While we won’t warm up shoulder-to-shoulder at artisan fairs as we have in holidays past, there are plenty of opportunities to support local shop owners, artists, and the creative community […]
Home / Making
Inspiration for the crafty, projects for the practical, spaces for dreamers.
Browse all Home / Making stories below or dive into a topic:
PLANTCRAFT
Create a Palette of Colors From Nature
Time-tested recipes for plant-based inks and paints
As winter draws near, we lose more leaves to the wind each day. The ones that remain give the landscape a patina of russet, sienna, ochre. The ground is covered […]
MEET THE MAKER
Painting Without a Brush
Fibers make for tactile reflections of nature’s texture and color
WELLFLEET — I am an artist who “paints” with fiber. Inspired by my grandmother’s skilled needlework and embroidery and a lifelong desire to paint, I developed my own technique by […]
DESIGN
Set It Like You Mean It
A colorful table says ‘thank you’ to the company you keep
Thanksgiving is a time to tend your table in such a way that it will bring on a smile. Kevin O’Shea, who knows from hosting — he and his partner, […]
PLANTCRAFT
Making Wreaths and Garlands
Bring the color and texture of the fall landscape home
The days are shorter. We move inside and want to bring the landscape with us. We start with dried bouquets, then move to wreaths, garlands, and soon, maybe, the tree. […]
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Salt Sea Air Eats Brakes for Breakfast
A few things you can do to make them last a little longer
People complain a lot when they bring their cars in for brake work. “I just had my car inspected and they’re telling me I need new brakes,” they say. “Didn’t […]
GALLERY
How to Carve a Modern Day Jack-o’-lantern
In the original tales, Halloween’s glowing light came from a turnip
Its light was said to mislead travelers at night, flickering over peat bogs, swamps, and marshes, resembling a lantern shining in the dark. Where scientists now see bioluminescence, storytellers saw […]
DOVETAIL JOINT
Wood-look Plank Tile Flooring
A durable option for homes where humidity and sand are factors
If you are considering renovating your worn wood floor, upgrading from vinyl, or installing flooring in a new home, you might have seen something new since the last time you […]
GALLERY
There Is No Wrong Way to Eat an Oyster
But oyster plates help the bivalves hold their liquor
Oyster plates were a Victorian-era idea that became part of the evolution of oysters from inexpensive street food to coveted delicacy, a shift that happened in the early 1900s, when […]
GALLERY
Autumn Is at the Door
Jewel tones and perennials will improve your relationship with your mums
Masses of mums have arrived at local garden stores, ready to be shepherded to our dooryards to replace summer’s now-bedraggled geraniums. Natalie Van Staden stands surrounded by what seems like […]
A TRURO THING
Kurtzman Nominated For ‘Artists Under the Dome’
Susan Kurtzman, who owns Jobi Pottery in Truro, with state Sen. Julian Cyr, who nominated Jobi for inclusion in Artists Under the Dome, an annual State House event. “It was […]
MEET THE MAKER
The Tiny Pricks Project Is a Stitch
Textile artists use the president’s own words to needle him
The Tiny Pricks Project began in 2018 when Diana Weymar, a Canadian-born, Princeton-educated textile artist, heard the current president say, “I am a very stable genius,” and found herself stitching […]
HOT & COLD
New Technology for Dog Days and Three Dog Nights
Is mildew your houseguest that just won’t leave?
So many memories get made in a summer on Cape Cod. But if one of them is of that musty cottage smell, maybe it’s time to tackle the humidity problem […]
GALLERY
Mailboxes, Straight to Your Heart
Because letters keep us near, while we’re apart
When we moved to Wellfleet, my daughters considered it a major upgrade that we’d be getting a mailbox. We had gone from one remote village to another, but this one […]
LOST & FOUND
Combing the Beaches for Art
Found objects become design when they bring back memories of favorite walks
I found it along the shoreline: a wooden board with blue paint flaking off to reveal layers of underlying paint colors. With a long and triangular shape, it couldn’t be […]
