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Name: Athena Preston
Job Title: Senior Associate Craft Editor
Date started at company: in the craft department, November 2005, but I first worked here on the Kmart Holiday line way back in 2001
First story: Ribbon lettering for the December 2005 well openers
Hometown: Washington D.C.
Education: BFA Rhode Island School of Design, MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design, Cooper-Hewitt Museum and Parsons School of Design
First Job: I worked at an ice-cream parlor called Thomas Sweet. I gave a lot away for free.
Astrological sign: Gemini
Personal crafting/artwork: various silkscreen, stenciling, and block-printing projects.
First craft memory: tea-dyeing white tights with my mother so they’d match the crocheted lace collar of a very special brown velvet dress. Also, around the same time- wallpapering my dollhouse
Things you collect: manufacturer’s samples of ceramic plates with handwritten notations and pattern swatches, Tove Jansson picture books, old rulers painted bright colors, paper ephemera, my co-workers’ discarded craft efforts
FAVORITE . . .
Color (Pantone): Pantone # 178
Holiday: Valentine’s day, I never tire of the palette
Pizza topping: fresh ricotta
Kind of Fabric: Prints of all sorts. Scandinavian linen and cotton, certain crazy chintzes (but certainly not others!), mill-engravings and other tiny patterns, lately nearly any fabric that combines pink and blue
Dessert: Yakimochi from Café Zaiya
Source: the library at the Cooper-Hewitt
While on a neighborhood stroll over the weekend, I ran into my old friend Maura Madden, who is a crafter, author, and comedy writer, and just about the most fun gal you’d ever care to cross paths with on a Saturday afternoon. She’s always up to something fun—I recommend her blog, where you can read …
Here in the Crafts department we have quite a collection of vintage craft books. These never cost much, so I’m in the habit of buying them whenever I see them. Many of them are amazingly dense with information and detailed projects, so they really are a great resource. I also love the covers and titles …
Tonight I’m going to a birthday picnic in the park for two old friends of mine whose birthdays are this week, Carrie and Ana. As usual I’m in a scramble to make something to give them, so I’ve turned to my never-fail birthday card which I’ve made a zillion variations of over the years. All …
Morgan recently pointed out to me that one of my most favorite craft supplies is this humble glue, Yes! Paste, which I used for the first time on a story about making jewelry boxes several year ago. I used it to glue very heavy paper, very thin rice paper, and silk and velvet fabrics and was …
Father’s day is around the corner, so be sure to take a look at our gallery of handmade Father’s Day gift ideas. I also made a perusal of the Father’s Day offerings on Etsy, and found the selections below.
A sweet card, which I love because it reminds me of Eric Ravillous somehow… Though …
I recently came a across this online shop, Upon a Fold and was so taken with it I had to share it… Based in Sydney, Australia, this business is the vision of Justine Fahd, a graphic designer and lifelong lover of paper crafts. The shop sells a beautifully curated collection of things; books, stationery and …
Several months ago, we shot “All Set for Summer” a story that appears in our June issue. This is a sort of unusual one for us because it combines quite a few simple, doable crafts with other strategy ideas for easy summer entertaining, all of it relaxed and fun. I loved working on it in …
One of our most useful resources here in the Crafts Dept. is an enormous collection of clip art books. For those that don’t know, clip-art is basically copyright free imagery, and takes many many forms. I think of our clip art collection as a vast library of visual material and use it constantly as reference …
Basic techniques for sewing, applique, embroidery, quilting, dyeing, and printing, plus 150 inspired Projects from A to Z.
