A Craftsman's Legacy

Host Eric Gorges visits with Ron Paquin, a Native American who teaches others the fine craft of bark basket weaving. Eric and Ron both build baskets together.

John Yothers builds beautiful and very functional wooden boats. Host Eric Gorges learns the proper way to blueprint a boat and also what goes into building a boat from scratch.

Chad Pastotnik makes fine art books. Host Eric Gorges visits Chad’s studio to learn about 400-year-old printing and binding techniques.

Knife-maker Tim Zowada's creations start with sand collected from Lake Superior. Host Eric Gorges visits with Tim and makes a knife.

Host Eric Gorges visits with Lorelei Sims. Lorelei is a talented blacksmith in a mostly male dominated trade. Eric learns how to make a dagger. Over the course of the conversation, the life of a blacksmith is revealed. It’s communal and family oriented and often time the way of life expands from the shop to the home.

Mike Brooks builds long rifles based on designs over 100 years old. Host Eric Gorges discovers the history of a long rifle and shoots one. Eric learns that the old ways of the gunsmith are alive and well. Building skills that brought the long riffle to the American south and heartland are the same methods that are used today.

Host Eric Gorges visits the Caldwell ranch and learns how saddles are made. Charon and Tom Caldwell embody the craftperson who knows when it’s time to strike out on their own. After years of successfully working for a top saddle maker, they charted their own paths and created a revolution in the way that saddles are fitted to the horse.

Host Eric Gorges visits potter and musician Akira Satake. Akira discovered his love of pottery later in life. Eric makes a ceramic teapot. Eric and Akira discuss the serendipity that leads craftsmen to their craft. Akira, started his career as an accomplished photographer in Japan, then another successful career in New York as a recording studio owner and a session banjo player before, at the age of 42 deciding that Pottery was his true passion.

Host Eric Gorges visits a goldsmith in the mountains. Susan McDonough works in a small studio on her family’s farm. Eric makes a silver ring using a technique over 3000 years old. The conversation turns to the paths that craftpeople take in their journey. It’s neither straight nor connected. Some people take years to end up doing what they want. Along the way skills in Kitchens, Bakeries, School Bus Driving, EMT, Firefighter and Librarians are not unique. Susan just happened to hit all of those careers in her journey.

Host Eric Gorges visits with Walter Arnold. Walter is an accomplished stone carver who started his career at a very early age. Eric learns a little about what it takes to carve lime stone and marble. The history of stone carving and early days of Walter’s apprenticeship in Italy, including kicking around the same quarry that Michelangelo went shopping for his marble.

Bryan Galloup builds guitars and runs a school to teach others the craft of guitar making. Host Eric Gorges visits the school and learns what it takes to build a guitar from scratch. The discussion about the tonal properties of wood, steam bending and some of the key steps of guitar building.

Host Eric Gorges visits a friend, April Wagner. April is a glass blower who works in abstract art. Eric learns how hot a glass studio is and how to make a glass cup. Eric and April discuss the connection between making a sacrifice when starting up a business and the give and take that successful craft people have to make and the rewards that eventually come.

John Wilson is a writer, a teacher and a woodworker. Host Eric Gorges visits John at his home shop and learns how to make a shoulder plane. Eric learns the history of shop made tools, how to home temper tool-steel and the importance of salt in the woodshop.

Host Eric Gorges visits Alan Kaniarz, an innovator in the world of furniture design. Together they discuss the love of making furniture, environmentally conscious approaches to the craft and award-winning workmanship.

Oh, the freedom of two wheels! Host Eric Gorges discovers how master bicycle maker, Stephen Bilenky, brazes bikes and has made a living for over 30 years doing exactly what he loves.

Best foot (ware) forward! Host Eric Gorges picks up the hammer and nail to try his hand at being a shoemaker. Master shoemakers Jesse Moore and Marika Verploegh Chassé give expert guidance along the way.

Theadra Fleming hands over the needle and thread to host Eric Gorges as this quilter explains the African American tradition of quilting with a focus on colors, symbolism and the history of African textiles.

James Gillaspie has been making medieval/Renaissance armor for over 20 years. Host Eric Gorges plays to his base as a fellow metal shaper. James and Eric do a little jousting and a lot of shop-talk!

Experienced naturalist and wilderness survivor, Greg Anderson is also a master bow maker. Host Eric Gorges learns how to craft a traditional bow with Greg as his guide and tests his skills with the bulls-eye.

Cheese, please! Join master cheesemaker Bruce Workman and host Eric Gorges for an inside view of an award winning creamery. Who knew master cheesemakers started their day at 2 am?!

Master weaver Jaunita Hofstrom wanted to have a place just for weavers to gather and pursue their love of weaving. She bought a little church around the corner from her house and started living that dream. Host Eric Gorges explores the ins and outs and up and overs of this traditional craft.

The century old tradition of building the Windsor Chair is a practical and elegant pursuit – host Eric Gorges and master craftsman Curtis Buchanan give the viewer a front seat.

Ekaterina Reier and host Eric Gorges play with light and glass in this episode where viewers learn that following your dream can really pay off.

Let the chips fly! Host Eric Gorges and master wood turner Alan Holar turn a wooden bowl in the Appalachian Mountains.

With intricate flourishes, filigree, and a lot of magnification, host Eric Gorges and metal engraver David Riccardo create a breathtaking metal engraving.

Welcome to the magical world of a clockmaker, where the gears are lovingly handmade and time truly does stand still as host Eric Gorges and young clock maker Nate Bower create a beautiful exposed gear clock.

We’re switching it up! Host becomes the guest as master metal shaper Eric Gorges is the featured master craftsman, letting master blacksmith Lorelei Sims (Season 1) do the interviewing while they heat it up and make a motorcycle fender.

Host Eric Gorges and master bamboo fly rod makers, Jeff Wagner and Casimira Orlowski, make a rod together, underscoring Eric’s belief that “a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.”

Host Eric Gorges throws down! Master ceramist David MacDonald shares his magnificent talents with Eric as they work with clay and make a bowl.

Host Eric Gorges meets the celebrated Jake Weidmann, the youngest ever master penman and one of only 12 in the world. Together they make a pen and explore the fascinating world of lettering.

Think handmade wooden buckets a thing of the past? Cooper Jim Gaster keeps the craft alive and well. His buckets were recently in The Revenant. Host Eric Gorges and Jim make a bucket – no leaks!

Host Eric Gorges and master soap maker, Deb Kraemer, stir it up with essential oils and herbs. For a guy who likes to get his hands dirty, Eric cleans up nicely!

Geri Littlejohn has been making Native American style flutes for over 20 years. Host Eric Gorges and Geri start with a simple piece of bamboo and end with what she likes to call a “sacred musical gift of art.”

In this episode host Eric Gorges meets Dan and Jael Rattigan at their chocolate factory in Asheville, NC. The Rattigan’s truly craft from bean to bar, letting Eric live out his lifetime dream of working with chocolate.

Seth Gould could easily be called one of the rock-stars of metalsmithing. Host Eric Gorges heads South to the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and the famed Penland School of Crafts to learn from this amazing craftsman. In this episode Eric and Seth make a breathtaking hammer.

Duck! Here come some of the most exquisitely carved duck decoys host Eric Gorges ever laid eyes on! Meet Ben Heinemann, master carver, who teaches Eric a thing or two about the real thing.

Hey dummy! In this episode host Eric Gorges visits famous master ventriloquist puppet maker, Tim Selberg. Here we get to see the behind the scenes genius of creating the intricate (and maybe magical) mechanization process of puppet making.

This episode is all about hoof to hat. Meet Maple Smith, a retired schoolteacher who raises her own alpacas, shears their coats, and spins yarn. Eric gets out of his comfort zone and starts knitting!

Nothing fires up host Eric Gorges like working with molten metal! In this episode, Eric and master sand caster Scott Nelles, create a bronze and aluminum ray gun.

Host Eric Gorges meets the craftsmen behind the esteemed H. Gerstner & Sons brand and learns how to make the tool box that's been treasured for generations.

Master glass maker Shawn Messenger calls her pieces Impressionistic. Shawn and host Eric Gorges create a paperweight from brilliant colored glass, sure to make a lasting impression.

Legendary Lazy Spoon creator Jonathan Simons and host Eric Gorges dish up. Jonathan teaches Eric how to make a spoon.

Texas cowboy and master craftsman Wilson Capron creates spurs that truly are a thing of function and beauty. Host Eric Gorges works with Wilson to make a pair of spurs.

Master Hatter Nate Funmaker is one of the only Native American Master Hatters in the nation. Eric travels to Texas to meet this extraordinary craftsman and tries his hand, and head, at hat making.

Cherokee National treasure Noel Grayson shows host Eric Gorges how to craft traditional Cherokee arrows using primitive tools.

Master wood carver Jackie Wilson built a rocking horse for Prince George of Cambridge. On this episode she and host Eric Gorges make a rocking horse fit for a king.

Eric shines the brass with master French horn makers and musicians Rick and Celeste Seraphinoff.

Christopher Kelley makes beautiful copper stills. Host Eric Gorges works with Christopher to make a moonshine still worthy of the most potent of spirits.

For his sixth birthday, Mark Whitley, was given a hammer and toolbox. Now an award-winning furniture maker in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, Mark and host Eric Gorges make a table together.

Eric Yelsma has been drawn to sewing since a teenager. Now his shop makes jeans from American sourced, sustainable fabric that is constructed and sold in Detroit. Host Eric Gorges gets to stitching, confirming threads do make the man.

Eric hits the slopes on handmade skis he makes with son and father team Jeff and John Thompson.

Host Eric Gorges takes a stab at sword-smithing with Master Bladesmith Kevin Cashen, learning about the mystical world of metallurgy, forging a spatha.