The Loft to host craft nights
Published 3:01 pm Tuesday, March 8, 2022
- Tonia Sutton and Brittany Marcum pose inside The Loft. - Photo by Elizabeth Manning
The Loft opened last October and is taking on new things to help grow in the community.
Brittany Marcum grew up in Middlesboro but decided to branch out after high school. After working a corporate job for many years, she decided to open her own store after moving back to the area.
“I feel like when I came back and I saw how much Middlesboro was moving into the direction of trying to grow as a city and really attract tourism, I thought I wanted to be a part of that and just help try to bring fun activities to Bell County.”
In January Marcum brought in Tonia Sutton. Many of her woodworks are displayed in the story ready for purchase. The Loft has the whole 2022 year planned with fun activities.
Starting March 11, The Loft will be hosting a craft night at the Arthur Museum in downtown Middlesboro. One of the main focuses is wood scorching.
“We want to give our participants a chance to grow and hone their skills and see from where they started to where they go,” said Marcum.
Wood scorching will be a monthly craft night and can be done freehanded or with stencils. – Photo by Elizabeth Manning
The solution used to burn the wood is actually made by Marcum and Sutton in the store. They are hoping to progress to wood burning in the future if the wood scorching is successful.
“I would love to see people picking it up as a hobby and we’re going to hopefully expose our participants to so many different types of fun,” Marcum said.
They will also offer a do-it-yourself (DIY) night that will vary each time.
“We actually took a recommendation off of one of our Facebook followers to do sewing and hand crochet,” Marcum said. She added that some crafts will go along with some holidays such as Mother’s Day and Christmas.
Marcum said she is always seeking to do collaborations with local artists. Everything in the store was either made my Marcum, Sutton, or local artists. She says she would love to collaborate with other artists to get their work in the store.
“I envision this place being somewhere where crafters and creators can all know that this is the place to come if you have a question, need help, or need to find something unique,” she said.
Any artist who would like to collaborate with The Loft can contact them through Facebook, call the store at (606)-302-7027 or just stop by the store.
Craft nights will cost $25 a person and will be from 6-8 p.m. The Loft will be providing all the materials needed and will also offer drinks.
Craft nights will be twice a month with one night being wood scorching and the other a DIY.
