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 SongSmith Gathering 2010 06/22/2010
 We participated in the 3rd annual Whimsical Art Sale preluding the SongSmith Gathering at the Porter Center on the Brevard College Campus Saturday. This was a small show only lasting part of the day. I think there was a total of 12 vendors, 2 food vendors and 10 art booths. For there to be so few vendors there was quite a variety of art among us. Live music was provided by The MoonShine Babies during the sale. News 13 even stopped by and got some footage of the event. And we were excited to find out a couple of our pieces made it on the news! There weren't many patrons for the Art Sale, but we did manage to sale a couple of items. I think the event was lacking in advertisement and signage, but I think there is lots of potential for an amazing event in the future. The Whimsical Art Sale was added to help create a buzz in the community for the SongSmith Concert. The concert was actually a benefit for SAFE, Inc; a non-profit for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. And what an awesome concert it turned out to be! Nikki Talley, Julie Lee, Beth Wood & Shannon Whitworth all preformed. If you missed it in 2010, you will definately want to check it out next year... www.songsmithgathering.com Also, I want to give a special thanks to Becky & John for coming all they way from Black Mountain to see us and for keeping us hydrated in the heat! Thanks guys! 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!    Yellow Daisy Festival 09/13/2009
 The Yellow Daisy Festival was Amazing! There was so much to see and do and so much beautiful art of all sorts. I had to keep reminding myself that we were only there to look because I could have gone crazy buying stuff. I was very impressed with the way everything was set up as well. There were several food vendors to chose from, like Chick-Fil-A and Sonny's BBQ and many more. They also had several covered areas and tents to eat under or sit down and relax, as well as a group of picnic tables and of course lots of open grassy field to sit in. There were 'Johnny On The Spot' outhouses everywhere so you never had far to go to find a bathroom. The weather was great the entire weekend. Incoming and Outgoing traffic was very well organized and moved quickly. The festival area was incredible. The vendors lined paved paths which looped through a wooded area so you were shaded from the hot sun. There were people EVERYWHERE! The place was packed. I was reminded of the mad shopping rush for the day-after-Thanksgiving-sales except everyone was very polite and courteous here. It seemed like we were the only ones not toting around some kind of make-shift shopping cart or a stroller stuffed with merchandise and a baby or just handfuls of goodies from the festival. There was definatley something for everyone at this festival. We can't wait to apply to be a vendor for next year. Wish us luck, we're keeping our fingers crossed! Oh, and one more thing... since the Yellow Daisy Festival is held in Stone Mountain Park in GA, we had to go see the famous Laser Show. I definately recommend that everyone watch this production if you get a chance. We had so much fun! There was great music, an incredible show and even fireworks. We would like to thank my cousins Tim & Beth for welcoming us into their home and allowing us to stay with them for the weekend. We had a great time! 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.       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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