Musical doorstops and more at Virginia craft festival

      Customers get a head start on holiday shopping at the annual Northern Virginia Christmas market.: Photo by Justin Gibbs, the American Observer.

CHANTILLY, Va. — Wreaths, ornaments, trees, baked goods and novelty items filled the Dulles Expo Center for the annual Northern Virginia Christmas Market last weekend. The market is one of the largest Christmas craft shows in the area. More than 150 exhibitors displayed their goods and peddled their products.

For Debbie Link of Patton, Pa., the craft show is a family affair. Debbie and her mother, Bonnie Kephart, are owners of Bonnie's Babies, a manufacturer of life-like baby dolls.  

"They are made of vinyl and we start with the vinyl head, arms and legs," Link explains. "I do all the detail painting, the eyes. They have fingernails and veins, just like real babies. My mom does all the hair. The hair is angora hair and is inserted into the head with a needle."

Kephart has been a doll collector for decades. When she got her first computer, she Googled "vinyl baby dolls." She began making the dolls from there.

Seven years ago, Link's mom called her and said, "I have so many babies, I don't know what to do with them."  They decided to go into business together and market the "babies." Since then, the business has grown and they sell the babies at doll shows, on Ebay and on their Web site, www.bonniebabies.com.

A customer holds a lifelike baby made by vendor Bonnie Kephart.: Photo by Justin Gibbs, the American Observer

Jonathan McKee of Hampton Roads, Va., began blowing glass by chance. Four years ago, McKee went to an art show in Wilmington, N.C., and met a glass blower.

"He made a glass eye that was just perfect," McKee said. "The depth of the lens, the clarity--it was amazing. So I went home and I bought myself a glass torch and started from there."

McKee's hobby has grown into Yggdrasill Glass. He makes everything from custom lighting to plates, Christmas ornaments, vases and sculptures.

McKee starts the process with a "500-pound molten glass furnace." He added, "All of it is clear glass inside, then I add the colors. I usually add a lot of heavy metals."

Diana Biggs of Bethesda, Md., makes a gift for the person who has everything: musical doorstops.  

"They are made with a brick," Biggs said. "I take a brick and I pad it to make it look like a little sofa. Inside the little pillows on the sofa, they play music according to the theme of the fabric."

She makes themed doorstops with decorations based on colleges, professional sports teams, Mickey Mouse, Elvis, military branches and animals. Biggs also does custom doorstops with any theme customers want.

Biggs does eight shows a year, and it takes about a week for her to prepare the doorstops for a show.

"I always prepare for a show and do my own little assembly line," she says. "It usually takes me about a week to make enough for a show."

Although the Christmas Market was mainly about exhibitors selling their goods, the market was also helping local food banks. Those who brought a can of food got a dollar off the price of attendance.