Youth sell their wares at craft fair in Carson City

It’s Christmas break and Garrett, Owen, Nicole and Taylor Streeter and Madison and Tyler Ellis are inside the Carson Mall.

All week.

The siblings and friends aren’t there shopping like other teenagers. They’re there to sell their wares at the mall’s annual holiday craft fair.

Garrett, 15, and Owen, 14, for example, are selling two chess sets they made.

The brothers melt down soda cans and using a forge mold them into kings, pawns and other chess pieces. Sheets of tiles normally used for kitchen backsplashes are assembled inside a wood frame to create the board.

The result is a sophisticated and hefty set that takes considerable time to create.

“It took us a month to make two boards,” said Garrett.

They came up with the idea for the tile board, said Garrett, and a video on YouTube provided the knowhow to make the pieces.

Their first two sets were given to their father and uncle and the next two produced are now on sale at the mall for $600 each, although Garrett said they’re open to negotiate the price.

The brothers are avid chess players, too.

“They play every day at lunch,” said older sister, Taylor, 16.

Taylor, the oldest of the nine Smith Valley siblings, is selling a wide variety of hair decorations, called flexi hair clips, made by Lilla Rose she orders wholesale.

“It’s like Mary Kay,” said Taylor, referring to the cosmetic line that’s sold by an army of individuals.

And sister Nicole is selling cup warmers she crocheted by hand.

Their Carson City friends, Madison, 16, and Tyler, 17, are selling honey and beeswax candles.

The honey comes from a beekeeper in Fallon and the Ellis’ package and label it in multiple size jars and sell it as the brand, HalleluYah Honey.

“My father’s been doing it for six years and now I’m in charge of honey sales,” said Tyler.

The honey is also on sale at San Rafael Coffee Company and the Legislative Building gift shop, in Carson City; Grass Roots Natural Foods, in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; and possibly soon at Minden Meat and Deli in Minden.

Madison makes a variety of colorful, beeswax candles, sold individually or in gift packages bundled with a jar of honey.

“I’ve been making the candles for a couple years, but we don’t sell many,” said Madison.

The candles, honey, hair decorations, cup warmers and chess sets will be on sale while they last through Dec. 24.

The fair, including many more crafts vendors, is inside the mall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Santa’s Village is located there, too, and Santa Claus is available every day from 4-6 p.m. for photos.