Capture sales in a strong market with this lineup of colorful children’s gifts and accessories.

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.

Sedoni Gallery

Leslie Salant, owner
Huntington, N.Y.

How do this year’s sales compare to recent years’? Are you seeing a consistent decline or a slow improvement?

Our best year was 2006. Since then, we have seen a consistent decline of revenue. Six percent the first year, 8% the second, and this year I am predicting at least another 8% decrease.

But we’re not worried. Why? Because everyone seems to be in a good mood. They have adjusted to the times and are ready to look forward. So, it is with a sense of optimism that we approach the holiday season.

Jason Green was in his fifth year of studying towards an economics doctoral degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder when he hit a wall. “I realized I needed to be making things with my hands,” he explains. Although he’d never worked with wood, he was naturally attracted to it, and found a local furniture maker who offered classes in 2003. That led to an intensive 12-week course at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. At that point, he says, “I knew I could do this for the rest of my life.”