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Maker Faire expanded this year with a whole section of the expo devoted to crafts inspired by Make magazine spinoff Craft. Two crafters stood out: Lauren Smash, who draws and sews insanely cute felt plush toys; and designer Martin Hsu, whose t-shirt silkscreens had elaborate, quirky stories behind them.
Smash, who started out as a cartoonist, began turning her drawings into stuffed animals when she taught herself to sew last year. Her animals aren't the typical bunnies and dogs – instead, she prefers "monkeys, pigs, skunks, and kangaroos." She says it takes about one or two hours to create each piece, and that her crafting has helped her realize that her silly drawings aren't so silly after all. Plus, she has developed at least one law of cuteness: "The bigger the nose, the better." You can see the cute-tastic big noses on her pigs in the picture above.
Martin Hsu, a designer from Los Angeles, had a display of his books, prints, and several t-shirts. One t-shirt featured a creature he'd dubbed "Octobunny," a giant sea animal with a bunny head and octopus body that had just grabbed a submarine. "But Octobunny made a mistake," Hsu explained. "He's actually a vegetarian, and he just wanted to eat a carrot." Unfortunately, Octobunny was a bit confused because the sub was shaped like a carrot. Poor Octobunny. Lucky us, however, that Hsu has celebrated Octobunny's dilemma on t-shirts (above). He had several other great designs, including one of the Buddha in a gasmask (available in Hsu's online shop), "inspired by the air quality in LA."
Hsu was just one of many talented silkscreeners at the Maker Faire. Another standout was the excellent Social Studies Design, whose terrific shirts with pens silkscreened into the pockets were going like hotcakes – I got one of the last in small.
