Remember last year when I went to the <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/2011/12/the-renegade-craft-fair-comes-to-la-part-i-of-ii/">Renegade Craft Fair</a>?  I titled the blog post part I of II... well finally after many months of waiting I am posting part II.  Why so long you ask? Ah! Good question!

The very last vendor I met at the Renegade Craft Fair was a company called Metalcast Kits.  They specialize in casting customized belt buckles.  What?! Yes! The possibilities are endless.

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<a href="http://graceakhrem.com/2012/10/renegade-craft-fair-part-ii-of-ii-metalcast/dsc_0215/" rel="attachment wp-att-2222"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2222 aligncenter" title="DSC_0215" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DSC_0215-500x334.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></a>

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<a href="http://graceakhrem.com/2012/10/renegade-craft-fair-part-ii-of-ii-metalcast/dsc_0210/" rel="attachment wp-att-2223"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2223 aligncenter" title="DSC_0210" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DSC_0210-500x334.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></a>

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After seeing a few of the buckles on display I was sold! I thought I'm going to make a ton of these- all knitting themed!  Well after I got home I realized how difficult of a task it was to get even one done... I mean c'mon it took me about eight months just to finish carving out my buckle.  After many sketches and scrapped wax pieces (good thing they gave me extra), I finally came up with this:

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<a href="http://graceakhrem.com/2012/10/renegade-craft-fair-part-ii-of-ii-metalcast/dsc_0039-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-2224"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2224 aligncenter" title="DSC_0039" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DSC_0039-500x334.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></a>

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Now coming up with the idea was pretty easy- P2tog, that's my license plate number.  But carving out every nook and cranny of this piece of wax was going to be the hard part.  I had no idea what ind of project I had gotten myself into.  Because of the complexity of the design it took me FOREVER, plus one day!  But I don't regret it one bit because this is what I have to show for my hard work:

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<a href="http://graceakhrem.com/2012/10/renegade-craft-fair-part-ii-of-ii-metalcast/final-metal-cast-buckle/" rel="attachment wp-att-2225"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2225 aligncenter" title="Final Metal Cast Buckle" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Final-Metal-Cast-Buckle-500x334.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></a>

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I love this thing!  Hopefully you'll catch me wearing it around.  The belt I have for it is too big right now- so I have to wait until I find another one that's smaller.

If you missed the <a href="http://www.renegadecraft.com/losangeles-holiday-info">Renegade Craft Fair</a> last year, not to worry.  It's coming again and pretty soon too.  Right before the holiday season- so it will be perfect for getting some really great handmade gifts!  It will be in the Los Angeles Historic Park on December 8 + 9.  If you don't live in LA, they travel around from city to city- usually the vendors aren't the same they are more local to the area in the city which they are exhibiting.  But sometimes they do make the trek far far away.  The point is, you never know what you're going to find there.  Plus- they have food trunks... YUM!

If you're not on the mailing list then you missed the newsletter with the 3 day sale!  But don't worry! You can sign-up for the newsletter <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001_Sihum3TrbNlrxTKGTE-Nw%3D%3D">here</a>.  I am having a mini-sale! Only three patterns, only three days! Now it's only two days!  Save 15% when you use the Ravelry coupon code <strong>FallAccesoriesSale!!!</strong> on <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/olana-slouch/">Olana Slouch</a>, <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/walts-tangled-cables/">Walt's Tangled Cables</a>, and <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/bumble-stripes/">Bumble Stripes</a> now through Sunday, October 7th, 2012 by 11:59pm Pacific Time.

<a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/olana-slouch/olana-slouch-promo/" rel="attachment wp-att-2078"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-2078" title="Olana-Slouch-Promo" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Olana-Slouch-Promo-250x250.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a>   <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/walts-tangled-cables/walts-tangled-cables-promo/" rel="attachment wp-att-2091"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-2091" title="Walt's-Tangled-Cables-Promo" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Walts-Tangled-Cables-Promo-250x250.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a>   <a href="http://graceakhrem.com/project/bumble-stripes/bumble-stripes-promo/" rel="attachment wp-att-2088"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-2088" title="Bumble-Stripes-Promo" src="http://graceakhrem.com/wpdev/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bumble-Stripes-Promo-250x250.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a>

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