ARTOMATIC 419!
One-day pop-up shop in Toledo the place to be for crafted art
4/22/2013
Betty Floored, left, a driving force behind the creation of Maker’s Mart, chats with Joellen Cherko of Northwood. The pop-up shop featured about 50 vendors from Ohio and Michigan.
THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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Betty Floored, left, a driving force behind the creation of Maker’s Mart, chats with Joellen Cherko of Northwood. The pop-up shop featured about 50 vendors from Ohio and Michigan.
Twenty minutes before the doors to Maker’s Mart were to officially open, people already waited outside.
Hours later, the foot traffic inside the one-day pop-up shop hadn’t slowed one bit, said founder Jessica Crossfield, who is also known about town as Betty Floored.
“There has not been a lull at all,” Ms. Crossfield said. “The Toledo magic happened and here we are.”
Maker’s Mart, set up Saturday at 830 N. Summit St., from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and presented by Handmade Toledo, featured about 50 vendors from both Ohio and Michigan and shoppers from all over.
Amy Cronkite loves the Great Lakes.
The 41-year-old Detroit resident and artist translates the lakes into art. Her most popular items are hand-cut plastic necklaces of each lake; she wears a cluster necklace with all five lakes, a version she also offers for sale.
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Ms. Cronkite, whose shop is called My Marigold, said each necklace takes about an hour to make and is proportionate in size to one another based on the lakes' actual sizes.
Amy Cronkite, of Detroit, creator of the shop ‘My Marigold,’ celebrates the Great Lakes in her art.
"I'm really happy with it," Ms. Cronkite said of Maker's Mart. “It's a great experience.”
Ms. Cronkite also sells her wares online at mymarigold.com.
The market was held in conjunction with Artomatic 419!, set up across the street at 911 N. Summit. Artomatic was in its second of three Saturday showings this month.
Cleo Brengman of Bowling Green and Linda Fiely of Columbus found themselves at Maker’s Mart by chance. They stopped for breakfast, picked up a newspaper, and saw the event was happening in North Toledo.
“This is really fresh,” Ms. Brengman said. “Something you might see on Etsy is right here in Toledo.”
“It’s a great thing for Toledo,” Ms. Fiely said of both the market and Artomatic.
The goods for sale at Maker’s Mart ranged from T-shirts and jewelry to housewares and soaps.
Liz Drabik of Ypsilanti, Mich., was selling cocktail-scented soaps and lip balms from her line, Aromaholic.
The soaps were a happy accident. Ms. Drabik was out with friends drinking a gin and tonic and realized she had the essential oils to replicate the scent at home.
Linda Fiely, left, of Columbus, and Cleo Brengman, a student at Bowling Green State University, look at the artwork of Amy Cronkite, creator of ‘My Marigold,’ of Detroit.
Rum and Coke was her next scented soap and, since, she’s come up with about 23 others.
For those who might not prefer smelling like booze — she also has a hangover soap — there are tea-scented soaps, and the newest additions to her line were made with television in mind.
She has soap inspired by Dexter, the vigilante serial killer and blood-splatter analyst in HBO’s Dexter and blue “crystal meth”-inspired soap from the popular show Breaking Bad.
“It’s been great,” Ms. Drabik said. Her products can be found online at aromaholic.net.
The next Maker’s Mart is scheduled for Nov. 23. A location has not been set.
Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.