What’s new at the market? Cute, smart and utilitarian wine charms.
Lyn and John Dixon moved here recently from the San Francisco area and have a product for all your friends who have obscure or popular culture cult collections. These two started a business called JL Dixon Designs back in 2004 after Lyn discovered the world of beads.
Although Lyn is not much of a wine drinker, she discovered she loved making bracelets and after making herself 15 bracelets she figured it was time to branch out.
“It was just a brainstorm to make wine sets — eight charms per set, and a ring that fits over the bottle,” she says.
Pretty soon she started selling at farmers markets and high school crafts shows; from there they started doing big convention shows.
What keeps it fun for these two is finding just the right charms to make a set of eight. For example, there is a Sequim set that includes a different iconic Sequim charm on each wine ring; a crab, a salmon, elk, lavender, mountains and a few others.
They must have a hundred or so categories including “Game of Thrones,” “Walking Dead,” “Firefly,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Star Wars,” the Harry Potter series and so many others. Most popular of late is the Seahawks set. Lyn says, “These are for fanatics.”
John just retired from Stanford Hospital having had a career as an anesthesia technician, while Lyn is still working full time for Stanford College in the Office of Faculty Affairs remotely. They came to Sequim this past December for a week and then returned in February to put a bid on a house. That fell through, but they moved here anyway in March and moved into their new house in May.
I recall they contacted the market a week after their arrival and started digging through their boxes to find their products.
Lyn is happy to say they will be at our market all summer. She said she thought they might travel and do other area venues in the region, but the success they are having at the Sequim Farmers Market is joyfully keeping them here.
“This is where we will spend our summers,” she says.
They also make lovely dandelion wishes in a glass ball and beaded fairy pendants of various colors and themes.
They will be attending both of our holiday shows set for Nov. 18 and Dec. 23, as well as continuing the market season on the plaza. Come and give a warm welcome to John and Lyn. They are right next to Hurricane Hills Winery and the two items make a great local gift combination!
Our music program is done for the season. A big thank you to the musicians and all the community for coming and enjoying the talent. See you at the market!
