bbj handmade pop accessories

January: A special project for the Gladstone Hotel's 5th anniversary of their reopening - a 6' glitter cake for the fabulous Miss Fluffy Souffle to jump out of.   You bet it was a good party!
We loved the Tim Burton exhibition that TIFF brought to the Lightbox, and the custom collection we produced for the TIFFshop to sell was a big thrill too.









February: Photoshoot with Alias Dance Project to promote their upcoming show; we used Sleeveface as inspiration.  We were all a bit annoyed that a local radio station released a huge ad campaign with the same concept the same week as Alias' postcards were printed, but it didn't really matter.



March: One of our fave clients Julia got us to paint Nosferatu in glitter on a velvet vest. We made glass buttons for the front that had the original vampire in shadow - a still from the 1922 film that is still plenty creepy.










April: Alias Dance Project had us create an lounge environment for The First LP, their first full length production.  
We also celebrated Robin's 40th in Vegas with a group of good friends; all that glamour and glitz make us very happy.   Yeah, we took a limo to dinner.


May: Trixie & Beever (our performance alter-egos) posed for portraits that would be part of 10X10, a project that had 10 queer photographers take 10 portraits of people who had contributed to the arts community. Paul Buen took amazing photos, and we were thrilled the glam and goofy ones of us sold.




June: One of our fave custom projects is the zookeeper buckles (they have no glass bead due to animal safety). This year we did the elephants for a staffer that worked with them. (We're sorry to see you leave your home, guys.)  We also headed back to Art in the Park Windsor, with much better results than last year!

Stonewall TO was a response to the over-corporatization of Pride. The amazing Jess Dobkin and Sasha Van Bon Bon brought the community together and we took to the streets with joy. In celebration of our late and very much missed friend Will Munro we contributed with signs and glitter - lots and lots of glitter.



July: We were once again lucky enough to travel to Cape Cod for summer vacation, and our mostly-annual "Cape Cod's Got Talent" performance night with all our super talented friends and family was one of many highlights.

August: Jack Layton passed away and Nathan Phillips square became a beautiful tribute. Of course we left our own message... it referenced our shared love of bicycles.






September: Our first Cirque du Soleil show - finally. Now we are super-excited as our friend Natalie-Claude is going to be a lead clown in this year's touring production!
We did the lovely and lively Queen West Art Crawl for the second year, and look forward to our third. 





October: Dressing up is so important in our lives and when we can attach it to charity even better. SOY takes care of our queer youth and is one of our charities that we are thrilled to support. Especially when we get to bowl as the  "disco prom from hell" team and freak out people on the bus.





November:  Beever's Roast. I turned 40 and my friends roasted me good  - burn baby burn. We created a "Beever Lodge" set and the guests were invited to dress in lumberjack chic; you've never seen so much plaid and glitter in the same room.
In other birthdays, the CBC celebrated their 75th year as our national public broadcaster.  We were very happy to produce keychains for them again; this time the with the anniversary logo. 


December: Craftshow time with One Of A Kind (year 11!) and holiday studio sale and with that lots of interesting custom work. Custom work highlights: Morrissey, Megadeath and Warren Buffet Christmas tree ornaments.






2011 you were peaceful and tranquil (and fun) - just what we needed from the Year of the Rabbit. Now bring on the colourful and creative in 2012.

It's our annual holiday studio sale: 
December 16-18
3 days to pop by "the glittermines" for those last few gifts and share a glass of holiday cheer!

Studio Sale details
Friday Dec. 16 • 1-6pm
Saturday Dec. 17 • 11am-6pm
Sunday Dec. 18 • 12-5pm

401 Logan Ave, unit 102
map to BBJ studio

Special blowout pricing on discontinued magnets and other stuff, plus tax-free savings on all stock!

There's still time for special and custom orders: our Custom Album Cover collection makes it easy to get something personal made in just a few days.  Prices are $10-34 and include customization with ANY album cover

• cufflinks
• pendants
• keychains
• magnets
• rings
• plus brand new ornaments!

email us to order or inquire or call 416.466.3759 (don't wait too long!)

We've been working hard in "the glittermines" preparing for this year's holiday edition of the One Of A Kind show.  The show is always such a festive feast of amazing creations; if you've never been, you really should check it out!

We'll be showcasing some new products and designs on our facebook page as we get closer to the show, so please pop by and have a look, have a "like".... 
(PSST!  There may be some giveaways too!)

Show details:

Thursday, November 24 to Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekdays & Saturdays 10am-9pm, Sundays 10am-6pm

One Night Only! Late Night Shopping
Thursday, December 1, 2011 10am-11pm
Click here for more info!

Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

For discounted tickets, purchase online here, and enter code ADtfhhq to get $3 off the regular admission price.

Hope to see you there!

Tonight we'll celebrate the launch of Liisa Ladouceur's Encyclopedia Gothica at the Gladstone Ballroom in Toronto.  (London Ontario, you get a chance October 13 at Nite Owl.  See Liisa's site for details.)

We're off for 11 days of beaches, seafood and fresh ocean air in beautiful Cape Cod!

If you're looking for us, it might take a an extra day or two to return your email (we'll be checking it when we can get wifi).  Any orders placed through our web shop or Etsy will ship out August 9.

We are proud to be able to do a special line for our friends and collaborators the Scandelles.
Their new show Les Demimondes explores how arts and media culture profit so handily from the scandalous cachet of sex workers while sex workers themselves remain marginalized and criminalized.
We have made a new series of cufflinks and pendants referencing  BUtterfield 8.
 Gloria Wandrous (Elizabeth Taylor) wakes up in wealthy executive Weston Liggett's (Laurence Harvey) apartment and finds Liggett has left her $250. Insulted, Gloria, whose dress is torn, takes Liggett's wife Emily's mink coat to cover herself and scrawls "No Sale" in lipstick on the mirror.

Last year was not a lucky year for us.  Health problems, accidents and the loss of 2 dear friends were challenges that we could have gladly done without.  But you don't get to pick your luck.  You just pick yourself up and keep going the best you can.

But things have changed this year - whew!  The opportunity to supply TIFF with custom merchandise for the awesome Tim Burton exhibition was perhaps a turning point in our luck, though of course there was plenty of hard work involved.

Last month we took our first trip to the Shangri-La of luck: Las Vegas.  As an extended celebration of my 40th birthday, we traveled with a pack of 12 friends for 4 dizzy days of fun.  We're not really gamblers, but when in Vegas....  I won a bit at slots, and was pretty pleased with myself.  The redheaded darling in our group eclipsed my win by turning $1 into $115, and her hilarious, infectious frenzy provided one of the trip highlights.  Somewhere around 5am after some late-night pie, 4 of us sat down to play blackjack in the classic downtown Golden Gate casino.  I barely knew what I was doing, but won 3 blackjacks!  Again, a low bet, but the big payoff was going to bed feeling like a winner in a place where many people lose. 

I felt luckiest, as I do most days, to have people in my life that care about me enough to want to be there.  And I got a little lucky on Saturday too by winning the draw at Sweet Daddy Siki's karaoke at The Duke in Toronto.  It sure wasn't about skill, the way I sang a Dolly Parton song (badly - will I ever learn?).  It was pure luck, with maybe a little instant karma thrown in for tipping well.

So this coming weekend, we're going to try our luck again at Windsor's Art In The Park.  Last year's event was a literal washout, but we're staying positive, crossing our fingers, and giving it all we've got.   We might even hit the casino....

Although we just got a last (hopefully!) blast of winter here in Toronto this week, we've already been able to enjoy the early promise of green shoots poking out of the ground, bike-riding and glove-free hands. 

Next week brings another welcome sign of the season: The One Of A Kind Spring Show and Sale! 

BBJ will be in booth O-31 - a new location for us!  Come by and see what's new, like our Victorian Curiousities collection featuring brand-new pendant and buckle styles, and our serving tray entry in the "Tooled To Perfection" contest, which honours organized toolsmiths (like Robin's dad).  And speaking of honouring, we will present a new Pop Saints prayer candle of the late, great Dame Elizabeth Taylor.  Thanks to our facebook friends and fans who weighed in with their opinions about our particular form of tribute.

For discounted tickets, buy online here using the code ADs6akh

basic show info:

Wednesday, March 30 to Sunday, April 3, 2011
Wednesday to Saturday 10am-9pm, Sunday 10am-6pm

Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

for full details, directions, participating artisans etc., visit the show site

Hope to see you there, and happy spring!

The end of 2010 brought us the most exciting order we have ever received: the opportunity to create a custom collection of jewellery and gift items for the Tim Burton exhibition at the shiny new TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.  Working with the awesome retail curator Shelley Town, we began the process of creating samples based on some of Burton's artwork in March.  It was too fabulous to keep to ourselves, so we talked about the project, but were always a bit scared it might fall through.  Then we heard that the samples were enthusiastically approved by the MoMA people (the exhibition was originally curated by MoMA), then the Burton people, then finally... "Mr. Burton saw the samples and loved them."  SQUEAL!  There were more mockups, and then some waiting, and more mockups and waiting.  Then we got the order!  Magnets, rings, fancy brooches, cufflinks, charm bracelets and bookmarks.  And part of the deal was that Mr. Burton was to receive 25 of each piece.  Pretty cool, right?  We produced that order in 2 weeks, and delivered it the same day we set up our booth for One Of A Kind - whew!

We heard great things about the exhibit from customers at OOAK, but knew we should wait to see it until the new year when we had time to enjoy it and when the crowds had thinned a bit.  So yesterday we delivered reorder #5 (!) and checked out the stunning Lightbox building.  First stop was the TIFFshop of course, and a chat with manager Elsie.  Everything looks great; our collection is prominently displayed, and there are lots of tempting film books and Tim Burton toys and merch.  Elsie tells us that Burton's team wants more of the magnets to give to his agents.  OK, great! 

Onto the exhibit.  Of course no photos are allowed past the lobby.  I desperately want to take a few, but respect the rules and try to cram my eyes and brain with all the amazing images from the artist's teen cartoons up to his latest Hollywood project.  The exhibition is organized roughly in chronological order with Burton's film projects providing the framework.  There's a lot of circling back to work on earlier ideas throughout the exhibit.  Frankenweenie (1984), one of TB's earliest short films, is represented with original storyboard art and new maquettes created for the upcoming feature film.  (I first saw Frankenweenie when writing a paper for my only, but beloved, film course in university; Tim Burton had only made 3 features by that time, but I proved he was very much an auteur and got an A!)
Close to the entrance is also a fantastic glowing black-lit creature carousel sculpture that was newly created for the exhibition - based on a neon pastel-on-black paper drawing that dated from the mid-80's.  What a dream to be able to revisit your early ideas with the resources to make them much bigger and tangible!
 
I love everything to do with Pee Wee's Big Adventure (TB's first feature film), Beetlejuice and the Nightmare Before Christmas, but Edward Scissorhands tops them all in my heart. Edward's incredible suit and one scissor-hand (designed by costume and prop superstars Colleen Atwood and Stan Winston respectively) are marvels.  And seeing one of the inventor's earlier robots - with cookie-cutter feet - felt strangely like meeting one's pop idol.  The exhibition is full of familiar images for anyone with even a passing familiarity with Burton's films, but the production notes, concept drawings , models and props add insight into the creative process.  There are also hundreds of drawings, paintings, short films and sculptures that demonstrate the development of his singular vision and ever-present humour.   

A highlight for me was a collection of dozens of images and a few models from a project called Trick Or Treat from 1980.  The film is was imagined as never materialized, but the story of alienated suburban children discovering a wonderfully grotesque house of monsters - many made of candy! - contained themes that occur over and over in his film projects. 
     
Ange and I left the exhibition space feeling inspired, and I imagine many others who've seen it have a similar reaction.  Get out the polymer clay!  Let's make stuff!  Luckily, we have another creative project on the go: making a giant birthday cake for the Gladstone Hotel's 5-year re-opening celebration.  We'll resist the temptation to paint it with black and white stripes.

The last several weeks have been a whirlwind of Tim Burton custom production, One of A Kind and more Glamourizing Crime.  Thanks to the friends and fans that braved the crowds to see us at OOAK, and take in all the show has to offer.

Here's a handmade gift-buying event on more intimate scale - our Annual Studio Sale!

Two days of unique handmade stuff to give (or keep) from BBJ and special guest Secret Agent.

• $5 stocking stuffers!
• Tax-free shopping!
• Holiday cheer sponsored by F&M Brewery of Guelph!

Pre-order BBJ accessories and gifts by Wed. Dec. 15 to ensure your selection is ready for pickup, Custom Album Cover collection included.
 
email info@bbj or call 416.466.3759

location and directions