Hello-Hello! I just returned from my annual Oregon trip and am getting back into the swing of things. What a great trip! Perfect weather, even on the coast. Blackberries right off the bush. Antique shopping and arts & crafts a-plenty and furthermore, all the family and friends I visited are doing well. Yeah!!! While Arizona is experiencing temperatures in the 100’s, I saw the first signs of Autumn’s kiss in Oregon. The occasional amber-colored leaf and a slight nip in the air reminded me – it’s fall…which means the holidays are not far behind. I KNOW!! I swear I just packed away my Christmas decorations like two months ago. It’s true though. Sigh…September is half way gone and then Halloween which flows into Thanksgiving which turns into Hanukahchristmasnewyears. Luckily, I visited the Portland Saturday Market during my vacation and that is the PERFECT place to get an early start on holiday gifts.

Saturday Market is located in downtown Portland, Oregon and is open every Saturday and Sunday from March through Christmas Eve. The market is a smorgasbord of handmade items, budding artists, fabulous food and music. It really is a must do if you find yourself in Portland over a weekend. There is a ridiculous amount of talent in those few city blocks; you are guaranteed to find something that whispers to you, “Take me home”. Here a few of my favorites.

Copperwork by Dana Godfrey

Dana Godfrey crafts stunning earrings, bracelets and pendants from solid, hand-molded copper.  His unique style is primarily influenced by the Japanese aesthetic known as Wabi Sabi or “the elegant art of imperfection”. Many of Dana’s pieces are enameled by fusing melted glass to the copper shapes, giving them an added layer of color and interest. I absolutely love the simple natural beauty his pieces hold and his reasonable prices make jewelry from Copperwork by Dana Godfrey excellent, one-of-a-kind, gift ideas.

Glass Drops by Fred Imhoff

Fred Imhoff of Glass Drops is the creator of gorgeous flame-worked glass earrings and necklaces. Slender, colorful glass spirals beautifully suspended in perfect little glass drops. Fred’s Glass Drops are available in different lengths and colors, therefore, there is a style for every ladies’ taste. At about $30 a pair, these beauties are possibly the most irresistible gift. In fact, I dare you not to buy a pair for yourself. Fred takes on-line orders from his Glass Drops on-line shop.

Sienna Art Studio

Sienna is a completely amazing artist. She is primarily self taught and her work literally blows my mind. Every drawing is created by hand, completely from numbers or equations. She works with pen or pencil, often under a magnifying glass and each piece takes over 200 hours to draw and over a year to research. The piece above, titled Transitional, is drawn entirely from the numbers of the clock, 1-12. It is a reminder of how fast time flies and to enjoy each moment.

The piece above is titled ‘Breathe’ and it’s concept is absolutely spectacular.

The tree-line shape is inspired by an EEG reading of Sienna’s brain after 8 weeks of mindfulness training and is drawn with data pulled from the research, showing a neurological improvement in her brain.

‘Breathe’, in my opinion, is possibly the most genius blend of art and scientific data. If you are intrigued by it’s concept, I strongly encourage you to click HERE to read all about the numbers and research behind it’s creation. Sienna Art Studios sells prints for about $45 and also offers some of the works on tees and hoodies. Most items are available in the on-line store at the link above. These pieces are an especially perfect gift for those in your life who are in awe of science and the beauty of art. . . and talk about a conversation piece! Wow!

Olander Earthworks

Finally, I am really excited to share this last product with you because it is just so fun! Olander Earthworks, owned and operated by a Portland based husband and wife team, make intricately detailed (light-weight) concrete orbs . These orbs replace the rake for possibly the most addictive zen garden – ever. Seriously! I could literally do this for hours.

They have about a dozen designs and small, medium and large orb sizes. The orbs come in different earthtone colors and run about $25 to $35. Certainly, this can get a bit pricey if you buy several orbs at once but they make perfect items to collect over time. Also, the orbs are just the right size for a stocking stuffer (just sayin’)

I ultimately, after much play and contemplation, purchased one orb and the fine sand. My son thought it humorous that I paid for sand when I live in the desert – LOL.  I wasn’t sure if I could find the fine texture necessary for crisp and clear impressions though so I paid the $4.

Now, I’m so excited to create my own ‘art zen’ garden (possibly a future blog post…hmmm). Also, according to the owner of Olander Earthworks, these orbs work particularly well with magnetic sand. I’m completely intrigued. You can purchase the cement orbs HERE and the sand HERE.

I hope you have enjoyed looking through some of my Portland Saturday Market discoveries. If you ever have an opportunity to be in Portland, Oregon during the weekend, I highly recommend giving the market a spin. AND if you are A Crafty Composition Super Subscriber you can download my Destinations:Portland, Oregon PDF full of my recommendations on things to do, places to go and food to eat in Portland, Oregon. This easy to print PDF is available on the Subscriber Freebies Page which you can access off this blog’s Main Menu. Don’t forget – you’ll need to subscribe to the blog to get the password for this page of awesome resources.

Just in case Portland is not in your near-future travel plans, I love that so many of these artists now offer on-line stores so that people from all over the U.S. can enjoy their fantastic creativity. Independent artists work so hard and I especially love supporting their craft whenever I can. Hey, why not click a few of the available links in today’s post and get some of your holiday shopping done. (I have no personal connection with the above artists nor do I benefit from any sales created through these links – I just think their work is really awesome and wanted to share)

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