Thanks for a great 2025!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

    As 2025 winds down, I wanted to express my gratitude to all the individuals who have supported my small business throughout this year and beyond.  It has been a formative year for me professionally, as my craft and my teaching continue to grow.  

    I taught for nearly fifty days in 2025, which was a new record for me.  A healthy portion of that was "Carving Club" at Tinkerhaus, in Newburyport, MA.  This after-school class for kids in grades 3-5 seemed to be a big hit:

We carved soldiers, and made thrones for them:

We made dice, both big and small:

And we received a generous gift of tools from the Flexcut company:

    I continued to teach many classes for adults at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA, and at Sanborn Mills Farm in Loudon, NH.  Both of these schools have been major supporters of my teaching, and I want to say a special thank you to them.  I also taught at several new schools, including Haystack in Deer Island, Maine, Historic Eastfield in New York, and the Newburyport Art Association in Newburyport, MA.  It was a real honor to teach at Haystack, as it is widely considered one of the most important craft schools in America.  The space is truly lovely--set on the coast, with mid-century modern architecture.  The quality of the craft and the instructors there was really something else, and it got me thinking in new directions about my own work.  I will reflect more on that in a future post on my goals for 2026.

Haystack was magical

Haystack, right on the coast of Maine

    I set up at markets one weekend a month, at North Andover and Newburyport, and learned some important lessons.  It has taken me several years, but I am starting to learn that there is a season for woodcraft sales.  While you might get a few good days around Father's and Mother's Days, and occasionally you will have a patron who cleans you out, for the most part, I need to concentrate my efforts on fewer events closer to the winter holidays.  I will continue to show monthly at the Newburyport Farmers' Market through the summer, as it builds ties to the local community, but will wait until after Thanksgiving for more market weekends.  

    One final highlight for me was traveling to the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa, and even getting into their archives to study some interesting boxes and canisters.  I then went up to Milan, Minnesota, for the Spoon Gathering and had a chance to catch up with Alex, Paul, and Ty. 

So, once again, thanks to everyone who has supported my teaching, learning, turning, and carving in 2025.  I am humbled that so many folks want to follow along in my journey.  And most importantly, I want to say thank you to my wife, Alyssa.  Without her support, none of my craft work would be possible.  As she said when I was contemplating stepping away from my high school teaching job and taking on craft full-time, "You can be paid poorly doing a lot of things--teaching is only one of them."  Her encouragement for me to take a leap mid-life and pivot professionally, and her steadfast financial support while I get on my feet, make all of this possible.