SF Etsy Trunk Show - Woot!

The #1 biggest danger for Monkey + Seal when they hit up craft fairs is that they are introduced to other artists and crafters with totally awesome things that we end up wanting to buy. There is always usually a little bit of down-time at any show, and naturally, we like to see what other people are doing. This is when the danger beings.

At the Artist Xchange gallery (at 3169 16th St x Guerrero), the SF Etsy Street Team had a Trunk Show on Saturday. Fortunately, Monkey + Seal were juried into the show (by the founder of the space, Scott Mitchell!) and we had a little mini table (there was only space for 20 vendors...but each space was only 3 feet! Eeeeep!). We managed to make do (leaving our larger prints at home) set-up wise, but the small space made for lots of looking around. Not only was there some good art on the walls (Monkey especially liked this Western Addition painting by Jon Ching), but the rest of the SF Etsy team brought their awesome stuff, and we ended up splurging a bit (although it was super reasonably priced) on Heathered's frickin' awesome narwhal hoodie pictured above (apologies for the lame phone camera photo).

We were also tempted by a whale print by muddipuppy, and by our friend Alana's (of Etta + Billie) darned awesome soap, but we managed to restrict ourselves to the hoodie.

Overall it was a really awesome experience as we got to hang out, meet, and bond with other team members. A special shout out to Jen (from Mama's Magic Studio) and Kendra (from Kendra Renee Jewelry) who did most of the organizing of the event, and to our neighbors Lauren of Crooked Sister and Jeanine of CraftyGirl05!! It was great spending an afternoon with everyone, and thanks to everyone that stopped by!

PS - If you missed yesterday's special Tuesday post about Chris Guillebeau's Empire Building Kit, you have until 9am PST Thursday to buy and still get the special guide to local markets! You can read a more in-depth review here!

3 More Days Till Handmade Ho-Down

3 more days until Handmade Ho-Down this Thursday at 1015 Folsom St. 6pm-midnight. Monkey and Seal are busy in their art studio a.k.a their apartment cave preparing for this awesome one night show.

This is the first Etsy.com sponsored craft fair that Monkey is proud to be a part of as a committee organizer. It is part of Monkey and Seal's dream to travel to different shows and exhibit worldwide and live off our art. As long as people like it and we have a roof over our heads, we're pretty happy.

Here is another sneak peek at the illustration/prints that Seal will be selling. Along with the SF Zine Fest favorites of "Swamp Treehouse," "Tree Girl," and "Delicatessen," below is one of the many new prints that Seal will be introducing on Thursday. This is the finished acrylic painting, that was featured in an earlier process post 2 weeks ago, titled Seal's 90 thumbnails. This giclee is printed on Archival Utrachrome ink on 260 gsm premium photo paper.


Monkey and Seal are also a big fan of encouraging any young and old artists to blossom. They are donating some of their art for the DrawBridge raffle. Below is one of Monkey's serigraphs. Besides the image being a fun and awesome panda shooting laser beams out of its eyes, it is a hand-pulled 3 color serigraph (fine art silkscreen print) on 11.75" x 18" pastel paper, a limited edition of 11.


Seal is donating her giclee archival print of her original watercolor illustration titled Looking for Noah. 100% of the raffle will go towards Drawbridge, a nonprofit organization helping homeless children cope with their situation through art. Let's make the world a better place, one person, one art at at time!

Friendly Friday

Hello blog world!

Monkey got a little caught off-guard by today, as last night he was diligently meeting with Rebecca from Jim Dandy's to plan a (as of now) super secret collaborative project between the members of the SF Etsy street team. We're all super excited to get this underway, and definitely check back for more updates on that!

Overall, our experience with SF Etsy (an Etsy street team) has been super positive and helpful. We highly recommend checking out any (and all) street teams that may be useful to you if you sell on Etsy - they're an awesome resource!

Anyway, sorry for the short post. We should be kicking off our next newsletter on Monday, so make sure you're on the mailing list if you haven't already signed up! Also, Monkey + Seal is thinking of switching over to MailChimp for our newsletter provider - after all, it seems to have an easy UI (we're not programming geniuses over here) and plus, the logo is a cute-ass monkey (Monkey has been sold on this idea for weeks, but wants feedback). Thoughts anyone?