FARMINGTON — Working together, Georgia Tolman and her mother, Jane Tolman, slipped cane through the holes of a weathered chair Friday while tending Georgia’s display at the Farmington Fair.

No sitting down watching people walk by for these two. When not talking to those who stopped to watch, the women worked away.

Reeds, or maybe cane, delicately interwoven to create snowflakes hung above them, catching the eyes of people passing by.

“Reed, cane — it’s the same,” Georgia said. “Taken from the rattan vine, the outside is cane, the inside reed.”

From her shop on the Shadagee Road in New Sharon, Georgia relaces snowshoes, canes, and creates customized leather belts, cellphone cases, knife sleeves and gun holsters.

“Life is too short to know only one thing,” she said.

All these things were in her display for those browsing to appreciate the craftsmanship. As were the delicate caned snowflakes mounted on the wall behind the women and hanging from the ceiling above their heads.

“I could have sold all I have on display,” she said. “I told them they’d have to wait till Saturday.”

Saturday marks the end of fair, when the display would be dismantled.

Tolman sold 40 snowflakes two years ago. They were seven, 10 and 13 inches, she said. 

She decided to start a larger one using the same Carolina snowflake pattern and developed the 36-inch snowflake. It takes about two hours to make, she said.

Next year she is aiming for a six-foot snowflake to line the back of her display in the Starbird Building.

It started with leftover pieces of cane from their work on chairs, Jane said. After Georgia sent for the pattern, the leftovers were put to use, reducing waste.

Georgia plans to teach the art to a couple of ladies in October. She teaches the art of caning through adult basic education and private lessons, she said.

Jane finds caning chairs at her home near her daughter’s shop relaxing.

“I used to watch Clara Fitz of New Sharon cane,” she said. “Then my daughter taught me. Now it’s relaxing.”

The older worn chairs from attics and cellars are a lot more comfortable to sit on than newer, foreign-made models, she added.

It all began as a hobby for Georgia. A friend found a pair of abandoned snowshoes “dead on the dump in Dixfield” and asked her to relace them, Georgia said.

She bought a book, taught herself to lace and “it snowballed from there,” she chuckled.

Now she has orders, many from out of state. She just got an order to relace five pair of snowshoes from Milwaukee. Another order from California is for a pair made in Norway, Maine, she said.

People find her art on her website, www.snowshoerelacing.com

They also find her at the fair, working away. A guy came in and thought he needed a new belt. The one he had was 40 years old. Twenty minutes later, another man came by for a new belt; his was 30 years old.

Guys walk by her display and lift their shirts to show off a belt she created and nod. If those new belts last as long as the ones they had before, Georgia may have retired before they need another.

abryant@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link