I went to a curio-themed art/craft fair a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy I did because everything was completely up my alley. It's hard to find local artists without social media, and you don't usually find this type of stuff at granola mom craft fairs. It was also just fun to talk to so many people with common interests. I was happy to have gone for that reason alone... but of course I ended up buying a bunch of things.

Jade Doe... was out of cards by the time I got to her! Her art style is really cute, and she had a bunch of papercraft kits that I'm now slightly regretting not buying. I did end up getting a holographic neat newt sticker and luna moth pin. I remember she also had a really cool pair of glasses on.

Brianna LaVarta of Native Fauna Art was so nice and calming, and I probably would have bought from her just for that. The art itself sealed the deal because it's so beautiful and detailed. I assumed she used watercolor in some way, but it's all colored pencil! I talked to her for a while and ended up grabbing an increasing number of things as I did. The fish sticker in particular was so targeted.

Eri Kawakami of Bone and Dagger has really cool art with bold lines and colors that I enjoyed. I was particularly attracted to their Bonetanicals stickers, which have animal skulls with plants from their respective environments. It was hard to pick just one, but I really liked the palette of the velociraptor one. It has period-appropriate plants: protea, ferns, and gingko!

I got more skulls from Rachel Selk, whose art makes me think of tattoos and gritty fantasy novels. Bones are a recurring motif in her art, and it brought me back to when I drew skulls a lot more often. This sticker pack contains wolf, tiger, snake, eagle and deer skulls for a fairly diverse set of bones.

Jenny Lee had so much beautiful art, many of it on larger things like glassware, jewelry, and actual bones! (Bones were a common theme at this fair.) Her butterfly wing earrings were beautiful (and real), but I didn't have the budget for them at the time. I decided to bide my time and buy a koi sticker to hold me over.

I had blown through whatever semblance of a budget I might have had at this point, but I kept walking by Tordoise's stall and having second thoughts because there were SO. MANY. FISH. but the particular fish I was interested in (moray eel button) was trapped in a gacha machine. Ultimately, I decided I would risk it all to get that eel, so I asked for 2 gacha draws. I ended up buying a wooden catfish pin while I was standing there because I was too far gone at that point.

It was a mistake buying 2 gacha draws off the bat because the first pod I got was the eel. I didn't trust fate enough. The second still gave me a shark, so it was fine in the end!

I love collecting business cards, so before I left, I grabbed some cards from artists I didn't end up buying from so I could follow them online.

• Atomic Pixies had the biggest selection of original pin designs I've ever seen.
• Cecelia Wilken had gorgeous oil paintings of dead things. I will return for one if I have the space after I finish hanging all my other prints!
• Oddity Bottles had the coolest miniature bottle dioramas with various bones and taxidermied animals. Way out of my budget, but maybe one day.
• IndiGhoul didn't have a card, but they had some really neat prints and more real butterfly jewelry. They were so sweet and fun to talk to, so I wanted to make sure I saved their links!