About Our Business
In 2003, Christine and her daughter Amanda were walking around the Carolina Renaissance Festival, which takes place
every fall in Huntersville, NC. They passed a shop that was selling costumes. The Renaissance-loving teenager was quite
taken with one of the dresses, and asked her mom if they could get it for prom. An inspection of the price provided a shock.
Christine, who'd been sewing since she was old enough to handle a needle, told her daughter she could easily make a
similar dress for much, much less.
And so she did just that, and in spring of '04, her daughter went to prom in a magnificent dress of red and gold velour that
she had designed, and her mother made. She got a lot of compliments on the one-of-a-kind dress, and shocked a lot of
inquirers when she informed them her mother had made it. A few girls even told her if they'd known what her mom could
do, they'd have bought their dresses from her.
That experience firmed up an idea that had been developing in Amanda's head since her mother had told her she could
make a dress for far less than what the costume stall had wanted for it.
With the help of a friend, she convinced her mom to run with her idea. And so, The Artisan's Corner was created by the
three founding members.
every fall in Huntersville, NC. They passed a shop that was selling costumes. The Renaissance-loving teenager was quite
taken with one of the dresses, and asked her mom if they could get it for prom. An inspection of the price provided a shock.
Christine, who'd been sewing since she was old enough to handle a needle, told her daughter she could easily make a
similar dress for much, much less.
And so she did just that, and in spring of '04, her daughter went to prom in a magnificent dress of red and gold velour that
she had designed, and her mother made. She got a lot of compliments on the one-of-a-kind dress, and shocked a lot of
inquirers when she informed them her mother had made it. A few girls even told her if they'd known what her mom could
do, they'd have bought their dresses from her.
That experience firmed up an idea that had been developing in Amanda's head since her mother had told her she could
make a dress for far less than what the costume stall had wanted for it.
With the help of a friend, she convinced her mom to run with her idea. And so, The Artisan's Corner was created by the
three founding members.
What's new, TAC?
Meet the Artisans (About Us)
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| The structure of our company emulates the Guild of the time, and is divided in to three departments, with all merchandise falling in to one of the three major categories. Each department is under the responsibility of the Department Head, with all three departments falling under the purview of the Guild Master. If you have any comments, questions or problems with any of our merchandise, bring it to the attention of any of the Department Heads, who will assist you. If it's something specific to a particular Artisan, the Department Head will bring it to the attention of the Guild Master. Thank you very much~ |
| There are currently 8 artisans registered in The Artisan's Corner. These include the three department heads and guild master. As more artisans join our team, their profiles will be added here. |
| First and foremost is the exalted Lady Christine. She is classed as a Master Tailor and is the leading seamstress, head of the Costume Department, Guild Master and company owner. Lady Christine has been sewing for over 25 years. In fact, those who know her say "If it can be made of cloth and thread, Christine can sew it." Though very skilled, she is extremely busy, so Lady Christine relies on the adventurous streak of daughter for many costume design inspirations. Since the inception of The Artisan's Corner, Lady Christine has produced some very extensive, original costumes. Christine also contributes many of the gift items sold here, and is responsible for the management of the event schedules. |
| Next is Christine's daughter, Amanda, aka, Lady Calista Wolfheart. A creative mind and driving force behind much of The Artisan's Corner. She is hailed by many as a skilled sculptor, though as of yet, she does not consider herself on a master level. Amanda is head of the Souvenirs Department. Aside from sculpting her primary functions are to seek out new artisan's with something to offer the Guild and working up new ideas to add to The Artisan's Corner's inventory. Studying Graphic Design at a local Community College is a challenge she greatly enjoys, and uses her growing education in design and advertising in her work to promote The Artisan's Corner. Amanda has designed several costumes, company name tags and business cards, is currently designing uniforms for employees. As she is primary webmaster for this site, she has the constant task of keeping all our activities and inventory up to date. |
| We're always on the lookout for new artisans. Please feel free to contact us if you have a new and exciting art or product that we could be interested in. Please keep in mind that tough, we do have some overlap of art mediums, we wish to avoid direct competition among our artisans. |
| Beth Walker was the first outside artisan to join The Artisan's Corner. She was brought in to the group by a mutual friend who has since left The Artisan's Corner for pursuit of other life adventures. Beth is a Journeyman level tailor, making her The Artisan's Corner's second ranked seamstress, and head of the Accessories Department. She has become an invaluable asset to TAC, assuming many of the responsibilities and art left open when the third founding member left. While she doesn't formally serve Christine as a journeyman, Beth still apprentices with her, working to achieve Master rank. She also dabbles in sculpting as an informal apprentice to Amanda. |
| Drake Lucian joined The Artisan's Corner as an extension of Beth. The two are engaged, and The Artisan's Corner hopes see a wedding in the near future. Drake is not an artisan, but as valuable assistant to Beth, spends many hours in experimental "breeding" of the Fuzzy Wiggles, as well as being Head of Security for The Artisan's Corner. He is experienced with a bow staff, and in spite of his slender physique, he's strong as steal, and currently practicing Kendo. He has a love for crystals, stones and gems, and has plans to study to become a Crystal Healer. It is possible that stones and crystals might eventually grace the shelves of The Artisan's Corner's inventory. |
| David Sawyer is The Artisan's Corner's skilled photographer. He takes most of the photographs seen on this website. David's interest in amateur photography began as a boy when his father started teaching him about his much loved hobby. It is rare that you will find David without at least one camera around his neck and another at hand. At the various renaissance fairs we affectionately refer to the camera as the ”foreign growth”. David also tinkered with 8mm film as a teenager and is now looking into going digital; although he plans to be faithful to classic 35mm film photography. His photographs are made in to magnetic book marks, and may soon grace postcards. David also has a great interest in paganism, and likes to collect information and unique items having to do with it. |
| Chris Brewer, a classmate of Amanda's, possessing a quick imagination and persistent fascination with mythology, was a natural addition. She invited him to a few events, where he became good friends with Beth, and the two soon invited him in to The Artisan's Corner's fold. Initially, he was a helping hand for packing, loading, setting up and breaking down. But he wanted more involvement, so began making 'Magic, wands with decorative handles and Rune staffs with various symbols carved on them. |
| David Mongeni is the newest artisan in the Guild. He joined the group shortly after he started dating Amanda. Wanting to share her interests, he accepted her invitation to help out at a few events. Before long, he was keenly interested in the whole concept and wanted a bigger part. With the loss of our beader, Amanda handed the task to Dave; who'd earlier claimed an affinity for patterns. Dave started with just simple girls' bracelets, and his debut was such a success that he decided it was a good fit for him. He is currently graduating from simple bracelets to more complex designs with matching necklaces of genuine semi-precious stones and beads. |
| Rebecca Howard, a former member of The Artisan's Corner, had in the beginning helped Amanda convince Christine to found the company. In spite of the talent she displayed in her work, she felt unfulfilled, eventually she left shortly before the 2007 Festival Season began to follow other life paths. Her former responsibilities have been handed over to other members, so some of the more popular merchandise she introduced will still be available. |
| Greg Byrd, Sir Gregory, was the first independent artisan to join the Guild. He's a brilliant stained-glass artist of ten years who makes beautiful works of Celtic themed sun-catchers and window art. He also finds interesting and obscure Celtic themed items such as decorative ceramic and resin boxes and Celtic crosses, bringing them to the festivals for sale. As an Independent Artisan in The Artisan's Corner, he maintains his own company, The Celtic Rainbow, maintains his own events schedule, and sets up his own booth. There are talks of sharing a booth for some of the larger events, but nothing has been confirmed yet. |
| Buddy is an 9 year old Main Coon, Turkish Van and Ragdoll mix who specializes in pressing the garments and holding fabric and patterns to be cut. He is also the post-production inspector. Sugar is an 9 year old white Oriental Short hair who specializes in construction supervision and equipment maintenance. This brother and sister team works tirelessly to ensure that strict and exacting standards of construction are upheld in all aspects of production. This often entails exhausting hours of chasing spools of thread and ribbon, or locating dropped beads or buttons. Many times there are dangerous aspects to the job, such as batting at cutting scissors and lying about on straight pins. Both Buddy and Sugar spend endless hours dedicated to the task of ensuring the proper placement and quantity of cat hairs on each project. Disclaimer: While each garment is cleaned prior to sale, it is advisable to clean again if you are highly allergic to cats. |
