bust magazine's craftacular sets off molly ringwald flashbacks

It might give you shades of "Pretty in Pink," but at Bust magazine's Spring Craftacular, "do it yourself" and "prom" were the themes du jour. "Prom" was the notional high concept at Greenpoint's Polish nightclub Warsaw, where the Bust crew had taken up residence for the day. They played up the high school rite of passage, greeting visitors with a table of handmade corsages, spiked punch (and pierogi) at the Warsaw canteen, and commemorative photos at the booth sponsored by Metromix (though many shoppers seemingly came stag). But the raison d'être for the event was the DIY. After bringing 200 vendors and upward of 6,000 visitors to Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion for its last Craftacular in December, Bust had streamlined to a mere 50 sellers for its first-ever springtime edition of the event, without sacrificing variety. Wares ranged from small-batch soaps and screen-printed tees to surprisingly sophisticated offerings such as La Crasia-esque fingerless gloves and metal-worked jewelry. Brooklyn-based jewelry designer Erica Weiner usually sells her pieces at over 100 boutiques nationwide, but was offering steep discounts on items like her one-of-a-kind pendant necklaces made from vintage Civil War tintypes. "Here I get to talk to people," Weiner explained, when asked why she was cutting a break to Sunday's shoppers. "I've been doing the Craftacular since the beginning; coming back is like a family reunion." Perhaps the L.A. Craftacular planned for the holidays should take "do-it-yourself reunion" as its theme. As the characters in "Pretty in Pink" would no doubt attest, one prom per lifetime is plenty.



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