ArtWalk - Friday, March 11  - 5-8 pm

Our second ArtWalk of the year is coming up Friday, March 11 and we've got two featured artists!

First is Kay Coburn Rice doing a glass demonstration and the second is a book signing with Karen Dodd.

Glass artist Kay Coburn Rice of New Bern will be working with her torch demonstrating how she makes her glass sculptures and beads.

A New Bern native Kay has recently returned to her hometown after spending many years in Texas.

Kay has been working with glass for 11 years and torch worked glass for 7 years. She started out doing fused glass jewelry in a kiln while living in Texas.  

She studied metal work for three years then found her true calling when she started working with a torch. She took classes with Kip Maley at  the Craft Guild of Dallas and developed her skill at making glass beads.

Most recently through her study with Josh Mazet she has developed her skill with torch worked sculptural Borosilicate glass. She has also studied with Corina Tettinger, Deb Crowley, Gail Crosman Moore and other accomplished glass artists.

Kay enjoys recreating things found in nature, especially flowers and fish and making jewelry with her fused glass and her lamp worked beads.

Lamp working is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking.

Lamp working has been done since ancient times but it came into prominence in Murano, Italy in the 14th century. Lamp working differs from glassblowing in that glassblowing uses a blowpipe to inflate a glass blob known as a gob or gather, inflating it by blowing air into the blowpipe, whereas lamp working manipulates glass either by the use of tools, gravity, or by blowing directly into the end of a glass tube.  

In addition local author Karen Dodd will be present to sign her new mystery novel "Bear With Me, Dear".

Karen will be in attendance to answer questions about the series.

This is the final book in her Riverwalk Mystery trilogy.

The main character Fiona Wade, is a retired grandmother who loves a mystery. After discovering a body she begins her search for the murderer. 

This is not a history book but you will recognize landmarks, specifically the New Bern bear statues.

There are 10 photos of New Bern homes, the first 10 people who send in the correct addresses of the mystery houses will receive a free book of their choosing from the author.

The artist and author will be at Carolina Creations during ArtWalk so stop in and meet them, enjoy some refreshments, and see what else is new! For more information call the gallery at 252-633-4369, or email us info@carolinacreations.com 

New work by Pat Holscher, Justine Fererri, Sukey Pratt, Karen Belknap

Award winning watercolorist Pat Holscher has just brought in a wonderful variety of paintings of NC birds.  

Large paintings include Hunkered Down and Swim Team. We also have a series of smaller paintings of shore birds.  

For a sneak preview of more of Pat's paintings or to purchase click here.

One of our favorite fun and funky artists is Justine!  

Always trying something new, we have a wonderful collection of hanging sculptures as well as new versions of some old favorites.

Click here to see more!

Welcome to a new North Carolina potter Sukey Pratt.

Her sweet little pottery bowls are each unique.  

Wildflowers, birds, bunnies and butterflies are embossed and hand painted (with underglazes) from her own drawings. 

They are useful for coins, jewelry or a teabag, a perfect handmade pick up gift, made in North Carolina. A great deal at only $12. 

And introducing one more new item to our gallery, felted soap by Kayrn Belknap!  

Kayrn begins with quality Kiss My Face olive oil soaps that are sold in many health food stores.  

She uses them because of their proven mildness and wonderful scents.  

She wraps the soap with colorful Merino fibers and felts them down to surround the soap with a sturdy but soft covering. The wool is beautiful and is a gentle and natural exfoliant.

As the soap is used up the wool continues to shrink around it. When the soap is used up just throw it in a drawer to scent.  

Hot off the Press - New Bern Flashcards

New Bern A to Z - Well known, little known & just plain interesting facts.  

Blaine Kruger, a new resident, has a background in commercial design and wanted to continue his work when he moved here.  

His first project is a set of Flash cards - each box contains 26, 2.5 x 5 inch cards with an image on the front and a paragraph on the back explaining the historical significance of each letter of the alphabet as it relates to New Bern!

The cards are printed on heavy stock to ensure a long life and repeated handling.

These cards are ideal for teachers, history buffs and those who have an appreciation for unique items like our Carolina Creations customers do!

They are a steal at $6.95 and will make a great addition to your Easter basket or stocking next Christmas! Can't make it in? You can order online by following this link.    

Thank you for filling out our survey 

We got over 10% response to our survey. Thanks for taking the time to fill it out. They say 3% is good so we're thrilled with 10%.

What we found is that respondents want hand crafted items that aren't readily available every where else. They prefer that they be made in the USA, and North Carolina specifically but are really more concerned with good design.

Price is an issue. The problem is 90% of the artists whose work we represent are full time artists. That is how they make their living so you can't compare the price of manufactured goods, that are spit out of a machine, with pieces that are hand crafted, one at a time, in most cases by 1 person not a team.  

Our cost of living and standard of living in the USA is much higher than some other countries so an artist here needs to get paid more per hour than say, an artist in the far east.  We look very hard to find great items at great prices. We are usually more swayed by a great item than a great price but are cognizant of the fact that our customers want both. We do the best we can!  

Some artists are designing their work in the US and having it hand crafted overseas. We do have a FEW artists like this, less than 10, and we'll tell you who they are. But in this case we only deal with those that are making sure their artists are getting a living wage where they live and belong to the Fair Trade organization. 

As far as new items to carry, we try not to be redundant, that is we try not to carry items that other shops in New Bern already have. So if you wonder why we don't have your neighbors work it is probably because it is sold in another shop in town. We want to be unique and offer things you can't get elsewhere.

Wearables were mentioned many times. Over the past 6 months we have added one additional line of hand bags with another to come. We've added three new lines of scarves and we're trying tops from one of the artists. We'll see how they are received.

Some other items of interest were mentioned and we're looking into them.

Again, thank you for your time and effort. 

Wedding Bells

Bridal Registry

Congratulations go out to  

Jen Reynolds & Rick Parrotte  - 
June 11,2011

In addition for the 5th year in a row she has created the artwork for the New Bern Historical Society's Spring Home and Garden Tour.

Prints of the Historical Society Home Tour artwork are available at Carolina Creations.

Each year Carolina Creations hosts a reception for the Home Tour and this year will be no exception.  

Stop in for some refreshments from 4-8 Friday, April 8.  

Janet will have tiles of all the homes and buildings on the tour available for purchase. Each is an original painting on tile. 

What's Coming Up!

Mark your calendar for the next ArtWalk, March 11 from 5-8 pm.

Kay Coburn Rice will demonstrate her glass lampworking techniques! 

And Karen Dodd will be present for a book signing for her third book in her RiverWalk Series - Bear With Me, Dear.
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March 15, Tuesday 6-8 pm, Taste of Coastal Carolina 33 restaurants and chefs participating this year! Riverside Convention Center, Downtown New Bern. Purchase your tickets at

Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation or by calling 252-637-7972.

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April 8, Historic Home & Garden Tour Reception - open to the public. 4-8 pm.  

As in the past Jan will do tiles of all the homes on the tour and prints of the home tour poster art will be for sale. Refreshments will be served of course!

Historic Home & Garden Tour - 10-4 April 8 & 9 - tickets are available for purchase at Carolina Creations. 

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New paintings by Jude Lobe of Mebane, "Provence Revisted" opens during ArtWalk, May 13, 5-8 pm.