under a week and we have already busted out the bathing suits twice. tour thus far = success.

free moustache rides.

i am sorry to admit that the crafty moustache trend has never entirely been my thing. i admire the work from afar but somehow it has never entirely gotten its hairy claws into me. maybe it is because i share my life with an awesome handlebar or maybe it is because my eastern european roots have me growing one of my own. regardless, when our friends jesse and darcy invited us out to this excellent austin taco stand i was thoroughly tickled to see it's accompanying moustache seesaw. i mean, c'mon.

ps - i am extra sheepish to admit my trend rebuffing because i have some great friends doing excellent work with moustaches. see? see? i am the worst kind of jerk.

bookstore cowboy.

guys, i just fell in love. i mean we connected, chatted for hours...it was amazing. i am so grateful to austin, renegade and will bryant for connecting me with the increbile domy books austin and it's singular manager/curator/shop daddy, russell. really, words can not express the fireworks of connection.

what's more? their current exhibition, as above so below, is a collection of secret society paraphernalia and influenced artwork curated and assembled by bruce lee webb. i thought aitor's head was going to pop open at the display. bruce and his partner julie also run a gallery and ephemera emporium called webb gallery in (relatively) nearbu waxahachie. after russell's description of it, we are really hopeful to arrange a visit while we pass through on our way to arkansas. if you are in the austin area, bruce is giving a talk about the exhibition at domy on saturday. i so wish i could be there, but the climb back up north calls us so we won't be around. if you go, feel free to regale me with reports. i would love to know some of the stories behind this collection and the stories of the objects within.

as if all this wasn't enough, you ca't do that on television was playing on a loop all day. oh, canada. i even spied some people i know on the screen! yes, canada can be that small.

domy, you have changed me forever and for the better. thank you. oh, and you can now find some sweetie pie button sets and zines there, austin.

birds of a feather.

oh. okay. okay.

factory showroom.

it has taken us only a handful of days to accumulate a massive karmic debt to leslie at the stitch lab here in austin. she housed us for the weekend, hooked us up with another place to stay for the rest of our visit, gave us a bunch of local tips and now has given us an afternoon and evening of space to commandeer at the stitch lab - her awesome supply shop and workshop hub.

this place is amazing. austin's only source for wool felt, a packed and varied workshop list (tonight it is screen printing in the next room), notions, vintage buttons and samples from all the workshops neatly displayed in every little corner. some places just feel immediately comfortable to me - like a slice of home...only better.

i even spotted a stitch-up of one of the new berkely illustration/sublime stitching collaborative patterns in the washroom. home sweet home, indeed.

well, back to work. opportunities like this are not to be squandered.

all taco, no angstin'.

i possibly just ate the best tacos of my life. i highly recommend the deep fried avocado with arugula. holy crap! these austin food trailers are blowing my mind. they really took the edge right off my sweaty morning of running around town trying to find an small yet consequential part for the new car. thanks for the recommendation, ron and leslie! my angst has been cured by good food.

ps - the title of this post is an attempt to best aitor at obtuse puns. you should visit his blog to see what i mean.

halfternoon.

i think this guy was on 'home improvement'. i like this town.

death and texas (or, things on which to rely).

my favourite screen prints by timber!


custom letterpress coaster station from andrew le & tim cook


examples from heidie kenney's diy doll kits

i am way too zonked to pull actual thoughts together so i am just going to leave you with a few favourite images from today. i was also too zonked to take the whole event in properly - such is the beginning of a tour. the exhaustion of touring can never compare with the exhaustion of leaving home and i am a couple days away from feeling stable again. i know that there were more awesome vendors lurking in the depths of this show that i did not find. what i did happen into was lovely enough but i wish i had the mind power to see more. my photos from the whole show can be found here. yeehaw! now, off to sample some home-infused drinks i have heard about here.

trailer culture.

i have heard a lot about food trailer culture in austin but only just had my first experience today. i feel that this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

lone stars (or renegade austin, day one).

today marked the first day of the second annual renegade craft fair austin. it was our first time doing this specific show and only the second time that austin has figured into our tours at all. texas is big and austin is very far away from everything (by american standards, anyway) so it was a great treat to find ourselves back in the lone start state.

we had a great time checking out all of the incredible interactive programming - including the friendship bracelet making station hosted by renegade (top) and the vintage baseball card set-up presented by local rock star collective, public school.

i even found a few moments right as the show was opening to build a brand new display for my diy security envelope installation kits (constructed from materials aquired on the way down, no less). the installation kits are a hard project to communicate to people, so i am hoping that this visual presentation will at least draw people in to ask questions.

and what launch of a tour would be complete without reunions and new friends? look below for some of the amazing crafters we collided with (berkley illustration, miss natalie/canoe, leah duncan). as per usual, i wish i could have collected so much stuff, but we restrained ourselves to two things on our touring survival list - a big key chain and little wood-burned pocket knife from miss natalie's new canoe line.

and now, if you will excuse me, i have a pool party to seek out.