Feature Article in The Transylvania Times! 07/21/2010
   Monday, July 19, 2010 Page 1B Mark Todd, Staff Writer 20.JUL.10 Aubrey and Shasta Deaver of the Little River community are blessed with creative gifts and have been putting them to good use. Aubrey, 26, is a wastewater technician by day and an artist who works with metal by night and on weekends. Welding, metal art and more are his specialties. His wife, Shasta, 27, is a teller supervisor with the State Employees Credit Union. Her background in business and design is now put to use as a website manager, photographer and office manager in her time away from the credit union. In early 2007 the couple started their family business, Iron Expressions, at their home off Crab Creek Road near the Little River Baptist Church. The green stucco house they live in is also a product of their hard work and creativity. It has been transformed by the couple from a bland, rundown building that used to house an antique store, gas station and beauty parlor into a completely different place. Again, their determination and attention to detail got the work done complete with new interior walls finished with heavy wood panels. They have a garden, a separate workshop, five dogs and a cat and keep going from morning to night. There have been a few near disasters along the way. Welding can be dangerous, and Shasta said of her husband, “he’s been on fire a couple of times.” At the age of 14, he spent three months at a Shiner’s Hospital in Ohio recovering from an accident that involved lacquer thinner. Despite that, his enthusiasm has not lessened. Ideas come from all sorts of objects that he sees, including flowers, while animals such as wolves and bears inspire other work. “I try to stay away from stuff that people have already done,” he said. The business has grown via word of mouth, through the Web site, and appearances at a variety of arts and crafts shows. Their first invitation to a show was the Cashiers Valley Spring Fling last year. Things went well and they have become regulars on the crafts show circuit since then. While they sell a number of items from their existing inventory, they do much of their work to order. Have an old shovel or piece of iron that you’d like to turn into collectible art? They can help. Aubrey graduated from Brevard High School in 2002 and enjoyed welding, shop and maintenance work while there. Shasta is a graduate of the class of 2000 and enjoyed business and art at Brevard High. The welding experience Aubrey received in high school built the foundation on which they were able to create their own business. He was initially in a masonry class located not far from the welding class. The sparks caught his eye and masonry was soon in his rearview mirror. He began early on using scrap metal to make tables and plant stands and helped raise money for the school by selling his creations. He finds it hard to relax, he admitted. “I’ve got to be doing something,” he said. Leroy Richter, his welding instructor, immediately noticed something special in Aubrey and began encouraging and fostering his growth. Richter continued to teach Aubrey even after high school, as they became partners in a welding business of their own. As Aubrey’s skills grew, so did his creativity. Soon after they founded their own business, the couple expanded beyond just welding and handrails to include metal art and custom ironwork. Copper pictures with metal frames, fire screens, yard art and much more are among the creations. As Shasta said, yard art “adds color all year and you can’t kill it.” He bases his designs on the personality and home decor that customers have and goes from there. The result, he said, is “anything anybody can imagine.” This approach allowed Aubrey to explore his passion for making unique products and nurtured his creativity. Shasta contributes her own artistic abilities to the work helping with design, coming up with new ideas, painting, and using her love of photography to capture and display their work. They have an online photo gallery where anyone interested can browse through photos of their work. The website also has a blog and a show schedule so customers can stay up to date on their upcoming shows. The web address is www.ironexpressions.com The couple may also be reached by phone at 877-3655. Special Thanks to Mark Todd & John Lanier of the Transylvania Times. We really appreciate you guys! Add Comment White Squirrel Festival 06/08/2010
 We had a great time at the White Squirrel Festival! There was so much going on; a parade, a box derby race, tons of live music and all of the vendors and games, that the whole weekend was exciting. And living in Brevard you have to take in to account our crazy weather too... we did have a few good showers on Sunday but it was so hot that I really didn't mind and it didn't seem to slow down the crowds much. Even though we grew up here, I don't think Aubrey or I had ever been to the White Squirrel Festival before... well, we are so glad we decided to participate this year! We enjoyed seeing all of the familiar faces and of course we made lots of new friends too. We had some new items for this show and they turned out to be pretty popular. We sold several of our bigger items which was really exciting (but now we're having to bust our butts trying to get new stuff made for the next few shows...I guess that is a good problem to have though, right?) But the best part of the weekend was definately winning 1st place in the White Squirrel Feeder Competition! Our Corn Stalk Squirrel Feeder turned out to be a big hit and I think it could become one of our 'best sellers'. The Transylvania Times published our names in the June 3rd issue for winning but didn't include a picture. (See article below) Check out the pictures below and take a look at some of our new stuff in the 2010 Photo Gallery. We hope that if you missed it this year we will see you at The White Squirrel next year and don't forget to visit us at one or more our other upcoming shows this year! Check out our Show Schedule for more info. http://whitesquirrelfestival.com/    Feature! 02/10/2010
We were chosen to be featured on the Transylvania County School's website and they are going to run an article about us in the Transylvania Times soon! Below is an exerpt from the website: CTE Alumni Spotlight Aubrey and Shasta Deaver Owners of Iron Expressions Welding, Metal Art, and More in Little River, N.C. Visit their website at www.ironexpressions.com AUBREY DEAVER BREVARD HIGH CLASS OF 2002 HIGH SCHOOL COURSES: WELDING/SHOP/MAINTENANCE SHASTA DEAVER BREVARD HIGH CLASS OF 2000 HIGH SCHOOL COURSES: BUSINESS/ART The welding experience Aubrey received in high school built the foundation on which they were able to create our own business. Leroy Richter, his welding instructor, immediately noticed something special in Aubrey and began encouraging and fostering his growth. Richter continued to teach Aubrey even after high school as they became partners in a welding business of their own. As Aubrey's skills grew, so did his creativity. In early 2007 Aubrey and Shasta decided to branch out and start their own business together: Iron Expressions. They expanded their new business beyond just welding and hand rails to include metal art and custom iron work. This allowed Aubrey to explore his passion for making unique products and nurtured his creativity. Shasta's background in business and design is put to good use as the website designer and office manager. She also contributes her own artistic abilities to the work helping with design, coming up with new ideas, painting, and using her love of photography to capture and display their work. They have an online photo gallery where you can browse through photos of their work. The website also has a blog and a show schedule so you can stay up to date on their upcoming shows. www.ironexpressions.com Take a look at the Transylvania County School website at www.tcsnc.org  And the year comes to an end... 12/10/2009
Well, we just finished our last show of the year with the Transylvania County Handcrafters' Guild. We didn't go out with quite as big of a bang as we would have hoped, but still a decent finish to this year. Overall, this hasn't been too bad of an introductory year into the crafting world. All together, we attended 7 shows, met a lot of friendly and helpful vendors, made some new friends and clientele and finally got our name out there in the crafting community. We can only hope it gets better from here. Hopefully, the economy will take a turn for the better and next year will be an even bigger year for us. We want to thank everyone who came out throughout the year to support us at our shows. We appreciate you guys more than you know. We will continue to work on new and exciting things throughout the holidays and look forward to see what next year has in store for us! Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!    Hard Candy Christmas 12/03/2009
 The Hard Candy Christmas Show was great. Surprisingly, the Friday after Thanksgiving - Black Friday - drew in a fairly large crowd. Saturday slowed down quite a bit, but still a pretty good day for us. We designed a whole new setup / layout for our booth at this show. We were very happy with the way it turned out. We even got several compliments on our display, some from crafters we had never met before, and some from crafters who had seen us at previous shows and were impressed with the improvement. We also had several new items we introduced at this show. Our Christmas Ornaments were a big hit, especially the 'Christmas Tree' Ornament which was our top seller of the weekend. Aubrey made two 'IronWood' Trees to display the ornaments. Also new were the Painted Daisy Card Holders, Copper End Tables, Maple Table & the 'Harvest Moon' Copper Picture. Check out pictures of all the new items in our 2009 Photo Gallery. Doris Hunter from Mountain Artisans did a great job organizing the Hard Candy Show. We loved that the show was indoors, and the Ramsey Center at WCU was such a good location. The setup inside was really nice; a large mat covered the gym floor and curtains separated the crafters. We were in the middle of a center isle so we were happy with our spot. We liked being able to leave our stuff set up at night and not have to worry about anything happening to it. We went ahead and reserved our spot in next years SUMMERTIME Show the 4th of July weekend. Now we are getting ready for our last show of the year with the Transylvania County Handcrafters' Guild. Come and see us at the American Legion Building in downtown Brevard Friday Dec 4 & Saturday Dec 5 from 9 - 5 each day. The Twighlight Tour will also be going on Saturday so there will be lots to do... and they are saying there is an 80% chance of snow so come inside and get warm! Also, you can pick up some great Christmas presents for everyone on your shopping list. Hope to see you there!       Fall Fling 09/08/2009
We had absolutely beautiful weather all weekend for the Fall Fling Craft Show in Cashiers, NC. Being Labor Day weekend we were a little worried about attendance, especially since at our last 2 shows attendance was kinda sparse. Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer for a lot of people. Many take one last vacation or one last trip to the beach before cool weather settles in. And, this weekend there was also a craft show in Highlands, the famous Apple Festival in Hendersonville, some kind of Farmer's Festival in Brevard and many more shows throughout Western North Carolina. Saturday drew in a good crowd, more than we had seen at either of our other shows, but no one was buying. With an hour left before calling it a day, we had still not sold a single item. Our spirits were low and the hopes of making a sale were disappearing. Then, finally, someone bought something! We made one more small sale before closing out for the day, and then on Sunday we sold several items. So even though it started out slow, this ended up being the most productive show so far. Special Thanks to Becky and John for coming out to see us. John, we are keeping you in our prayers and hope you have a quick recovery. Don't forget to check out our 2009 Photo Gallery for pictures of all of our new items.       Sapphire Valley 06/23/2009
The Cashiers Valley Craft Show was definately an experience for us; one I think Aubrey and I both enjoyed. We learned a lot and got our name 'out there' in the local Arts & Crafts community. Since then, we have booked a few more shows to attend this year as a vendor. We are also planning on visiting a couple of shows to see about maybe getting involved with them in the future.       1 Day Down, 1 To Go 06/13/2009
I just woke up from a very needed nap. After going to bed around 2:00 AM last night and then getting up at 6:00 AM this morning we headed up to Cashiers for our first day at the Cashiers Valley Spring Fling. We did forget a couple of minor things (tablecloths) and our booth didn't look quite as fancy as some of the more experienced vendors, but overall I think we did pretty good throwing everything together at the last minute. The weather was perfect today, warm and sunny but with a cool breeze blowing. The park holding the show is a beautiful place with lush green grass and little paths that weave around. They had lots of large trees that provided shade from the hot sun. People and dogs of all sorts were walking around, mingling and browsing, or having a nice picnic in the shade. Bella had a wonderful time. She was our official greeter and thought that everyone was coming just to see her. She did do a good job getting peoples' attention and drawing them into our booth. She just sat there and looked at them with her adorable little face until they came in to pet her. I think we are going to hire her permanently.       Gallery Walk 05/23/2009
We had a great time last night at the Gallery Walk in Brevard. Since we have pieces in the 'Art Unleashed' - Art About Animals exhibit we attended the artists' reception, along with Bella, our Morkie puppy. (Morkie = Maltese + Yorkie). While we were out we wanted to browse the numerous art galleries in downtown Brevard. We were a little skiddish at first about walking into the fancy galleries with Bella, but we discovered that Brevard is surprisingly dog friendly. Each time we entered a gallery, we were welcomed with oooohs and aaaaahs and occasionally a dog biscuit. As a Brevard native, you would think I would be familiar with the goings on of downtown Brevard. I am regretful to say that I have not spent a lot of time visiting the shops or attending the festivals in Brevard. I always saw downtown as more of a tourist attraction and usually tried to avoid the area if at all possible. I will definately be spending more time exploring downtown Brevard and appreciating all of the wonderful culture our little town is so full of.   | ~ Shasta ~You can find out more about me by taking a look at our About page, and don't forget to look at all the new pictures in our Photo Gallery. ArchivesJuly 2010 CategoriesAll |
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