Celebrating Mothers Of All Kinds
This Mother’s Day celebrate with Maine-made goods handcrafted by highly skilled females who have a story to tell. I’m a mother to two children, Elayna (3) and Krew (1), and a furry doggo, Porter (12 in dog years). I’m all about supporting local especially females who know their craft well yet these women are not just creatives and entrepreneurs, they’re mothers of all kinds. I don’t know how women find the time to juggle all of the things but they do and they do it as best as they can. I can certainly relate to that. I’ve stumbled upon four fabulous female makers who have achieved so much in their career, express how their mothers have been huge mentors to them and what special promotions and products they’re offering for the upcoming Mothers Day holiday.
Hannah Martin with Near & Native
Photo Credit: Melissa Gabes
Sadie Lloyd Mudge with Bee Balm & Nettle
Coco Corral with Loving Anvil
Photo Credit: Michael D Wilson
Hilary Crowell with The Cultivated Thread
Near & Native was born out of a need to find a lightly scented, clean-burning, simple and sustainable candle. The candle market is flooded with harmful ingredients, overpowering fragrances, and cheap materials. Hannah Martin, the owner, founder, and maker behind Near & Native decided to source and create the best possible candle inspired by the woods, water, and mountains of her home in Maine.
She spent 11 years developing products for major national retailers. She was able to leverage her design background to create & market a small product line of 8 scents, which quickly grew to over 21 fragrances centered around subtle scents found in nature. She uses the best creamy coconut soy wax, a crackling wooden wick, and best fragrances on the market.
Near & Native is striving to close the loop on the lifecycle of the candle and extend the life of beautiful vessels. Hannah’s business offers a proprietary candle refill service to refill any empty candle, pottery, or unique container for much less than buying a new candle. In 2020, they refilled over 2000 vessels, which reduced unnecessary waste but also continued the life of those beautiful candle jars you can't bear to part with.
The candle business began selling to local shops in Portland in 2018 and it expanded from there, as more stores continued to order and word of mouth grew. They are currently in more than 60 stores around the country, including L.L. Bean. They recently moved into a beautiful new 1500 sq. foot production facility in the Dana Warp Mill.
Photo Credit: Melissa Gabes
Near & Native’s new candle, Rosewater, and dry florals from The Cultivated Thread’s Made in Maine Gift Box
“My mother, Marti, was also an entrepreneur when my brother and I were small. She paused a career in teaching to open a dried flower, herb & produce business on our farm in Indiana. Growing up around my family’s farm business influenced my decision to launch a small business when I also became a parent of a small child. ”
When Hannah was pregnant with her son, it was the perfect time to have an in-home studio because she could be home with her new baby and pour candles while he was napping in a swing next to her. The first year of his life was spent watching the business and her son grow very quickly. She feels that being a mom has given her a newfound laser focus on her priorities - She feel’s so much more efficient with her time since she has so little of it. As the business expanded and she needed more room to grow, she moved the business out of the house and into a studio space last year creating the challenging push & pull between work and home.
Hannah with her son Reece at a makers market.
Hannah and her mother, Marti.
Her biggest supporter and role model she has looked up to along her career journey is her mother. “My mother, Marti, was also an entrepreneur when my brother and I were small. She paused a career in teaching to open a dried flower, herb & produce business on our farm in Indiana. Growing up around my family's farm business influenced my decision to launch a small business when I also became a parent of a small child. It gave me the confidence to know I could draw on my mother's business savvy and have her understanding and support. Although she lives in Indiana, she has flown to Maine several times to help apply labels and pack up big candle orders!” said Hannah.
Hannah is offering a special discount for News Center Maine viewers and Makers of Maine listeners for Mother’s Day which is 20% site-wide by using the code, 207MAINE.
Coco and her husband are the artists behind Loving Anvil and Hogfarm Studios. They live and craft their beautiful pieces in an 1880 farmhouse in southern, coastal Maine. Coco was raised in the midwest and her husband is a Chicano artist from the Mexico/US border, they both honed their art at Rhode Island School of Design and the University of New Mexico and worked extensively in the burgeoning years of the Portland, Oregon art and fashion movement. They’ve been in their home in Biddeford, Maine since the mid-2000s. They love the people, animals, metals, stones, plants, and trees. They are inspired by nature, family, music, love, color, and kindness. They are also inspired by a passion for succinct and solid design as well as the organic handprint of mother and human nature. They believe everything vibrates with consciousness and sentience as a sum of their parts - undeniable energy that had either been nurtured or born of pain. They work hard to ensure their creations are as free from negative energy as they can. They use reclaimed/recycled metals, their stones are dug shaped and polished artisan rock hounds from around the globe, and their studio and home are run with an immediate and global ecosystem in mind.
Bruja Love - Enamel Heart Necklace & Ring
Star & Moon Earrings
“My mother was an amazing person and I miss her every day. She was thoughtful, artful, and absolutely valued authenticity and quirkiness, and true eccentricity. This has inspired me for as long as I can remember. Feeling that space to listen to my deepest self and the faith and sense of okayness to truly hear and follow it as well.”
Coco’s long-time role model is her mother. Her mother had a deep reverence for knowledge and words and the importance and expression of writing and the artistry of storytelling. Coco’s passion for hand stamping letters - either short, meaningful, and curated phrases, or epically long, swirling, and rhythmic tombs set into her precious metals stemmed from her mother’s skills and passions. Her mother was an avid reader, appreciating most from every era. Coco’s mother is also monumental in her interest in marionettes -and her love of opera, which has become a body of artwork she is creating and was awarded a grant by the Maine Arts Commission to help complete. “My mother was an amazing person and I miss her every day. She was thoughtful, artful, and absolutely valued authenticity and quirkiness, and true eccentricity. This has inspired me for as long as I can remember. Feeling that space to listen to my deepest self and the faith and sense of okayness to truly hear and follow it as well,” said Coco.
Coco is offering 12% off on most items on lovinganvil.com (excludes custom black velvet portraits and custom jewelry work) and the discount will last until the day after Mother’s Day.
Bee Balm & Nettle was born out of warm baths after evening skis by headlamp; lavender sprigs, calendula petals, and eucalyptus leaves floating in the water around Sadie Lloyd Mudge, the owner, founder, and maker behind Bee Balm & Nettle. These healing baths brought her so much peace and joy; she wanted to share that with others.
She started collecting and growing medicinal herbs and flowers for Bee Balm & Nettle in 2017. She wanted to create products to help people reclaim the peace in their life and allow themselves a moment to step away, breathe deep, and take care of their own wellbeing.
This work, for Sadie, is about the intrinsic connection she has always felt to the Maine landscape and the fulfillment she experiences from the brief but vibrant growing season in her home state.
Sadie is not only a small business owner, she is also a mother to a little boy named Monty, who is 10.5 months old. Sadie’s been home with him full-time since he was born. He was born during the growing season and it was overwhelming managing the growing, harvesting, and processing of the herbs and flowers while taking care of an infant. Now he is such a busy boy and wants a lot of hands-on attention, so it's harder to get things done. Her business is in a growth phase right now, so managing him day to day and keeping up with the business is intense. But the business keeps her connected to her own sense of self and grounds her; She feels a sense of pride in what she creates and the successes she’s had along the way.
Sadie and her son Monty.
Sadie and her mother, Cindy.
“It helps to have someone who is 100% behind you; it gives you the confidence to keep at it through the hard work and lulls in growth. My parents live 3 miles away, and with COVID my Mom has been the only one who helps us with childcare, so having her come for an afternoon or weekend day when things really get busy is tremendously helpful and is a big factor in balancing my mental health postpartum.”
Growing up Sadie’s Mom always worked, maintained strong friendships with other women, maintained her sense of self, and made time for important things she wanted to do. When Sadie was 10 her mother went to Bali for a month for her job!) At the same time, Sadie always felt like her mother was there and very present. Sadie can see those same qualities in her life, and she’s glad she had it role-modeled so well. Her Mom is probably the biggest fan of her products. “It helps to have someone who is 100% behind you; it gives you the confidence to keep at it through the hard work and lulls in growth. My parents live 3 miles away, and with COVID my Mom has been the only one who helps us with childcare, so having her come for an afternoon or weekend day when things really get busy is tremendously helpful and is a big factor in balancing my mental health postpartum.,” said Sadie.
The Cultivated Thread is a small-batch weaving studio in mid-coast Maine creating handwoven wearables and home goods. Hilary Crowell, owner, founder, and maker behind The Cultivated Thread, works exclusively with natural fibers and strives to source organic and/or U.S. produced materials.
For over a decade Hilary raised organic produce and livestock at a handful of diversified New England farms. The rhythm of farming - cultivating vegetables, tending livestock, and cutting firewood - defined her life’s pace and meaning. During the colder, darker months weaving was a treasured meditation and opportunity to create. In 2020, she hung up her overalls, traded her chainsaw for a weaving shuttle, and launched The Cultivated Thread.
In the studio, she designs with the goal of bridging the gap between art and everyday use. Everything that comes off the loom sits squarely at the intersection of beauty and functionality. She creates with daily use in mind and selects weave structures and fibers that will translate into items that stand the test of time. In a phrase, she makes functional art.
Hilary put together a Made in Maine gift box just in time for Mother’s Day that includes a curation of products all crafted by female makers. Each product represents a wide range of business life stages (i.e. Hilary is just starting out whereas Kate at Bixby is well established) There is an emphasis on organic/fair trade within the collection and the collection was curated with Hilary’s brand principles of beauty and functionality in mind.
The gift box features:
Featuring:
Handwoven mug rugs (set of two)
The Cultivated Thread, Bath ME
Mini bouquet of Maine grown, MOFGA certified organic, dried flowers
Lost and Found Farm, Dresden ME
Wild Maine honey
Maine Street Bees, Cumberland ME
Organic chai tea, blended in Maine, Fair Trade
Chai Wallahs of Maine, South Portland ME
Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels, Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, gluten-free, kosher
Bixby Candy Company, Rockland ME
Hilary is not a mother to children but to furry cats that love her dearly. Her two cats, Caper and Dumpling, have over time become less and less interested in the allure of all the yarn - though there's sometimes a thread that is just too tempting and requires a swat - and instead seem to see weaving as a competitor for attention. Lately, they've been looking for ways to get a scratch or pat while she’s working. Dumpling will curl up in her lap while Hilary sits at the back of the loom, dressing it with the next project. Caper likes to jump up and sit beside Hilary on the bench as she throws the shuttle, making cloth. Both cats make themselves known at 4:30 every day as a reminder to her that their dinner is at 5:00.
In Hilary’s younger years she was an entrepreneurial kid and her Mom wholeheartedly supported her as she slung girl scout cookies and peddled advent calendars for Latin class. Her mother helped run a mini fundraiser to raise money to sponsor whales. She was one of those moms who took all of her dreams seriously. She is a huge fan of The Cultivated Thread and Hilary thinks her favorite way to support her now is by writing glowing reviews of her products.
There are many more mothers of all kinds in Maine that craft beautiful work and I wish I could showcase them all. Go support all makers by purchasing their products when gifting your loved ones or even gifting yourself.