Making a Living

When we moved to West Virginia in 1991 we figured we would make our living as craft artists. It was a plunge for us into a new world. George had worked for years as a graphic designer. He was also tired of deadlines and working in a place without windows. Molly worked nights as a computer specialist running the computers for a small multinational. It wasn’t work she loved.

Molly did love blacksmithing and George loved woodworking. We decided to try to make a living doing those things. As fledgling craft artists we found West Virginia and its craftspeople wonderfully helpful. Even so, after 2 yers George decided that woodworking wasn’t going to work out so he started helping Molly in her shop as a blacksmith. It was nice to have an option open. We did craft shows in West Virginia and some of its neighboring states for years. We found that with the right things to show and sell that being a craft artist was a good way to make a modest living. Unfortunately, it was hard to make the right things as a blacksmith, so when the opportunity came up to make items for Horton Brasses we were excited. It has been a good relationship for us over the years. We travel less now and have a regular schedule which is nice for the cats and us.

We never expected to make much money, we preferred to keep our income below a level where we would pay taxes to the IRS, as a form of tax resistance.

Being able to work at home has been a blessing; we have windows that look out into the woods. We get to spend all day with each other and the cats. And we have found our lives have settled into a comfortable routine without cars and deadlines, doing work that is challenging and creative.