We Are Out of Our Gourds

Description

Although we have collaborated together for over 30 years on Dan's wood carvings, we have only recently ventured into the cyber realm. We opened a shop on Etsy in February of 2014 and are currently selling our items there as well as in Idaho Springs, Colorado at Mountain Gateway Center. While vacationing in the Ozarks decades ago we saw some small character carvings in a gift shop there. We were both fascinated by the craftsmanship needed to create such amazing works of art from a block of wood. I came away amazed and Danny came away inspired. He recalled his grandfather using his pocketknife to whittle small, crude items when he was a child, and that memory coupled with this new inspiration led him to think "I can do that". I, on the other hand came away thinking "I could never do that". And therein lies the difference in our personalities! Not long after he purchased a bench knife and began his new hobby. He has been carving for about 30 years. For the most part he is self taught, but he has had wonderful opportunities to attend workshops with some amazing carvers like Steve Prescott, Gary Batte, and Harold Enlow. For several years we attended a couple of craft shows locally but as life got busier we found we were unable to produce enough to adequately stock our booths. We enjoyed great success during our craft show years and built up a loyal following of clients. It was incredibly gratifying to see the same folks year after year and I miss that aspect of