Ray Gross's tools — from power drills to sanding discs — are so real that many shoppers at the CraftsAffair Friday looked and walked on.

        No surprise. “They're made to fool the eye,” Mr. Gross said.

        But when people stop, they realize the tools, paint tubes, brushes and cans and Mont Blanc pens are porcelain.

        Even the $250 hammer, with its realistic heft, is a piece of art.

IF YOU GO

• CraftsAffair, sponsored by Ohio Designer Craftsmen, continues 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

        “It's good for one good whack,” Mr. Gross, of Lake Worth, Fla., said with a laugh.

        He's one of the new exhibitors at the annual show at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center. About 275 artists will display their goods through Sunday.

        One of the artists is William Rees, a harp maker transplanted from Yosemite, Calif., to Rising Sun, Ind. His wooden instruments range from a modest $85 lap-size psaltery, a stringed instrument of the zither family, to standing 29-string $3,750 concert harps.

        He's a retired science teacher who began making guitars and harps, and relocated because most of his customers were from the Midwest. Rising Sun was chosen because “the town really has a vision. They have decided that they want to make art their economy.”

        Still another high-end vendor back after a hiatus is woodworker Tim Connors, of Mount Horeb, Wis.

        “People are really buying,” he said. “Most of my shows this years have been very good.” Mr. Connors' costliest item was a $3,900 quilted maple queen size bed.

        At Bates Webster's booth, her whimsical metal figures drew Peg Catlett again from Louisville. In the past, she bought steel lizards from the Sulphur, Ky., artist for friends. Friday, Ms. Catlett shopped for herself, buying a $25 strip of steel from which lizards were cut.

        As with many CraftsAffair veterans, Ms. Webster has added new products. A $350 steel table covers a large sheet of cutouts with glass. A walk-through arch with many of her humorous figures is $650. Whimsical metal figures “have really come on in the last couple years,” said show director Hal Stevens. Now, Ms. Webster has competitors in every aisle.

        In the same way, fantasy figures in cloth, clay and mixed media are a growing presence, some almost life size.

        Other booths had women's clothing, jewelry, wooden boxes, trays and toys, as well as every imaginable form of pottery.

        Two alabaster bowls were tempting Jackie Dolin, up from Louisville for her 10th CraftsAffair. She said she might spend $1,000 before she left.

        Her daughter, Amanda, expected to spend up to $150 on specialty foods, greeting cards, a necklace for herself and papier-mache figures for her fiance's mother.
       

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