Been There/Done That

Craftivity at Germ Books & Gallery

by Katie Karas

Every first Mon., 6:30 p.m., free, Germ Books & Gallery, 2005 Frankford Ave., 215-423-5002, germbooks.com

With a colorful owl painted on her face, Jarmel Reitz skipped into the room. "Isn't it a hoot?" she asked. Reitz, along with Allison Vuocolo, hosts Germ Books & Gallery's craft night, also known as "Craftivity." In the past eight months, Reitz and Vuocolo have taught participants how to make puppets, books and holiday ornaments, all while maintaining the event's chipper, zany mood.

Last month's theme was Valentine's Day — but nary a clichéd, saccharine craft was made. Instead, people used potatoes and potato carvers to craft unapologetically bizarre Valentines. Some etched hearts and lips into their potatoes, while others made beavers (because they mate for life) and genitalia. A few people even employed stamps to send a message to their significant others. I thought one card, which someone had stamped "CALL ME!" onto several times, had serious Hallmark potential.

While I painstakingly carved away at my potato, the conversation wandered from handwriting analysis to the recent outpouring of UFO sightings in Bucks County (which my neighbor reported to me with jealousy), to more mundane subjects like music and the Super Bowl. As I painted, glittered and stamped away, I found myself enjoying the company of my new friends despite the disquieting presence of a jarred model of an alien fetus that sat a few feet away.