Virginia McKinney’s clay-and-steel sculptures recall everything from Native American dwellings to Asian passageways. Small notches indicate doors and windows; steel ladders lead to unexplored rooms. “I’m intrigued by the idea of the dwelling, of a sense of place,” she says.

It’s only safe to make one assumption about Christine Kaiser’s work: don’t make assumptions. Here’s a clue—it’s not clay. She’s been working with wood for more than 20 years, sanding it so smoothly you can’t tell what it’s made of until you pick it up.

Most of Kaiser’s work is made of basswood, a renewable North American hardwood with a straight grain “that carves, sands and takes paint nicely.” She cuts the wood with a band saw, shapes it with a belt sander and adds carved details with a rotary tool. Then she injects life into the work with multiple layers of water-based paints and graphite drawings, achieving a soft finish with layers of matte varnish.

Crescent Moon at The Cotton Exchange

Joan and Mike Loch, co-owners
Wilmington, N.C.
How do this year’s sales compare to recent years’? Are you seeing a consistent decline or a slow improvement?

We are below last year approximately 22% and approximately 32% behind 2007. Starting in July of this year we have seen a consistent improvement, and we anticipate making up for the sluggish first part of 2009 during the upcoming holiday season.

It’s nothing new to sell products based on the merits of fine handmade American craft and the stories of its makers. Husband-and-wife team Ben and Kate Gatski have helped retailers do that since they launched Gatski Metal in 2003, creating colorful sculptures hand-cut and -welded from recycled farm machinery.

But the Gatskis took their venture a few steps further in October, when they launched the online store The Steel Fork. The new business is based on the French concept of goût de terroir, which the Gatskis interpret to mean “the taste of the soil.”