0 Comments | Charleston Gazette, The, Jan 27, 2010 | by Ben Calwell
bcalwell@cnpapers.com 304-348-5188
The Christmas lights are freshly packed away, but now it’s time to get out the Valentine’s Day lights, then the St. Patrick’s Day lights, and, after that, the Easter lights.
It used to be that Christmas had a lock on lighted decorations. But now, it seems every holiday is getting plugged into the grid.
Jim Coleman will gladly electrify every holiday, be it Valentine’s Day, Halloween or anything in between.
Need a lighted decoration for Columbus Day? Coleman could probably come up with one.
Coleman owns Coleman’s Creations at 705 Winfield Road, next door to the Red Line Diner in Putnam County.
He makes custom-designed lighted decorations, and his shop is also light bulb central for those looking for hard-to-find bulbs in every imaginable color and size.
Coleman also sells rope lights by the foot.
“I make all the lighted sculptures for the different seasons, made from scratch. If someone wants something special, I can make it,” Coleman said.
Coleman stocks the big, C-7 and C-9 bulbs that were popular on Christmas trees in the 1950s, but that have taken a back seat over the years to the popular miniature lights.
“Those are the old-style lights. A lot of commercial buildings use the bigger lights,” Coleman said.
He has bulbs in just about every color, too, including such offbeat shades as purple, teal and pink.
Coleman also has hard-to-find replacement bulbs for lava lamps and tart warmers.
Christmas is still Coleman’s biggest season, but he’s now gearing up for Valentine’s Day and already has a selection of heart-shaped lighted decorations as well as strings of red, heart-shaped lights.
He’s also made some lighted shamrock decorations for St. Patrick’s Day, and he has red, white and blue lights suitable for a patriotic theme.
Easter is becoming a big holiday for lights, too, he said. He has pastel-colored lights in the shapes of little eggs and bunnies.
“I also have specialty lights for people who do crafts, such as lighted wreaths and dollhouses,” he said.
Coleman, a St. Albans native, started making lighted holiday sculptures while living in the Clarksburg area 20 years ago.
“I bought a lighted sculpture, and I thought, ‘I could make this.’”
So he started making lighted sculptures for himself and was soon making them for other people.
He moved back to the Kanawha Valley and has operated Coleman’s Creations for about 12 years. He’s also had booths at the Milton Flea Market and more recently at the Parkway Flea Market in St
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