Skip to content

At the handmade parade

The Handmade Parade is a great place to do some Christmas shopping and meet local artisans.
70371revelstokerevelstoke-handmadeparade_0020
Molly Higgins shows off two pieces of her work.


The annual Handmade Parade took place last weekend. In addition to being a great place to do some Christmas shopping, it’s also a great opportunity to meet some local artists, authors and crafters that you might not see about very often.

I dropped by on Saturday to chat with a few of them.

Carmen Segger

Artist Carmen Segger makes a variety of works, from carved chainsaws to small jewellery.

“I’m going to decide what I do when I grow up,” she joked.

The chainsaws jumped out the most. With the words ‘snow’, ‘powder’ and ‘bluebird’ cut out of them, she admitted she was targeting the ski crowd with them. She also has some more at Sangha Bean engraved with the words ‘man cave’, ‘wild’ and ‘ride’.

“I pick the words, make my own templates and then plasma cut them,” she said, adding that she can also do custom jobs. One person asked her to make one out of an big, old chain saw.

Recently she has started to do photo transfers. She starts by scratching up the surface she plans on place the photo on – that way she can create some interesting effects with the image. “I love what I can do with it,” she said.

Lastly, she dabbles in jewellery. “It’s great because its something I can do at home,” she said. She creates her jewellery by combining found pieces together. One bracelet she showed me consisted of beads and stones from four different items.

You can find Segger’s work at Sangha Bean, the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre and Begbie Studios.

Frieda Livesey

Fried Livesey was at the Handmade Parade to sell her new book, The Legends of Now.

The book consists of a selection of guided stories Livesey has written over the years.

“The just pour through me,” she said.

Not too long ago she went about going through them and, with the help of an editor, chose the best 100, out of about 400.

“I had no intention of publishing,” she said. “I have a bit of trouble considering myself an author.”

She described the stories as being a bit like Aesop’s Fables. “Just about life in general,” she said. “The deeper meaning of life.”

You can find the Legends of Now at Sangha Bean, Mountain Meals, the Revelstoke Museum & Archives and Grizzly Books.

Molly Higgins

Molly Higgins has been making jewellery for about 10 years.

It started as a hobby for her but then one year she moved to Mexico, where she became part of a community of artisans.

“I decided to make it my income then,” she said.

All of her jewellery is made with natural materials – stones, seeds, leather and more.

Right now, she said, she’s working on what she calls “leather-feather” pieces. They’re pretty much as described – jewellery made of leather and feathers.

“Usually I try to make every piece as if I was making it for myself,” she said, when asked what inspired her. “Also, the natural beauty of the colours. They’re nature inspired.

Higgins also does graphic and tattoo design and she’s hoping to incorporate more of that into her jewellery.

“I’m expanding on my techniques right now,” she said.

Her work can be found at Sangha Bean and Talisman.

Chic Sharp

Local karate teacher/children’s author was selling the third book in his series My Twelve Brothers and Me.

The latest book is subtitled “... featuring Giant George.”

“He helps being bullied by giving away part of his shadow,” Sharp said.

The shadow helps the victims but as Giant George gives away his shadow, he slowly gets smaller.

Like the first two, the book was illustrated by Sharp’s daughter Cara.

Sharp said his books have been doing very well so far and he’s going to look at approaching bigger publishing companies in the future.

Mieke Blommestein

Mieke Blommestein was also at the Handmade Parade selling her latest children’s book – Speedy the Snake.

The book is her third children’s book. this one is about not fearing change “because change can grow into something beautiful.”

You can purchase the book at Grizzly Books or through her website, www.storiesfrommysoul.com.