The Blog Begins
I figured it was high time the store joined the 21st century. We got the website up and running last year. Well, 2007 is the year of the blog. Wonder what technological advancements 08 will bring?!
Sheila (owner of Earrings and Company) and I spent a very long weekend in Philly last month attending the Buyers Market of American Craft. What a show! Thankfully I wore my Danskos - no blisters on these feet! Imagine aisle upon aisle upon aisle of hand woven textiles, wildly colorful glass, beautifully carved wooden furniture, weird artsy things to put on your wall - you name it. But above all, lots and lots of gorgeous jewelry. We were in heaven. Luckily, most of the jewelry was situated in one section so we could concentrate on our mission: to paw through it all and find what’s new and exciting to bring back home to Freeport.
The Buyers Market features work by all sorts of artisans. So the creativity factor is high. No Walmart vendors in this show. No no. Lampworked beads, blown glass beads, hand-formed millefiori beads, wooden beads. Silversmiths. Goldsmiths. Sculptors. Bracelets and watches made of old silver spoons. Pendants and earrings from thin shavings of fantastic-looking rocks and minerals. Patinaed bronze formed into cuffs and necklaces. Birch bark earrings.
Birch bark? Well, you had to see them. . .
Anyway, Sheila and I managed to walk the entire show in two and a half days. We selected almost a dozen new artists and I can’t wait until the new pieces begin to arrive in the store!