Mainly clear. Low 56F. S winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Mainly clear. Low 56F. S winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.

Eric and Elaina Duval with their two kids Isabella and Quintin at E&E Creations.

The variety of art offered at E&E Creations. From canvas paintings to customized shadow boxes.

Eric Duval’s clay-made creation of the house from the movie “Up.” Several art pieces found at E&E Creations are inspired from TV shows, movies and cartoons.

Greeting cards, featuring original artwork from Eric Duval, are also available at E&E Creations.

Eric holding a custom-made shirt he made for a friend.

A clay-depiction of a scene, created by Eric, from the TV show "Stranger Things."

Eric and Elaina Duval with their two kids Isabella and Quintin at E&E Creations.

The variety of art offered at E&E Creations. From canvas paintings to customized shadow boxes.

Eric Duval’s clay-made creation of the house from the movie “Up.” Several art pieces found at E&E Creations are inspired from TV shows, movies and cartoons.

Greeting cards, featuring original artwork from Eric Duval, are also available at E&E Creations.

Eric holding a custom-made shirt he made for a friend.

A clay-depiction of a scene, created by Eric, from the TV show "Stranger Things."

PLATTSBURGH — If you think it, Eric Duval can create it.

At Eric and his wife Elaina’s new business, E&E Creations at 67 South Peru St., which officially opened Aug.15, a customer’s request for a personalized gift — no matter how unique or random — is always granted.

Whether that customer wants a shadow box filled with memorabilia, canvas painting, etched glass, painted rock, drawing, shirt, lamp, furniture, specific scene from their favorite TV show, movie or video game in clay form, or a crafty idea in their head they can’t create themselves, Eric can help bring it to life — if he hasn’t already.

“Most of these (pieces) I make because I get bored, and apparently I get bored a lot,” he said motioning toward the room full of art.

“There’s a lot of times where I’ll actually sketch it out, I’ll talk to a customer for about 15 minutes, and get an idea of who they’re buying for, what they need, their interests, if they have any favorite characters, favorite hobbies and I put all of that into one project. I don’t know what it’s going to be until it’s done; it’s very fun to see that happen.”

Elaina added that she doesn’t create any of the art, but she does help Eric think of what to create.

“I can do some things…I help him like as far as if he asks ‘where does it look better,’” she said.

“Like I’ll give him ideas, but I don’t know how to bring it to life.”

“She’s my muse,” Eric added.

Eric said owning a business like E&E Creations has been a lifelong dream for him.

Back in June, when he first saw the “for lease” sign in front of the old Freihofer’s Bakery Outlet, he said he knew it was finally time to live out that dream.

“Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to own a studio, I always wanted to own a gallery or something where people can come, be creative, and I can teach them that anybody can be creative, and this opportunity came up,” he said.

“It was during a hard time in my life…I’m a man of faith and God always puts me at the right place, right time and this…I definitely looked at it as God opening the door and everyone told me ‘if you don’t jump through the door, it might not stay open.’ So I jumped and I put all the money I saved up into it and hoped for the best.”

After securing the lease, Eric, Elaina and their two children Isabella and Quintin, immediately got to work to help transform the space.

Now, for those who wander curiously into E&E Creations wondering what the business is and what they do, Eric and Elaina said they like to show them already-finished creations they have available for sale to give them some examples.

“I like to let the work speak for itself,” Eric said.

“Everybody is just amazed by the wide variety of what we have.”

One creation they like to show is a custom-ordered lamp a customer wanted for her grandson for Christmas, which featured a turtle “holding” a gaming remote at the base.

“She said she wants something small like a lamp, and he loves video games and he loves turtles, so I was like ‘OK, bring me a remote.’ So she brought me his first remote and she said, ‘But I don’t want it damaged, this is his very first remote.’ So I came up with this idea, where there’s a turtle, but you can still take it off to use it and it looks like he’s playing it,” Eric said.

“She was very pleased with it…I was very pleased with how it came out.”

Currently, all but two pieces of art at E&E Creations is Eric’s, but he’s hoping to rent out space to more local artists in the future.

“If not, I have a lot of my own work to fill up the space. But I’m not afraid to move stuff to open up space for other artists,” he said.

“It’s not going to look bare.”

For those wanting to check out E&E Creation, they’re open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., though those hours are subject to change if business picks up soon.

Eric and Elaina acknowledged that business has been slow since opening, which they attribute to people not knowing what they do and offer just yet.

To help fix that, on Sept. 9, at 6 p.m., they will host their first “Paint and Sip” class. From there, they hope to continue offering them Tuesdays and Fridays with varying themes to make them more unique from other classes.

“I’m hoping once that starts, a lot more word will get out,” Eric said.

“We do a little extra…we’re doing a ‘Paint and Flick’ where close to Halloween, we’ll put the movie Hocus Pocus on while we paint a Hocus Pocus-themed painting at the same time.

“Then we have a kids’ night where the canvas is already pre-made with a paint by number for younger kids. We’ll do parties, special private parties that they want to book. We also offer paint kits — we just started offering those — so if you want to do a paint and sip for something at home, we sell the kits (too).”

Next week’s class will also offer different painting techniques.

“People that are here for the classes are going to see all that we can do — 90% of the paint and sips that you go to are all brushes, we’ll be doing this mostly with paper towels,” Eric said.

“I think outside the box, I teach different tricks like using ripped paper to get the right shape and the right size for different things rather than redrawing it with a paint brush. So I teach different things like that, and we have the TV where we will do movies…”

Looking to the future of their business, Eric and Elaina want to continue fulfilling the creative challenges their customers give them, as well as giving “life” to things people give up on, such as broken game controllers, furniture, etc.

“I have a backroom full of blank stuff to give life (to),” Eric said.

“That’s one of the biggest things I love to do, someone will explain what they have in their head and they don’t know how to get it out and I’m the one who makes it come to life. I don’t know how many reactions I get like ‘that’s exactly what I wanted.’ That gives me self-satisfaction.”

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