“When we first started all those years ago, there was only a $5 charge for a booth, and we told the artists to set up anywhere they wanted to in the park, said Rachel Brasier of Kettering, a board member of the Miamisburg Starving Artists Club. “At one time, we had more than 300 booths, but we are jurying it more carefully now.”
That means that the artworks and crafts will be higher quality without the high cost. And in this economy, who doesn’t want a unique item at bargain prices?
Brasier’s husband, Joe, will be one of those exhibitors. For the past eight years he has been making silver and gold wire-wrapped jewelry. But it’s what he puts inside the wire that makes his pieces different, and a bit more sentimental. He had seen mosaics made out of porcelain at a show in Texas, and he thought he could use the idea of broken china in his works.
“A lady in Indianapolis sent me a broken flow blue platter that had been her great-grandmothers. I made 13 pendants out of it,” Joe Brasier said. “She gave them away as Christmas presents that year. So everyone enjoyed great-grandmother’s platter instead of it being in the trash.”
He also uses polished and uncut semi-precious gems and vintage beads for his pendants and earrings. Rachel will bead the chains for him.
“When he retired from an engineering designer job from General Electric 10 years ago, I had to find something for him to do quickly,” joked Rachel Brasier. “The part that makes it fun is when broken platters come in and he does something unique with it.”
And who knew that broken china would be her entry into a saner home life?
Another artist who makes treasure out of would-be trash is Cass Barth, a retired elementary teacher in Vandalia. She takes old roofing slates and prepares them by scraping, brushing and washing. She cuts them into ovals, rectangles, hearts, etc., and then creates designs out of acrylic paint.
“I’ll do a picture in the middle and leave the top and bottom for names, numbers for personalization,” Barth said. “I also design my own monogrammed letters.”
Nelson Smith, a retired principal from Mason, will be offering trees he creates out of wire. The event’s website also lists these available craft items next weekend: baskets, calligraphy, candles/potpourri/soaps, ceramics, decorative painting, fiber arts, florals, folk art glass, jewelry, metal sculpture, photography and wood pieces.
Contact contributing arts writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.
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