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In the 1700s, everything was made by hand, including clothing, shoes, soaps, candles and jewelry. By the 1800s, things began moving a little faster. The invention of the loom and the sewing machine nearly tripled the production of clothing, quilts and many accessories. The 1900s brought bottle-making machinery, which aided in a mass production of several products, such as bath soap, shampoo and many consumable items. As inventions got bigger and better, handmade products be came fewer and forgotten. Today, when we want to buy something special, we are likely to walk into a big name store, browse through a selection of mass-made merchandise, and happily walk out with our purchase. That's what's called industrial progress. But what seems to be missing from most manufactured goods today is the quality, uniqueness and charm that you get from handmade products. Rural crafters spend hours perfecting their techniques and researching materials in order to give their consumers the very best products possible. The following stories capture the talents of three rural Illinois crafters. 10 | ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING | www.icl.coop Timberhouse Baskets
Doloris (Dee) Bentley has been weaving baskets for the past 15 years in the basement of her beautiful log home in rural Petersburg. What began as a method of spending quality time with her daughter turned into a full-time hobby. Dee says, "My daughter asked if I would take a basket weaving class with her. I ended up enjoying it so much that I just kept taking them." Dee says she averages about 75-80 baskets per year, which is pretty remarkable when you see how much detail she puts into every one. "Some of the baskets are fairly simple and only take an hour to make, and some are more involved and can take up to three days," she says. "But I never get bored. All the new basket patterns I learn are a challenge and I get excited to work on them." Dee belongs to many basket-weaving organizations, including the Indiana Basketmakers Association, the Land of Lincoln Basketweavers Association and the Basket Art Guild. "When you belong to these basket organizations, they offer basket-weaving classes. This is how I learned to make most of my baskets. There are so many talented teachers out there," Dee explains. But not all of Dee's baskets were taught to her in a class. "Sometimes I get ideas from pictures, and I try to duplicate them. But you find out that you can't always adapt the picture to your board, so you just have to let your imagination go. Sometimes I'm surprised how the baskets turn out." Dee also likes to work with natural materials, such as porcupine quills and deer antlers. "My favorite basket to make is an antler basket. I use deer antlers as the handles. They are very popular. I've sold a lot of them. And oftentimes I will decorate them with Dreamcatchers," Dee says. And recently, Dee has started making Hawaiian baskets, using the Lauhala plant. "I've just started working on the Hawaiian baskets. The materials are quite expensive, though." Despite this, Dee tries to make her prices reasonable. "My baskets start at $8 and go up from there, depending on the size of the basket and the material it's made out of," she says. If you're interested in seeing Dee's baskets, they will be on display at the Garden Path on Route 97 in Salisbury on September 18, 2004, or you can see them at the Lincoln Park District's "Pride of the Prairie" show on November 27, 2004, in Lincoln. Dee will be glad to take special orders at either of these shows. Joyce's Country Quilts Tucked along a country road in rural Dahlgren is a quaint little quilt shop where owner Joyce Zimmerman spends many hours making handmade quilts. "I started quilting when I was 13. My mom was a quilter and I used to watch her. Now I have four daughters, and they've learned to quilt from watching me," Joyce says. Joyce opened her shop a little more than a year ago and not only sells her handmade quilts, but also a variety of beautiful fabric and various quilting materials. A generous person by nature, Joyce also allows other local craftspeople to display their handmade creations in her store. She will even take time to help beginning quilters learn her craft. "I've considered setting up a quilt in the store so that anyone that wants to come and learn can have the opportunity to practice," Joyce says. Located in a rural area, business has been a bit slow, but Joyce keeps a positive attitude that things will pick up. "I've contacted the local tourism bureau, and APRIL 2004 | www.aiec.coop | 11
they are helping to get the word out about my store. I'd love to get to a point where tourists stop in as they are passing through." And Joyce says she loves to make custom quilts for people. "It's easier when a customer can tell me what size, colors and design they want. That way I know I am making something that is unique to them that they will love." When Joyce finishes a quilt, she says she really feels like she's accomplished something. "Handmade quilts are better quality than the quilts made by a machine. When I look at machine-made quilts, I think they look very sloppy." People who buy a handmade quilt never regret it. "I like to use 100 percent cotton when I quilt. It's the fabric that quilts the nicest. I usually make a standard queen size, 98x110 inches, and those usually sell for about $400 dollars. The price really depends upon the fabric used, how much quilting goes into it and what size the quilt is," says Joyce. To find out more about Joyce's quilts, call her at (618) 736-2385. Salt and Light Candle and Rath Shop As a young girl in her Girl Scout troop, Jody Armstrong, owner of Salt and Light Candle and Bath Shop in Salem, realized her interest in candle making. "We melted crayons together to make candles, and I loved it so much, I never stopped trying to figure out how to make them," recalls Jody.
In high school, Jody spent her free time making wedding unity candles and other fun types of candles. And even as an adult, Jody never lost her love of candle making. Soon she began making gift baskets for her friends at church. "They encouraged me to start selling my candles," Jody says. After thinking about it for a while, she talked to her husband, Don, about the idea of opening a candle shop in their basement. "Don is supportive of everything I do, so he helped me do some research on candles and suppliers. That same weekend, a friend of ours told us about a 300-square- 12 | ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING | www.icl.coop foot storefront that was available, and before we knew it, we were opening a business," says Jody. After deciding to start the new business, a name needed to be picked. "We are Christians and we wanted something that showed our glory for what God had done for us, but we didn't want it to sound too preachy," recalls Jody. Don searched for a name in the Bible that dealt with light. He finally came up with the verse in Matthew 5:13-16 that says, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." "When he said that, I raised my voice and said, 'That's it! Salt and Light. I have recipes for bath salts and I thought we could say the salt is from the bath salts and the light is from the candles," Jody remembers. From there, the Armstrongs decided their shop would sell both candles and bath basics. "Our success has taken help from the whole family," says Jody. "Don is the brains behind the recipes, our son Benjamin did a science project to determine what wicks were the best to use, and I make everything." Jody says when making her candles, she uses a soft wax blend with essential oils and fragrances. "In our regular candles, we use a zinc wick and we learned how to use stearic acid and different kinds of chemicals to come up with a candle that burns clean. Our soy candles are all natural. We use a cotton wick in those. And since there is no petroleum in them like in typical candles, you will never get black soot from your candle. "Our friends have also been very supportive," Jody adds. She recalls when they first opened for business, she asked some of her friends to he testers for her bath products. They loved the products. She also had a good friend whose daughter has sensitive skin, and she enjoyed the products as well. "We like to say we don't test on animals, just friends and small children," Jody laughs. After their first year in business, Salt and Light Candle and Bath Shop had outgrown the small storefront. "We bought a 1,200-square-foot building, and now we can do everything right in the store," she says. Jody wanted to create a shop that was warm and welcoming; a place that people would enjoy visiting. And that's exactly what she did. "It was also important to me that people would be able to afford my products," says Jody. Everything in Jodys store sells for under $30. She carries more than 200 different scents of candles, both paraffin and soy; she sells bath salts, milk baths, soap, face cleanser, fizz bombs, lip balm, lotions, body spritzers, coffee and more. To find out more about Salt and Light Candle and Bath Shop, visit www.saltandlightcandles.com, or call (618) 548-4636.
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