Tuesday 30 January 2018

Shop Revamp Now Complete

We are in the midst of a rather fierce Nor'easter with winds gusting to 100 KPH and snow and freezing rain. On Digby Neck we call such a day Tuesday.
So with the weather being what it is, I have the time to do a blog post to show you some more of the changes to the shop.
Because of an even larger hand dyed yarn inventory (is there no end Lisa??) we had to install another set of pine shelves and I took the opportunity to add some small shelves to the end to display stuff.

Additionally, we added some wall boxes sourced from Ikea to showcase the totally unique work of our daughter, Sandra and the fabulous creations of John Hood. Sorry for the lighting.

So after that was completed I figured that these boxes were pretty simple to make- especially since I had pine paneling. Here's my effort.

The net result of all these changes is that we are going to have a lot more display space to show off unique, hand made treasures such as this.

Here is a gorgeous (the pic doesn't do it justice) piece of local chalcedony that's shaped a little like The Neck and tab set in hand hammered copper with hand made copper findings and a premium leather cord. Vickie came up with the idea and I did the execution and it will sell in the shop for $40- a total steal!
By the spring, we are going to have many more beautiful pieces featuring local stones and others spectacular specimens from around the world, all finished in our VT Rock Lab and totally hand fashioned. So if you have visited before, come on back and see us again!
Cheers!

Friday 12 January 2018

The Shop Revamp Continues

As is normal for Digby Neck, the weather has been very abnormal. Temperatures have been going up and down like a toilet seat and virtually all the snow is gone. The bay is filled with sea ice stacked up by the wind and we have intense ground fog when the warm air hits it.

 It is very mild right now but in the next 36 hours we are supposed to experience rain (LOTS of rain!), sleet, freezing rain and snow- all the while accompanied by winds gusting to well over 100 kilometres per hour. So it's a perfect time to work on the changes to the shop.
One of the big changes is the new set of shelves that will enable us to display more knitted goods and jewelry.

Another is the installation of our wall boxes from Ikea.

This has enabled us to set up specific displays for our featured artists such as John Hood and Sandra Mitchell. It has also freed up display space for our Northern Treasures- gorgeous fur pompoms from Iqaluit in Canada's far north.

Of course, we will continue to display a lot of beautiful, hand dyed yarn.

And while the shelves are a little bare now, we are expecting a large shipment of new inventory in the next few days.

Of course, we still have lots of beautiful rock and by moving a lot of it into the adjoining room, we have even more display space.

The bottom line is that by next spring, the shop will be absolutely full of interesting things for you to see. So if your plans call for you to be in this area, come on by and say hi. Don't forget, every visitor gets a free polished local stone!

Tuesday 2 January 2018

New Year- New Weather- New Shop!

I guess things are getting back to normal in the outside world but the big topic here is the weather! Ordinarily, we get a lot of wind on The Neck but we are now in our 5th day of dead calm. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your desires) the calm has been accompanied by non-stop (and I do mean non-stop!) light snow. In fact, we have received about 2 feet here and that has made for some pretty spectacular scenery.

This is our deck and what is unusual is that when it snows, that deck is usually bare because of the wind.
 Unfortunately, the lack of wind has produced some not so pretty sights as well.

You really don't want to be around when these come down!
So the scene has shifted indoors and the wood stove is getting a real workout.

Don't worry, we have another cord stacked up outside!
So because of all this, we figured it was a perfect time to change things around a bit in the shop. If you have been here, you know we have a really small space so the challenge is to set things up to maximize display space. To accomplish this, the inevitable has occurred and we have moved some of the rock specimens into my office area.
Additionally, during a recent trip to the new Ikea in Halifax, we found something that works perfectly!
These small pine boxes fit the decor perfectly and really expand our shelf space!
The beauty of it is that we can fit these things in in really small spaces where a shelf might have looked a little silly. Another big plus is that we can stock an even broader selection of our beautiful hand dyed Seawall Fibres yarn.

So if you have been in the store before, you will notice a big change. And if you are yet to visit, even more interesting treasures await your arrival so make plans now to enjoy our beautiful, scenic Digby Neck, a great family destination. And if you do, plan a whale watching excursion- it will be a memory of a lifetime!