As one door closes another opens. This year has been a stretching and growing time for us. Our model of taking the products on the road to shows, and festivals has worked somewhat, but with the slowed economy we have noticed the impact on the expendable cash people have, accounting for lower sales, and days when we wondered why we set up our goods. We have been looking for alternatives. And in the last two weeks since we made the decision to pull back from the litany of craft shows and art markets we have received a number of interesting opportunities. Here are a few of the the doors that have opened to us (some within the last two weeks, others are long standing).
- Bay Arts – (28795 Lake Road, Bay Village, OH 44140) A lovely gallery and art education place located in beautiful Bay Village, adjacent to Huntington Playhouse. We are pleased to say that our products have been accepted and we will be supplying soap, scrubs, Reblooming Bags and wire crochet for their holiday boutique.
- Artful Creations – (258 Tenney Ave, Amherst, OH 44001)An art boutique in Amherst has consigned our soaps, shave soap kits and scrubs.
- Cosmic Bobbins Pop Up Shop – (13226 Shaker Square, Cleveland, OH 44120) Shari Renee is back, and preparing to pop up at Shaker Square in a lovely former wine shop. Shari brings an elegant boutique with a mixture of her wonderful upcycled creations, along with the artistry of 30 local artists. We are pleased to participate as a vendor in her shop. We had a sneek peak of the space when we dropped off our merchandise and can hardly wait for the opening night thursday, Nov 1.
- Collective Upcycle Pop Up Shop – (Colonial Arcade -between Euclid and Prospect in Downtown Cleveland) The brain child of Nicole McGee, this is the Third Christmas for this 70% upcycled shop, and we will be bringing them Reblooming Bags, Shave Kits, Wire Crochet Jewelry, and Scrubs. This year’s shop is located in the Colonial Arcade in downtown Cleveland. The collective is made up of 30-40 artists work which is based on upcycled product. Examples include flowers made of linoleum, repurposed wine bottles slumped into a glass kiln, and turned into cheese trays, t-shirt bibs, and my REblooming Bags.
- Grand River Bead -(19361 Detroit Road Ricky River, OH 44116) The latest shop for us is Grand River Bead, located in Rocky River across from Beachcliff Market. We will be placing wire crochet jewelry there, along with soap, scrubs, shave kits, and some of my silk.
- Ginko Gallery – We have been pleased to be vendors for this lovely gallery owned and run by Liz Burgess in Oberlin for a year and a half. This is one of the nicest art boutiques around, and Liz knows her clients, knows what works in her shop, and is the consumate educator/mentor for the art business. We have learned so much from her.
We have several more in the pipeline, and will post the updates when they are official. We still plan to participate in several shows at the end of November, and early December, however the responsibility to keep these venues stocked will keep us going.
We are so thankful for the connections we have found, and the encouragement and friendships we have built throughout the year. It is going to be a wonderful holiday shopping season.