ICE Artlantis

Last Saturday, Missy and I headed out to Atlanta to attend the I.C.E. ATLANTA SUMMER MARKET at the AMBIENT PLUS STUDIO in Mechanicsville. We're usually on the other side of the table at I.C.E., but our big ambitious plans for the sale fell through when we ran short on time and stock, and frankly, we didn't want to put out a half-assed effort. Anyways, we happily went to show our support by shopping for unique handmade goods from the 80-plus vendors in attendance...



We were particularly impressed with NOOSH STUDIOS who BLOCK PRINTED his original designs onto t-shirts, right on the spot:





We stopped at CUYLER HOVEY-KING's booth, a perennial favorite of Missy's for jewelry...



Another I.C.E. regular was the PROTOTYPIST INDUSTRIES booth, where their prototyping "printer" will build up intricate designs layer by layer. It looked like they even had a HAND SCANNER that could scan your dimensions (or any other object) into a computer, render a 3-D design, and then "print" and actual object. Pretty cool!



Missy bought a cute little NEEDLE FELTING KIT from the ATLANTA INSTITUTE OF STICHES & CRAFT:











At the FERNWORKS booth, Missy couldn't resist the ring that had a tiny BIRD'S NEST with tiny BLUE EGGS, encased in resin:





There's this ANTIQUE SCALE at Ambient Plus, a reminder of the building's former life before it was converted into a photo studio and mixed-use building. Missy weighed herself and came up at around 100 pounds (she's never weighed more than 100 pounds). I half-joked that her bag and all the contents in it made her a good 6 or 7 pounds heavier than she usually weighed:







After our little shopping spree at I.C.E., we met up with our friends Juliet and Jeremy (of GOLD-BEARS fame) and their little daughter Sophie, for some lunch in downtown Atlanta. They suggested we try this new restaurant in town called TAKOREA (clever, right?), which served up the sort of Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine that was first popularized in Southern California. Suffice it to say, the food was beyond delicious...





Their menus had these adorable CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS:









Missy and I split a plate of fries sprinkled with a healthy mix of Korean-inspired seasonings. Missy also got a tofu taco and a tempura avocado taco and I got a forearm-sized tofu burrito (which wasn't as interesting to photograph as the tacos and fries). Everything we ate was spicy as all get out:





After lunch, Missy and I headed out to the ARTLANTIS art and music festival, in Poncey-Highland. The festival was held at the DRUID HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, right across the street from the holiest of hipster wastelands, UrbanOutfitters:













Bands set up and performed on the steps of the church and the spectacle slowed traffic on the busy Ponce de Leon avenue. We were able to catch a set by FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE before trekking back to Athens...