As summer is only one week away, I, along with every other student, cannot wait to sleep until noon, relax by the beach and hang out with my friends. However, after about a week of just sitting around, the freedom quickly transforms into boredom. Luckily, Make Meaning, a craft store located in the Thousand Oaks mall, has six different activities for a price range of $15 to $30.
At Make Meaning, children and adults have the ability to create beautiful works of art. Unlike typical arts and crafts stores, at Make Meaning customers can decorate cakes, create ceramic pieces and make candles, glass, soap or jewelry.
“Make Meaning is a colorful, bright place, almost like a Willy Wonka of the creative world,” said Safraz Denhart, Make Meaning General Manager at the Thousand Oaks location. “We can create the aesthetics, but it is really the wonderful people who we meet on a daily basis that make this place special.”
When I first entered the store, I was overwhelmed with the plethora of options. However, the friendly Associate Creativity Enthusiasts (ACEs) helped guide and inspire my designs every step of the way. On my first trip to Make Meaning, I had the chance to create one of the most interesting pieces of art: soap. I chose to create both square and round soap, picked my favorite shades of colors and started to decorate. After I completed my design, I brought it to the kitchen, where the ACE added glitter, more hot soap and a scent of my choice to complete the bar on the spot. Customers also have the chance to create cupcake soaps, where they can add little toys and designs. For a more sophisticated route, you can always make a luxury soap bar with beautiful botanicals by sprinkling in Jojoba beads, oatmeal, sliced loofa or poppy seeds.
“Make Meaning serves as a great creative outlet,” said an anonymous customer. “Here, my creativity can really shine.”
I enjoyed my first experience at Make Meaning so much that I decided to return to create more. This time I wanted to try candle making. With the option of constructing a Mosaic Candle or creating a visual story with special CandleScape add-ons, the possibilities are endless. I started with pre-colored cubes of wax, creating a pattern with my heart-shaped candle mold. I added a few toy toppers to finish off my masterpiece. I then took my creation over to the kitchen, where I picked out a scent for my candle. The scents included Freshly Washed Man, Dirt, Plumeria and Mermaid Tears; I ultimately chose the fruity smell of Cantaloopy. The ACE then added more hot wax to my candle to ensure that it remained in one piece. Once the wax settled and cooled, my handmade candle was ready for me to take home.
If you do not think you are the next chandler (that is the professional name for a candle maker), there are plenty of other options for you. A pre-baked four, six or eight-inch cake covered in fondant can serve as the blank canvas for dozens of outrageous and delicious creations. With fondant-based shapes, disco dust, crazy colors and more, your cake will be a decadent dessert to share with family and friends.
“I always like to think that everything created is a masterpiece, even if we don’t see the pattern to it,” said Denhart. “We’re just a destination that is really needed in a society where creative gems have become whittled away.”
In addition, you can grab some paint and brushes and then paint any ceramic pieces to your heart’s content.
“Pottery is probably our best seller because we have numerous figurines and different things that can represent your personality or how you feel on a particular day,” said Denhart.
Make Meaning is also a great place to create a crafty gift by constructing a piece of jewelry or making glass. Create glass rings, pendants, cuff links, plates or mezuzahs and pick up the gifts in as little as four days.
This summer, do not waste your days lounging on the couch. Instead, take a trip to Make Meaning to create beautiful works of art.
