emiko-o reware

You won’t want to miss my last holiday event of the year, happening today, Dec 3, from 4-7pm at Interstice Gallery in the Mission! If you haven’t been by the space yet for one of Shana’s previous events, make sure to come out this weekend and get in the holiday spirit with us. Today I’ll have TONS of LEGO jewelry for everyone on your gift list: NEW kids pendants and bracelets; long, swingy pendants on sterling chains; cufflinks, plus sophisticated new color combinations like Aura, Aegean, and Cashmere. I’ll have my full catalog handy to take Pre-Orders with FREE SHIPPING for items I don’t have on hand. My event is featured this week in THE LATEST AND GREATEST on BoldItalic.com.

Also, NEW LEGO Greeting Cards! So much fun to style and photograph, this is definitely going to be an annual, recurring product. Inspired by our Accessorize with Toys workshops and all those board game boards, I’ve made Upcycled Ornaments and Table Tops Trees, all which will be at the gallery this weekend. Not to mention the Hugging Dinosaurs ornament series (hard to resist the Golden Dinos, or anything spray painted gold, for that matter). If you’re on facebook, you can see the event posted there and also on Shana’s blog.

Speaking of ornaments, come by the gallery on Sat, Dec 4, from 1-4pm for our Ornament Making Party. Make your own ornaments from recycled game/toy parts and I’ll spray paint it gold to give it extra pizzazz. $20 gets you all the ornaments you can glue gun together, plus treats and mulled wine. It’s addictive, and you’re guaranteed to go home with successful projects, perhaps even gifts.  The SF Chronicle listed our Ornament Making Party as one of the Eight Great DIY Holiday Gift Workshops!

Interstice Gallery
3443 26th St, between Mission and Valencia, SF

Accessorize with Toys is rockin’ the holidays with Ornament making workshops this Thurs, Dec 2, from 6-10pm at The Workshop in SF. Robotix, Lincoln logs, LEGO, army men, and all sorts of toy parts, perfect for decking out the tree. Come ready to wield a glue gun and you’ll be hooked on the ornament-making train! The Workshop is making a party of it as well, providing brewskies and tunes by local djs. It will be a festive time; we’d love to see you there!

Our event is featured in SFStation’s Holiday Shopping Events: http://www.sfstation.com/holiday-shopping-a33531

WHERE: The Workshop
1798 McAllister @ Baker, SF
WHEN: Thurs, Dec 2, 6-10pm; 6-8pm kids welcome
HOW MUCH: $15 adults, $10 kids; It’s Open House, so you can wander in off the street and check it out before plunkin’ down cash

aegean slim bracelet

It’s been a crazy long week getting ready for (yes, Thanksgiving, but also) one of the two Holiday events that I’m doing this season, the first being HUGE, and THIS WEEKEND up in Sacramento! The 3-day, Holiday Art and Craft Festival presented by the Crocker Art Museum and Creative Arts League of Sacramento. They scouted me out at the ACC Fair this August and boy, am I glad to be in on a holiday show this big! Just wait til you see the NEW GOODS on my newly designed/crafted astroturf display area!  Not only more color combos and new LEGO jewelry, including more KIDS bracelets and new swingy long necklaces, but ALSO  LEGO Holiday Greeting Card, and ORNAMENTS. Deck out your tree with my upcycled Hugging Dinosaurs series as well as laser cut game board do-it-yourself ornaments. Even a TABLE TOP game board tree to hang all your great ornaments from!

Here are the details:
Where: Scottish Rite Center  6151 H Street, Sacramento
My Booth #: 114, in the back of the room, on an end of an isle
When: Fri, Nov 26, 1-7pm; Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm
Admission: $6 adults, $3 Students and Seniors, free for Crocker and CALS members

Hugging Dinosaurs ornament

It’s a non-stop fall season for me and my jewelry and workshop! This Saturday, Oct 2, from 10am-4pm I’ll be one of 12 artists selling work at The K11 Craft Sale over in Berkeley. K11 stands for Knit One One Studio which is normally a knitting studio/classroom and store run by Sile Convery. The Craft Sales are a monthly event, featuring different artists (this will be my first time showing here).  Sounds like it’s going to be a fun day, with refreshments provided for vendors and clients! Plus I’ve heard yummy things about Sweet Adeline Bakeshop which is a few doors down…

The other artists on board are: Koide Studio(ceramics), Jen Hewett Studio (printmaking/textiles), Hairphernalia (floral hairpieces), Fresh on Mondays (felted items), Clarine’s Florentines (florentines), HoneyComb Jewelry, Heathered, King Bag Company (recycled bags), Tinted Mint (eco friendly products), Peanoonies (vintage goods), Tiny Sparks Design (screen prints on wood).

I’ll have on hand some new merch such as Halloween earrings and minifig pendants for adults and kids, plus a ton more minifig earrings and slim pendants.

Here’s Jen, my awesome model from last week who I had a blast with photographing my work. She’s the new LEGO Girl Next Door, wouldn’t you say! She’s sporting quite a bit of new goods, including the minifig pendants, rainbow ss slim bracelet and the dreamy Aegean Limited Edition bracelet (inspired by my recent visits to Greece). Come to Berkeley and see for yourself!

COMING UP in OCT:
Oct 1, 6-8pm Opening Reception for The Plastic Show, Velvet da Vinci SF
Oct 7, 6-8pm: Accessorize with Toys Workshop at CA Academy of Sciences
Oct 24, 10am-5pm: Accessorize with Toys Workshop at East Bay Mini Maker Faire, Temescal

Celebrate the Fall Equinox with us this Thursday (Sept 23), 11:30am-1:30pm as we bring Accessorize with Toys to Green Zebra for their Power Hour lunchtime event! Green Zebra Environmental Action Center is a great community resource for many of your eco needs. You may know them best by the great coupon book they publish, highlighting eco companies in the Bay Area. Recycle your batteries, bulbs, and come get valuable info on how you can lessen your carbon footprint.

projects made at SCRAP workshop

Why spend your lunch hour in the office? Come down to the Crocker Galleria, lower level (enter on Sutter Street side) and make jewelry with us: charm bracelets, expressive badges, necklaces, keychains! Super easy to get to: take Muni/Bart to the Montgomery St station, and the Galleria is on 50 Post @  Montgomery. Class fee is $10.

brooch made at SCRAP workshop

Then on Friday, Sept 24, 4-7pm join us for our Artist Reception Happy Hour at Green Zebra, celebrating our recycled jewelry art show, “From Geekery to Regality: Beauty in Reuse”. My Metal Arts Critique Collective (M.A.C.) has been showing a selection of our recycled jewelry work in the window of Green Zebra for their Eco Fashion Month. Open your minds to the creative possibilities in circuit boards and recycled & familiar plastics.

Meet the artists, have a bite and drink, and peruse the selection of smaller, ready-to-wear jewelry for sale (bling yourself out for your dinner date!). Party ends at 7 (gates close then), so come early!

See more from M.A.C. on the web: http://critiquecollective.rewarestyle.com/

Accessorize with Toys Workshop @ Green Zebra
Thurs, Sept 23, 11:30-1:30pm
$10 class fee

From Geekery to Regality: Beauty in Reuse
Recycled jewelry by the Metal Arts Critique Collective
Sept 1-30 with Artist Reception Friday, Sept 24, 4-7pm

BOTH EVENTS HELD AT: Green Zebra in the Crocker Galleria
50 Post Street @ Montgomery, SF

I’m super excited that we’ll be doing our Accessorize with Toys Workshop for the 2nd time at SCRAP! Happening this Saturday, Aug 28 from 1-4pm at SCRAP’s main location 801 Toland St @ Newcomb (off of Bayshore). We just went last week to SCRAP to scrounge around for precious toy parts and we scored BIG, so come to the workshop and partake in our trashures!

Continuing the fun of charm bracelets, key chains, expressive name badges, and necklaces — learn how to cold connect alternative materials, whether it be riveting, grometting or wire working. We’ll help you actualize your vision. Bring personal, special  pieces from home to incorporate into your wearable projects. Read more on SCRAP’s webpage (they recently redesigned their site and it’s mighty attractive!).

Next on the workshop front: Power Hour Lunch workshop at Green Zebra, Thurs, Sept 23 from 11:30am-1:30pm. $10 fee. Drop-ins welcome. Bring a friend and spread the crafting love!

For those in the SF area, grab today’s SF Chronicle and turn to the Home and Garden section to see the interview by Nancy Davis Ko about my work and the upcoming American Craft Council show at Fort Mason this weekend! My first time selling at this national craft show, very exciting! The SFGate article is already online and there are so many  photos of my work and me in the studio, it’s fantastic!

Only a few more days to prep all the new work I’ll be bringing to the show, some of which were creatively captured by SF Chronicle photographer, Lea Suzuki. Come by this weekend and see more of what is hot off the bench. I’ll be in the Fort Mason FESTIVAL PAVILION up in the Mezzanine in the ALT CRAFT section.
WHEN: Friday, Aug 13, 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm.
ENTRY FEE: $12 admission for one day, $18 for 2-day pass. Come Friday after 5pm and only pay $5 (think wine bar and hands-on crafting with Etsy).

BIG NEWS–I’m going to be set up to take credit cards at the show (Visa, MC, Discover) and soon to implement on my website, thanks to ACC hooking me up with a Professional Membership and great rates with Payment Alliance. Hope to see you this weekend and look for my large pink banner…

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 months since I last posted, but here we are again, gearing up for another Accessorize with Toys crafting marathon! This weekend we’ll be at Renegade Craft Fair at the SF Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (the large building way out back by the water), 11am -7pm. This year the organizers have really upped the ante by making this much more than a crafting bazaar selling of wares. Upstairs in the Mezzanine will be a Craft Hub, which is where we’ll be, along with other hands-on workshops by SCRAP and Etsy! Food, drink, and even live music! Best of all, it’s FREE entry (’cause they know you’ll for sure spend some greenbacks once you’re in).

We’ll be doing decorative badges, keychains, and bracelets the entire weekend, so stop by and make something with us. As always, we encourage people to bring favorite parts and bits from home to make their creations extra personal. Like last year, we are asking for a $5 donation per project to cover our material and booth costs. However, if you bring us a DONATION of small Toy or Game PARTS, you get to make a FREE PROJECT.

Take a minute to check out the Renegade Craft Fair site (we’re the first on the list of artists/vendors!) to plan your course of crafting action for the weekend.
Stay posted on our latest news and upcoming events and photos on our Facebook page. The map to the fair is linked there. Become a fan right now!

It’s that time of year again for the awe-inspiring, 2-day extravaganza that is Maker Faire! May 22-23 at the San Mateo Event Center. And yes, Accessorize with Toys workshop will be there for its 5th year, and finally this time in the Expo Hall where we best belong! We’re going to be in the craft section of the hall, somewhat near LEGO (very fitting for me, yes indeed). I know many of you missed us last year as we were in the Show Barn with Tech Shop, but this year we should be much more accessible.

And now Accessorize has a FACEBOOK FAN PAGE! Can you believe it – well, you can help us out right now by becoming a fan so that we can get our URL. We only need 44 more to go!

This year we have some projects for people to create: Personalized Name Badges, key chains (level: Easy), and Expressive Charm Bracelets (level: Advanced). To cover our costs so we can continue to bring the workshop to you, we’re asking people for a donation of $3 per project made. So don’t forget to bring some change with you! And of course bring some of your favorite toy or plastic parts from home to incorporate into your projects or just bring to donate. Nowadays Goodwill and other thrift stores are not accepting toy donations, so bring them to us – as long as they are smaller than 2″.

Here’s the skinny on the event:
When: Saturday, May 22, 11am-6pm; Sunday, May 23, Noon-5pm
Where: San Mateo Expo Center (where the county fair takes place). Parking is $17 (yikes!) but free parking is a 15 min walk away at Franklin Templeton. Check out the Maker Faire link on getting there. Carpool with your peeps! Caltrain and Sam Trans buses are great ways to take public transit there.
Cost: entry to Maker Faire starts at $20 for advance adult tickets, less for youth and students, MORE if you purchase at the gate. To make a project with us is a suggested donation of $3 per project.

Hope to see you there!

emiko interviewed for SF Chronicle

It’s been a busy press month for me thanks to the fine PR efforts in conjunction with the Palo Alto Art Center’s STYLE 2010 upcoming trunk show, this coming Saturday, April 24! In this Sunday’s SF Chronicle’s Style section, I was interviewed by the lovely Jeanne Cooper about my emiko-o reware jewelry from LEGO (see the pink outlined section in the article above). My Pink Martini bracelet looks fabulous in print, and even better online in the SFgate.com article, where my Mondrian bracelet is also featured (see image below). Check out the online article and photos.

Mondrian bracelet by emiko-o

Also, for all my facebook Fans and friends, you already know about the use of my large LEGO necklaces in the current issues of both Gentry Magazine and Scene Magazine (San Jose Mercury News Spring edition). It’s non-stop but it’s the only way I operate I suppose…

Gentry Magazine April 2010

San Jose Mercury News SCENE magazine Spring 2010

And even Metro Silicon Valley newspaper interviewed me and hit the stands this past Thursday, April 15, which I sadly missed getting being up here in SF (drudging through taxes and the dreaded check writing). Hopefully I’ll get my hands on a copy and can share with you all soon!

Come say hi to me this Saturday from 10am-5pm at STYLE 2010 at the Palo Alto Art Center:
1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto 94303
The trunk show is an annual fundraiser for the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation. Buy for a great cause, take note from my dear  friend Liz Brown, seen here wearing my silver hubs trio necklace on her way to Chicago!

Liz in my silver hubs trio necklace