News stories tagged with "craft"

(11/09/09) Steam-bent ribs are a standard feature in many traditional boats. Oak (or other wood) ribs are softened by steaming, then quickly forced to conform to inside of the shell of the boat and clench-nailed in place. It's a two-man job. And the process is the same, big boat or small. Sam Newman got help bending the ribs into a very traditional, but very small craft: a cradle.

(09/01/09) Nancy Hammill of Ft. Jackson was at Traditional Arts in Upstate New York recently for a lesson in an ancient craft: turning wool fleece into yarn by hand with a drop spindle. She and her tutor, Donna Adams of Long Lake, are today's Heard Up North.

(03/26/09) In our Year of Hard Choices series today, we go to a mainstay of the North Country's homegrown business community. You find the SunFeather Soap Company in a tidy, low building on the old state road outside Parishville, in St. Lawrence County. Martha Foley went for a tour, and got a lesson in small business 101.

(07/31/07) Black ash is one of the sources of raw material for Native American basket makers. They de-bark and then pound ash logs to produce long, pliable strips. Gregory Warner learned the basics from a master: Henry Arquette of Akwesasne.

(07/03/06) Paddlers competed yesterday in the 44th annual Willard Hanmer guide boat race in Saranac Lake. Hanmer was one of the great Adirondack boat builders. In today's Heard Up North, we hear from Chris Woodward who now operates Hanmer's boat building shop.

(09/27/05) The yarn harlot comes to Canton tonight. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is author of a book called "At Knit's End" Meditation for Women Who Knit Too Much", author also of a funny web blog for people like her who are obsessed with knitting. Pearl-McPhee is a mother in her mid-thirties, a Canadian. She's found echoes of her OWN fixation in the hearts of knitters across both Canada and the US. She'll be at the St. Lawrence University Bookstore in Canton this evening from 6 to 8. Martha Foley spoke with her in May. She was at home in Toronto.

(06/07/05) 17 artisans from the North Country caravanned to New York City this weekend. They set up booths at one of the largest one day street fairs in the country. The fair stretched for 20 blocks down 2nd avenue in Manhattan. Woodworker Dave Crosby called in by cell phone just after the fair ended.

Dave and the other artisans are part of the Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative; a project organized by the St Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. The cooperative is an international finalist for a World Chamber award for micro-enterprise initiatives.

(05/31/05) A small business initiative in St Lawrence County was named as an international finalist for the World Chamber of Commerce's "Best Unconventional Project" award. It's the only American finalist in any category. The Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative was launched in 2003. It offers technology and marketing tools and workshops to small business owners and artisans. Next weekend, most of the group is caravaning to New York City for a one day street fair said to attract over a million people. Greg Warner stopped by their last meeting and brings us this report.

(05/01/00) Bill Smith is known throughout the Adirondacks and beyond as a master of many traditional arts of the region, including the making of split ash baskets. He also performs and records stories and songs about local life, including his 1994 collection Tales from the Featherbed.