Sweets
LOCATED NEAR JOHN WESLEY CHURCH
Old School Outside
Miller, Shelley
Focal Point
Clay
My love of bright colors and whimsical designs and has found a perfect home in the medium of polymer clay and epoxy resin sculptures. The wide variety of techniques fills my need for always wanting to try something new and different in creative arts. Each technique is a wonderfully organized chaos that leads to the final product.
Jobe, Jeffrey
Barking Dog Jewelry Design Studio
Jewelry
A mixture of traditional goldsmith, silversmith and blacksmith techniques are used to create gold & silver jewelry, predominantly through a modified repousse technique I developed in 2002. Other techniques include hand forged gold & sterling silver; 14K, 18K gold & sterling silver sand and lost wax casting, and hand made/hand soldered bracelets & chains in sterling silver & 14K gold. Most of my tools date from the 18th and 19th C. With respect to style, my knowledge base is heavily influenced by historic texts, paintings, etchings, and probate inventories while many of the techniques used have been reverse engineered using methods learned as a historic archaeologist. The modified repousse’ technique I developed arose from this type of work.
Hollenbaugh, Kelly & Gary
ThreeRingJewelry
Jewelry
Born the oldest of five into a modest family, I learned early on that to have the material things I fancied I would need to make them myself. I soon became adept at seeing a piece of clothing or an accessory and reproducing it using the materials at hand. This ability to thrift and fabricate came in useful in my early career where I not only wrote and acted but designed sets and costumes for the theatre. Later, on a whim, I took a workshop in metalsmithing, and my love of sterling silver was born.
In learning to manipulate hot metal; bending and diminishing, piercing, adding granulation, fusing, and soldering, I soon realized my uncanny talent at reproduction had found an artistic home. I love to see something that piques my interest and then figure out, first, how it is made and second, how to make it my own using mixed metals and unusual components like glass, leather, and metal clay. Often working in a series or with a particular design element, each of my creations is one of a kind. My customers enjoy choosing from the different looks that spring from the same design family. Together in our studio my husband and I produce sterling silver jewelry with pearl, gemstone, 14K gold, and bronze accents.
I am truly inspired by other jewelers, art deco architecture, and kinetic sculpture.
Carson, Joseph
Wood
Turning wood on a lathe is act of discovery. Something unknown lingers within awaiting the lucky guess and right tool. Is that found log or reclaimed board solid, a little rotted, a lot cracked, or too knotty? Can I stabilize that weakness? If so, then a bowl, or an urn, or a toy lurks within. The will of the wood and the whim of the turner tell a tale as sharp steel and sand paper reveal the beauty and utility waiting revelation.
Hart, Ian
Vigilance Forge
Metal
I graduated college in 2017 with a degree in traditionally forged ironwork under the tutelage of Richard Guthrie, a Colonial Williamsburg veteran Journeyman who moved on to teach others the craft through the American College of the Building Arts. Rick instilled in me a value of creating accurate 18th century reproductions exclusively by hand, matching the construction methods, characteristics, underlying geometry and functionality of their historic counterparts. He has since passed but I carry this lesson with me through every day: to make a profit when I can, to take a loss if I must, to sleep some nights, and others not, but always to do good work.
For several years I managed a modern architectural iron shop in Northern Virginia, designing massive custom stair railings and similar projects, from conception to construction and installation. I was surprised by the lack of care that my colleagues had in terms of craftsmanship and excellence in design, not just from coworkers but also from architects and design firms that were supposedly classically trained. The jobs were big, they were interesting, but they didn’t satisfy the quality and standards of the work that I valued. Over that period I worked part time in the evenings producing my own work, until last year, when I left the company and opened my own shop full time.
People often say “as long as it works, who cares what it looks like.” I cringe a little every time I hear this. In my experience, if it looks right, it is right, and while people may not realize it, things are distracting if care is not placed into their design and creation. While B+ work may have no fault with it, the little extra decoration, feature, or degree of quality goes a long way in transforming work from acceptable to exceptional. This is my goal today; to provide people with tools, hardware, furniture and furnishings that are a joy to look at, use, and will work as well as someone can ask, not just now, but through heavy use into the far future. Historically people relied heavily on their tools and could not afford to have them break or to replace them frequently. Because of this they are perhaps the best teachers a craftsman could look to. It is not solely with misplaced nostalgia that I look to my forefathers of the crafts, but also because I believe that we might learn lessons in how to shape our future.
Hall, Marian
Wooly Dye Works
Fiber/Textiles
I have been rug hooking for 28 years, with many of my designs adapting PA Frakturs. Before rug hooking I did weaving, starting in 1968, and learned dyeing for my weaving fibers. I then used my dyeing experience to dye for my own hooked rugs and expanded to dye for a few friends. On retirement I started a small business dyeing wool for other rug artisans and sell at in-person events as well as on Etsy. In the past few years I have started to sell some of the rugs I have made. Three of my rugs have been selected for the Rug Hooking Magazine Celebrations book in the past few years, one winning a Reader’s Choice Award.
Bomburger
Smashburgers, sandwiches, & fries
LOCATED NEAR THE OLD SCHOOL