This year I won’t be participating in the market at the convention center. Instead, I will be at two smaller events at Citadel Mall. Details: November 19th fair/Christmas tree lighting and December 10th Santa’s Workshop fair. Each fair is 11:00am-4:00pm near the food court at Citadel Mall. Please stop by! I will have some special holiday themed smaller decorations / Swarovski and bead jewelry in addition to my usual glass and resin items.
Swarovski crystal tree pendants with handmade glass bead / wire embellishments on a festive silk cord.Sparkling strands of crystal and glass beads to add to your holiday decor!
At the November 19th event there will be a lighting of the community Christmas tree with our elected officials at 6:00pm and Holiday music throughout the day by our High School and Middle School Choirs. Some vendors will stay open past 4pm for the day long festivities!
I signed up to have a booth at the Charleston Holiday Market again this year. It will be at the Charleston Area Convention Center in N. Charleston on November 20, 21 and 22. It was a tiring weekend last year, but I think it’s a great event! This year the parking garage is supposed to be finished, too.
Today is the last day of the Charleston Holiday Market, and it was a busy day. My Mermaid mosaic, Starfish Trio, and Here Comes the Sun mosaic windows all found loving new homes, along with numerous smaller pieces. I’ve made a *little* bit of room to make some new things, so hopefully I will have time to revisit the sunset mosaic I started a few weeks ago with dichroic glass.
Palmetto & Crescent
Available (in person) at the SC Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC. http://scartisanscenter.com/
Stained glass with resin, 7.75" x 6.25" - $50
Palmetto & Crescent (o/w)
Available in Charleston. Stained glass, resin, glass chips, approx. 6.25" w x 7" h - $40
Rainbow River
Available (in person) at the SC Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC. http://scartisanscenter.com/
Colored mica set in resin 13.5″ x 30″. $250.
Corner Sun
Available (in person) at the SC Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC. http://scartisanscenter.com/
~13.5" x 30". Stained glass with blue shell accents set in resin in a recycled window. $500
Hummingbird with Flowers
Available (in person) at the SC Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC. http://scartisanscenter.com/
~13.5" x 30". Stained glass with sapphire mica accents set in resin in a recycled window. $500.
Rainbow Row, 13.5" x 30"
Rainbow Row, 13.5" x 30" - $800 at SC Artisans Center
I had a busy first day at the Charleston Holiday Market today (you can get a coupon for a dollar off admission if you visit their website). I will be there from 10am to 6pm tomorrow (Saturday) and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. I don’t think I will have a single coaster left by this time Sunday. My Beach Window went to a loving home, and several ornaments did, as well. Since this is my first time participating in such a large show, it is a great learning experience!
My booth at the Charleston Holiday Market.
The best part is that I will have a whole year to prepare for next time; I will know what items resonate with people most and be able to work on similar projects. The date for this creeped up on my quickly because I signed up late in the game, but I will have plenty of time to prepare for next year. Since all of my projects (coasters, ornaments) take at a minimum 2 days to make (windows much longer), I can’t quickly make more. That is part of what makes them special, though! I still have some coasters, plenty of ornaments (both glass and resin) and several window mosaics for the rest of the weekend, though. Come on out to the Convention Center and visit – it’s a great time! Another bonus is that my booth is right next to Mountain Mist – I love their products (especially anything in Orange Blossom scent). My family thinks I will spend all of my earnings in their booth, though.
If I sell out of anything you really like, I can make more – just send me a message. My items are all one of a kind, but I can make something pretty close to what I made before (especially in glass – the coasters are more difficult to reproduce).
I haven’t been posting much, mostly because the dichroic window I’ve been working on has now been rethought as a sunset and it’s taking me some time to plan it. At the same time, I haven’t been doing much that is new and different, until this weekend. I decided to sign up for the Charleston Holiday Market at the N. Charleston Convention Center. It’s a big three day craft fair, held November 8-10. I usually do most of my holiday shopping at this event. This year, I’ll be a vendor!
Holiday Market Info
When I was talking with another vendor at the N. Charleston Farmers Market about it last week, she suggested that I make some seasonal coasters for the event. So I decided to see what I can do. I haven’t used any really perishable / organic materials other than shells and beachy things, so plants are an expansion of my repertoire. I headed out into my yard and snipped some cheerful berries and greenery from my plants, then coated them with resin spray.
Festive greenery and berries
I then set about inserting my harvest into some coaster molds with resin. Hopefully they will turn out well – I read a few stories online of others’ experiences with plant based embedding and there were a lot of woeful tales of things turning brown. Fingers crossed that the resin spray helps deter that from happening. I even read that some folks use plain old hair spray instead of resin spray, which I may try when my supply of resin spray is depleted. I have two types of berries on hand, one from I believe a Pyracantha and some others from some Asparagus Fern in my yard.
Boxwood and berriesLeyland cypress and berriesHere are a couple of the first batch I made yesterday.
I like how the Boxwood looks, but it is very thick and difficult to keep small enough for the mold. I used some extra resin spray on the cypress greenery in the batches I did today to see if they hold their color any better.
