December 16th, 2010

Thinking back to our Kid’s Camp over summer, I can’t wait for this time around! I’m hoping we’ll see some familiar faces from last time, and new friends too, of course! Even though the week was a sticky vortex of glitter, glue, and googly eyes, I know I speak for all of us at The UCC when I say it was one of our favorite endeavors to date. There are few things cooler than seeing kids genuinely excited about making things. It’s inspiring to have students so eager to learn what we’re teaching, and to see how their imaginations make it their own. The crafts we’ll be doing with the kids this month are some of my personal favorites, and I can’t wait to see the kids creations and learn a thing or two from them in the process. If you’d like more information about the day camp, you can download our December class schedule or simply give us a call. Happy Holidays, stay crafty!

November 24th, 2010

Lil’ Craft Camp
Level: Beginners ages 4-7
Monday, December 20th – Thursday, December 23rd, 11am-2pm
Four session class, materials included.
$245 for the week

Monday: Hand-crafted Nature Wands, Pressed Flower Necklaces, & Finger-knitting
Using slender sticks of sycamore and willow we will create our own bubble-making wands from copper wire wrapped with beautiful yarns. (Includes making your own bubble solution and decorating it’s container)
We will also read the beautifully illustrated children’s story “The Willow Maiden” and then create necklaces from willow wood, pressed flowers, ferns, and hemp string. Children will take home their wands and necklaces in beautiful handmade linen bags which they will finger knit straps for.

Tuesday: Candle-making and Children’s Tibetan Prayer Flags
Using sheets of beeswax in natural shades made from plant-based colorants, children will create a set of their own candles embellished with beautiful designs. (*No flame, heat, or melting is involved.)
Then using merino wool felt wool, children will design, sew, and embellish their own “prayer flags”. This activity is loosely based on elements found in traditional Tibetan prayer flags, touching upon the idea that the “Wind Horse” will carry the images and messages on the flags (centered around peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom) into the surrounding space and to all beings. Thich Nat Hanh’s beautiful children’s book “Hermit and the Well” will accompany this activity.

Wednesday: Soap & Mold Making
Children will experience the excitement, joy, and satisfaction of making their own soaps! First we will create our own molds by pressing an array of materials into a flexible re-usable putty. Then using a melt and pour goat’s milk base, we will create all-natural delicious smelling soaps using organic herbs and spices, cosmetic grade french clays, and plant-based colorants. Each child will create one mold and 2-3 bars of soap, as well as wrapping and labeling their soaps. (*As the soap base is a melt and pour one, no lye or other harsh chemicals are being used or handled and there will be adult assistance in pouring the melted soap base into molds.)

Thursday: Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Using Vietnamese rice paper, and an array of colorful vegetables and herbs, we will make our own Vietnamese spring rolls, complete with dipping sauce. Children will enjoy the sculptural feel of the rice paper as it soaks in warm water, smelling the aromatic herbs, tearing and cutting the brightly-colored veggies, and tasting the fruits of their labor! They will also decorate a set of reusable chopsticks, and a carrying container for their finished spring rolls. (*No cooking is involved and the ingredients are all vegetarian. There is an option for sweet and sour sauce in case of peanut allergies. The children will use butter knives to cut the veggies.)

Meet the Instructor: Nicole Ichtertz
Nicole was trained as an artist and has been teaching art to children for the past 3 years. She lives in Redondo Beach, and is a volunteer handwork assistant at two local Waldorf schools. She currently teaches knitting, weaving, and embroidery to children ages 4-11. Through a friend, she discovered the art of soap making and has taught workshops to children and adults to create uniquely beautiful molds and soaps using objects from nature.

October 20th, 2010

During the month of November we’re going to be guerilla crafting the West Side, and in honor of Angharad’s birthday today, we gave her car a yarn bombing to celebrate. :-)

October 3rd, 2010

Halloween is the best time of year to be hanging out in a craft store all day. (Halloween, and the winter holidays. And birthdays. And the rest of the year . . . ) If you like candy, not only do we have an awesome array of books spanning from Truffles, Candies and Confections all the way to Cake Pops, but we also have colorful foil wrappers for homemade candy and Martha Stewart’s Gothic Cupcake Wrappers.

If your crafting tastes run toward the functional, check out our adorable Super Scary Bat Bag class for a handmade must for Trick or Treating. Cheryl Cambras, known for her Happy Luscious Crocheted Ice Cream and Terrifying Yeti classes, has created a new fall project. Open to beginners and experienced crocheters, come and craft up some spooky fun for Halloween!

Want a new spin for your yarn and fiber crafts? Come and learn Amigurumi – an incredibly versatile style of crocheting in the round. Originating in Japan, this style of crochet has made its mark on the States in the form of simple yet expressive little creatures. Taking inspiration from the book Creepy Cute Crochet, our store is now haunted by miniature ghoulies and beasties getting ready for some holiday fun.

We’ve been talking about doing a Sugar Skull class for months, and all of our research has pointed us straight to Angela Villalba. Angela teaches her workshops internationally, spreading her infectious enthusiasm for this unique art form and colorful holiday. In preparation for Angela’s Sugar Skull and Papel Picado class on the 16th we’re carrying a variety of sugar skull molds and supplies, and are having a great time trying our hand at edible art.

August 28th, 2010

The Urban Craft Center is bringing some classy crafting to Food & Wine’s Taste of Beverly Hills. Put on by KCRW, this delicious extravaganza is a series of events, tastings and talks starting on Thursday and continuing through Sunday. We at the UCC are going to be making our crafty contribution in the form of five handmade aprons made from fabric in our studio.

Pics to come!

August 19th, 2010

There are tons of books that just arrived here at The Urban Craft Center! Books on how to knit animals & toys for kids, simple projects for you and your children that encourage imagination, green sewing ideas, vintage clothes reconstruction etc. We got a few specialty cook books with subjects like canning, cake decorating, chocolate making with nuts and fruits, candy making, booze cakes (yes I said booze cakes) and a couple of my favorites I wrote about below…

My obsession is with the classic Thai soup, Tom Kah Kai, (I prefer tofu substituted for chicken) a spicy coconut soup with lemongrass and more. The unique flavors of the soup have let me to an obsession with all things coconut. Coconut ice cream, coconut lime cupcakes, young coconuts that I crack open myself with a cleaver, etc. The book “The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato & Sorbetto” has an amazing recipe for coconut lemongrass sorbetto that I tried out last week. The creaminess of the coconut balanced with the light herbal citrus flavor of lemongrass was such a tasty treat! There are hundreds of other recipes to choose from like green tea gelato, Mexican chocolate gelato, pomegranate champagne sorbetto, blood orange sorbetto, and maple gingersnap gelato, just to name a few of my favs. You can even make your own simple syrup, which turns out to be just sugar and water heated up! With all the food science that is often present in manufactured ice cream, it really feels good to know exactly what is in your frozen treats.

Another foodie book we got in is “Porch Parties, Cocktail Recipes and Easy Ideas for Outdoor Entertaining.” This book has over 50 recipes for simple cocktails, as well as non-alcoholic drinks, many of which use blended fresh fruit sure to gussy up any party or get-together. There is so much inspiration here, including simple classics like an Arnold Palmer (lemonade and Iced Tea) and recipes I would never think to make and already love like Hibiscus punch or Agua Fresca de Honeydew. These recipes pair perfectly in glass serving pitchers with spigot tops, topped with thinly sliced fresh lemon. These serving pitchers are fun to find at flea markets and some of them are really fancy, tall, vintage apothecary jars with glass etching and pedestals. To balance out all these indulgent drinks, the book also includes a section of hors d’oeuvres like cherry tomatoes filled with jalapeno pimiento cheese goodness, baby crab cakes w/ lemon garlic aioli and fig and walnut brie.

Friends are always impressed with new things I cook, but I honestly feel like I’m cheating a little, because I’m just following steps from my cookbook! There’s something exciting about cooking a new tasty recipe that makes the energy in the house a little more lively, a little less boring,

August 18th, 2010

In a timeless tale of skill against skill, there is a competition a-brewing here at the Urban Craft Center.

It’s happened to all of us. We see our friends breaking out their most impressive projects and we feel the need to show off our own skills. Occasionally bragging will ensure, and sometimes a dare or two will slip into an otherwise civil conversation. Last night when Amy brought out her new quilt project, she discovered Rhea also had a quilt project in the works. Two crafters, two projects, both at the same stage of completion. What began with a few harmless jokes ended in a challenge; a race to see who would finish their quilt first.

The odds are difficult to judge. While Rhea’s quilt is certainly bigger, Amy is trying a new sort of binding on this quilt and may run into a few problems while mastering the new technique. With the outcome so uncertain, excitement is definitely in the air at the UCC.

August 18th, 2010

Special guest instructor and local artist Nicole Stevenson of Random Nicole is moving north for the winter and leaving us to finish up her masters degree in San Francisco. Not one to fade quietly into the sunset of the Golden Gate, Nicole has gone out with a bang of three fantastic classes; Transform your Tees, Soy Candlemaking and Spa Goodies.

In Transform Your Tees students had the opportunity to explore different kinds of alterations on their favorite shirts, from adding fabric embellishments to screenprinting new designs. Our soy candlemakers left the class with a collection of all natural soy candles, individually scented with a variety of essential oils and personalized in decoupaged jars. Spa Goodies students learned how to make a full line of natural bath treats designed to pamper and indulge, from bath salt sachets to handmade soap to lip gloss!