Offering rainbows with series of suncatchers

SEELEY LAKE - Local artist Janeen Mauldin offers Seeley Lake Market patrons a selection of glistening beaded suncatchers every Sunday at her stand, Janeen’s Rainbows.

Mauldin started making her suncatchers three years ago after a bird collided with a window at her home. She originally used CD-ROMs to refract light and divert birds away from windows but they were not weather resistant. She then began making her own suncatchers.

After some time, her children suggested that she begin selling them. She said the first year she tried selling, they “sold like hotcakes.”

She said she enjoys how relaxing the work is and how it allows her to express her creativity.

“I can sit there and look at these glass beads that I have … and then … in my mind create something,” she said. “And then using my hands I can just put it together.”

For her wooden hangers she used to use driftwood she would get from Oregon while she was visiting her son. Due to COVID-19 restricting travel, she began using beetle-kill branches. She said the beetles leave small trails ingrained in the wood that create unique patterns. She gets many of her beads online or from stores in Missoula.

Mauldin sells her suncatchers exclusively at the market. Her most popular product tends to be her rainbow watering cans, which have a rainbow-like pattern of beads coming out of their spouts. 

Her favorite aspect of being a merchant at the market is seeing new and old customers.

“I have several repeat customers so it’s nice to see them each year,” she said. “There was a young man that stopped by the other day and told me that he had bought from me the first year and so he just wanted to see what I … was making now.”