Giving a Dying Species New Life: A unique idea for preservation
In 2011 the home of Lynnette and Brandon Hull was hit by a microburst – a small yet highly destructive surge of wind, not unlike a mini-tornado. Luckily the damage to their house was not too severe, but what was more upsetting to them was the loss of an over 150-year-old elm tree.
Many species of elm trees all over the world have suffered and eventually died from Dutch Elm Disease, which is actually a fungus spread by the elm bark beetle. Dutch Elm Disease has wiped out the vast majority of elm trees in this country, leaving the once plentiful and majestic trees increasingly more difficult to find.
Princeton, New Jersey, where the Hull’s reside, has been a major force in the Elm preservation movement. The Hulls were proud to be home to one of the oldest generations of elms still in existence and were devastated by the thought of having to “grind up” their once magnificent tree.
Knowing they would prefer to find some way to preserve their tree, the tree removal service suggested milling the tree, which had little to no rot, into boards and finding a furniture maker who would do custom work. This led them to ShackletonThomas, where they found not only a way to preserve the wood from the tree, but give it new life that would last for generations to come.
The Hulls decided to have some of the largest pieces from the tree made into a Tuscan Four Poster Bed built by master furniture makers Jim Blanchard and Kevin Sweeney. This bed features hand-turned posts and beautiful crown molding trim for the canopy.
In addition to the bed they also commissioned two matching Tuscan End Tables built by master furniture maker Marty Higgs and apprentice Lindley Brainard, replete with hand-cut dove tails and hand-turned drawer knobs.
These projects from the elm tree provided these seasoned woodworkers with a unique experience of working with what is now a very rare wood. The grain of elm produces a beautiful pattern unlike most commonly used domestic woods.
If you would like to discuss your own custom design project, please contact us at (802) 672-5175 or send us an email to info@shackletonthomas.com
- Lindley Brainard
Last weekend ShackletonThomas hosted a talk by Dr. Claudia Kinmonth about Irish Country Furniture at our furniture workshop. Sixty people attended Dr. Kinmonth’s vividly illustrated talk, where she used early paintings and drawings of Irish interiors to show how people lived and furnished their farmhouses. She is visiting New England as consulting curator for the exhibition of furniture and genre paintings, “Rural Ireland: the Inside Story” (opening at Boston’s McMullen Museum of Art on February 10th until June 3, 2012). The talk was the perfect blend of humor & scholarly knowledge and was well received by the audience. A lively discussion and book signing followed the event.
» Buy a signed copy of Irish Rural Interiors in Art by Dr. Claudia Kinmonth
Follow-up: we finished the very last of our bottle of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt whisky today; the recipe was replicated from the whisky bottles recently recovered from Shackleton’s 1909 expedition. More, please!
NEW YEAR, NEW KILN, NEW POTS, HOORAY!!
What a happy beginning for the new year at ShackletonThomas! Our new sleek Bailey gas kiln is finally installed, and the first firing was incredible - no glitches! From top to bottom it was so even, efficient, and got up to temperature in just 10 hours! And the pots came out beautifully. A big thank you to Jim Munyon for the installation, to Evan Williams and Jess Rogers for firing the first pots, and to all of Jim Bailey’s staff for being so supportive to us during the flood. They designed and expedited the building of the kiln so quickly (and helped us through the financing). Thank you everyone at Frog Hollow in Burlington, Vermont for their kind and generous donation towards our kilns (that made me cry). And THANK YOU to ALL of you that supported us by buying the flood pots, which allowed us to purchase the two new electric kilns. You all have been so kind in getting us truly back on our feet and potting again. THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts, our kilns and our pots!
Happy New Year! Let’s hope it is full of fun, adventure and beautiful things.
Sincerely yours,
Miranda and Charlie
P.S. We hope you will visit this Blog often for updates and insights into ShackletonThomas and our workshops.
Shackleton Lessons & Grog for the Winter
We Shackletons celebrated our holiday and new year with two great gifts from our ancestor, Sir Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton is a distant cousin of Charlie’s, and Charlie is one of the few ancestors in the United States - his brother, Jonathan, is the official family historian and has written and lectured extensively on Shackleton’s life and expeditions.
For those of you who may not know, Sir Ernest Shackleton was a polar explorer who led various expeditions to the South Pole in the early 1900s. While he was beaten to the pole by Robert F. Scott in 1912, he is famous for his 1914 expedition attempt to cross the Antarctic continent - the journey failed its goals miserably, but Shackleton became infamous for his leadership of one of the greatest survival stories of all time.
On Christmas Eve, Nancy F. Koehn published an excellent article in The New York Times on Shackleton’s leadership lessons for business. Business leaders have long used Shackleton’s adventure as a case study, but we think Ms. Koehn’s article is one of the best, so give it a read.
And just before Christmas, Charlie received his #1 self-bought present: a bottle of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt whisky, a meticulous replication of the whisky bottles uncovered from Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition in 1909. The Times gives extensive coverage to the Malt’s incredible story here.
Sir Ernest has long been an inspiration for Charlie, who looks up to both his qualities of leadership and spirit for adventure, and tries to incorporate these traits into the company.
… and our liquor cabinets!
» Shop Sir Ernest Shackleton books on our website
Robin’s Cheeseboards
Robin Shackleton, Charlie and Miranda’s nephew from England and Ireland, has arrived to stay with the family and his cousins for the holidays. Robin is currently studying economics at the University of Warwick in England, and has come to study some live economics and furniture-making techniques over Christmas. (Probably also some snowboarding).
Charlie and Robin recently took a road trip to nearby White River Junction, VT, to Richard Wright’s sawmill (of Naked Table fame), and chose some locally-grown Vermont cherry to make into bread / cheese / hors d’oeuvres boards for the holidays.
You can see Robin removing the bark here using a draw knife, leaving the wavy, “live” edge of the tree. Each board is different, particularly with Robin adding his individual flare for creativity!
He sands the edges smooth, adds the company logo, and then finishes with a coat of non-toxic mineral oil. Robin already presented the first board to a friend on his 90th birthday, to rave reviews.
The boards are available in three approximate sizes, and give a unique, all-natural look to any holiday spread. We just got them on the webstore for holiday shoppers, so go grab yours now!
The History of the Holiday Open House
In 1995, we created our first store, on the second floor of the Bridgewater Mill as a test-run for retailing the pottery and furniture together. We decided to open the store with a big party around Christmas-time. We just got a plate of cheese together with some grapes and invited all our customers and friends. It turned out to be the most incredible blizzard – we brought our sleeping bags because we thought we’d be stuck there overnight, by ourselves, with the cheese. But incredibly, 100 people showed up. It showed us how important our community was to our business.
That first party inspired us to keep developing our ideas for a store, and thanks to that original support we opened a full retail store two years later on the ground level of the Mill.
Over the past 17 years, our small open house has developed into a community-wide Holiday Extravaganza. We began offering activities for kids, making things out of clay and then introducing our now infamous crown-making station. We hired musicians and caterers, invited local community organizations to join us with activities and booths, and opened up more space for guests. Now, the ShackletonThomas Holiday Open House welcomes 300-400 guests each year.
Miranda has tried, a few times, to change the weekend of the event in fear of snowstorms – but Charlie has always insisted on the first weekend after Thanksgiving, in memory of that first occasion. In fact, it has become the community’s kick-off event for the holiday season.
The Open House has always been a gesture to give back to the community – our business wouldn’t survive without the recommendations and gift giving of friends, neighbors, and dedicated customers. But this year, this event holds a special place in our heart, because of the incredible outpouring of assistance and help that we received after the destruction of Hurricane Irene in August. As we continue to recover, it is important now more than ever that ShackletonThomas celebrates the incredible community of which we are honored to be a part.
Join us for the 17th annual Holiday Open House at ShackletonThomas, in our newly renovated showroom. An evening of friends, live music, and cheer. Enjoy furniture and pottery demonstrations with our craftspeople, carve your own tile, and bring your kids for our infamous crown-making. The anticipated drawing for the Irene butternut dining table. And of course, new exquisite gifts for the holidays. Saturday, December 3 from 3-6pm in our showroom at the Bridgewater Mill.
Hoping for clear weather!
Shop at ShackletonThomas and Win a Handmade Dining Table
Many of our friends and customers have asked us how they can continue to help in our recovery. As an homage to Irene and a reward for customers placing new orders or buying gift certificates, which significantly assists our rebuilding, Charlie has personally designed a new dining table made of recovered “Irene” butternut lumber. One customer will win the table through a drawing process at our annual Holiday Open House on December 3rd.
Your support through purchasing a gift certificate or placing a new order (which will enter you into the prize drawing of this table) will greatly help our continued recovery from the damages of Tropical Storm Irene and the flood. Though we are making great progress and our store is open again, we are still working on restoring our machines and looking forward to returning to full production in our workshops. We are optimistic about the future and are full of new ideas as we restore and renew our business.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Shackleton
Miranda Thomas for the United Nations
On Thursday, Miranda and Charles both attended the Seventh Annual Humanitarian Awards Gala Dinner hosted by the United Nations Association of New York at the Union Club in New York City.
Each year, Miranda has designed the centerpieces for the evening, which are then auctioned during the event to benefit the Association. She has a long-standing partnership with the organization, who have commissioned her to create pieces for UN Secretary Generals Ban Ki-moon and Kofi Annan. This year’s theme, “Changing the World: Partnerships in Maternal and Child Health”, inspired the mothering dove hand-painted in 24K Dresden gold on each of the twenty vases.
Miranda says of her design:
“For the past month, we in Vermont endured a flood. A flash flood of massive proportions. I had 4 feet of water course through my pottery and take out my kilns. But high on our hill I had a small kiln in which I could fire gold. I have been thinking so much about the symbolism of the Peace Dove. …the symbolism of the flood, the forces of nature, and this incredibly hard-working Dove enduring to bring the message of Peace to the world. Painting between two and five at a time in the evenings, I have painted on each, freehand in gold, a peace dove feeding her young. I imagined her swooping down to do her most important mission, to feed her young. For she knows with peace, caring and nourishment her children will grow strong, learn to fly and learn to spread peace in the world themselves.”
We encourage you to make a donation to the UNA-NY to support their missions of global peace.
» Learn more about our past commissions
» Browse Miranda Thomas gilded and gallery pieces
Flood Relief
Thank YOU for your support
All of the special pots that survived Irene sold out in under four hours! We are blown away by the incredible support. These sales will support the purchase of two new replacement kilns for the pottery.
Miranda, during our clean-up, unloads the pots that were protected by the (old) kiln.
Voices from the Flood
Check out Charlie’s video feature on Yankee Magazine’s blog with his take on surviving the storm’s damage.
