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Bill Radke: This weekend, tens of thousands of shoppers will converge on the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco. This is a fair devoted to do-it-yourself crafts. Reporter April Dembosky tells us the recession has been a boon to the DIY movement.

April Dembosky: Danny Orendorff organizes the Renegade Craft Fair. He says the traditional hipster clientele can still get $6 change purses made of duct tape. But now there’s also high-end ceramic serving platters for $200.

Danny Orendorff: Hand in hand with the introduction of different products and items that are more expensive, came consumers from maybe a higher tax bracket.

The recession turned many unemployed hobbyists into full-time artists. Jen Hewitt discovered silk screening when she was laid off in 2008. She found a new job, but then quit so she could spend more time making tote bags and note cards.

Jen Hewitt: If I decide five years down line to go back to work full-time. Because the economy’s been so bad, it doesn’t look so horrible for me to have had a year of unemployment, then say a year or two of silk screening.

But she’s hoping her printmaking business takes off so she can be done with the 9 to 5 for good.

I’m April Dembosky for Marketplace.