Sophia Schroevers is reaching for the stars in her hopes of starting a doggy daycare one day.
The 10-year-old has set up Galaxy Star - a market stall at the South Cariboo Farmers’ Market - where she sells her home-crafted unique custom drinking glasses and knickknacks. The hope is to save any profits she makes for her future doggy daycare - unless she uses the money to buy herself her own puppy first.
“When I’m a teenager I’m going to have a dog walking business after school,” Sophia said, adding she chose the name Galaxy Star because the galaxy is so pretty. “I used to say I’d save up before I started my business, and then I’d never save up, it would never happen. So now that I have a piggy bank I’m putting money in and not going to spend it on anything except for yesterday when I bought a candy bag.”
Sophia is the latest young entrepreneur to set up a booth at the South Cariboo Farmers’ Market, now back on at the South Cariboo Rec Centre. Last Friday was her first time at the 100 Mile market, due to restrictions on vendor numbers for most of July, but Sophia said she’s been able to get to the Interlakes Farmers’ Market and Loon Bay Craft Market several times.
Her main crafts include cups and glasses made with a “hydro dip” paint technique, which is something she and her mom Anne Marie Schroevers tried out at the beginning of the summer. At her mother’s encouragement, Sophia decided to set up Galaxy Star where she also sells bracelets, necklaces and rings she makes out of beads and other craft supplies.
“What I do (for the cups) is I have a bucket of water and spray oil-based spray paint on the surface and then I dip the cups in,” Sophia said. “Sometimes I decorate them with beads and I love them because they’re always different.”
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The paint, which she often mixes with a stirring stick, transfers from the surface of the water to her cups and dries into a wide variety of different patterns and shapes. As a selling point, Sophia tells her clients that thanks to these unique designs they’ll never mix up their cups at parties.
Sophia said she appreciates her mother’s support and encouragement, as Schroevers buys her all the cups and mugs to hydro dip. Her mom also clear-coats the glasses to make them safe to use.
Schroevers described her daughter as a bit of a natural “market rat,” as Sophia used to accompany her parents to markets when they operated the Rolling Roaster.
“I love that I get to meet new people and get to see puppies. I like telling people who bring their dogs that we have water and pet them because most of the dogs are always so fluffy,” Sophia said. “The first puppy I want to get is a Siberian Husky because they’re really smart and they have different coloured eyes which makes them way cuter.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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