Hand-Stitched Hamlet - Oyster Bay, NY

Hand-Stitched Hamlet, Oyster Bay, NY
Photo courtesy of Carol Hummel 2014

The Hand-Stitched Hamlet was completed in June 2014 with the help of 150 wonder women who crocheted 225,000 feet of 4mm Bonnie Braid (from Pepperell Braiding Company) into 500 pieces to cover 48 trees, 34 lamp posts, and 4 kiosks in the historic downtown area of Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY.

Artist Carol Hummel with her assistant (8-month-pregnant daughter) Molly Sedensky turned the town into a living piece of contemporary art during a 6-day stitching marathon.  During the one-year-long project, relationships developed, friendships formed or were renewed, the lines of communication between people of all sorts were opened through ART. 

Molly and Carol, Oyster Bay, NY
Photo courtesy of Jon Maus 2014

Oyster Bay is now a piece of artwork for people to live within and to enjoy.  AND the project raised $1,000 for the Youth and Family Counseling Agency of Oyster Bay-EastNorwich.  Now THAT's art in action!

Check donation for Hand-Stitched Hamlet, Oyster Bay, NY
Photo courtesy of Carol Hummel 2014

The project was sponsored by Patti & David McSkane, owners of the Knitted Purl shop in Oyster Bay; the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Chamber of Commerce, and the Oyster Bay Main Street Association.

Heart on a tree, Oyster Bay, NY
Photo courtesy of Carol Hummel 2014

This post was contributed by the fabulous Carol Hummel. Visit her website to see more of her vibrant projects: carolhummel.com. Photos were contributed by the artist. Photography copyrights belong to Carol Hummel and Jon Maus.

Like what you read? Check out the article posted about the project from the New York Times. And keep an eye out on Long Island next Spring for their next venture!

Calling All Turkeys

Turkey Calls sent courtesy of Pete Pulley.

Here at Pepperell Braiding Co. we are always on the lookout for new and interesting ways our customers use the products we make.

We received a call last week from a gentleman looking for our Real Slate Chalkboards.  After a short discussion I asked a question that I ask regularly—“So, what do you use these for?”

Turns out that the man was getting them for his father who cuts them up to make turkey calls!

Today I received three fine examples of handmade Friction or “peg and pot” turkey calls made by world famous call builder Peter Pulley, now in his 90^th year.  This type of turkey call dates back to the 19^th century and works by scraping the “peg” against the slate.  By varying the pressure and speed one can produce different sounds made by a turkey.

After unpacking and admiring the craftsmanship, I ventured back to the art department to try them out. Shortly after learning to work them I found that almost the entire office had made their way back there. I guess the folks that work for PBC are just a bunch of… curious people.

- Joel Hooks

Calling All Creatives

Apply for potential artist spotlight.

Welcome-welcome to the new Pepperell Braiding Company Blog!

We the people of Pepperell Braiding Company (a.k.a. Pepperell Crafts or PBC for short) are textile manufactures specializing in artist and craft supplies.We are crafty innovative people with a thirst to share our imaginations with you. We are starting this blog in hopes that we can add more sparkle to the creative community and to assist current users of our products with innovative solutions to everyday applications.

Over the years, we've gotten emails from artists showcasing how our materials are used... and usually not for their original application intentions! Coming soon we will be highlighting artists using our products in an Artist Spotlight segment. We are opening applications for future Artist Spotlight slots which should be launching as soon as May/June 2014. Those interested can find the link to the application here or access the application by clicking the Call to Artists banner in the right column. Featured artists be rewarded with a post about their work (either interview or blurb) and a free 3-month column advertisement linking to their website, blog, or Facebook page.

So come back soon! We've got oodles of crafty goodness ready to share.

In the meantime, please fee free to say "Hi!", Like, or Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.