When Danielle Dunlap took up knitting, she bought all the needles — then quickly realized it wasn’t for her.
“I do not have the patience to knit. I’m a crocheter,” she said with a laugh.
Now those unused needles — and much more — are helping others explore their creative sides.
In late May, Dunlap, owner of Mystic Art Supply in downtown La Conner, opened a secondhand art and craft supply room, giving new life to donated materials and making art more accessible. She said she wanted to make doing art affordable for people who can’t afford to pay for new products.
One young girl who recently stopped by the store said she was excited about the room because many of her friends couldn’t afford new supplies.
The idea had been simmering for years, but rising prices and limited access to school art programs pushed her to act.
Donations — from local artists, hobbyists, and individuals — include paints, pastels, yarn, fabric, and scrapbooking supplies. Dunlap avoids office clutter but welcomes anything under the creative umbrella.
“I’d rather it be something that moves quickly,” she said. A set of oil pastels worth $100 sold for $30. “Now it’s got a new life and somebody’s going to use it, and that’s the whole point.”
Mystic Art Supply is currently accepting any and all used/new arts and craft supplies. Paints, paint brushes, sketch journals, canvas, adult supplies, kids supplies, water colors, acrylics, oils, any mediums (all must be useable), clay tools, yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles, jewelry making supplies, fabric, sewing supplies, we are open to taking machines even if they need a little bit of work, etc.
For more information, contact Danielle at mysticartsupply@gmail.com or call (360) 399-1617.
The new project is drawing strong support from the community. In just over a month, the reuse room has generated “significant sales” from a relatively small inventory.
“I felt a relief by donating the supplies,” said Leah Gobert, an Indigenous artist and small business owner behindPretty Cedar Studio. “A lot of the time, people will just throw away products that are still good, or sometimes they won’t know what to do with them, and it ends up creating a giant unwanted pile in their house.”
La Conner artist-in-residence Amelia Kaiser shares Gobert’s sentiment. “If it’s not serving you and you don’t have any immediate plans to use it, set it free, let somebody else make art with it and enjoy it.”
Some of Dunlap’s inspiration for the secondhand supply room came from visiting a secondhand bookstore, standing there looking around, she thought, ”Why am I not doing this?”
She was also inspired by Art and Happiness, a Bellingham shop that offers a pay-what-you-can section. “I thought it was really great,” Dunlap said.
She hopes to grow the selection and continues to welcome donations during store hours.
Dunlap doesn’t have formal art training but she’s always liked making things and doing art. She previously worked at an art supply shop in Edmonds and said it was “the most fun job I’d ever had.”
Before opening Mystic in 2021 — while eight months pregnant — Dunlap worked for the city of Mount Vernon, but she wanted a way to combine work and childcare. Opening Mystic meant she could work and keep her son, Oliver, with her. Oliver has a little play area tucked in a corner of the store, and on a nice day, you may see him racing his tricycle around Gilkey Square.
Staci Baird is the managing editor of La Conner Community News.
