Handcrafted America

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. First, she travels to Traverse City,Michigan, to meet Nathan Bower, an award winning clock maker who makes skeleton clocks with exposed inner workings. Next, she is off to Woodys Chair Shop in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where she helps owner and seventh generation woodworker Scott Woody build traditional chairs without glue or nails. Finally, she heads northwest to Cle Elum, Washington, to help female blacksmith Maria Cristalli bend, twist, and shape iron bars into beautiful and functional items.

Host Jill Wagner meets a glass blower who makes colorful drinking glasses; a bicycle maker has a seven-year waiting list; a book publisher prints books on his 100-year-old printing press.

Host Jill Wagner meets husband-and-wife bladesmiths who forge their own knives, a master woodworker and a talented leatherworker who makes handbags worthy of the red carpet.

Host Jill Wagner visits a New Jersey ceramicist who scratches designs into pottery; in Wisconsin, she meets a woodworker who makes wood flow like fabric; Wagner watches a Minnesota lamp maker make new lamps from old machine parts.

Host Jill Wagner meets a Minnesota artist who makes stained-glass panels; in New Jersey, she visits an entrepreneur who makes vintage baseballs and footballs; Wagner helps a Wisconsin woodworker make intricate jewelry boxes.

Jill visits a North Carolina clothing designer who makes custom blue jeans; in Boston, Jill learns how to create elaborate designs using thin sheets of wood veneer; in Oregon, she meets a man who makes custom steel bed frames.

Jill Wagner visits a North Carolina woodworker who turns whiskey barrels into rustic outdoor furniture; in Boston, artisans turn precious metals into world-class flutes; in Oregon, Jill transforms old rags into fine handmade papers.

Host Jill Wagner visits a Texas metal worker who makes cowboy spurs; in California, Jill meets a custom hiking boot maker; in Oregon, Jill meets a family from Mexico making durable backpacks from all-American materials.

In New York, Jill Wagner meets a violin maker whose instruments are played around the globe; in California, Jill visits a sheep farm where wool is spun into yards of yarn; in Arizona, she improves her golf swing with a custom brass putter.

Jill Wagner meets a cowboy hat maker living in an Old West town in Arizona; in Maine, Jill visits a piano maker with a passion for the sound of old wood pianos; in Wisconsin, she meets a tinsmith who makes authentic 1800s coffeepots.

In Arkansas, Jill Wagner visits a man who turns broomcorn into handmade brooms; in Tennessee, Jill meets a craftsman who makes copper and antler kitchenware; in Hawaii, she meets an artisan who crafts traditional Pahu drums from coconut trees.

Jill Wagner visits a father-and-son team in Tennessee who make leather riding chinks; in Hawaii, Jill meets one of the only woodworkers in the world turning Koa chess sets; in New Hampshire, she visits a coppersmith who crafts custom weather vanes.

In Wisconsin, Jill Wagner meets a metalworker making iron skillets shaped like U.S. states; in Massachusetts, Jill meets a basket weaver who creates her own designs; in Tennessee, an axe maker uses methods from the 1600s to craft his tools.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. In Riviera Beach, Florida, John Ippolito shows Jill how he makes the spear guns that are changing the sport of spearfishing with their amazing accuracy. Then in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jamie Yocono makes beautifully crafted wood and tile cabinets and proves woodworking is not just a job for men. Finally, in Templeton, California, Randy Stromsoe, a classically trained, award-winning metal smith demonstrates how he makes the one of a kind pewter goblets that have been used by U.S. Presidents.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. In New Orleans, Mark Derby and his wife Ann Marie show Jill how they reproduce the historic tiles that adorn the streets of the Big Easy. In Woodstock, Georgia, Jill learns how Tony Kramer redefines “roughing it” with his innovative hammock tents that actually make camping comfortable. Finally, in Las Vegas, Jill meets Tony Milici, a glass artisan who chips away at layers of glass to make doors that add a touch of Vegas sparkle to any entry.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. In Charleston, South Carolina, metalsmith Sean Ahern shows Jill how he hammers out his intricately designed and elegant steel fire screens that look like natural bamboo. Then, in Omaha, Nebraska, woodworker and toymaker Steve Baldwin lets out his inner child when he makes his beautiful wooden puzzle toy cars. Finally, Jill goes to West Point, Mississippi where she meets basket weaver Bessie Johnson who uses only what she can find in her yard to craft intricate pine needle baskets.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. First, Jill is shocked by how Detroit woodworker, Paul Bonenberger uses electric current to “paint” his one-of-kind Lichtenberg etched light fixtures. In the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland, commercial airline pilot Tom Gaunnt scours the local beaches for driftwood that he infuses with sea glass colored resin to make his distinctive beach inspired ink pens. Down in Charleston, South Carolina, awardwinning milliner Natalie Simmons is off to the races making her Kentucky Derby style sinamy hats with handmade floral accents.

Host Jill Wagner visits a maker in Georgia crafting wood canoes. In Michigan, Jill finds a self-taught woodworker who is making state shaped Adirondack chairs. In Idaho, Jill discovers someone hitting the right note making intricate wood music stands.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. Wendy Stevens was told that her idea for making purses from stainless steel was impossible. Yet today, outside of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, she is creating a line of coveted metal purses. In Baltimore, Maryland, Dan Janssen is turning exotic woods and semi-precious gemstones into heirloom quality razors. Last stop, Las Vegas, where Jill learns from Paul Macias how he and his family have been lighting up the city by turning colored glass tubes into classic neon signs for decades.

Host Jill Wagner travels the country on a quest to find talented craftsmen who still make incredible items by hand. Philadelphia is home to watch maker Roland Murphy who doesn’t just assemble watches from acquired parts, but is actually making more than 90% of the pieces himself. In Otis Orchard, Idaho, Jill gets crackin’ with Joe Strain who makes bullwhips used around the world and even in popular movies like Indiana Jones. Last stop is Edgewater, Maryland, where former boat maker Allen Cady uses his woodworking skills to transform a find of rare heart of pine lumber into translucent luminaries.