Stepping into Jane Dennison’s house is like stepping into a whimsical wonderland.
Dennison has dabbled in sculpture, rug hooking, sewing and embroidery, and her creations exist all throughout the house. Her dining room table isn’t stacked with plates or coasters; instead, it’s filled with little paper cutouts, a cutting mat and stacks of handmade holiday cards.
This is just one of many workspaces in her home. Felted trays of hand-cut people, trees, flowers and birds sit around her living room. She irons these piece by piece, taking about an hour for each card, and selling them for $3.50 each.
But it’s not the money that keeps her crafting.
As a Granville resident for 50 years, Dennison has planted her roots here.
“We picked it off the map. We wanted a small Midwestern town, preferably a college town. We were actually driving to go look at Miami and came through Granville and fell in love with it.”
She settled down, had two kids and opened her business, Pickwick Papers at 4592 Lancaster Road SW just south of Granville, which allowed her to work from home. Using the $50 in her retirement fund, Dennison started making lamp shades and selling them at craft shows.
She had success in the lampshade business for over 30 years before falling off her roof, which made it difficult to continue and left her with lots of time at home.
“Falling off my roof was kind of a godsend, because I got to start dipping into things I never had time for,” Dennison said.
Dennison uses the loads of leftover lamp-making materials to make her cards. She also makes salvage art from other recycled scraps– though it has recently become difficult to work with small objects due to her hand tremors. Some of her creations hang around the room, and others are on sale in the little antique shop next to her house.
She never plans the direction for her projects, just letting the inspiration find her.
Once when Dennison saw a tree branch outside the post office, something about it drew her in. She took it home, and it soon became a mobile paired with some Mexican silver fruit ornaments, old music sheets and little birds.
“It was kind of like giving birth, you know. You’ll start with one thing, and something will fall on the table, and it’s like, ‘Oh, look at that. Let’s try that,’” she said. “And pretty soon, something appears.”
Sustainability is a huge part of her process. Her cards come with a liner inside, allowing customers to write a message and reuse the card. It’s a sweet, circular process that has even brought a few cards back into Dennison’s hands.
The large oak trees in the yard indicate her dedication to nature and the people she cherishes. She planted four saplings: the first for her eldest son, another for her second son, one for her grandchildren, and one in the back for her son’s friend. “I kind of plant trees for people,” she said.
Dennison worries that her generation of green crafters is fading out. It’s a slow, time-consuming, sometimes compulsive process, but it brings her joy. However, she is hopeful that her 12-year-old granddaughter, who has started to crochet, will carry on the crafting spirit.
Mia Fischel writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.