A weekly radio show about the artisan spirit of Skagit County is featuring valley residents with diverse skills and treasures to share, and explores how and why people – and the community – are drawn to the work that they do.
The show started last fall and airs on KSVR’s Skagit Talks on Thursdays at 5 p.m.
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by Laura Boynton
Remember that thrill that went through both you and Laura Ingalls Wilder when she opened her Christmas stocking and found an orange? AN ORANGE! And a penny – an especially shiny copper penny? A PENNY!!
I believe that, though few of us have experience with a Christmas this simple or meager, we have all
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by Cameron Deuel
Kristen Fisher and her husband, Bear Yoho, didn’t intend to start a glass-blowing company. “It just sort of happened,” Fisher said.
Their interest in the craft began about 16 years ago when Yoho was just starting to toy around with the art of blowing glass. Fisher remembers people asking them to create pieces, especially
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by Jessica Harbert
Rio Thomas knows gleaning. Founder of Small Potatoes Gleaning Project years ago (now a part of the Bellingham Food Bank), she has taken gleaning to a new approach. Through her business Season’s Gleanings, she handcrafts greeting cards adorned with photos of words and art created by gleaned produce.
Thomas, who has worked on local
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by Samantha Schuller
Earl Anders has got a lot of gems. And not just the sparkly kind; he’ll keep you rooted on the sidewalk in front of his farmers’ market booth for an hour with his stories, snippets of advice, and commiserations.
Anders, 83, has been an artist for 65 years. His stand at the Snohomish Farmers
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by Samantha Schuller
Steve and Carol Bryant of Conway turn found and repurposed materials into art. The name Driftwood and Iron, as they call their work, comes from the chief materials they use. The garden courtyard outside their workshop is packed with iron sculptures and creatures, while glass and ceramic flowers rise on driftwood stems from
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by Samantha Schuller
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering Bonnie and Andy Swanson of Cat’s Paw Bees and bringing one of their hand-painted jars full of local honey home, you know the conundrum—the jar is too beautiful to keep in the cupboard, and the honey is too delicious to keep just for display.
“When we
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by Samantha Schuller
The mood in the Skagit Broomworks’ home shop is decidedly jovial as Kevin Miller ties stalks of broom corn to a broomstick and begins weaving the ends into a striking checkerboard pattern, talking about the tradition of broom-making as he goes. “It used to be passed down through the generations as an occupation,
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by Samantha Schuller
Tamila Morgan, artisan soap-maker and owner of UrbanFarm Naturals, is a make-it-from-scratch kind of gal. “There’s a lot of value in just slowing down, doing some soul searching, and asking ourselves what’s really important,” she said, measuring cocoa powder into a cake pan. She’s making Wacky Cake, a simple, egg-less recipe that was
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With Spring just a few weeks away, the change in seasons offers plenty of potential for crafting, especially with children. Following are some ideas for crafting fun this month.
Calendar: Create a Countdown to Spring calendar, similar to the style of an Advent Calendar. For very young children, consider making a large flower out of
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