Something from Scratch: Portraits of Two Crafters

Dear Family,

I'm not sure how to break the news:

I've fallen in love with the barns in New England,

and I'm bringing ONE home to live with me.

Aaaaaa . . . not THAT one above . . . . but this one:

This barn is a stoneware barn envisioned and made 

by creative craftswoman MaryLyn Yonika 

of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Clear back in July

we became aware of the juried League of NH Craftsmen Fair

held in the beautiful ski resort town of Sunapee.

I decided I needed to attend for my "spiritual" health,

so I worked diligently at my "office" tasks and cleared

my schedule to drive myself there early in the day.

Yes, it turned out to be a spiritual feast, and my soul

was fed royally. There were weavers, furniture makers,

basket makers, felters, fine art painters, jewelry artists,

and a variety of other media crafters represented.

It was a warm day, and as I made my way around to

the various outside tents where crafters had their booth

displays, MaryLyn had popped out the back flap 

of her shared booth to cool off a bit.

Our eyes met and we shared some gesture communication 

about the heat, then I walked in and she

 popped back to greet me.

What she had on display was her remaining inventory

of these incredible stoneware houses and ONE remaining barn.

I recommend that you visit her website: HERE

and I direct you to click through the HOME tab there

where you can follow a link to view a video clip 

that was done by NH Chronicle that shows her incredible

method for creating these pieces of art.

Here are a few more views of MY barn. 

 Back view:

Side view:

And this is the bottom, where she signed it.

The opening is to insert a votive candle or

wired electric light to illuminate the barn.

 I fell in love with the Gambrel barn, and she lifted it

down from her corner shelf for me to hold --

I was a goner at that moment. I told her I needed to

walk through the remaining exhibits before spending ALL

my allowance, and that I would very likely be back.

I didn't find anything I loved more, but as things turned out,

I was called back into the office and didn't buy it then.

That turned out to be part of the story, too.

I contacted her about whether the barn had sold,

and because it had not, made arrangements to drive

to Wilton, NH, to meet up at her soon-to-close-down 

workshop which can be seen in the video clip.

She is moving on to other things and other places,

and she is not making anymore stoneware buildings.

In the picture above you can see the back view

from that workshop with tuneful stream, rocky banks

and railroad spur trestle bridge.

(Below is a snap I took when I walked up through

the town after my purchase was made.)

 This is the main building in this typical village town,

which now is being used as a community theater.

Wrapping up my story: one delightful encounter 

turned into two.

Now to the second fun story:

This is David Hallmark. As I strolled through

the Fair tents, he easily caught my attention because

he was handling PAPER, which right now demands

as much attention as FABRIC previously did.

Here he is as I encountered him, blithely tearing up

old book pages into a large bin. Of course,

I struck up a conversation with him

(otherwise known in the Helen Glissmeyer family

as an 'interview').

 David is indeed a 'paper crafter', which is to say

he CREATES paper, by tearing up old book pages,

soaking and equalizing the pH, then processing

them in shallow bins to become thickened paper.

Though you can't assess the depth and texture,

it really is a remarkable product.

Here below is a closeup which may be a little more helpful.

You can see the tiny bits that still have readible text,

and the mix of tones thrills my aesthetic senses

(I have always been a little kooky about neutrals).

David works from his home near New Hampshire's

limited coastline where his basement has been converted

into a paper mill of sorts. A large hopper keeps the paper

bits soaking and stabilizing, then there are dozens of

the trays for paper curing. I asked about his sources

for original paper. His interesting response: a library

near his town found out about his work, and offered

to give him the old stock they had - and then they

showed him a semi-trailer full of retired volumes.

David says he will never run out.

 David trims and packages his unique papers

in varied sizes. Since I have my own ideas about

how I will use and "share" these, I purchased

a package of roughly letter size sheets. Can't wait!

 Then this on his booth wall caught my eye:

a framed fragment of the dreaded phragmites!!!

(Phragmites are a non-native, aggressive, invasive,

complicated root system plant that is choking all waterways

across America. We have it growing in abundance

in the wetlands behind our Thanksgiving Point home,

in small puddle growth spots in the golf course,

and here almost everywhere as well.)

When I exclaimed about what it could be,

David explained that he has begun an experiment

with natural fibers, and thought he'd try with this one.

He has a prototype paper made from the pulp of

harvested phragmites heads and stalks . . . 

. . . and this is what IT looks like:

My desciption: somewhat grainy - as in

wheat grain, with matted fibers. But it has

this lovely kraft paper color.

So I'm thinking this might be the FINAL SOLUTION

to the phragmites wild pernicious bio pest situation

or a way to spread them further through all the landfills

near where people are using and discarding bits of

David's newest paper. 

Both of these craftsmen filled my lamp that day,

and in the days since, through their pursuit of what

they love and what they can envision.
They each have taken basic elements - the "scratch"
referred to in the post title - and made
wonderful things.

How have the creative folks around you put

oil in your lamp recently?