Arts and crafts store makes expansion into west Lawrence; talk of banning plastic bags in Lawrence grows

Is this Arts and Crafts Bill Self?

Anybody who has watched a DirectTV ad lately knows there is an “arts and crafts” Tony Romo out there. Who knows, maybe there is an arts and crafts Bill Self roaming around Lawrence. If so, he’s going to love this news: Downtown Lawrence’s Sunfire Ceramics is expanding with a new west Lawrence location.

Sunfire recently opened in the Westgate shopping center, which is the one next to the Dillons store at Sixth and Wakarusa. Owner Cheryl Roth told me that she had been keeping an eye on the spot for years, and the timing finally became right to open a location that she hopes will tap into the large market of west Lawrence families.

If you are not familiar with Sunfire, then that must mean you don’t have a 9-year old daughter. The business allows people to paint pieces of pottery that are then cured in a kiln operated by Sunfire. The business is particularly popular for birthday parties and other such gatherings. (I have so much pottery at my home that in a thousand years when archeologists are digging through the remains, they are going to assume the site was the home of a leader of a great tribe that worshipped purple dinosaurs and anatomically incorrect stick figures.)

Posted by Sunfire Ceramics on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The store also offers fused glass projects, which is an art form where you break pieces of colored glass, glue them onto a surface, and then they are heated and can be formed into different shapes for jewelry or other purposes. (My kids are learning this. They break a lot of glass items, and soon I’m sure they will start putting them in the oven instead of under the couch.)

Sunfire has been open for 18 years in Downtown Lawrence, all them in the neat old gas station building that sits at 10th and New Hampshire streets. Roth said the west Lawrence location isn’t meant to replace the downtown location.

“We’re happy to be downtown and we definitely want to remain downtown,” Roth said.

Instead, the west Lawrence location is aimed at expanding the store’s capacity. The business now has twice as much party space to offer, twice as much kiln space (they get up to 1,900 degrees, case you were wondering) and twice as much space for inventory. Roth said she’s optimistic that the west Lawrence location will take off because she thinks Lawrence families are looking for unique activities.

Posted by Sunfire Ceramics on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

“I think there is always something new to try and do at a store like ours,” Roth said. “It is a nice hands-on activity. It seems like so many of us are in front of a computer a lot these days. It is nice to pull out a paint brush and have a little fun.”

As for the exact location Sunfire has moved into — 4821 W. Sixth St., Suite L — it used to house Scratch Bakery. I haven’t heard of the relatively new bakery moving anywhere, so it appears it may no longer be operating a Lawrence retail operation.

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In other news and notes from around town:

• This great swami turban I’m wearing is actually not part of my Arts and Crafts Chad Lawhorn costume. Instead, I actually make some predictions from time to time. (You can see my weekly football picks as part of the Checkers Football Pick & Win contest in today’s paper. Don’t read too much into the fact that a dog named Sherlock is beating me. I’m almost certain Sherlock makes his picks based off of a ritual that involves a fire hydrant, and my attorney has strongly advised me against replicating what Sherlock does to a fire hydrant.)

Regardless, back in August 2014, I predicted that the day would come when plastic grocery sacks are banned in Lawrence. Well, that day hasn’t yet come, but it appears discussions are heating up on the topic.

Some forwarded me an e-mail stating that several environmental groups — Sustainability Action Network, the Sierra Wakarusa Group and Lawrence Ecology Teams United in Sustainability — will be attending the next meeting of the city’s Sustainability Advisory Board to lobby for regulations that would ban plastic bags in the city.

The Sustainability Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at City Hall. No word on whether the ban has supporters on the advisory board, which makes recommendation to city commissioners on a host of environmental issues. But we’ll try to check in with some of the organizers of this movement and bring you back more information.

I think the issue will be one to watch because plastic bags do create a challenge for Lawrence. They currently are not accepted as part of the city’s curbside recycling program. They just make a mess of everything. That may be a motive for city officials to consider banning them. Plus, it is an action that many progressive cities are taking. This website lists more than 100 ordinances that have been passed across the country. (It didn’t list any for Kansas.) It notes that some communities are not just banning plastic bags but also are charging a fee for people to use paper bags. In other words, they’re trying to encourage people to bring their own reusable bags to stores.

I know nothing about the economics of paper versus plastic shopping bags, so it is tough for me to say how grocers and other retailers may react. But it sounds like the issue may get some attention in Lawrence.