Sustaining Craft

And they keep their product lines interesting, even taking special orders. “We have these really unique niche scents in some of our candles, so they work really well for historical reenactors, but they’re not going to sell to somebody else,” Reeves said. “We have a state park that we contract to that deals with historical reenactors all the time, and one of their properties on the park is a jail....

Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes day...

Collier started reaching out to local businesses, starting with Geri’s Jams and Jellies. Today, the market carries produce and products from businesses such as Fennel and Fire, Teaberry Kombucha Co., and the Farm at Barefoot Bend. “It’s a lot of local people that are really, really good at what they do,” said Duvall. “We’re able to bring it all together. Our big draw is definitely produce. People...

When Long moved to Florida, Godbold and Cook divided the remaining responsibilities. While they at first tried splitting the baking and the decorating, they found the workflow wasn’t efficient. Cook, who has a degree in business, took over the finances, taxes, and practical business needs. Godbold took on all of the baking, decorating, social media, and marketing. Along with refining her baking sk...

Brittany Oaks made a few friends in Conway while a single mother and was invited to a home birth. “It was really, really incredible to see,” Oaks said. “And I’d given birth by that point myself. But this was an unmedicated home birth. She started out in the water and ended up going to her bed. And just the raw power and just the fact that she invited only those people she wanted there was really,...

Melissa Diller at first transferred her Verizon job and then quit and started Drama Kids, a franchise that has existed for the past 30 years. “We teach educationally-based drama to all school-aged kids,” Diller explained. “Basically all we’re doing is building confidence in public speaking through fun drama activities so that kids have the confidence to be whatever they end up being, whether it’s...

Kurtz formalized his efforts into D&D For Hire this summer. “The idea of D&D For Hire is to bring Dungeons and Dragons to people who don’t otherwise have the opportunity,” Kurtz explained. “And usually that winds up being children who would want to play but don’t know how or even some adults who just don’t have people to play with. The idea is you can bring them a game and it could be a on...

Brown's first performance was for friends, and he called himself Pizza Tom. “I gave myself the moniker Pizza Tom because pizzas were a recognizable object,” Brown explained. “It’s difficult to serve a miniature soup that’s kind of formless. Pizzas have this really wonderful aesthetic side to them. A pizza is visually quite beautiful. And a pizza is recognizable. I can also just give you a slice of...