If you're not looking forward to setting your Thanksgiving or Christmas table with your best Ikea acrylic, you might want to take a short road trip this weekend to get some new wares. The Valley Craft Network, a 26-year old association of professional artisans and craftspeople, is holding its annual holiday studio tour this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nestled in the Middletown and Pleasant Valleys west of Frederick, Maryland, the studio tour is your chance to pick up a variety of pottery, sculpture, jewelry, or woolens for either your home or as gifts this holiday season.

Featuring fifteen artisans at nine locations, the Valley Craft studio tour showcases everything from hand- and wheel-thrown pottery to blown glass, scarves from handspun yarn, and metal sculpture. You'll also have a chance to speak with artists like potter Susan Hanson (who made my plates, cups, and mixing bowls), sculptor Marcella Morgese, and glassblower Keith Phillips (who will be holding demonstrations), mostly in their own studios. The tour is an opportunity to get out of town (though not too far), into a slice of the region you may not have seen, and into the studios and showrooms of some incredibly talented artists and craftspeople.

The tour is practically an architectural and historical tour as well. Many of the studios are located in historic buildings like Allison Severance's studio at Searchwell, a farmhouse from 1800; Eric Madsen's century-old bank barn; or Hanson's studio in Lewis Mill, a gristmill from 1810 that has been retrofitted with green technology like passive solar heating and a compost system. The whole tour is in an area between Harpers Ferry and Antietam battlefield, so you can take a history buff along with little or no complaints. As a cherry on top, each studio has generously agreed to donate five percent of its sales to charity.

Image from Allison Severance's website.

If you're tired of combing through all the same items at Eastern Market, or don't want to battle crowds for look alike products at your local big box, head out to Frederick and Washington counties. The studios are located about an hour north of D.C. You can find more information on the tour's brochure, or on the map we've put together for you to peruse.

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