By Gendy Alimurung, Monday, Oct. 26 2009 @ 5:06AM
Marian Lizzi is 41 years old and lives in Manhattan. By day she is Editor-in-Chief of the Perigee Books imprint at Penguin. By night she does "a bit of standup comedy" and explores the wide wrong world of bad craft on her blog Kraftomatic.
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| Boob Scarf anyone? |
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| The potato costume has eyes! |
What's the single most horrific craft project you've ever seen?
It might have to be a tie between soaps shaped like buffalo wings and
crocheted spotted dick (British dessert pudding). Both are
surprisingly realistic.
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| Buffalo soap? |
Are there certain genres of crafts that tend to engender more bad craft
than others?
There do seem to be some trends. I've noticed a lot of soaps in
strange shapes (in addition to the buffalo wings, I've found hot dogs,
creme brulee, dentures, remote controls, etc).
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| Denture soap |
The Japanese art of
amigurumi (miniature crocheted or knitted figures with human faces)
yields a lot of questionable projects -- things that are supposed to
look cute but end up seeming random and strange (such as smiling tea
bags).
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| Daniel Craig frozen treats...stone cold Bond. |
I've also discovered some trends that are evidently quite
popular, though I'd never heard of them before -- such as fabric
postcards and frighteningly lifelike baby dolls for grown-ups that are
referred to as "reborns."
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| Oh sweet Jesus. |
One last trend: strange wedding-cake
toppers. I had no idea that couples were commissioning their
likenesses as reindeer, zombies, sock monkeys, gunslingers, hedgehogs,
or rabid sports-team enthusiasts. Now I know.
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| "I'm sorry if this is your father." |
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| Tortilla Jesus |
Let's talk about cozies for a minute. Are there things that should just
NOT be given a cozy?
I've been surprised and amused at the inventiveness of cozy
enthusiasts out there. I figured I'd find lots of cellphone and iPod
cozies (and I have), but I never imagined things like lip-balm cozies,
asthma-inhaler cozies, ice-cream-carton cozies, or apple sweaters.
Seriously, people are knitting and crocheting (and buying) cozies for
their fruit. I can't get over it. Last night I posted a bong cozy,
which the crafter will customize for your...water pipe.
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| Coffee cup cozy overkill |
Do you craft?
I like to buy old necklaces at thrift stores, take them apart, and
restring them in new ways. I don't sell them -- they're just for me to
make and wear.
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| Ghost cellphone finger puppets made of felt. |
