Meet Robyn Peterson Durlin from NARFdesign...
NARFdesign stands for “Nearly All Robyn’s Fantastic Design” which represents nearly everything I create outside of working as a web graphic designer. Much of the creative inspiration for NARFdesign comes from my love of the ocean and the beach having grown up near the coast of Maine. Northeast Ohio has been my home for the last 7 years; the Western Reserve and proximity to Lake Erie remind me a lot of New England!
My craft hobby really took off while planning my wedding on Pensacola Beach, I handmade our wedding invitations, most of the decorations, and my starfish hairpiece which got me hooked on making beach themed accessories. A year ago I finally decided to follow everyone’s advice saying “you should sell that on Etsy!”, and it just grew from there! Recently I’ve been making nautical rope belts, jewelry using sea/beach glass, recycled glass bottle crafts, and stained glass. I try to upcycle materials as much as possible to give them a second life.
New England has such a vibrant and strong local handmade culture with a true appreciation for genuine handcrafted works by local people, and I am trying to incorporate as much of that influence as I can into my designs here in Ohio. The sea/beach glass in each one of my jewelry designs can be traced to a specific coastal region, and primarily features glass that I have either hand-picked or sourced myself (thanks to my friends and family who also enjoy beach combing).
This is my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft show, also my first craft show ever! I’m very excited to meet everyone and display my designs in person! My craft business has continued to surprise and amaze me over the course of the last year, and I hope to be able to continue and expand on my product lines, I have quite a few ideas I would like to explore!
Meet Keni Scherbinski from Keni Scherbinski Lettering and Design...
My name is Keni Scherbinski, I live in Medina, Ohio with my rad husband. I love reading, yoga, bicycling, backpacking, & camping (basically anything outdoors!) I moved to Ohio 10 years ago, and it is home. I LOVE my small town and take a great deal of pride in supporting it.
I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. When I was a kid I always told my mom I wanted to grow up to be an artist, which she fully supported. This will be my 2nd Avante-Garde show. I participated in the Columbus show and had a great time meeting other artists, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to do another!
In 5 years I hope to still be an independent artist, and to be continually inspired to create new pieces that inspire others to love their roots, & to go for their dreams.
Meet Lynn Rogers Vail from LRVdesigns...
I left the corporate world in 2005.
Thinking my right brain attributes were lost forever, I
searched for a creative path that would lead me to discover an artistic
activity that I could be passionate about. I found it in polymer
clay. 
Polymer is a versatile art medium used to create
jewelry, sculptures, cane work and mixed media art pieces. It is a
man-made modeling material and remains soft and malleable until it is
cured in a low temperature oven.
Polymer comes in a plethora of colors and can be
blended into gorgeous palettes with the use of a pasta machine.
The clay can be sculpted, extruded, shaved, carved, stamped, painted
or silk screened. There are many methods used to create detailed, repetitive
patterns into a cane that is then sliced and made into a piece of art.
Imitative techniques can also be used to create
the look of stone, wood, leather and an unlimited array of items found in nature.
Finishing can be done by sanding and buffing the item to an
brilliant shine.
Each piece is unique. One of a kind. Truly
original. That's what I LOVE about polymer clay.
Meet Bob and Kristin Barnes from Sweet Bean Candies...
‘Sweet Bean’ candies is husband + wife team, Bob + Kristin Barnes.
At Sweet Bean we focus on handmade filled chocolates and bean to bar chocolate, with the occasional marshmallow or other baked confection thrown in. We create the treats we love to eat. We hope you’ll love ‘em too.
Kristin is responsible for the hand-painted molded chocolates and other treats. Bob is the primary craft chocolate maker, roasting and grinding cacao beans into scratch-made chocolate bars.
(Kristin) I’ve been making chocolates for friends and family since 2011, but we started Sweet Bean in FEB 2013. A member of the inaugural class of ECDI and CCLK’s Food Business Incubator, we made our public debut at the Cleveland Flea in SEP 2013. We recently began making our own chocolate, from the bean, and sold our first scratch-made bar in April of 2015. (Bob)
To us, working with chocolate is therapeutic. My husband Bob and I both currently have full time jobs… we come home at night and work with chocolate – who can complain about that? Creating something that brings a smile to someone’s face – first when they see it, and then when they taste it, is the real treat.
How we got into our craft.. (Kristin) Though we're originally from Cleveland, we were living in Boston in 2011, and it was actually a Groupon – to visit a local chocolate shop and make candies for Christmas - that got me really excited about chocolate. I spent the afternoon with a chocolatier learning how to temper and mold chocolate. I brought my creations home that night and told my husband about how much fun I had had… that Christmas he bought me some molds and a tempering machine. Any excuse to make candies, I did - holidays, co-workers birthdays, Fridays…lol.
Once Sweet Bean started gaining some momentum, Bob started researching making our own chocolate from scratch… he’d had an interest in roasting coffee and saw the similarities there – selecting beans by region and developing flavors through the roasting process… it was a natural fit.
(Kristin) I’ve always enjoyed baking and eating sweets, and I’ve always enjoyed art. I studied fine arts in college, dabbling in sculpture, ceramics and painting… marrying the two together was literally the sweet spot. I enjoy the creative outlet that painting and molding the chocolates provides, creating something from scratch - and there’s satisfaction when someone tastes our creation as well.
Our creative process... Hand-crafted chocolate molding is truly an art. It’s a multi-step process, with many variables, and is an exact science. We usually begin by determining the flavors we’ll be making, and then assigning each flavor a color palette. We prepare the molds by buffing and hand-painting them with colored cocoa butter – this is how we achieve our signature marbled appearance. Chocolate needs to be tempered, a series of heating and cooling steps while melting the chocolate to achieve the shiny, and stable consistency required to hold its shape without melting in your fingers. We temper by hand, and once the perfect temperature is reached – we keep the chocolate in temper while working quickly to mold and fill the candies.
Chocolate making is just as disciplined. Starting with raw cacao, beans are selected, sorted then roasted, similar to coffee - paying careful attention to time and temperature to achieve the desired results and flavors. Once cooled, beans are cracked and winnowed to remove the shells – leaving behind the cocoa nibs. Nibs are then ground in a melanger (stone grinder) with cocoa butter, and/or milk and flavorings to create different varieties or milk or dark chocolate. This process can take from 10 – 24 hours! Finally the chocolate is tempered and molded into bars, similar to the bon-bon process. Lastly, we hand-wrap our bars, and package our bon-bons in our signature wrap and clear boxes.
In five years our goals... We hope to have a brick + mortar sweet shop, a small-batch chocolate factory – where we make and mold our chocolate and serve other sweets and coffee. A spot where you can come and enjoy a little luxury, and see how the chocolate is made. I’d also like to teach others how to work with chocolate, just like I was introduced back in Boston…
The message behind our work is enjoy! We’ve always thought about our candies as an affordable luxury… we think you deserve to take some time out of your day, to relax, admire and enjoy one perfect bite... (or two).
Website: sweetbeancandies.com
Facebook: sweetbeancandies
Instagram: sweetbeancandies
Buy locally online: http://frekol.com/sweet-bean
Meet Lana Myers from Absinthe and Laudanum Apothecary LLC...
By profession, I am an English teacher (I have taught on the collegiate level and most recently, on the high school level). However, I have a diverse background in that I majored in Japanese linguistics and Art History. I also possess my MA in Modern British Literature.
I love design and fashion--these loves began at a young age when I was a high school student in Japan and subsequently developed after spending three more years in Japan, lived in Jerusalem and have traveled extensively throughout the UK and Europe.
I have been designing and creating my own hair accessories for years. At the New York Comic Con last year, while helping a friend who was a vendor, I was dressed in various Lolita fashion outfits (generally Late Victorian Period) when it was suggested to me that I open my own business.
My biggest inspirations are poetry, literature, nature, my travels, and my loved ones all inspire me to create! My creative process is organic and fluid.
My goal in five years is I'd love to go back to teaching while at the same time, maintain my business through my Etsy shop, Arts and Crafts events and Comic Cons and Anime Conventions!
The message behind my work is: Live. Experience all that this world has to offer. Dream.
2015 Chagrin Falls Fall Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Saturday, September 12th and Sunday, September 13th 2015
Saturday - 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm
Federated Church Family Life Center
16349 Chillicothe Rd.
Chagrin Falls, OH 44023
For more information, contact Becki Silverstein, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com
Visit us on:
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