As a child, David Ellsworth was always the “maker” who charmed and delighted playmates by producing typical Baby Boomer toys: bows and arrows, rifles, pistols, swords, tomahawks, and blowguns – all fashioned from wood and...

Elsa Mikus spent decades in the corporate world, working in what she describes as a “dizzying array of jobs, ranging from file clerk to software tester.” However, it’s her most recent incarnation as an artisan that has brought her the most success and the greatest fulfillment.

“I was always making something from the time I was a kid – first doll clothes, and then graduating to making all of my own clothes in high school,” says Mikus, who runs Tempest in a Teapot with longtime friend and business partner, Barbara C. Ryan. “In 1985, I discovered tole/decorative/folk art painting and got hooked on it after my first craft show in 1989. I also made primitive dolls for a couple of years.”