While researching and writing her historical fiction
novel about a female blacksmith,
Sara became enthralled by the
American tradition of home-
made cookware and decided to
try her hand at metalsmithing.
Steeped in a tradition that dates
back to the 1800s, Sara procures
the raw and spun copper from
family-owned and operated
American businesses, and then
personally drills, rivets, hand-tins, buffs, and polishes each
piece in her garage workshop in
Port Washington, Wisconsin.
“I use 200-year-old tools to build replica cookware used in pioneer kitchens,” Sara says. “It helps connect me to the way life used to be, and it helps connect me in a very tactile way to my craft and my family. It’s the hands-on shaping, with my children running around near me, that creates a real feeling of being present.”