Looking for something unique? The Kauai Island Crafters Fairs offers a wide assortment of locally made products, from textiles to jewelry and other speciality work, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Church of the Pacific in Princeville. Among
Looking for something unique?
The Kauai Island Crafters Fairs offers a wide assortment of locally made products, from textiles to jewelry and other speciality work, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Church of the Pacific in Princeville.
Among those offering different items will be Stella Pimental, a floral designer who makes traditional and ikebana silk flower arrangements, hair pieces, Hawaiian Hula Bears, Kauai Beach Balls, and “Island Angels” made from ornamental shells and beach glass.
“I am so glad that Debbie is doing the different craft fairs for us to have more opportunities to show people our artistic work,” Pimental said about event organizer Debbie Yanagihara.
The Wailua resident is a retired professional flower manager and designer with three decades of experience at Flowers Forever and other stores.
Pimental’s passion for craftwork started from her work ethic. It is a hobby that started from never wanting to be idle.
“I have busy hands and am always doing something,” she said.
It was her aunt that instilled a love of jewelry making and crochet. Pimental would visit her home where the two would spend the day beachcombing for driftwood pieces and shells.
“She nurtured my interest,” Pimental said. “I was always so intrigued with her creativity and my dad was also very artistic.”
Born and raised in Kalaheo as the eldest of seven children, Pimental enjoyed bringing in flowers each day for the home from her mother’s rose bushes.
As for a hobby of profit, Pimental said one can never recoup the time and effort put into this “labor of love” in terms of dollars. She earns enough to pay her booth fee and then some but the reward of the craft fair is shown by the appreciation of customers and other vendors.
“It is partly a social thing, too, where we sell craft to people who enjoy what we make and that speaks to the creativity a little more,” she said. “Debbie is also a great coordinator and fun to work with.”
Vanessa Louis of Koloa said her “ocean treasure” jewelry of shells started out as a therapeutic escape from life as a working, single mother of two children. This artistic outlet took hold and now she brings the family along to look at the various island beaches.
“It became kind of a family thing with my two kids, mother and grandmother,” Louis said. “We go all over the island from the south to the west and to the north to find shells in the morning and the evening.”
After three years, her friends and family encouraged her to showcase her talents at craft fairs. The idea of making money from her hobby intrigued her.
“Being a single mom, it was easier for me to have my own business,” she said. “It was cheaper than hiring a baby sitter and having to get a normal job because I can do more on my own time.”
After starting at the Hanapepe Art Walk on Friday nights, Louis said her confidence and creativity grew and she began looking at other arts and crafts fairs. She enjoys talking with people about her work.
“For me, I like the natural look and try to keep everything simple, because the beauty is in the shells and the glass,” she said.
After she finds shells that catch her fancy, she cleans them, does the drilling, oiling and then the delicate process of making jewelry. She purchases the metal chains or wire, hooks and other hardware.
The shell itself is what makes the jewelry unique, and no matter how much they might look alike, she said no two are identical.
“Every piece we have is always different,” she said.
The craft fairs are held monthly at various nonprofits around the island.
Info: Debbie Yanagihara at 635-4314 or kauaiparadiseheirlooms@hotmail.com.
