Crafts

At an age when most little girls are content to simply play with dolls, Kathy Crammer was sewing doll clothes, making outfits at 4. "I started sewing on my mother's sewing machine," recalls Crammer, now 52 and an accomplished couturiere. The Whitehall, Pa., woman said she inherited her knack for sewing from her grandmother, who had been a New York City seamstress. The old machine that belonged to her mother is one of seven in Crammer's sewing room.

It's not that they take no pride in making Art and Antiques magazine's annual list of the Top 100 collectors in the United States. But Dorothy and George Saxe see it not so much as a personal honor, but rather as recognition for the cause they've championed for years.

A unique industry began more than 150 years ago when sailors started weaving baskets to pass the time while stationed aboard lightships anchored off treacherous shoals beyond this Atlantic Island 30 miles off Cape Cod. Bright lights tended by sailors warned mariners to stay clear of the dangerous shoals to avoid shipwrecks. After months at sea, lightships sailed to Nantucket Island to refuel and take on supplies. And the sailors would sell their baskets for extra income.

Clad in a leather gown covered with yellow and purple beads, Arlene Thompson sought shade and a break from dancing as drums thumped and singers shrieked. "The dancing is mainly for ourselves," said Thompson, who travels from a Navajo reservation in Chinle, Ariz., to perform the Women's Northern Traditional Buckskin Dance at powwows across the nation. "It keeps our spirits and our health up, and it keeps our families together."

Talk about a hard sell. When Mary Ann Barela of Santa Ana hawks her handmade crafts at outdoor fairs, she has to load the pickup, drive for miles, assemble her booth and deal with the public all day. After that, she has to tear down, pack up, drive home and unpack before tumbling into bed. "It's a big hassle," Barela said. "And God forbid you forget anything."

If you're looking for a less-traditional holiday gift -- a misshapen stuffed animal, embroidered trucker hat or goth-style bath product -- the Bazaar Bizarre West may be just the ticket. This Sunday, in what organizers say is "not your granny's craft fair," more than 60 vendors will set up shop in Hollywood, hawking a variety of unusual and offbeat items.

A great deal has changed on West 3rd Street near the Beverly Center since Carol Sauvion opened her arts and craft store, Freehand, there 10 years ago. What were secondhand furniture stores are now antique stores and the tailor shops have given way to trendy clothing emporiums. Even Sauvion's store has changed with the times. It has doubled in size and now competes with tony gift shops by offering a bridal registry, a corporate gift service and custom orders.

Life's a blast for Marci Lyster. It has been that way ever since the Laguna Beach artist discovered a nearly extinct art: sandblast-carved glass. Dividing her time between her home studio and her rented Santa Ana warehouse space, Lyster sandblasts glass, deeply engraving it to achieve a three-dimensional frosted appearance. The style is reminiscent of the acid-washed glass works of the late famed French artisan, Lalique.