Thanks to everyone who came out to our 15th edition of The Handmade Market! On behalf of all the fabulous artists and food vendors, thank you for taking the time to drop in and shop local!

This was our first time offering the Early Bird shopping. Did you partake? How did you like it?

Thank you to those of you who contributed to The Scrap Exchange fundraiser. We raised $241.00 for this great local program.

We had a lot of support for this event, from our fantastic volunteers to our generous sponsors. An extra thank you goes out to our fine friends at Logan’s, DECO Raleigh, Ornamentea, Epona & Oak, City Market, The Borough, and Downtown Raleigh Alliance. With the help of all these groups and individuals, we continue to improve The Handmade Market.

If you have a story to share about your day at The Handmade Market, we’d love to hear from you. If you took photos at the event, we’d love it if you’d add them to The Handmade Market group on Flickr.

Stay up-to-date on news about The Handmade Market, including the call for artists and dates for the November 2013 event, by signing up for the newsletter and following us on facebook and twitter.

With love + craftiness as always,
The Handmaidens

As always, admission to The Handmade Market is free! In lieu of an entry fee, please consider making a cash donation to The Scrap Exchange. Your donation will get you a raffle ticket good for a chance to win a gift basket full of goodness from our awesome Charity Sponsors.

Hope to see you today!

Admission to The Handmade Market is free. Instead, we ask you to consider making a donation to the featured charity, The Scrap Exchange. Your donation will get you a raffle ticket good for a chance to win a gift basket full of goodies from our generous Charity Sponsors.

We’ll also have homemade treats and coffee from Sweet T and Slingshot Coffee. So pick up a friend and head down to Cobblestone Hall for The Handmade Market tomorrow from 10 am to 5 pm!

Don’t  forget about the early bird shopping option from 10 am to 11 am — just $5 cash gets you an entire hour to browse and chat with the artists and without the crowd. Give it a try!

Slingshot Coffee. Have you tried Jenny Bonchak’s cold-brewed coffee yet? She brews and bottles this magic stuff in small batches right here in Raleigh, using organic, locally-roasted beans from Counter Culture, and she’ll have both the 16 oz. ready-to-drink and concentrate (good hot or cold) options available.  “Nectar of the gods” has been overheard when discussing this brand so be sure to come down and do your own taste test!

:: :: ::

Sweet T Cakery. Tammy Calaway, the owner and sole pastry chef at Sweet T, is back again with her fantastically delicious sweets.  She’ll be bringing her beautiful cupcakes and maybe some of those heavenly whoopie pies as well as other tasty surprises.   Tammy’s selections always include organic, seasonal sweets, and she usually brings a few options that are vegan and/or gluten-free for those of us with food intolerances and allergies.  We love Sweet T!

And lastly, we have a new-to-The-Handmade-Market DJ, Erik Sugg, aka DJ Suggadelic, Mr. Erik Storytimes, and “rock and roll library guy” to the masses at Cameron Village Library. He is a man of many talents (just look at his website!) and we are so happy that he is going to spend the better part of his busy Saturday spinning some tunes for us.

Please make some time to head down to Cobblestone Hall in City Market tomorrow and get your cupcake, coffee and groove on with us!  We promise it will be another great show!

It’s probably best to approach The Handmade Market at Cobblestone Hall from Blount Street (one-way southbound) or South Wilmington Street (one-way northbound) and park in the City Center Deck, which is free on the weekends.

There are two events downtown on May 4 that include street closures: OutRaleigh will impact the area around City Plaza, and the NCFFF Memorial will impact the area around Nash Square. For last minute updates on street closures or events, please check with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

One last tip — please bring cash to The Handmade Market. Lots of artists accept credit cards, but not all. There is an ATM right in City Market, near the corner of Hargett and Blake Streets. See you on Saturday!

Little Birdie Soap is making an appearance at The Handmade Market for the very first time on Saturday! Based out of Mooresville, NC, Little Birdie believes in junk-free skin care and we dig that. Plus their ingredient list is down right scrumptious.

How did you pick your shop/business name? I have a glassed in aviary near my office area filled with Lady Gouldian Finches…I have had them for years and years and just love them. When I was thinking about the name for this company, it so happened that a clutch of new babies (pretty rare in captivity) hatched and..voila..Little Birdie was born too.

Did you have another career or vocation before art+design? Ha! Several! I once owned a cooking school/gourmet shop with my best friend. Then, I went back to art school and got my BFA in Painting and Drawing. While there, I took some metalsmithing classes and, along with painting, started doing gold and silver jewelry and enameling. I did that for years and was juried into Piedmont Craftsmen, Inc. A couple of years ago I just made some soap to see if I could stop my skin from itching and became so fascinated that a whole new career was born. My love is research and design and I try to make each soap or product unique.

What’s the best unedited advice you could give to an artist just getting started? Trust your instincts…believe in what you do.

If you were going to start all over, what would you do differently? Take some business courses.

Tell us about your favorite hometown place(s). I’m from Charlotte…There are so many great favorite places but one of my favorites is Wing Haven. Now we live on Lake Norman and love how relaxed it is living here.

What three words best describe your style? Eclectic, Fun, Contemporary.

What are your three most prized possessions? Family, Pets, Studio.

If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be and what would you serve? Julia Child (actually had dinner with her once) and Picasso…I think they would be a riot together!

Give a warm Raleigh welcome to Mary Ann and Little Birdie Soap! Be at Cobblestone Hall on Saturday, May 4th or be square. Totally undeniably square.

Metamorphosis Metals is the work of local favorite, Sonya Coulson Rook. She’s done the Handmade Market a few times and each time she brings something new and exciting for all of us to coo over. She’s doing a lot of shows on the east coast this year and we’re glad she’s stopping by ours!

How did you pick your shop/business name? It sounds odd, but, in school I made quite a few pieces of jewelry using insects (yes, the 6 legged crawling things) that I either cast in silver and bronze or set in resin. I used the name Metamorphosis for a few earlier ventures and decided to stick with it when I started to focus on my jewelry line. Since my work has an organic feel and I often use found or non-traditional materials it just seemed to fit. The Metals was added latter when I went to register the name and realized Metamorphosis was already taken.

What’s the best unedited advice you could give to an artist just getting started? Its easy to feel overwhelmed when just starting out, so never be afraid to ask questions. The crafty people that you admire started out just like you, and they are still learning something new every day. They received lots of helpful advice along the way and are happy to pass that information on to you.

What are your three most prized possessions? This is a hard one, I have an attachment to objects, its difficult to narrow it down to just three but I’ll try.
1. A tiny house built from toothpicks that my Grandfather made.
2. A mug that was a gift from my childhood best friend that passed away.
3. Letters my parents and sister wrote to me when I went away to college that were delivered 4 years later, just after graduation.

If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be and what would you serve? Leonardo da Vinci, something quick and simple, I would have way too many questions to worry about dinner.

Come say hi to Sonya this Saturday, May 4th and check out her latest work. We are in love with her bee and honeycomb necklace!

Paige Puckett Pottery is back again for another Handmade Market! Yay! She makes functional wheel thrown ceramics. All pieces are food and oven safe and most of all, gorgeous!

How did you pick your shop/business name? I never did pick a business name. It felt binding and defining. Early on, I didn’t feel legit enough to even have a business name. I considered about a play on my location (oak, Raleigh, street name), but what if we moved? When I did my first show at The Handmade Market, I just went by my name, Paige Puckett, plus pottery, which had triple threat alliteration, and it’s stuck. The bad thing is my business card has my name on it about five times, and when my name gets spoken, I immediately tack on pottery in my head.

Did you have another career or vocation before art+design? I graduated with PhD in Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 2007, was shot down for the two faculty positions I applied for, and while on the celebratory beach trip I learned I was pregnant with my first son. My department at NCSU had already hired me part time to teach graduate level distance courses, so I was able to work from home. Around the same time, we bought a wheel and kiln for my pottery hobby, which was touch and go the first few years of baby making. I’m still teaching distance classes, and the latest course I developed, water and nutrient management for sustainable home-scale agriculture, was created out of an extension of my love for gardening. Already I was spending hours teaching myself how to interplant, rotate crops and manage nutrients and water, so why not share what I was learning? I take a lot of pictures of bugs and plants while I garden, which makes up the “& Prints” portion of my business. Observing the intricate details and design of even the smallest creatures turns my heart to my maker. Some days all these passions, hobbies and work feel like a jumbled mess, but I’m never bored.

What’s the best unedited advice you could give to an artist just getting started? Don’t I have to be an artist to give advice on that? Well I guess that’s just it. Do what you love and don’t worry about titles. Let your work speak for itself.

If you were going to start all over, what would you do differently? It’s risky business saying I wish I’d do things differently. While at times I wish I’d studied art or horticulture rather than engineering, I love the journey I’ve taken and am thankful for the various opportunities that have come along. I think the 8 years of engineering schooling led to the creative explosion that happened when I was introduced to clay. Being both brained, I probably was suffering from artistic repression.

Tell us about your favorite hometown place(s). I’m originally from Chattanooga, TN. I don’t like to brag – I just smear FB and Instagram with pictures of my kids, pottery, and gardening. Wait, is that considered bragging?

What are your three most prized possessions? As in what three things would I grab if the house were burning down? Joe, Daniel and Matthew. I’m pretty proud of the garden as well.

If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be and what would you serve? I’d like to have another meal with my grandparents, Momsy and Popsy. I’d serve green beans, mashed potatoes and fried chicken. I have a picture of them in my dining room from grandparents day at my high school. When I start to fuss at the kids too much, I look up at their picture and apologize.

Welcome Paige back to The Handmade Market on Saturday, May 4th and pick up some of her latest and greatest greations! We’re pretty fond of Paige and think you will be, too.

Pascale Toussaint is going to be at The Handmade Market for the first time this Saturday! We are excited to see her prints from her beautiful linocuts and screenprints!

Did you have another career or vocation before art+design? Although I always wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember, life had other plans so I studied Physical Therapy in the Congo and in the US went back to school and studied Psychology. I have worked in the medical field and for the past 14 years I have worked in Higher Education first in New York and now in a University in Raleigh. I work in administration with lots of paperwork but I do enjoy my work. This pays the bills but if I could I would be an artist full time. I am an avid reader of the “Quit your day Job” feature in Etsy and dream of the day I would also quit or retire from my day job.

If you were going to start all over, what would you do differently? I would start my art career early, and instead of Psychology, go to Art school. I have always been afraid of not making it and look for the sure thing but creating art is in me. But overall I am happy to have finally gotten back to creating; it has taken a long time but as they say better late than never.

What three words best describe your style? Natural, honest, brave.

Please give a warm Handmade Market welcome to Pascale on Saturday, May 4th and pick up some of her goods!

City Market has history. Have you ever wondered about those old buildings or that cobblestone street?

On October 1, 1914, articles in the Raleigh News & Observer reported on the troops in Europe readying themselves for The Great Conflict. They reported that the price of cotton was just ten cents a pound. But the headline that most captivated Raleigh citizens on that day was, “A New Market Is Now Open – Thousands Throng the Building While Ceremonies Are In Progress.”

This new “City Market” flourished as a center of downtown Raleigh for the following three decades. Farmers from the eastern part of the state came regularly in their trucks and horse drawn carts bringing produce, poultry, seafood, and flowers. Home baked goods were also a favorite among Raleigh citizens. Every Saturday you could find farmers gathered at the Market and people picnicking with their families in Moore Square, which locals called “The Grove.”

Today’s City Market has modern allure and all of the charm it held in the early 1900s. The streets are made of cobblestone and lit by old-fashioned lanterns. The shops and restaurants are as diverse as their proprietors, and most are independent businesses that are staples of the downtown community. There are always special events going on at City Market.

On the first Friday of each month, you can stroll the streets of historic City Market and celebrate great art, music, and shopping. Retail stores, restaurants, and art galleries open their doors for extended hours. First Friday, as it’s called, is such a fun City Market event. If you want to feel like you’re out of town on a little vacation, head down to Blake Street between Blount and Person Streets. Local bands perform in front of Big Ed’s right across from Cobblestone Hall from April through October, beginning at 7 pm. The trees are lit with white lights that stretch across the cobblestone street. Families sit on the curb listening to the band. The atmosphere is quaint.

It’s such a pleasure to have The Handmade Market in this historic area, in a building with such character and charm. Check out First Friday on May 3rd, then come to The Handmade Market on Saturday, May 4th!

Thank you City Market for your continued sponsorship!