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This summer, what better way to enjoy the season than soaking in the sun, having fun with family and friends, and treating yourself and/or your loved ones to some beautiful crafts from our store? At Upworthy Market, you can feel good about shopping because every dollar you spend directly supports local artisans who handcraft their own products. We have curated a list of some summer favorites from our store just for you, from jewelry and bags to hammocks and utensils for your summer BBQ.


Hand-Woven Maya Hammock in Chocolate and Coffee Brown

Delicious shades of brown tempt the senses and are destined to be enjoyed in a comfortable hammock during lazy summer days. Skilled Maya Artists of the Yucatan hand-weave this nylon hammock in rich coffee and chocolate brown.

Long before the Spanish arrived on the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya preferred to sleep and rest in hammocks. They considered the hammock to be like the loving embrace of a mother, due to the way the body is held and swung within its cradle. Maya Artists of the Yucatan seek to preserve time-honored customs while also offering stylized versions of the original Maya hammock. For them, the hammock is a work of art. Their hammocks are incredibly comfortable, easy to maintain and can be stored just about anywhere.

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Tropical Print Women's Blue and Ivory Rayon Robe

Ivory flowers and foliage flourish in a blue tropical jungle. By Hari and Arthur of Bali, this short rayon robe showcases an exuberant print. The graceful design with wide three-quarter length sleeves wraps in front and ties with a self belt. One size fits most.

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Pink Garden Umbrella Crafted From Cotton and Bamboo

Thai artisan Nikom presents this cheerful garden umbrella, just right for providing relief from the summer sun or adding festive cheer to your outdoor party. The decorative umbrella is crafted from hand-painted cotton and natural bamboo. The umbrella comes with a handy cotton storage pouch; the pole disassembles for convenience.

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Batik Rayon Sarong

Intricate floral motifs alongside borders depicting elephants and deer in bubblegum pink, cerise and black surround a large circular motif in this elegant rayon sarong by Indonesia's Prayascita Dewi. The artisan employs the batik method to decorate each piece, a process where a wax resist is applied to the fabric before submerging it in vats of dye.

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Beaded Bracelet

This double strand bracelet features cylindrical blue-green beads accented with brass. Handcrafted by Tiraphan Hasub of Thailand, this bracelet provides a lovely pop of color.

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Colorful Nature Masks

Extravagant prints in dazzling colors portray and celebrate nature. By Hari and Arthur, three rayon print face masks are contoured for a comfortable fit. One features a floral motif on cardinal red, while the other two feature abstract motifs. All are double-layered, washable and reusable, with elastic to loop over the ears.

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Sterling Silver Dream Catcher Earrings

Two circular dream catchers are crafted of sterling silver, featuring elegant wire work and feathers with a combination finish hanging just below. Petite blue stones of resin rest within the webs. These dangle earrings from Thailand are crafted by Pichaya.

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Blue Fijian Print Canvas Tote Bag

Who doesn't love beautiful, fun and practical totes? This cotton canvas tote bag is handcrafted and printed in Fiji with a mandala motif on vibrant blue. The large tote is fully lined in natural cotton canvas. It's perfect for market trips, picnics, weekends away or home storage.

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Indonesian Rainbow Glass and Driftwood Windchime

Working near Singaraja, in the mountainous northern region of Bali, artisans collect naturally fallen branches and glean wood from the local coffee plantations to fashion these delicate, colorful wind chimes. Once the reclaimed wood—teak and coffee—is gathered, each piece is sorted by size and color before being hand-shaped and strung with pieces of cut glass. Dazzling in the sunlight, the resulting rainbow chime is a gorgeous example of nature-inspired design. Each piece will vary slightly, due to the natural variations of the wood.

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Handcrafted Eggshell Cotton Cushion Cover from Bali

Featuring geometric diamond patterns at the center, this Balinese cushion cover is hand-knotted from eggshell cotton yarns. Elis Mufarroha creates this cushion cover, which is accented at the top and bottom by long fringes. On the back is a slit for inserting a cushion.

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Teak Wood Serving Utensils (Pair)

These teak wood serving utensils will make a beautiful accent at your dinner table. Perfect for tossing and serving salad or any dish, the pair includes a fork and spoon, crafted by Rian Kusuma of Bali to showcase the natural grain of the wood.

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Six Artisan Crafted Blue-Green Blown Glass Highball Glasses

Aquamarine dissolves into a vibrant lime hue in the refreshing design of these highball glasses. Designed by Javier and Efren, each glass is crafted with Mexican blown glass techniques, in which artisans blow through a metal pipe while twirling it with one hand. They simultaneously shape the molten glass at the other end, expertly achieving this color effect.


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Quart-Sized Serving Bowl in Natural Wood, Handmade in Thailand

Thailand's Noppadol Laesanklang creates a fabulous effect with the design of this conical bowl. Certain to delight the eco-conscious, the bowl is crafted by hand of naturally seasoned raintree wood expertly showcasing the wood's natural grain.

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Artisan Crafted Colorful Mexican Hand Blown Pitcher (87 oz)

This pitcher features colorful accents in bright confetti colors. It's handcrafted by Javier and Efren, using glass-blowing techniques perfected over more than 30 years.

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Coconut Shell Planter With Floral Motif

Give your growing plants a new home in Sindhu Nata's lovely hanging planter. Using coconut shell, the Balinese artisan carefully carves a lotus motif onto the pot's side before hollowing the shell for plants. The delicate palm fiber cords make it ready to hang.

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Handcrafted Bamboo Wind Chimes From Bali

Ringing out with delightful tones, these wind chimes dangle from an attractive piece of bamboo. Balinese artisan Trisna Dewi designs the chimes, elaborating the bamboo with subtle motifs that resemble the petals of flowers. It's completed with 15 chimes of aluminum that gently sway in the wind.

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Cotton Silk Blend Indigo BlackShoulder Bag From Thailand

Indigo embroidery wraps its way around the surface of this black shoulder tote bag, which is made from lightweight cotton and silk blend fibers. Indonesia's Jiap Rojjana designs it with polyester cords and wood beads that dangle from the strap. The bag opens with a coconut shell button to reveal a black cotton lining and an interior zipper pocket.

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Round Woven Bamboo and Ate Grass Shoulder Bag

Javanese artisan Nell crafts a shoulder bag that's just right for spring and summer. The round bag is hand-woven of bamboo stalks and ate grass in a warm brown shade. The strap and clasp are made of brown faux leather makes up and the bag is fully lined with cotton.

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Double Mayan Rope Style Nylon Hammock Handmade in Mexico

A cool drink, a good book and a comfortable hammock is the perfect combination for a lazy summer day. Skilled Maya Artists of the Yucatan hand-weave this hammock in the rich blues and greens of Caribbean surf.

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While poking fun at astronomer Carl Sagan in a now infamous sketch, comedy duo Tim and Eric once stated you wouldn’t want to put the universe into a tube.

Why? Because "you’d end up with a very long tube probably extending twice the size of the universe."


Of course!

GIF via Tim and Eric.

So maybe the universe won’t fit in a tube. But what about cramming it into a single image?

It’s a pretty mind-blowing idea to be sure. Most of us have enough trouble mapping out our work weeks, let alone the entirety of known existence.

But that’s precisely what artist Pablo Carlos Budassi was able to do in the brilliant illustration below, which is an artist's depiction of the breadth of the observable universe.

Image by Pablo Carlos Budassi/Wikimedia Commons.

How did Budassi accomplish such an incredible, visually striking feat?

Well, first he consulted a series of logarithmic maps of the universe published by Princeton University researchers in 2005.

A logarithmic map is one that increases by an order of magnitude (a power of 10) instead of by equal increments. This type of map takes massive amounts of information and compresses it into a singular image that can be deciphered as easily as a third-grader’s "Favorite Pizza Topping" pie chart.

The visual representations of these maps, however, can be a bit hard to read for the average person.

Worst. Rorschach test. Ever. "Map of the Universe" by Gott & Juric, Princeton University, used with permission.

Not what you’d normally call easy on the eyes, amiright? It was exactly this ... let’s call it "lack of visual flair" that inspired Budassi to create the hypnotic image above.

The idea came to him while planning his son’s birthday party, according to Tech Insider.

He was creating hexaflexagons for the kids — a fancy way to describe those paper, choose-your-own-adventure origami thingies that were all the rage back in elementary school.

"When I was drawing hexaflexagons for my son's birthday souvenirs, I started drawing central views of the cosmos and the solar system," said Budassi, likely impressing anyone within earshot. "That day the idea of a logarithmic view came, and in the next days I was able to [assemble] it with Photoshop using images from NASA and some textures created [on] my own."

The image is just as impressive close up, where you can see details of different parts of the universe.

Here's a zoomed-in shot:

I swear I can see my house from here. Image by Pablo Carlos Budassi/Wikimedia Commons.

Set at the center of Budassi’s illustration of the observable universe is our solar system — Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and all the other neighbors.

Just beyond the orbit of Neptune lies the Kuiper belt — a massive, asteroid-type belt and home to dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake — then the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.

Pulling back a bit, we see the cosmic web, a gargantuan, web-like structure consisting of several irregular galaxies which was first captured in an image just two years ago. At the very edges of Budassi’s map lie the cosmic microwave radiation and invisible plasma produced by the Big Bang.

Never before has the insignificance of our entire existence been so beautifully rendered.


I kid, but Budassi’s illustration kind of puts into perspective how small we are in the grand scheme of things, does it not? Makes that 15-minute traffic delay on the way to the office seem, I dunno, not worth losing one’s cool over, maybe?

After all, when you think about it, even the big things are pretty tiny from a certain vantage point.