Washington County, Virginia, is blessed with an abundance of beautiful hardwood trees. Land clearing, storms and the generosity of the Appalachian people provide green wood to turn at the nominal cost of an active chainsaw, a little sweat and an occasional gift of a hand-turned bowl. Dr. Bowl became fascinated with wood turning after his retirement from a university professorship and research management at a large pharmaceutical company. Most items are turned from green logs and are reworked after the blanks are dry to adjust for distortion in the drying. Some are finished green to feature the distortion. He wishes to emphasize the inherent natural beauty where wood grain and color are revealed and share with you his pleasure in each creation.

I own and operate a woodturning shop, Three Peaks Crafts, in Grayson County, located in the southwest corner of Virginia. Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia, is just a stone’s throw from my shop.

For 25 years I made custom furniture, a skill I honed at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. Several years ago I became more involved in wood turning and now that consumes 100% of my shop time. I turn household items such as biscuit cutters, oil lamps, bowls and platters, rolling pins, kaleidoscopes, and wine bottle stoppers.

I take pride in the fact that I take my work "from the stump to the finished product." I harvest all the wood used in my shop here in Grayson County. Some wood is dried before it is used and some is used while it is still wet, or "green" as is the case when I turn bowls.

All items used in or around the kitchen are finished with a non-toxic oil finish. Other items may have a lacquer finish or a wax finish, depending upon the desired effect or use.

I use two types of lathes in my shop. One is a spindle lathe, used primarily for turning long objects such as candle sticks, or anything that needs to be mounted "between centers." The other is a bowl lathe that I constructed myself. This is where I turn bowls or platters too large to mount on the smaller spindle lathe.

I am a founding member of Grayson Artisans, a group dedicated to promoting the work of artisans with working studios in Grayson County, Virginia. I am a founding board member of The Chestnut Creek School of the Arts in Galax, Virginia.

My husband and I live on 90+ acres on the side of Powell Mountain in southwest Virginia. These days, my studio windows look out on the mountains and even a dreary day has its beauty. Life is good!

My Mother taught me to sew when I was seven, and I still have several quilts that my great-grandmother did entirely by hand. I've been quilting off and on for most of my adult life, still using a sewing machine that belonged to my grandmother.

I usually sew the pieces for a quilt's top by machine, but my favorite part is doing the hand quilting that holds the layers together. Most of what I do starts with a traditional pattern, and I enjoy working with bright, clear colors. I've never had formal training in art or color usage, and sometimes I'm surprised when things start coming together!

I’ve also recently learned to weave on a counter-balance floor loom and have been making table runners and placemats, as well as traditional rag rugs.

Susan Lily of Fruitfull Hands Dolls has been making dolls for more than 20 years. She's been making dolls from her own designs for more than 15 years. She was born and raised in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale area of Florida where her extended family members still reside. When her husband, Gary, retired, they moved from Florida to East Tennessee to enjoy the mountains, streams, trees, cooler climate and, most of all, the slower pace that this area offers.

As for the misspelling of her fruitfull in her business name, Susan explained that years ago she was involved in a church craft group called Fruitfull Hands, so named after a passage in Proverbs 31:31. The craft group spelled it that way to indicate “full of blessings.” She liked the name because she believes God gave her the gift of fruitfull hands.

Working from her expanded studio over the garage, Susan's home based business focuses primarily on the sale of original design cloth doll patterns and handmade collectible cloth dolls. She started by making simple cloth dolls and selling them through local craft shows. As her skills grew, so did her designs. Soon, she discovered a huge demand for her patterns which led her to internet and magazine marketing. Her business is now evolving back into a demand for her handmade dolls. With the future in mind and the continued success of her original design patterns, she hopes to be able to focus more on developing her collectible doll market. Susan creates most of her dolls from fabric and paint, but given the right idea, she'll use just about anything to create a new design and enjoys experimenting with different techniques. Her designs are unique and don't really fall into a preconceived category, so she refers to her designs as “an enchanting mix of whimsical fantasy and country class” to allow her customers to judge for themselves which category her designs belong.

Susan's sewing talents come from her family's history of three generations of tailors. Her Mom originally inspired her to sew, but she give God the credit for her creativity. Most of her recent designs were inspired by her husband's suggestions. Many of her other ideas come while she's shopping at fabric, craft and even home improvement stores. She also credits much of her inspiration to all of her wonderful customers.

Most of her sales are internet-based via her website. Susan is a member of the Holston Mountain Art Co-op in Abingdon, VA.

Susan has many other outstanding achievements in her artistic career. Her designs have been featured by McCall's patterns, Country Market magazine, Craft & Needlework Age magazine, and Country Sampler magazine. And now she is being featured in the Creative Times magazine. Several of Susan's dolls and an instructional article written by her will be featured in two upcoming issues of Soft Dolls & Animals magazine. Most recently, her work was featured by The Bristol Herald Courier and reprinted by A! Magazine of the Arts. This summer, she has been invited to be a guest instructor of fabric art at the William King Regional Art Center.

“Grim Pottery” evolved in 1993 when Debbie Grim began and apprenticeship under Robin and Bet Mangum of Sparta, North Carolina. Now Debbie Grim-Yates keeps up her full time business in beautiful Konnarock, Virginia, near White Top Mountain, while still working part-time for Mangum Pottery.

Like most potters, Debbie quickly became addicted to the clay. Her love of the work and resulting quality of finished pottery has caused her business to grow each year, and Grim Pottery now supplies local craft shops in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. She works primarily with stoneware clay, making “Throw” and “Slab Built” functional and decorative pottery. Debbie's love of the clay now keeps her producing additional designs, in order to try new things and to provide more products for her customers.

Debbie hopes to pass on the traditional trade to her two daughters, as well as her family's legacy of music making. Debbie and her husband, Tim Yates, currently perform together as “Acoustic Heritage” each has twenty years of professional music playing experience. Both Debbie and Tim grew up playing in the family bands, “The Konnarock Critters” and “John Yates and the Yates Brothers.” Debbie and Tim blend Old Time and Bluegrass music, creating their own unique style.

For Debbie, “There's just something about the pottery and music that go hand in hand, and fills our lives with inspiration.”

Washington County, Virginia, is blessed with an abundance of beautiful hardwood trees. Land clearing, storms and the generosity of the Appalachian people provide green wood to turn at the nominal cost of an active chainsaw, a little sweat and an occasional gift of a hand-turned bowl. Dr. Bowl became fascinated with wood turning after his retirement from a university professorship and research management at a large pharmaceutical company. Most items are turned from green logs and are reworked after the blanks are dry to adjust for distortion in the drying. Some are finished green to feature the distortion. He wishes to emphasize the inherent natural beauty where wood grain and color are revealed and share with you his pleasure in each creation.

Working with my hands has been an important part of my life since childhood, when my grandmother taught me to knit a scarf. I eventually learned to knit Icelandic sweaters and then to hook rugs. I've filled our cedar chests with sweaters and covered the walls of our house with “rug-portraits.”

Then, at a yard sale in the early 1990s, my husband found a book on making baskets and gave it to me as a surprise. I've been weaving baskets ever since.

I enjoy the entire process of making a basket. After I measure and cut the reed, I let it soak in water to become pliable. I start the frame for the basket with a handle and sometimes spokes. Weaving in the sides follows and then finishing the top trim. I especially enjoy decorating the handles, making each one unique. When I have woven several baskets, I stain them all in homemade black walnut dye. The walnut hulls come from trees on our farm, and they give the vessels a warm, mellow color. Depending on the basket, the whole process takes anywhere from an hour to an entire day.

The meditative work of weaving baskets lends a quiet, creative time to my life. I work in a sunlit room with a wideview of Iron Mountain. Sometimes I'll listen to a book on tape, but usually I just let the quiet snores of our three dogs keep my company.

I hope you enjoy using these baskets as much as I enjoy making them!