Shimmerwyck’s Tammy Henderson sees that you could use a little more purple

Tammy Henderson loves her view. Last November, she opened Shimmerwyck, a shop featuring jewelry and accessories by more than 30 Kansas City-area artists. Since then, the purple-haired North Kansas City native has come to feel right at home on West 39th Street.

“People watching — that’s my favorite thing,” Henderson told me when I stopped by her shop one rainy afternoon. Through the storefront’s large window, she sees “orange, purple and green hair, and red high heels and black tights” — people living, working and dining along midtown’s restaurant row. “It’s just awesome. They’re mostly younger than me — which I like because I don’t want to act my age.”

The dreary, drizzly weather that day meant business was running light, so Henderson had spent the morning in her on-site workshop, making rainbow-striped, gay-pride pendants out of polymer clay. Her new favorite medium, the clay provides vibrant hues and varied textures, creating eye-catching items that beg to be touched.

Color and curiosity are central to Henderson’s approach, which she has honed over 20 years of making jewelry. Admiring the shop’s purple display cases and black-and-white-striped walls, I asked Henderson if she’d seen Beetlejuice.

“Exactly,” she said. “I was thinking Alice in Wonderland meets Beetlejuice.”

The whimsical décor also includes glittery skulls, an oversized top hat and a large sculpture of a tree. Henderson originally wanted to call the store Oh Wow, after the reaction she had hoped to elicit from all who entered.

“Then I looked up the domain,” she said, laughing. “‘Oh wow’ is taken — and you don’t wanna go there. I mean, you may want to go there, but it’s not what I had in mind.”

Instead, she settled on Shimmerwyck, which she defines as “a combination of sparkly things and wicked things.” If that sounds like a fairy-tale world, the effect isn’t far off.

“I had an older woman in here — I’d say she was in her 80s,” Henderson told me. “She said, ‘This is the absolute cutest shop I have ever been in my entire life.’ I almost cried. She was an older woman, so she’s probably been around.”

The intriguing jewelry and accessories include bracelets woven from pop tabs, earrings made from bullets and guitar picks, and headbands with colorful devil horns stitched to the top. One artist includes descriptions of the supernatural benefits of each stone she uses. Another wraps seashells in wire to create one-of-a-kind necklaces.

“I carry a really wide variety,” Henderson said. “It’s contemporary, modern and minimalist. It’s weird, funky – and purple.”

Over the past eight months, Henderson said, jewelry makers have been steadily “trickling in.” She welcomes new artists as long as the offerings remain diverse — she said she doesn’t want to have two people doing very similar beadwork, for example. She also aims to keep prices affordable, with the average item selling for about $30.

“I love going to art fairs at the Plaza and in Brookside, and I look at the jewelry and I just fall in love,” she said. “But I couldn’t afford one earring, let alone two. Everybody can walk in here and afford something.”

Everybody can also find something to eat walking down 39th Street. Just a few minutes from cuisine for every craving — from barbecue at Q39 to baklava at Sultan’s Bakery to shrimp tacos at Drunken Worm — Henderson had trouble choosing when I asked her which restaurant was her favorite.

“I want to try everything on the street,” she said. “I try to meet everyone on the street, too. Everyone here is so friendly. I picked such an amazing spot, and I’m so happy with it.”

The only drawback: Henderson said the strip has so many restaurants that people sometimes don’t head to the neighborhood to shop. But if you visit this neighborhood only for lunch, you’re missing out. Henderson is nearby and ready to add color to your day. And she has probably already spotted you walking down the street.