Off the beaten path | Charleston

    Here we are, my final Charleston post and quite possibly my favorite.  Some of our souvenirs up above.  I have already mentioned some things we did that I felt were off the beaten path, mainly going to the African church, but here is the last bit of things that were a part of my favorite experiences on our trip.

 

  On one of our runs, we hit the Saturday farmer's market.  This is different than the daily open air market in the middle of town.  That one was the Slave Market, not because they sold slaves there, but all of the vendors were slaves.  Whites even bought the slaves' goods.  Anyway, this market we ran to, was the pop-up canopies lined in a park type of farmer's market.  You know me and farmer's markets, it was a must visit.  I was expecting to check out the local winter produce of Charleston, but it turned out to be more of a local artisan market.  Check out these necklaces reinvented from antique pieces found near and abroad.  Those two in the middle are pieces from Italy and each have individually set pieces of glass that make up each petal and leaf.  The dark blue one has over 100 pieces of glass.  Gorgeous!  Their shop is called The Scarlet Poppy and I took a card because I want that necklace!

  At the farmer's market, I was immediately drawn to this lady's AMAZING work.  She hand carves into woodblocks, which in my opinion is much harder!  Her stuff was just gorgeous and if we hadn't been on a run, I would have walked away with some of her work.

 

  I got to talking to her as I was ogling over everything and she has been doing this for 25 years.  She said she probably has about 300 different woodblocks.  She does all of the carving, but also does all of the printing by hand too.  That is so impressive!  She has state prints of every state, I want Washington on paper and SC on a tea towel.  She also has all of these tea towels and many other prints.  You must go check out Perla Anne Press!

 

  Might have to get this print too.  There are so many of these, but not many with "we are REAL" and even less that that are hand-printed and hand-carved.  Love that!

 

On our run we also ran to this pop-up shop that was literally in someone's home.

 

  I found a SUPER cute card shop when I went looking for an anniversary card for Mike.  It's called Mac and Murphy and the three ladies that own it are pretty much who I want to be in my second life.  They were giving me recommendations on food and were one of a few who highly recommended Butcher and Bee.  It sounds like they roll into work at 10, arrange letterpressed cards and fulfill invitation orders, go out to lunch, and then play with more cards, meanwhile looking at gorgeous other paper and handmade goods displayed in the store.  Okay, I know it's not that glamourous, but for real, I was living vicariously through them for a minute.

 

  Back to the print above.  I about died when I saw this print in their shop.  I knew immediately it was done by Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co.  My favorite designer!!!!!!  When one of the ladies heard the excitement in my voice she told me, "She was here!  Anna came here this summer and we asked her to do a print.  You can only find this print here."  Sold!

 

  When Mike and I talked about anniversary gifts (as if the trip wasn't the biggest gift ever), I told him that I wanted art from Charleston.  So, this is one of the pieces we got.

  Hanging at Mac and Murphy were these gorgeous woven wall hangings (pic from their fb page, I thought I took a pic, but I didn't).  I knew woven wall hanging were coming back in style, but I didn't know why until I saw these.  Hello amazing!  I want!

You can also buy them on etsy at Sun Woven.

 

  I saw this card there and I need it to be one of my New Year's Resolutions.  Seriously.  Sale is my weakness.

  One of the funnier experiences of the trip was when I gave Mike directions to this place and we about turned around and drove home twice.  First, after we turned into a neighborhood that didn't look like it wanted tourists.  Second, when we pulled up to this industrial park.

I looked a bit harder and saw the Sustainable Warehouse sign and realized we were in the right place.

  We walked into this dark warehouse building and crazily walked out with a light fixture for our dining room.  The ladies sitting in the front couldn't believe we would come visit Charleston from California and gave us a deal on the fixture knowing we would have to somehow get it home.

With a scarf to measure it so we could get a box to fit it, we were determined to get it home.

  After some time (a looong time) in a FedEx and the realization it was going to cost us $300 to get it home, we started using our brains and took it apart.

  After probably an hour in FedEx and taking off the clothes on our backs to pad this darn light fixture, we spent about $50 to get it home.

 

The story is not yet finished, but we are determined to make something work!

  This last place is hands down one of my most favorite memories and definitely off the beaten path.  While dining at Husk, Mike took a great liking to their dishes.  They were heavy ceramic plates, cups, and platters and he couldn't get enough.  He has loved and appreciated ceramics ever since he took a ceramics class in college.  We picked up a business card from the restaurant and he called the number and here we are at the studio.  This studio was for many artists and CBFB was in a back room.

  Chip, one of the owners of CBFB, told us all about his pottery and showed us how he made the plates.  They use a sculpting clay which lends to heavier and less breakable plates.  And if they do chip, they will refire and glaze them for you.

 

  He told us all about their process, including how they had to design per the chef's requests.  On one of the plates in the pic above they made ridges toward the center and a small dent in the middle as the chef wanted the sauces to pool there.  We also got to hear other fun stories of who they've met since starting their business and fun things they've gotten to do since.  Like, meeting the chef of the state department and touring the state department building after hours.  We met his business partner as well and he gave us great recommendations for food, they were the nicest people.

 

  They do big restaurant orders like they did for Husk and just finished up an order of 1700 pieces for a restaurant in Las Vegas.  Of course, we wanted just a handful of pieces and he was more than happy to do that for us.  He said if we are interested enough to come into the studio, then he would be happy to do an order for even if all we wanted was two plates or two cups.  Well, we wanted a bunch, but when a small salad plate cost $45, we could only afford so much.

  

  We ended up ordering a couple of different sized serving bowl and plates, and a few dessert plates.  We ordered some of the Husk pieces and some of the Vegas pieces which I especially liked because of the crackle glaze.  This was the other Charleston art we gifted to each other.  Happy 10th Anniversary to us!

  Lastly, while we were there it was time to open up the kiln and Chip wanted us to see it happen.  Straight from the kiln and still super hot, Chip gifted us with two mugs for our anniversary, which happened to be the actual day.  We were able to take the mugs straight home, our other stuff is being made.  Such a memorable part of our trip.

  After our visit to the studio, we saw their pottery in stores and if you watch that tv show I mentioned you'll see it on there too.  We get all giddy when we see it because we made such a connection with the artists.

 

  Our Charleston trip was such a success.  And what I mean by that is we got to do everything that we wanted to do and more.  From exploring the city, learning new things, finding hidden gems, eating amazing food to relaxing mornings in a coffee shop reading, just hanging with Mike 24/7, talking about life and love and our dreams, and reflecting on our 10 blessed years together we had the happiest of 10th anniversaries we could have ever imagined.

 

If you have made it this far, you must reeeeally love us!  Thank you, for being a part of our journey!

 

This concludes my posts on Charleston.  We will be getting back to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday!