29 handcrafted gifts from L.A. artists

Los Angeles artist Mark Brunner decorates hand-made wooden boxes with resin prints of his original artworks. The one pictured here is $50.

www.markbrunner.com (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Tyler Bender makes custom hand-bound journals composed of recycled and vintage materials. You can provide an old book cover, wallpaper, vinyl record artwork, scrap paper, your own drawings, whatever. Most are $40.

www.etsy.com/shop /TYLERBENDER. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The offbeat Pasadena gallery Gold Bug commissions artists to create large-scale sculpture as well as more budget-minded works. Acid-washed concrete fists, $20 to $30 apiece, are among original designs that also include mice and baby doll heads.

www.goldbugpasadena.com.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Local crafter Christine Offutt turns old bottle caps into jewelry and magnets with colorful scenes inside. We picked up three magnets for just $7 total at Heather’s Store in Eagle Rock.

www.heathersstore.com. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles times)

Highland Park artist Jocelyn Webb Pedersen finishes her pinch pots with a variety of Japanese glazes. The pieces don’t just look great. “You can often feel the work of my hands when you hold them in your hands,” she says. “They have been used for hors d’oeuvres dishes, jewelry holders, planters and candle holders.” We picked up the one pictured here for just $20 and plopped a cheap Home Depot succulent inside. Voila -- instant awesomeness. Pedersen’s pieces are $15 to $45 each.

Till her page is set up on the Etsy crafts website, e-mail the artist at joce@earthlink.net. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Pasadena artist Kimberly Elowe of Kafuffle Designs uses vintage and found objects to create her pieces. At Mindfulnest in Burbank, we picked up her “‘Drink Me’ Alice” shadow box, an artful tableau set behind glass ($125) and a small decorative box with “peace” spelled out in Scrabble letters ($26.50). (818) 840-0123,

mindfulnest.net.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Altadena craft maker Anise Mouette decorates wooden “kitsch-en” magnets with her original artwork -- retro imagery such as View-Masters and rotary telephones. Each sells for $3 to $5. The same whimsy colors her finger puppets, kids clothes and tote bags.

www.anisemouette.com. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Beer makes his living designing homes and offices, but it’s hard to call his offbeat “terrariums” a side business when they have landed in stores such as Blackman Cruz and Gary Gibson. His meticulously crafted assemblages set under glass domes are secret little worlds unto themselves, harboring tales that may vary depending on the onlooker. “What I love about Kevin’s work is that there is a narrative, you can imagine a story,” said Stacey Coleman, whose Gold Bug gallery ( www.goldbugpasadena.com) has one piece titled “Friends,” with two tiny figurines sitting on a miniature park bench that, it turns out, was once used by birds in a circus act.

E-mail the artist at khbeer@earthlink.net (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Textile artist Paula Smail makes 4-inch-square sachets with fabric remnants stuffed with fragrant lavender. Each set of three is $15 at Henry Road in Studio City.

www.henryroad.com. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)