The Toronto Craft Alert is a community hub and online service for craft, DIY and design related activity happening locally. We serve the Toronto-area craft community by:
- Informing readers about local designers, craft fairs, projects, exhibitions, material suppliers, and learning opportunities;
- Supporting local makers by promoting their work, exhibitions & sales; and
- Connecting those engaged in craft loving & making through on and offline activities as well as an online forum
Exciting new content is frequently being added to the site – stay on top of it by joining our mailing list, a weekly(ish) digest of all posts organized into categories.
The Toronto Craft Alert is not just a listing service! We have have developed a number of unique columns and features to meet the unique needs of our readers, found on our Browse page. We also work with businesses and organizations such as the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, The Ontario Crafts Council, The Textile Museum of Canada, the One of A Kind Show & the workroom in presenting innovative crafty initiatives.
The TCA plans many of their offline activities in collaboration with City of Craft, a craft collective that aims to build community amongst crafters in Toronto, support independent craft businesses, and encourage the larger community to get involved with crafty happenings in the city. View the City of Craft website for our latest activities.
TCA Team
CREW
Jen Anisef first experienced the power of craft when she spent a year in rural Japan in and was blown away by the importance of handwork in the lives of everyone from little kids to the elderly. Upon returning to Canada she has been involved in a whirlwind of crafty activity which has included writing a Master’s thesis on indie craft culture, co-founding the Montreal Church of Craft & City of Craft, and spawning the Toronto Craft Alert. Jen eagerly awaits the day when she has time to make stuff again.
Amy Borkwood is a bookbinder and freelance arts-writer living in Toronto. Her bookworks can be found at her online shop, Nightjar Books.
Tasha Caswell is a bit of a dabbler: she’s attempted knitting, spinning, dyeing, sewing, quilting, drawing, screen printing, lino block printing, and ceramics. Right now she’s focusing on quilting and sewing, and hopes to start dyeing and printing her own fabric. Photography is also a major part of her life, to the point that she is beyond dabbling. She’s fully addicted.
Born in Montreal, raised in the Yukon and settled in Toronto, Angelune Des Lauriers comes from a long line of arts & crafts women. Angelune has always been interested and involved in crafts in one way or another, and currently enjoys sewing, quilting, crocheting, and promoting the craft community through the TCA.
Specializing in art history and art studio in sculpture, Rosalyn R. Faustino has always been interested in the arts and craft. She tries to scope out the crafty happenings and crafty individuals in our lovely city and surrounding area. Her current loves are crocheting, patchworking and quilting, embroidery, sewing and soon to be installation. She likes pretty, detailed things.
Stevie Howell doesn’t know, but doesn’t wonder, what she’ll be when she grows up. She balances working as an editor and writer with a love for sewing, knitting, cooking, papercrafting, and making music. Once upon a time, she won the “Sassiest Girl in America” contest from Sassy magazine (r.i.p), then owned her own bookstore for a number of years. She thinks fame and money are overrated, and that time and love are nature’s gold.
Caitlyn Murphy is an illustrator living in Toronto who likes daydreaming and the cosmos. Check her blog and her collabo project with Rosalyn, Cosmic Latte.
A textbook Cancerian, Mary Rajotte is an imaginative gal who dabbles in beaded jewelry, knitting & crochet. When she isn’t making a delightfully crafty mess, Mary spends her time doing freelance copywriting, and listening to ambient, industrial and goth music. She is currently working on her first suspense novel set in a creepy small town.
Jen Wang is a communications professional who delights in creative design, whatever the medium may be. Sewing handmade bags and accessories is her current craft of choice. She also dabbles in photography and is addicted to home renovation / interior design shows.
CONTRIBUTORS
Laura-Jean Bernhardson has been making her living making stuff since 1992. She designs and makes a line of clothing, and runs two retail shops that sell her own work, plus the work of about 30 other local designers. Although she has a BFA from Concordia University, she’s been self-taught in fashion and business, learning through trail and error along the rocky road of building a small business. She loves the entrepreneurial lifestyle and has lots of fun passing on the knowledge she’s gained over the years to local artists and designers.
After thirteen years in the United States and one brutally expensive master’s degree from New York University, Pamela Grimaud returned to her beloved Montreal, where she works as a costume historian, college instructor, researcher, independent lecturer and writer. She is currently reading everything she can get her hands on regarding the field of ethical fashion, is a fervent admirer of all things crafty and considers herself a junior knitter. She blogs about all kinds of things at Oh, Little Bird!
Kim Hume is a maker of things from lamps to handmade cards. She enthuses about crochet, photography and felting.
Becky Johnson is an actor, writer, doodler, crocheter, hobbyist, teacher, comedian, box office manager, pixel pusher, 1″ button magnate, self-publisher, rabbler rouser, blogger and more. She runs the sweetie pie press, the outlet from her crafty and self-published work and founded City of Craft a collective that is working hard to craftify toronto through relentless activity.
A freelance writer turned retailer and part-time crafter, Nicole Morell’s Etobicoke shop, Honeybunch, is a bijoux corner shop filled with laid-back and affordable children’s décor, gear and toys – and crafty goodness too. 3885 Bloor St. West.
Michelle Rothstein is a Toronto resident with a passion for design and a love of the hand-made. Her business MOB, is a traveling salon-style show and website (www.mobcollection.com) which brings individual and sophisticated works to the design hungry for the sheer love it. She is psyched that Toronto is getting much more stylish in its old age.
Help Wanted
We are frequently looking for people to help out in supporting the TCA project, be it through writing for the blog or mailing list, helping out with listings, research, doing outreach at shows, to name but a few ways you can pitch in. Stay tuned for volunteer and internship opportunities posted on the blog and mailing list, or get in touch if you’d like to get involved now!
Spread the word
We are always grateful if you could spread the word about the resources offered by the TCA far and wide. In doing so, you are supporting local makers, independent businesses & the craft/DIY/design community as a whole.
Besides telling all of your friends, family, co-workers & people you pass on the street, you can promote the TCA by adding it to free arts & culture listings, posting about it on message boards that you participate in, profiling the project in student & other local publications, and linking to us on your website.***
Our Facebook group can be found here, you are invited to join up and share it with your friends!
We’d be happy to mail some of our postcards your way if you’d like to distribute them to customers, friends, colleagues, or craft cohorts. Just email us your address & let us know if a few or a bunch will do.
Of course we are always open to suggestions on how we can get the word out ourselves, so feel free to send along your ideas & tips.
In crafty solidarity,
The TCA Team
***Add the TCA megaphone icon to your site (which links back to ours) using the following code:
<a href="http://www.torontocraftalert.ca" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/3212540173_8f7c7f3dfb_o.jpg" width="144" height="86" alt="craft_alert_button" /></a>
Toronto Craft Alert button
FAQ
How long has the TCA been around for?
Who are you guys, anyhow?
I want to get involved in the TCA — what can I do?
How do I submit a listing or link to the site? Does it cost money?
I want my listing to be included in the mailing list — how do I make this happen?
I have a business or event to advertise on the site — how should I proceed?
Why isn’t X event/shop/designer/gallery listed on the site? It obviously should be! -or- I sent you a group Facebook message/mass mail out and yet you didn’t list my event, what gives?
I am having the hardest time finding X craft supply/class/other crafty service in Toronto — can you help me?
I’ve recently moved to Toronto and want to get involved in the craft community here— what do you recommend?
I want to start a crafty business but have no idea where to start — Help!
I want to get in touch with one of the galleries, show, artists, etc. listed on the site — how do I do this?
How long has the TCA been around for?
Our first post was February 2, 2006.
Who are you guys, anyhow?
Thanks for asking! See TCA team info here.
I want to get involved in the TCA — what can I do?
If you are looking to play a role in making the TCA magic happen, check out our Help Wanted section for the scoop. We are always looking for help promoting the site content and resources to a wider audience!.
How do I submit a listing or link to the site? Does it cost money?
Listings & links are totally free! Mosey over to our contact page here for all the deets you need about submitting a listing.
I want my listing to be included in the mailing list — how do I make this happen?
All blog listings that are still relevant at time of mailing list compilation are included in the mailing list, which we aim (and at times succeed) in sending out on a weekly basis. With this in mind, please submit your listing with enough notice (one week or more is preferable) to be included in the mailout.
I have a business or event to advertise on the site — how should I proceed?
Advertising info is right here. Please contact us at tcabiz@gmail.com for more info.
Why isn’t X event/shop/designer/gallery listed on the site? It obviously should be! -or- I sent you a group Facebook message/mass mail out and yet you didn’t list my event, what gives?
We are a small group of people keeping up with a ton of submissions. We do our very best to post great stuff that we come across in addition to the submissions, but covering it all is next to impossible – there is so much happening out there! That said, we would love to hear from you about events or projects you would like to see on the site but don’t see listed. If you can help us out with links & images, that would be extra-awesome.
We do try to cover everything that is submitted (that is in line with the TCA mandate) in a timely fashion. However we are most likely to follow up on personal emails (vs. mass mailouts) sent with reasonable notice, and complete submissions will be posted more quickly. See the listing guidelines for more details.
I am having the hardest time finding X craft supply/class/other crafty service in Toronto — can you help me?
Check out our Ask Crafty archives to see if your query has been covered. If not then feel free to submit a question for the next column, where readers are asked to share their knowledge about your most esoteric craft quandaries. Contact us here.
I’ve recently moved to Toronto and want to get involved in the craft community here — what do you recommend?
The mailing list is a great way to stay on top of opportunities to get involved – you’ll find calls for volunteers for fun crafty events, vendor opportunities & calls for submissions (if you make stuff yourself), workshop and class listings, and general event notices. Don’t be shy – just get out there as much as you can and soon you will find others that share your passions and interests and love of craft.
I want to start a crafty business but have no idea where to start — Help!
Check out our Crafty Business archives. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, submit your own questions to Laura-Jean, our resident small craft business expert. Also, check out our links page for small business resources.
I want to contact one of the galleries, show, artists, etc. listed on the site — how do I do this?
We try whenever possible to list a website or contact info in each post – if you don’t see it or cannot find it using a search engine, get in touch and we’ll try to help you as best we can.
