Summer Urban Craft Uprising!

This weekend we'll be at the first Summer Urban Craft Uprising (UCU) indie craft show!

When: Aug 1st-2nd, Sat/Sun 11am-5pm

Where: Seattle Center Exhibition Hall (map)

What: Seattle's biggest indie craft show with a wide array of handmade goods, workshops, book signing, and more!

Why: Do you really need to ask? My answer to you is....why the hell not? it's gonna be 100+ degrees in Seattle this weekend (miserable!!), and why not come hang out inside at UCU to cool off and check out awesome stuff? You can do some shopping, meet some people, and then go back out to the giant dome fountain at the Seattle Center to have more fun! I think I might even do that during my lunch break. :D

We will have some new items like these wooden plant labels for your garden or plants! Every plant needs a friend just like all of us!
Another new exciting items we're gonna have are these notebooks we're debuting at UCU! These are made with LOVELY hand printed fabric by Isabelle of Piano Nobile. We recently befriended Isabelle and Nicholas and they're wonderful enough to print these fabric in time for us to sell at the show! I'm drooling over them myself....don't worry, I'll wipe off my drool.

We'll also have tons of other items marked down, too! I mean, who doesn't like to brag about how good of a deal they got, right?AND our dear and super talented friend, Ingrid will be selling her awesome bags at our booth as well! I'm totally excited to see what she'll be bringing!

So lot of exciting things...so come by to check out our stuff and say hello!!..... and while your at it bring us some ice cone or treat, too! :D

Hope to see you there!

Meeting the Neighbors: Piano Nobile

Through a series of events and connections this Spring, we've been lucky to meet some nearby and very talented neighbors! Isabelle and Nickolas, founders of Piano Nobile are a short bike ride away from us in Ballard - and we have some exciting things brewing with them.

If you're in Ballard this Friday or Saturday, stop by Piano Nobile's home/studio for a Summer Studio Sale. Part of the City Stimulus event running all week to encourage folks to shop local - it's a great opportunity to do a little shopping and check out a stellar transformation in the Ballard industrial zone. Prepare yourself to get incredibly jealous of PN's space, talent, resources, furnishings, dog, Vanagon, and Volvo. The sale features handmade goods by some fantastic local designers and we feel flattered to be included in such a group.
We met with Isabelle last Monday. Over coffee, berries, and coffee cake - we decided to do some collaborating! Isabelle has been printing her own textiles for home and personal accessories, so her scrap bin contains a lot of high quality fabrics. The following pictures feature the various patterns and pieces she gave us, and what we did with them.



Anyone want a silk dupioni notebook? Perhaps taffeta or linen is more your style? These beauties make their debut at the Piano Nobile Studio Sale and are just the teaser for what we have in store for the Fall!

Piano Nobile Studio Sale
Fri&Sat July 17th&18th
11am - 6pm
908 NW 50th St
Seattle WA 98107

Bleach Fun!

New Chikabird bleached hoodies and track jackets! We got inspired by our friend, Dave, who used this process. We just love how every print is different with subtle variations.
We'll be selling them at the LA & SF Renegade show!

The process is pretty simple, but the result looks more than ordinary. The possibility to play with layers makes it super fun. It's easy to do and the materials needed it is so minimal that you can literally do it in couple hours. Here's a step-by-step instruction, so you can try it, too!
Step 1: Make a stencil with waterproof sheet. We used a medium weight Mylar here.
Step 2: Mix 50/50 bleach & water in a spray bottle.
Step 3: Spray back of Mylar with light adhesive spray to keep stencil secure.
Step 4: Use a the mist setting on spray bottle and try to spray evenly over the areas you want to cover. Dab any extra residue on the surface with a rag.
Step 5: Wait and watch the magic happen! You can see the color change immediately. It's so much fun to watch.
Step 6: Peel off stencil when you've achieved the result you want. The time can vary since you can play with something really subtle with less time, or let it sit longer with more contrast.
Step 7: Wash it in the washing machine right after to set the bleach so it doesn't continue the bleaching process. Ta-da, you're done!!

The best part about this process is that you can really play around with the bleaching time, layering, and even different texture. I like to overlap the stencil so it just adds another layer of visual interest.

Oh and look!! It's Hammer pants! Get it?.....it's a Hammer...with pants??
That was a little funny accident where the fold was....
Have fun!

Chikabird is going on tour!

Any volunteer roadies out there? We compensate with snacks, grateful smiles, barked orders and frazzled misdirection. Ha... ha... just kidding! I think we're all set with fantastic hosting and helpers for our 10 day tour of Southern California, and have plans to meet up with friends along the way. 10 days feels like a long time to be away from Seattle in the Summertime, but here we go!

This weekend we'll be in Los Angeles for the Renegade Craft Fair! Come see us and our new sweatshirts, Patch Kits, wooden buttons, and Plant Pals(tm). These haven't made it to Etsy yet, so get 'em while they're hot! The following weekend, we'll be in lovely San Francisco for Renegade, where I'll try to set a personal record for burritos eaten in a 5 day period. Sorry Jean.

Side missions: Jesse has give us the assignment to scope out the new Intelligencia "concept store" on Venice Beach. Visiting our fave shops in the Mission - Little Otsu here we come! Any other must-do recommendations?