Fall Photo Shoot - Just in time for Samhain

Recently had a fun photo shoot at my friend Dawn Baby's house, with Dawn and Jen Drake and some sweet little chickens.  The pics turned out great.  Had lots of fun!

RUST KITCHEN BROOM

OSTRICH FEATHER DUSTER

 NATURAL BESOM

 BLACK KITCHEN BROOM

 MIXED KITCHEN BROOM

 RUST HEARTH BROOM - FLAT

 NATURAL KITCHEN BROOM

 BESOMS

BROOMS

Broomchick's Got A New Ride!!

Just in time for the holiday season I traded in my RV for this fancy mini-van, not only is it my favorite color but there is plenty of room for carting around my brooms and of course my Brutus Beefcakes. I count my blessings and am very grateful that I was able to swap it out with no trouble. Having this new van will enable me to go on the road and do more craft shows, so watch out west coast!! Here I come!!

Keep your eyes peeled for this month's issue of Parenting Magazine, I haven't seen it yet, but I have been told that my witches broom will be featured in the Halloween issue. My brooms are a hit this time of year and are a compliment to many halloween costumes. I have 2 designs that are great for WICKED Witches and Harry Potter Enthusiasts: The Witches Broom or the Cobweb broom. You could also complete your Cinderella or Snow White costumes with a lovely Kitchen Broom or the miniature Kid's Broom.

Let's Tour the Broomshop

I often get emails from folks who are skeptical about how our brooms are made because the quality is so good they assume that they are machine made, so i will attempt to give you a tour of the tools we use in the broom making process. Just recently we were featured on a local news program so I will start by posting a link to the video so that you can see the boys working hard. I was off doing a show that day, so they missed me. http://kezi.com/news/local/214801

In this first photo you see our pedal operated winding machine which we use to wind the broom corn onto the broom stick with. This is one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs in the broom shop and I you can see Seth winding brooms in the beginning of the video in the link I posted above. We use sassafras sticks which we get from the Ozarks of Arkansas where the wood grows wild and it is harvested and kiln dried in an old fashioned kiln. Our broom corn is grown by the Amish, in Southern Illinois, and we dye the corn ourselves in a variety of colors (mostly rust, or black but occasionally we will do purple, green and red).

Once the broom corn is wound onto the stick it then goes to the sewer who loads it into the historic "Shaker Vice" which is what makes the brooms flat. The shaker vice is featured in the second picture on this page and in the video Thurman explains that this particular vice has an iron casting that dates back to 1878. You can also see a demonstration of Michael sewing a broom bare handed with a flat needle that has its hole in the center of the needle. Michael has hardened his hands to the point that he no longer needs to use finger tape and leather palm cuffs, unlike me. when I sit down to sew a broom with my sissy girl fingers I tape nearly every finger with surgical tape, then I put my thick leather and metal palm cuffs on and get to work. I probably waste a good 10 minutes just prepping to sew (I do not have calluses caused from pulling on the strings and blistering... thank goodness). Most brooms take about 4 rows of stitching, the smaller ones we do two lines on.

When the broom is sewn it then goes into a pile next to the platting table where it will eventually be platted. Platting is what we call the basket weave decoration that goes over the metal winding wire at the top of the broom. The plats are actually the stock of the broom corn plant and we cut them into about 8 inch sections then slice them in half and we soak them in buckets of water to soften them up, then using the contraption we call a winding table (in the fourth photograph) we use our feet on the wheel for tension as we weave the plats onto the broom. Much like sewing this requires a great deal of upper body strength and we get quite a workout from platting.

The final stage of broom making is what we call "trim, hole and leather" and it's exactly that. We use a guillotine style trimmer to trim the broom corn flat, then using a drill press we drill a hole at the top of the stick and finish up with a piece of leather. There you have it.

We make a variety of brooms for many different purposes, all of which i will highlight in my upcoming blogs so please keep posted.

Cheers to making a clean sweep!!
~Broomchick

HA Aloha Passport Promotion: Photo

HA Aloha Passport Promotion: Photo

I'm trying to win a trip back to Hawaii so please vote for me!!!
All you have to do is go to this link and hit the "like" button under my passport pics and you will have voted!!
Thanks a bunch!!! XOXO
Contest ends April 7

BROOMCHICK GOES TO MAUI.......AGAIN

The Holiday's 2010

Happy Holiday's!!!

I am so excited to announce that I am blogging from my spiffy new laptop now. Yay!! I'm a mobile Broom Chick!! I have a feeling that i will be bloggin a whole lot more, and i have many wonderful adventures ahead of me.

My day job sprung up lemons and I will be making lemonade, lemon bars and lemon merangue and bathing in lemon juice for a while. As sour as it seems, I happen to like lemons and now I have more time to be BROOMCHICK. "dunt dunt dunnnnn!!!". I also have time to do some other things that i have been wanting to do for years, like make glass perfume bottles and pretty glass beads.

I am also very excited to announce that i will be dragging my brooms off to Maui, Hi. in February, so if you happen to be in Lahina I think i'm going to try selling under the banyon tree, if i can. I'll be hangin' out at Akimbo Glass Studio's, and most importantly hanging out at for Maui Open Studios. So excited!! !!

I finished off my year on etsy with a fabulous record breaking holiday season and recieved 2 of the sweetest compliments on my feedback.

HOLIDAY BROOMS AT EUGENE HOLIDAY MARKET

Wow the time has really been flying by!! It's 1 week till Christmas and the height of broom season!!
You can find us at the Holiday Market this next week and HOLIDAY MARKET VENDORS don't forget to take advantage of the HOLIDAY BROOM SALE on December 24th after 3pm we offer Eugene Holiday Market Vendors wholesale price on our entire stock of brooms. It's been a tradition for over 15 years!
If you need something shipped for christmas it's not too late, I can ship expedite UPS. Just let me know and I'll figure out the shipping. Shipping every day now!!