The Outer Cape’s swap shops are re-opening, and that’s welcome news for those whose anti-materialist leanings went unsatisfied during these long months of isolation. De-acquisitioning that odd lamp (still working), […]
Home / Making
Inspiration for the crafty, projects for the practical, spaces for dreamers.
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EARLY SHIFT
A Stop at the Wellfleet Flea Market
Where characters and collectors keep coming back for — or with — more
It’s just after 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and the Wellfleet Flea Market has opened its gates to customers. Vendors are still setting up as a box truck pulls into […]
LATE SHIFT
When a Flea Market Find Is a New Direction
Old friends reflect on second acts, begun on the drive-in blacktop
“I love murdering people,” says Donna Walo Clancy in her Boston accent, letting out a slight giggle, twirling her ponytail with her left hand, wearing an apron. She is taking […]
PLANTCRAFT
Gardening by the Moon
Look to the sky before you dig in the dirt
I’ve been paying attention recently to an old gardening proverb that goes like this: “With the waxing of the Moon, the Earth exhales. With the waning of the Moon, the […]
MORE IS MORE
For Collectors, There Are No Rules About What Brings Joy
Animals’ bones, vintage porn, and anything with octopuses are local objects of desire
PROVINCETOWN — Tiny bottles, dried flowers, and pipe stems. Embroidered handkerchiefs, Pez dispensers, or art exclusively representing snails — the potential collections built from digging in thrift stores, scouring the […]
DOVETAIL JOINT
Step Inside Alex Brewer’s Magical ‘Dunegrass Tavern’
A timeless space for music and friends, built from generations of salvaged wood
The musician and carpenter Alex Brewer has deep family roots in Wellfleet. His great-great-grandmother was Ada Freeman, daughter of Capt. Richard Rich Freeman, the first president of Wellfleet’s Mercantile Wharf. […]
TREAD ON ME
It’s Time to Put Out Your (Repurposed) Welcome Mat
It started with a trip to the transfer station
“We are a family of repurposers,” says Alicia Morgan. That’s how she explains the accidental beginnings of their doormat business. Alicia had studied interior decorating and was working freelance in […]
MEET THE MAKER
Vintage Clothing, Deconstructed, Acts Up With Style and Grace
A nonconformist’s take on who should wear what to the wedding
Maureen Leavenworth takes a pantsuit (black with white lapels that puff up from the coat like unfurled scrolls) off a rack in her Orleans bridal shop and, using her hands, […]
MEET THE MAKER
A New Season for Treasured Techniques and Tools
Flo Mauclère stitches together a leatherwork tradition and a personal style
When Victor Powell handed her the reins of his 50-year-old Provincetown leather shop, Florence Mauclère felt “gratefulness and immense pride,” and, because the moment wasn’t one she’d actually anticipated, there […]
WASTE NOT
At Home in Jay Critchley’s Cesspool
Converting your old soak pit into a rental unit, experts warn, is a no-go
PROVINCETOWN — In 1997, Jay Critchley uncovered a backyard manhole, peered into a cesspool, and “discovered a new world.” He had always known about his property’s cesspit, a pre-Title 5 […]
MUMS
Flower Power Is What People Need
A mother’s love of plants and sunshine inspires a sideline in blooms
“My mom is a lover of plants,” says Sophie Yingling. Her own proclivity for floral design was born, she’s sure, in the “room full of plants and sunshine” her mother […]
MEET THE MAKER
A Woodworker Softens Her Edges
Putting together the pieces at a studio in Truro
A “born puzzler,” Anneliese King has always been drawn to design work that involves putting intricate pieces together. She loves the improvisational problem-solving nature of woodworking, she says. King has […]
MEET THE MAKER
Building a Better Pot Pipe
An industrial designer and a ceramicist collaborate on more perfect paraphernalia
When they released their first pipe, designers Jess Baer and Zach Hastings were surprised to find it was a controversial object. Two years ago, noticing marijuana’s progress toward legalization, they […]
OPUS CAEMENTICIUM
Concrete Bowls Are a Study in Pure Form
Derek Oliver finds freedom in working small
Chris Nagle met Derek Oliver the same way a lot of people do — the two were standing in an unfinished kitchen where unconventional countertops were under discussion. Outside his […]
PLOTTING
It’s Time to Start Planning and Planting
Seeds, soil, and other steps to get your vegetable garden underway
The earth is coming alive. Beneath the oak leaves that I pile on my garden plot every fall, I am beginning to see the first sprouts of green. Garlic is […]