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| Barbara Trombley, who designed greeting cards before creating her own line of glitter, has expanded her Art Glitter retail space for an art gallery. Verde (Independent/Vyto Starinskas) |
COTTONWOOD – Barbara Trombley said she dreams in glitter.
Her face even sparkles as she explains that she puts those dreams in her paintings which are now hanging at her Art Glitter arts and crafts store in Old Town.
Trombley has expanded her Art Glitter retail store to include an art gallery with her large oil, acrylic and watercolors, and she describes them as “glittering.”
Art Glitter is better known for having the largest line and selection of designer glitter colors, over 1,200 super-high quality colors, Trombley explained.
The important thing is that it’s a high-quality glitter. “It doesn’t feel like sand, it feels like silk, satin.”
The glitter comes in many different cuts and sizes, and they distribute glitter, adhesives, and accessories all over the world.
People are surprised when they come into the retail store in Old Town at the bend and see the expansiveness, Trombley said while touring the space where she also gives classes and demos in glittering. She said she gets both retail and wholesale customers coming into her store.
She also has greeting cards, dog and pet beds, a large, paper-mache Pegasus and works by other artists including quilts with glitter.
Next to the retail business, they have a production building. She employs 12 people for the entire glitter operation.
Her customers are hobbyists, artists, rubber stamp/scrap book stores and stationery stores, and they get Internet sales from their website at ArtGlitter.com.
The glitter is used on all kinds of things such as calligraphy, art, quilts, paintings, musical instruments, cards, cosmetics, fingernails, clothing, shoes and glitter tattoos.
Trombley was asked if there was anything that can’t be glittered? She said she wasn’t sure.
One person in Sedona did their entire driveway in their glitter, she said. Some people have glittered their entire houses.
Trombley said she moved to Cornville in 1987 for the clean air with her daughter, Shannon, when she was 4 years old.
She was hand-making greeting cards using glitter. She made 1,500 greeting cards a day for 10 years selling them at tradeshows and craft shows. “I probably made a half million.”
She had glitter made for greeting cards and then she started designing her own line of glitter colors. She created the kind of craft glitter product she wanted. She was the first to come up with the silky, ultra-fine glitter.
After a lot of research, she came up with her own glue, which she now sells. The different glues make the glitter appear differently, she said.
Trombley also teaches classes in glitter. Customers can start with the basic Glitter 101 class to get started. Art Glitter is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 720 N. Balboa St, on the bend off Main Street in Old Town, Cottonwood. Contact the store at 928-639-0805
