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Welcome Ranch is an isolated little vacation resort, tucked away in the mountains of North Idaho. For two and a half months every year it is a beehive of activity with fisherfolk and vacationists coming and going. During that length of time the enterprise is interesting and profitable, and Mr. and Mrs. Norman Davis find it a nice way to live. Then school starts and vacation time is over, and Welcome Ranch and the Davises settle down to a long winter of quietness, little income and much leisure.

At least that's the way it used to be before Mrs. Davis found the ranch workshop offered so many possibilities. There was an inexpensive wood lathe, for instance, and after a little show-how from her husband, Mrs. Davis found it a simple matter to turn out plates, wall plaques, bowls and ash trays from native wood. She did not go in for any fancy trimming or inlaying, and her finished pieces were attractive, but not outstanding.

ONE DAY, after finishing a piece of textile painting, Mrs. Davis found she had more paints mixed than she had used. She wondered how the textile pigments would work on a plain white pine plate. Using a stencil, she applied a floral group to the center of the plate. The wood took the colors beautifully, and after it was dry she added shadings. The result was a beautiful hand-painted wooden plate.

The winter ahead suddenly seemed shorter in prospect. Scraps of lumber about the shop were turned out and painted, each experiment leading to another. Bowls and vases and plates and plaques piled up in the cupboard in the old ranch house living room. Since only native woods were used in the lathe work—white pine, jack pine, yellow pine, birch, thorn apple and cottonwood—Mrs. Davis decided it would be fitting to use only designs that were typical of the Northwest. These could include wild flowers, deer, elk, moose, wild birds that abound in that district, mountain scenery, pine sprays, bucking broncos, and designs depicting Paul Bunyan—that legendary lumberjack of evergreen forests.

Authentic wild flower and bird prints were obtained from the American Nature Association. Nelle Davis might have learned to copy these, free hand, and paint them on the wooden surfaces. But much time would be required to do that, and she had begun to think it might be possible to make a paying venture out of her new craft. And so she cut stencils of the designs, stenciling in the background color, and then adding shadings. As she has grown more proficient in the work, she has abandoned this method, so her work is truly free hand.

The various outdoor magazines to which the couple subscribe have furnished many designs of game birds in flight, wild animals of the forest, and even mountain scenes. A wild duck winging its way across the advertisement of an ammunition company needed only a scrap of marshy bank and a few cattails to make an attractive scene. A deer with widespread antlers, silhouetted sharply against the sky, is very attractive when painted in flat black, silhouetted against a white pine plaque.

SUDDENLY THE Davises found it was time to mail out holiday gifts to friends and relatives. Their income was virtually non-existent, and their living room overstocked with craft work, so what could be more natural than that they should give hand-painted lathe work. Partly in fun, and partly in justifiable pride, they had a rubber stamp made, so they could stamp the back of their craft pieces. "Welcome Ranch Craft Shop," it read, and it finished the job of making their gifts truly personal.

With the excitement of the holiday season behind her, and life once more quiet and humdrum, Nelle Davis went back to the shop to work during her spare time. And then the thank-you notes began to arrive, from recipients of the craft work. They were enthusiastic, and several asked if they could purchase some of the handwork for bridge prizes or gifts.

This posed a problem. How much should be charged for the work? One dollar and a half per hour did not seem too much for lathe work. Lumber had to be figured, as did electricity and the wear on the lathe. Finishing material for the pieces had to be reckoned, and the time for the painting. If the goods were to be sold, methods had to be worked out to make them washable, and the paint permanent.

Artists' tube paints were tried, and discarded because they were slow to dry. In the small quarters used for the work, there was too much probability of the designs getting smeared before they were dry. Mrs. Davis went back to the textile paints, which dried overnight, blended and shaded fairly well, and were not expensive. Several paint companies were contacted in an effort. to find a clear, hard, permanent coating to use over the painted designs. The companies submitted samples. At last a clear lacquer was decided on. It is applied with a bit of new cheesecloth, is clear, bright and glossy, and apparently wears forever. Anyway, there are pieces in the Davis household that have worn for two years.

With $1.50 per hour for the lathe work already decided upon, Mrs. Davis added a few cents for material, and then $1 per hour for the painting and finishing. "It is so much fun to do," she asserts, "that I would feel guilty to charge more than that." This allowed her to sell the plates at $3 each.

About $30 worth of handicraft was sold that first winter.

SPRING CAME, and vacationists returned, and Welcome Ranch was a busy place. There were cabins to clean and meals to serve and favorite fishing holes in the old Moyie were calling, and the workshop was deserted. But frequently vacationists or tourists who came into the living room to register, or to pay their bill, bought a piece of craft work which was displayed in an old Welsh cupboard.

One day a trial order came from a Colorado gift shop. A tourist had stopped at the shop, and had shown a wooden plate depicting a ring-necked pheasant in flight which she had purchased at the Davis ranch. The proprietor of the shop would like six sample plates, and would like to know what other designs were available.

Local gift shops, motels, and lodges offered to handle the Welcome Ranch goods, but Mrs. Davis suddenly found she had her hands full keeping up with orders that were coming in by mail. She has, from time to time, offered her goods in exchange departments of various household magazines and radio programs. Some exchanges were made, but the main idea was to obtain cash buyers, and in this she was successful.

Every inquiry that came in furnished another name to be added to a mailing list that was supplemented by the names on the guest register. In mid-October form letters are sent out to these names, offering twelve craft items. The Craft Shop offers to gift wrap these items, and mail them with birch bark gift card enclosed, to whatever name and address the buyer may designate.

Barbecue plates and individual salad bowls have been added to the list, and have proved popular items.

Plates and plaques are frequently made to order and as Mrs. Davis has become more adept at the work, the creating of designs to order has become more routine, and so costs the purchaser less. One guest wanted a plate, but she wanted a skunk painted on it. This has perhaps been the most unusual order. A picture of "Flower" of Walt Disney fame was found on a humorous birthday card, and it was adapted to plate use, and a satisfied customer proudly displays her skunk plate on her buffet. Frequently a purchaser wants a plate personalized by arching the names of the recipients across the top—John and Mary, or Charles and Susan. An extra charge must be made for this service, but a sincere effort is made to keep me prices down.

SINCE Welcome Ranch is located in one of the most scenic sections of our country, there are always local mountain and river scenes to be copied, often from postcards at the local drugstore. No great skill is required to transplant these views to the wooden background. If tourists are buying the pieces, they usually want "Idaho" painted on the piece in a conspicuous place. Right now, a snow scene of Welcome Ranch in February is being worked out for both plaques and plates.

Frequently Mr. Davis brings in a length of nice birch, cottonwood or thorn apple wood, and puts it overhead in the shop to dry, so it can later be used for vases and stands for footed fruit bowls. Most of the work, however, must be made from lumber. In spite of the fact that Welcome Ranch is situated right in the heart of the lumber country, a great deal of trouble was experienced at first, in getting well cured lumber that was suitable.

One day a visitor expressed regret at the great amount of potential plates and plaques that was burned daily at the planing mill where he was employed. These were mill ends and were often lumber of the finest grade. A visit to the mill convinced the Davises that their guest had not exaggerated. Truck loads of beautiful pine scraps were piled out in the weather, awaiting burning. Permission to pick out what was wanted was freely given, though the Davises, who like to pay for what they get, did return the favor by bringing some craft work to the mill owner, to grace the walls of his new log home.

Now with the discovery of this seemingly never-ending source of supply, production costs have been cut. Sometimes the proper width for plates cannot be procured at the mill, but in such cases fourth grade lumber can be used, as the many knots in this quality add to the beauty and the value of the finished product.

Excessive knots are not the only features that brings the grade of lumber down. Sometimes the logs have been cut too long before sawing into lumber, and the resultant pine boards are streaked with a blue shade. "Blued pine" it is called in the trade. This makes a cheap grade of lumber, but the soft blue background is charming for many painted designs. Game birds in flight look particularly well against it. Then there are logs which have a tiny bit of rot in them. The resultant mill ends, piled out in the weather, take up more moisture during rainy weather, and the boards become marked and streaked with a soft brown. These, too, work up beautifully, and the uninitiated never dream the exquisite colorings are caused by wood decay.

WHILE THE lathe work is still spinning, after the sanding is complete, shellac is applied with a soft cloth. This gives the wood a finish from which smudges and soil can be wiped off, and protects the surface until the painting is completed and ready for the lacquer coat. After the shellac is applied, the shellac-soaked cloth is held tightly against the edge of the spinning plate, until a border is burned brown. This serves as a sort of frame for the painted design which is to be applied, and gives the handicraft a much more "finished" aspect.

Number 3 sandpaper is used for the first sanding, which is, of course, done with the work still on the lathe. This is followed by the use of 2/0 garnet paper, and finally by finishing off with finest sandpaper. The screw holes, in the base, where the work has been attached to the face plate, are filled with plastic wood, the base sanded, the craft stamp applied, and hangers attached if the work is intended to be hung.

A great deal of care is exercised to see that every craft shop customer is satisfied, and the old saying that a satisfied customer is the best advertisement has been proved over and over. Recently a woman who had purchased a footed fruit bowl by mail wrote of her treasure to the household department of a periodical. Her letter was published and read by housewives in many vicinities. The result was hundreds of inquiries regarding the craft work, and hundreds of new names for the mailing list. It is not certain how many actual orders this testimonial will bring, as it is too soon to know, but several ordered at once, without waiting to contact the craft shop. Such is the value of one satisfied customer.

WHEN A local photographer took pictures of various groupings of Mrs. Davis' craft work, she purchased a number of contact prints from each exposure. Since these cost her 4 cents each, she does not risk sending them out in response to every inquiry received. But when a craft shop or specialty shop inquires about a large order, she encloses contact prints with her reply, so the prospective customer can get an idea of the pattern, before ordering. She always asks that these prints be returned, and they usually are.

With increasing frequency, orders are coming for undecorated work. Craft teachers, and individuals who like to do such work, purchase these for painting.

Prices can be shaved a little when such work is ordered by the dozen, or in larger quantities, since shipping charges are less per piece. Mrs. Davis has also found that with added practice she can turn out both lathe work and painting with much more rapidity than she did during her early weeks at the work. Consequently, her prices are now lower than they used to be; which is, in turn, increasing her sales.

"Perhaps the most important thing about my hobby, at least as far as actual pleasure goes," says Mrs. Davis, "is the interesting human contacts this work has brought to me. For more than one reason I am an almost shut-in. This mail order work has brought me in contact with the outside world. The arrival of daily mail is our most anticipated happening. We never know what interesting or amusing or inspiring message we may find in our mail box. We have made many close and congenial friendships through our craft work. We have made interesting and educational exchanges. We have broadened our horizon, and my life is no longer bordered by the beautiful mountains that hedge us in."