The U.C.C Blog Has Moved!

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Thank you!

Indie Holiday Craft Fair

We recently got the wonderful opportunity to sponsor a FREE local indie craft fair called The Pehr Space (craft) happening this Saturday December 13 from 5-midnight. (An evening craft fair! How fantastic!) Pehrspace is an amazing little art space/music venue located in Historic Filipino town. (325 Glendlae Blvd. 90026 to be exact, look for a small plaza of shops).

Stop by and enjoy hot apple cider, scarf a vegan hot dog outside, check out indie bands and meet local craftsters. If you've ever thought that L.A is without a strong crafting community, let this be the event that proves you wrong.

We will be there, so please say hello. You can't miss us. We will be in the very front just as you walk inside with needle felting demos, mini felt kits and our holiday favorites from the store. We can't wait to meet new friends and see familiar faces.

For more information please visit http://thepehrspacecraft.blogspot.com/

Create! Create! Create!

Book Reading Craftacular!

There's nothing like a truly inspiring idea to light the spark in your belly that helps you create. When we saw that Maura Madden's new book, Crafternoon: A Guide to Getting Artsy and Crafty With Your Friends All Year Long has an entire year's worth of inspiration, we just had to plan an event to celebrate. Not only does she offer project instructions, but ideas to make your craft parties and get togethers a success as well. Now that's bringing community and creativity together! 

Maura will be reading from and signing her book at our studio and we will be giving away two signed copies at the end of the evening!

Maura Madden presents......

Crafternoon: A Guide to Getting Artsy and Crafty With Your Friends All Year Long.

Date: Monday December 8th

Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.

We love all of her ideas. The only addition we would have made is a special section about planning your craft parties at The U.C.C! 

We hope to see a lot of you on the 8th. In the meantime, don't hesitate to bring those unfinished projects out of your home and into our studio. We have plenty of space to work in, books to explore and equipment to utilize. 

Gobble Gobble!

OUR GRAND OPENING HAS ARRIVED!!!

We are excited to announce that our Grand Opening will take place this Sunday November 23rd from 10-4. If you haven't already dropped in to craft, take a class or just say hello, we are located on 2433 Main St. in the Edgemar building. Stop by the Farmers Market on your way to the celebration. The creators of an amazing shopping cart christmas tree sculpture (yes, really!) are putting the finishing touches in the courtyard today and we're all getting ready for the holiday crafts to roll on in!

Join us by the tree tomorrow for free kids craft demos outside and adult craft demos in our studio. We will have raffles throughout the day so come early :-)

Bring your craft projects along with you, because we are also offering 

FREE STUDIO TIME all day! Use one of our brand new sewing machines or get to work on your holiday scrapbooks. We are excited to debut our updated winter class list and holiday class specials as well. 

Finally, we know that a lot of you have been patiently awaiting our website. 

Well, it is coming soon....very soon....we promise.... :-) 

Thank you to everyone in the craft community for your support of the U.C.C. We are enthusiastic to watch your ideas grow into projects and for us all to share and support each other as we create! create! create!

See You Soon :-)

The Urban Craft Center goes to Felt Club!

Q: Is Felt Club all about Felt?
A: No! No! It's all about crafts!


We have plans for you this Sunday afternoon! Come to Felt Club, November 16th at the Shrine Auditorium. It's one of the biggest and most exciting craft events in the country...we are one of their sponsors and we will most certainly be there with a booth and goodies to share. We can't wait to see all of our friends' crafty faces as we celebrate the love to create!
www.feltclub.com


Introducing....Lil' Orange, Lil' Mushroom and Lil' Whale.
Our mini needle felted friends will be strutting down the red carpet in little kits for you to pick up and make at home. These kits are only available at our booth at Felt Club.

Have a wonderful weekend, we hope to see you soon.
Next up...our Grand Opening November 23rd :-) Exciting news to come

Open at long last!!!!

Yes Friends, the wait is finally over! We are thrilled to announce that both the studio and shop are open!!!! (There just aren't enough exclamation points in the world for how overjoyed we are)! The journey she has been long, she has been tough, she has been tedious and tear-jerking at times. But doesn't that make it all the more wonderful that we are finally open? Sure does.

Come visit us- our giant orange sofa is soo lonely! Our new sewing machines sit, waiting to be used, and our tables lay wide open, screaming "COME CRAFT WITH US!!"

Shop the most fantastic assortment of crafty goods in L.A. and take some fun classes with our awesome in-house teachers!

The Countdown is almost over.....

....to our soft opening next week and our GRAND OPENING November 23rd!!! The shelves are filling up with colorful balls of yarn, luscious bolts of fabric and all kinds of goodies to complete the simplest to the most ambitious crafting adventures.
Here are a few sneak peak photos of what you will be able to see at the U.C.C next week:
prints! prints! prints!

books and kits and supplies, oh my!

worsted! bulky! soft and silky!


Sign up for our newsletter to get more details about our November 8th celebration, or better yet, stop in and say hello. We are excited for the crafting community to have a place to come together, build friendships, inspire one another and of course...CREATE!
See you soon!

Girls with Big Balls

What did you think I meant?

I would like you all to meet BB-short for Big Ball, our official mascot for the UCC. BB is the result of 2 days of winding yarn, but she is 100% pure wool-all yarn, no artificial filler. I invite you all to come and check her out in person. And try to pick her up.

Angharad

PS-the birthing process:

Linocuts

A beautiful multi-colored print, found here:

On fine Japanese paper, found here:

You can even use fabric paint with your linocut, here used on cotton tape:

-Carolyn

Bead people

More playin' around with beads and wire:

Angharad made the top row,

I made the bottom two.

-Carolyn

Faux embroidery...

Don't these pieces look like they were embroidered? Onto leather or something...





It's polymer clay! The artist is Jennifer Morris ,found here.


-Carolyn

Novel threads

Can you tell I love embroidery? It's so versatile!

-Carolyn

found herefound here

Beaded Earrings

Playin' around with beads and wire.

-Carolyn

Vinyl - the next frontier

Look what people are doing with vinyl : these are all different designers : how cool!

Basically, these are stickers. Be sure that where you place it is truly its final resting position. Removal involves scraping it off, so your best bet is porcelain, or tile, or stone. On paint? That takes dedication!

-Carolyn

one

two

three / four

five

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Big News

We're moving!!! Yes, our lease is up and we're tired of the parking issues, the temperature issues and the "can't find you after driving around for an hour" issues. We think Main street is more our vibe anyway, so we hope you'll follow us to our new location in the historic Edgemar building. 2433 Main street to be exact, with a Pete's coffee, Ben and Jerry's, and Urth cafe right outside our door. And have I mentioned the abundant parking?

To celebrate the move we're throwing a free craft party! Friday, May 30th from 6 pm onwards-bring your favorite project, your favorite friends, and your favorite drinks and craft the night away with us. We'll have door prizes and felting and craft projects out on the tables-so come and help us kiss this place goodbye!

Angharad

PS-visit our website and sign up for our newsletter to receive updates, special coupons and to find out when our grand reopening will be!

the story of three little piggies

I've been inspired by the zakka felting books that we have in our extensive library. At first I was just going to make a white felt sheet to make little coasters but then..it started to look a like a pig to me...so I grabbed the little grab bag of felt bits and before I knew it...I had a pig with two little orange birth marks....then I decided to add a mustache. Not a complete hit but I like it. Then I decided...well, I like things in sets. And I made two more.

It reminds me of the needle felted Christmas tree that I made when I was a student here a while ago...
that grew tentacles...
and then became a squid.



-Jamie

Polymer Clay Bowl

-Carolyn

Hand embroidered wares:

Jan Constantine of the UK sells beautiful hand-embroidered pillows:

-Carolyn

(actually it's the trout pillow I really want)

Finally finished with my wet felt!

It's a cosy for a tiny....tiny teapot.


Here's my wet felted wool sheet. More to come soon!


-Jamie

tribble...what is this???? A little vibrating plushie that I made at Makerfaire

My little tribble which I made at makerfaire was originally going to b this little cuddly bunny...that turned into this shapeless rounded rectangle. It's called a tribble because we added a little cell phone motor that turns when you press the little silver button. Rachael and Annie, our instructors, taught us how to create these little plushes from scratch....and you can make one too! Just follow these instructions [link].


Tribbles are apparently supposed to be hugable heart pillows...not shapeless blobs...but it was fun! It's also featured in this quarter's craftzine if you subscribe to it.


- Jamie