Here is a  picture of Christy & Danni's Hadley chest as of yesterday. I think I should put the date of the wedding inside, because it looks like it was 300 years ago.

Crocker & Springer Pottery

We are pleased to introduce a new line of pottery at Antick. We now carry pieces made by Crocker & Springer.
Through extensive research of our forefathers' folk pottery, Crocker & Springer have come to appreciate the integrity of crafts made when our country was young. These early pieces evoke images of hard-working people who carried out daily tasks with pride and dignity. Even though function was the intent of most every item in a settler's home, folk craftsmen were dedicated to forming objects that were also rich in beauty. This commitment to craftsmanship is their goal at Crocker and Springer. Their stoneware is thrown and decorated by hand without the assistance of molds and stencils. It is then stacked rim to rim and fired in a large salt kiln.Their choice of primitive and labor intensive production methods ensures an early American reproduction of authenticity, strength, integrity and beauty.

Don Carpentier

We've just added some new pieces by Don Carpentier. Carpentier has restored the more than 20 buildings that make up Eastfield Village, his 14-acre Upstate New York property which reflects the period 1820-1840 America. A self-taught potter, Don creates Mochaware, the vibrantly colored plates and mugs found in 18th- and 19th century kitchens and taverns. His methods and tools for making Mochaware are authentic, producing pieces that are difficult to distinguish from the originals. Don’s work has received praise from the Henry Francis duPoint Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the Iron Bridge-Coalport Museum in England’s Shropshire, and Paul Atterbury; a regular on the BBC produced Antiques Road Show and Ceramics Monthly magazine. Don has been created china for Old Sturbridge Village and some of his feather-edge creamware dinner service is displayed in several interpretive sites in Colonial Williamsburg.

Lambertville

Even a foggy wintery day in Lambertville can produce some beauties, but sometimes I miss the lush greenness that this view along the canal from Bridge Street presents.

Hadley Chests

I have been making  a Hadley chest for Christy and Danni's wedding. They got married on October 28, 2007. (I know, it's January. I keep putting it aside to work on customer's pieces.) The chests were made from the 1680s to the 1730s in Hampshire county Massachusetts and parts of what is now Connecticut, along the Connecticut River. They were made by several different shops, but all have the same tulip flower and leaf motif. I wanted to make this chest for a few reasons. One, because I love the proportions and organization of the panels. Two, for the idiot glee of the carving. And three, because the design is such a throw back, or maybe more accurately, a holding-on-to of a much earlier time. The construction and form of the chest is basically medieval. The frame and panels being made of riven oak. The design was still being made in England when the first colonists were landing in Plymouth, and continued to be made here by their descendants 100 years later.

I have read that the motifs on the chests are related to pagan May Day festivals, and some of the chests have little dancing figures in them. The chests were usually made with one person's (woman or girl's) name or initials on the center panel or rail, but there are some with two sets of initials. I chose the use just the first letters of each of their first names.

I also made another chest without initials carved on to it so that it could be personalized for anyone who wanted to purchase it. The pictures show it painted and unpainted.

First Post from David Wilson

I have been thinking about what to have as my first post for to long. It's historic, right? Instead I'll just tell you about some of the things you may find here. Thoughts on carving, from chairs to headstones. Cabinet makers like Aflleck, Tuft, Cogswell, Chapin, Frothingham, Egerton, & etc. 18th Century writers like Tobias Smollet, Charles Brockdon Brown, James Boswell, Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, & etc. Prints and paintings by Hogarth, Copely, Hicks, West, & etc. Architecture, pottery, glassware, bread crumbs . Music & spirits. Tools and supplies. Current projects and demonstrations at the shop, and apparently lists.
Well that wasn't that great for a first post. But I am learning to type and form sentences some thing that working by myself in the shop has greatly impaired. So check back with us and see what's new, or old or new again.
-David

Details details

Here are some details from Wilson's furniture...

Welcome to Antick, a store in lovely downtown Lambertville featuring the work of master craftsman David Wilson. Here are some pictures of our store...

Welcome to Antick Cabinet

This is where we will keep you up-to-date on the whirlwind of unfolding events that is Antick. Pictures of new furniture! And new pottery! And new Glassware! Details of special events that occur in the store! Our reflections on any 18th-century related topic that we feel like talking about!