B3 Artisan Market – Meet the Artists!

It has taken a lot of time and construction dust, but the Blue Buddha Boutique retail store in Chicago is up and running. We love teaching in our spiffy new classrooms and chatting with passers by – most often introducing them to chainmaille for the first time! While our true love is chainmaille, we didn’t want the store to carry only maille. We want it to be a place for the community to shop for locally handmade goods of all kinds. Enter, the B3 Artisan Market. Stop by and you’ll find everything from chainmaille pieces (of course!) to knitted scarves, reusable coffee sleeves, photography, greeting cards, children’s clothing, and soap. With this kind of variety, it’s entirely possible to make one-stop holiday shopping a reality.

We understand not everyone can visit us in Chicago (it’s snowing and 12 degrees out today; we get it), so this post is the first in a series where we’ll introduce you to the amazing artists who sell their work in the B3 Artisan Market.

Omni Mee | Entropyware

You might recognize Omni as B3’s Knowledge Navigator, one of our helpful customer care specialists and a  chainmaille instructor. But even before B3, Omni always had a passion for creating things, particularly with metal. He still remembers the first time he was finally able to shape metal into what he saw in his mind. Nearly 25 years later he is still experimenting, creating, and making objects in metal. In 2009, Omni started Entropyware which originally featured his chainmaille jewelry, and within a year carried cuffs and rings.

Omni works with both base metals and precious metals, and depending on the tools used he creates a bracelet with a surface that ranges from smooth to dimpled or rough, and form the shape of the piece, ranging from from a classic flat cuff or modern shapes. He then polishes or patinas the piece for color and shine, and finally coats it with renaissance wax to protect the finish.

Edgewater Soap | David Melis

When not making soap, David Melis facilitates access to information as a public services, reference, and cataloging librarian. His personal goal as an information professional is to encourage and nurture in others the natural curiosity and love of learning that have enriched his life – and led him, among many other things, to become a soap maker.

David explained, “I love making soap because it’s both an art and a craft, and it has just enough chemistry thrown in to be a science as well. In addition, because my goal has always been to use natural botanical, plant-derived, or mineral ingredients to the greatest extent possible, developing new products is always an exciting challenge.”

He continued, “My soap makes people feel good. They feel good emotionally because they both look and feel better after using it, and because buying a handcrafted soap is a wonderfully simple way to indulge or reward themselves – or, if purchased as a gift, someone they care about. And they feel good intellectually because they know their purchase of a product with natural ingredients is ecologically responsible.”

When Rings Dream | Daniel Rychtarik

When Rings Dream started when a box arrived at Daniel Rychtarik’s home. Inside was enough jump rings to start creating and selling chainmaille to his friends. Wanting to learn different weaves and more applications for the craft, Daniel furthered his chainmaille education, and after a few weekends of creativity and collaboration with Joshua Diliberto, Daniel was determined to make this hobby a lifestyle. Soon Courtney Hardcastle came aboard and they headed to the Renaissance Faire as their first public event. To keep up with the increasing demand, Rachel Billich joined the team.

And here at Blue Buddha, we’re lucky to call Dan one of our own; he is B3’s Journeyman Weaver and Patron Emissary.

When Rings Dream continues to grow, teach and create quality custom chainmaille designs.

We hope to see you this weekend at the first
Blue Buddha Boutique Holiday Trunk Show!