Showing posts with label Cynthia Marriott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cynthia Marriott. Show all posts

Monday, September 28, 2009

Shopping "on the Green"


Art on the Green in New Castle is my second Christmas shopping adventure (the first being the Arden Fair).


Since my pal Carol and I had not found Cynthia Marriott’s booth at the Arden Fair, we were delighted to find her at Art on the Green. “But I was at the Arden Fair!“ she protested. “That and here (Art on the Green) are my two best days of the year.” Perhaps we didn’t see her at Arden because, like today, people were in a holding pattern around her booth, looking at her brilliant colors and admiring her self-locking earrings. (More at cynthiamarriottdesigns.blogspot.com)


Carol went wild over Sioux City Soaps. They had some wonderful scents: cantaloupe, green tea, lemongrass, and rosemary. And we both thought that Plays with broken glass was the wittiest booth title at the fair.


Not only were there a cluster of artists on the hill overlooking the Delaware River, but some 300 exhibitors ranging from license plate mapmakers to knitters to Christmas kitsch crafters made it a great reason to be out in one of the last warm days of the season.


Sunday, September 6, 2009

Arden Fair: Margaret's View

The Arden Fair is usually my first Christmas shopping adventure. My friend Carol and I have gone together for years. We arrive at 9 o’clock, walk the fair before the crowds arrive and plan our purchases. Then she has a fruit smoothie and I have two hot dogs. Fortified, we go back with our wallets ready.

We first encountered a revolutionary design of saltshaker – a beautiful ceramic dome, which, when inverted, can be filled with salt. Turn it back over and the shelf inside the dome keeps the salt from falling out until you shake it vigorously. Potter Suzanne Kent says she did not invent this, but her work is beautiful and practical.

But more inventions were present among the jewelers. Ava Leas brought her pins and chain-ges. She uses a simple chain with a ring on either end which she uses to make brooches into chokers. A wonderful way to wear that inherited heavy pin that you love but which would pull your blouse off your shoulder if you pinned it on. Leas creates pins which are layered metal in silvers, golds and bronzes – layered leaves, butterflies with a Jewish CHAI for life. She had many fanciful earrings, too.

Not present, to my chagrin, was Cynthia Marriott who invented the self-locking earring. Each stem is folded back and twisted so it will never fall out of your ear. (How many of us have a collection of single earrings because one fell out!). Will Cynthia show up at the Art on the Green in New Castle?

Also absent was Gwen of Gwen’s Goodies. I usually stock up on her jams for presents. Her rhubarb jam was so good I put down my toast and wrote her a letter right away.

But present, as ever, was George, (pictured above) whose hard work makes everything at Arden work, from directing traffic to saving shows with extra lighting solutions to booking the hottest musicians imagined and to just keeping everyone together. Can’t be done without him.

Suzanne Kent – 610-436-5806
See Ava Leas at www.pinsbyava.com.
Cynthia Marriott – 610-647-7115
Gwen’s Goodies – 610-872-4041