When Mariah Fidalgo and her husband, Tom Rommé, came to visit her parents in her hometown of Orleans in the spring of 2020, they packed for a two-week stay. They […]
Home / Making
Inspiration for the crafty, projects for the practical, spaces for dreamers.
Browse all Home / Making stories below or dive into a topic:
THE DRAFTING TABLE
A House Painter of a Different Sort
Marin Reinhardt renders her love of design in watercolor
Marin Reinhardt had always wanted to run her own business. For a few years, she brainstormed how to build on her background in interior design. Should she start a housecleaning […]
MEET THE MAKER
Making a Scallop Dredge, Al Youngren-Style
In the Orleans workshop of a veteran fisherman who knows all the angles
ORLEANS — On a rusty table fashioned from what once held the shaft of a windmill, Al Youngren sketches the outline of a scallop dredge with a piece of white […]
LOGGING IN
Fungi Are Forever
Leo Parent’s carved wooden mushrooms spring from finds on forest walks
Leo Parent takes a hand torch to the top of a large wooden mushroom, and the smoke puffs up, gray and fragrant. The torching technique is called shou sugi ban, […]
MEET THE MAKER
In a Wellfleet Workshop, Vintage Silver Transcends the Table
Alan Hight cuts, bends, and hammers silverware into jewelry
Sitting at a workbench in the basement of his Wellfleet house, Alan Hight runs a hand over a glittering pile of dozens of silver spoons and forks. He’s searching for […]
D.I.Y.
A Cover Story for That Warm Friend in Your Bed
How to hand-knit a sweater for your hot water bottle
I fell in love with my hot water bottle when I was in college. And I’m not your granny’s age — I’m talking about last year. I had moved into […]
D.I.Y.
The Willow Weavers
In quiet company, a group twines its way past snaps and kinks to sturdy baskets
On a snowy Saturday afternoon, seven women gather in a community room at the Provincetown Commons, picking up bunches of brown sticks from a table in the corner before settling […]
MEET THE MAKER
Steve Smith Throws Away the Level and the Square
To be a boatbuilder is to be part fine-tuner, part heavy lifter, part dreamer
Steve Smith disappears through the wicket gate — the smaller, person-size door built into one of the two much larger doors of his backyard barn. Then the large door swings […]
MEET THE MAKER
Steve Smith Throws Away the Level and the Square
To be a boatbuilder is to be part fine-tuner, part heavy lifter, part dreamer
Steve Smith disappears through the wicket gate — the smaller, person-size door built into one of the two much larger doors of his backyard barn. Then the large door swings […]
MEET THE MAKER
When Glass Speaks
John Best’s sparkling boxes are made of movement, sound, and color
In his basement studio in Wellfleet, John Best is sweeping fragments of glass out of the way, searching for his early-1900s optician’s pliers. He finds them: the business end of […]
D.I.Y.
A Good Woodpile Is a Curmudgeon’s Comfort
Ban the tarp, have a stacking strategy, think about your BTUs, and enjoy the ambience
It’s the season for stoking woodstoves and laying in firewood. But those are arts that, up to now, I’ve only been the beneficiary of. I like sitting by a glowing […]
MEET THE MAKERS
Finding Flow and Balance in Metal and Stone
A shop where two sisters sketch, weld, grind, hammer, and polish their jewelry into existence
WELLFLEET — In the sunlit back room of a Bank Street shop are workbenches scattered with loops and lengths of metal and wire; heavy metalworking equipment sits in the corner; […]
MEET THE MAKER
Nature in the Round
A Wellfleet musician who finds rhythm in the seasons discovers that wreaths aren’t always evergreen
On fall mornings, Jordan Renzi can be found in the back of her truck making wreaths while she keeps company with the familiar voices on NPR. She works several jobs […]
FIXATION
Rewirings of Things Past
A mechanically minded artist builds assemblages by intuition
Jody Johnson is one of those rare people you can turn to when things fall apart. Last February, she was one of the stars of the Wellfleet Fix-It Clinic, saving […]
DESIGN NOTEBOOK
This Place in Blue and White
Nicole Goveia captures local color in cyanotypes
Nicole Goveia tried painting and printmaking at school, but when she got a camera for her 16th birthday and taught herself the ins and outs of photography, it opened the […]
