My friend, Paula and I went to Saluda NC this past Thursday on a Retail Therapy Expedition. My primary focus was this tiny little art / mixed media shop in town called Random Arts. I had read about it in Cloth Paper & Scissors and visited their web site...but NOTHING prepared me for the veritable feast that had been laid out when I arrived!
Here you have a small, picturesque mountain town with beautiful views, shops that carry local artisans work, scrumptious restaurants (The Purple Onion...a MUST try), and rather quiet old-timey grocery stores...The streets are bumpy, the shade from the trees a welcoming site as you stroll along the main sidewalk, shopkeepers wave as you pass. Things feel slower, um, more laid back, you know ...relaxed.
Then.....
you turn to the doorway of Random Arts. Open the door slowly please because the sound will blow you away...
Sound?
What sound, you may ask?
Why, it's The Sound of Music ...as in Music To My Ears...My Eyes...My Senses...This place is AWESOME! I can honestly say that I have never been in a shop like this before...never had so much fun just visiting in a shop as this.
Jen was there (Jane, the owner, had a yucky dental appointment) and man, was her excitement contagious! She ia so cool, from her sparkly green eyes (right Jen?) to her handmade batik bracelet , right down to her tiny little toe...this girl is The Bomb. Lol! She has more talent in her Little Toe than most people have in their whole head! And judging from what I saw of Jane's artwork, she is afflicted with the same malady.
The walls, the ceiling, most of the floor is covered with a plethora of mixed media goodies that by the time I left, I feared I would swoon. I couldn't focus on one thing before darting to another and another...and so on.
It is, without doubt, The Store Of My Dreams. If you could add Random Arts to Fiber On A Whim you WOULD have The Perfect Store.
I could have stayed there all day, laughing, talking and learning from Jen but we had two other places that we had to go while in NC. I WILL go back! I will make sure that I have lots of time next time though.
They had all kinds of ephemera, found objects, art supplies (Golden products! Yeah!), rubber stamping supplies and notions, papers...oh, the handmade papers are to DIE for! Ribbons, tags, charms, buttons, patches, books, paints, lions, tigers and bears, oh my!
You MUST go!
I had had several Golden Products on my "list" that I carry about with me. You just can't find them anywhere around here so when I can upon them , I started lining them up on the counter. Jen demoed most of them for us, the rest she talked us through. The paint is awesome! I wondered why everyone always said that their paint was the best...now I know. The pigment is so bold, so concentrated that if you mix water with red paint...it doesn't turn pink like most paint does, it just gets a bit thinner...the color stays the same. How cool is that?
Anyway, I had to share this with you all. Oh, I didn't even mention that they have awesome workshops with really well known and talented artists! This is one time that "Too good to be true" is just not true. It's real. It does exist.
Random Arts at http://www.randomartsnow.com/ or visit their blog at http://www.randomartnotes.blogspot.com/.
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