ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER PULASKI
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 14, 1996.
A cutline in Wednesday's Current should have stated that Claudia
Mullins offers massage therapy as well as chair caning in her new shop
in Pulaski.
Claudia Mullins is not sure which of her enterprises in her new shop will catch on best.
Misty Mountain Magic, located in two rooms on the upper floor of the Upstairs Downstairs Boutique building on Main Street in downtown Pulaski, will offer chair-caning and wicker repair along with various kinds of artwork. And Mullins will add massage therapy into the mix.
Based on a market survey she made before opening her shop, Mullins suspects the caning and wicker will generate the most interest.
She learned the art of making corn-shuck chairs from a woman in Georgia named Allie Mae, whose grandmother and mother had passed down the knowledge to her. The woman's children were not interested in learning it, Mullins said. So she taught it to Mullins instead.
Bulrushes, corn-shuck and wicker are among the materials she weaves into chairs and baskets. And practically everyone she has talked to, she said, has a wicker chair that needs repair.
The price of caning depends on the material used and the size of the chair, but would start at about $45 per chair.
She hopes her own artwork will sell. "I would like to do more painting."
Originally from the Maryland-D.C. area, she came to the New River Valley about nine years ago to help run an art gallery at Mountain Lake. "Loved it here ever since," she said.
A close friend, Suzanne Jessee, had brought her to Pulaski to look at some shoes Jessee thought just right for her. The shoes had been sold, but they ended up stopping in Marlis Ryssel-Flynn's Upstairs Downstairs Boutique, and their conversation ended up with Mullins deciding to rent shop space upstairs.
She plans to offer massage therapy at $35 an hour, or a $10 to $15 "stress buster" where people can make appointments during a lunch hour for a 15-minute relaxation massage before going back to work.
"They could do that while their friends are eating lunch or something at Le Cafe," Mullins said, referring to Judy Osborne's 40-seat Le Cafe Coffee & Tea Shoppe, also located above Upstairs Downstairs.
Mullins wants to be sure people have the right idea about the massage part of her enterprise.
"A lot of people don't understand it," she said. "This is therapeutic to help heal, to help relax ... It's good to reduce stress." It involves working on pressure points to relax the mind and body, she said.
She mixes her own massage oils from flowers and herbs from this area, both for her own massage work and to sell. An herb like Saint John's wort, for example, is a muscle relaxer and is used for calming and soothing. Bergamot, likewise, is cooling and soothing. Others, like ginger or orange, invigorate and strengthen, she said.
Mullins has been using herbs in her cooking for 20 years, which is how she learned which one does what. She will offer herbal teas as well as oils.
The new shop is just one of the life changes Mullins has gone through in recent weeks. She also married, and she and her husband, Ed, moved into a new home in Blacksburg. She even cut her hair after decades of wearing it down her back.
She belongs to a host organization at New River Community College which conducts tours and hosts events. She got into the small business management program at New River and now is one of its biggest boosters.
"It's helped prepare me for this," she said. "We're just blending so much here."
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL DELLINGER/Staff. Claudia Mullins offers messageby CNBtherapy as well as chair caning in her new shop in Pulaski.