Join the dark side of crafting

The AntiCraft beckons you to join their legion of D.I.Y. misfits

By Cat Morley
Published: November 1st, 2006 | 3:47pm

The AntiCraft focuses on the darker and more twisted side of crafting. The idea started when Rene Rigdon and Zabet Stewart met at a Stitch 'N Bitch trunk show hosted by Debbie Stoller. Rigdon hugged Deb. That's when Stewart knew Rigdon was just a little insane and thought, "That's the girl I want to build a hip and goth fiber-crafting empire with. The rest is history. Any other story you might hear about how a bunch of the local Stitch 'n Bitchers were hanging out at Stewart's house talking about how we were just not into the current tweenie, uber-girlie, perky direction craft is taking is entirely false. Or possibly false. It might be as false as this story. You'll never know. There could be absinthe involved."

Although the AntiCraft feel that they are too expansive and special to be defined by individual projects, some of the unique projects featured on their Web site are 'The Beaded Pendant Of Blindness and Insanity', a 'Hat of Horns' and 'Baby's First Teratoma'. The zine also features funny stories, poems, and blog entries. "We really wanted something that spoke to our demographic: 25 to 30-year-old old stay-at-home-moms/women who never want to have kids, failing writers/graphic artists with nose piercings and a penchant for red hair dye. Or anyone else who finds us amusing."

The most popular crafts featured on the zine are knitting, crochet, and beading but they hope to branch out in to painting at some later point. Anyone can submit projects and ideas to the zine, so embrace your dark side and take a look at their submit page (theanticraft.com/submit.htm). "Pretty much we look for things that either make us recoil in horror, laugh until we nearly pee ourselves, or stare transfixed at the monitor going, "Oooooooooooooooh!""

The latest offering from the craft duo is titled "Fear Itself" and focuses on the things that scare them the most. Check it out at theanticraft.com.