Boston Rock City

Jules Verne and H.P. Lovecraft would feel all arm and fuzzy inside, if they weren’t both long dead. It seems that this season, the craft-market-etsy-set (yes, that’s a set) has decided to look to the coral reef for inspiration.
It’s an odd phenomenon. Every year one theme seems to penetrate the collective consciousness of crafters everywhere. I’m not sure where said theme comes from; it just seems to appear from the ether and ends up screenprinted on every t-shirt you see all year. Last year the theme was baked goods. Cupcakes in particular. And the funny thing is that after showing up in the craft markets, it ends up spilling over into the mainstream. Haven’t you noticed how you can’t walk three blocks without running into a ‘boutique cupcakery’ these days? The same will happen with sea life items, I’ll bet you anything.

I’ll even bet you this beautifully-made ‘Silver Seahorse Cigarette Case’

found at CosmicFirefly.etsy.com

Or if you don’t smoke, you can choose to wear your immense love of octopuses (octopi? Octopedes? Apparently all three are correct) proudly on any number of t-shirts.

I, of course, would go for the Chris Ware 8-bit inspired psychotic one:

I want to point out that this shirt is called “Octopocalypse”

I could go on all day just with Octopedes (I like that name best), but I’ll limit myself to one more item. There are a whole lot more fish in the sea, as they say.

It was a tough choice, but I’m going with these Octopus Tentacle Earrings (made from a real octopus, apparently, although I’m not sure how that works…)

OctopusMe’s Etsy Earrings

For sheer craftsmanship, these take the cake. The cupcake, even. They’re not only gorgeously made, but DANG. How many people do you know that have a pair of these babies? $75 bucks is a steal for these, especially considering every set of earrings made by this shop is unique.

But there’s no reason to stop at octopi, when you could be effortlessly whale-chic:

Blue Whale Summer Tank

And the oft-ignored nautilus gets a very pretty pastel update in this tote:

Get one at HopefulMonsters.etsy.com

Maybe there will even be a revival of interest in old classic books like Moby Dick, or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Or…The Little Mermaid. Or Jacques Cousteau, who failed to get much of a revival out of The Life Aquatic. Second time’s the charm, eh, Jacques?

Jacques obviously approves.

So I will leave you with this—a t-shirt featuring a Narwhal (my personal favorite sea creature because, duh, it’s the unicorn of the sea) riding a Segway.

Because why not?

A Narwhal Named GOB

Hopefully this whole trend will go the way of the cupcake and start ending up in couture lines and Urban Outfitters all over the country (if it hasn’t started to already). I’d love to see Bjork rocking a horseshoe-crab dress at her next press appearance.