Crafts

In the field of American crafts, Carol Sauvion has just about done it all. A former studio potter and teacher with a college degree in art history, Sauvion opened her L.A. crafts shop, Freehand, in 1980. The 3rd Street emporium expanded into two adjacent storefronts as it became a popular outlet for functional works of clay, glass, wood, fiber and metal and a destination for believers in the power and beauty of the handmade. With a loyal clientele, it specializes in relatively timeless ceramics and jewelry rather than following trends.

Eyeing the foam plank in front of him, Guy Okazaki envisions the lines and angles that help a surfboard glide across the face of a wave. He then begins shaping the sides -- first with a heavy electric grinder, then with a plane. Two hours later, he's hand-sanding his creation, which now resembles a sleek, 6-foot-long, high-performance surfboard. For more than 30 years, Okazaki has earned a living making surfboards in Venice.

Erika Kern is not quite Martha Stewart. The 33-year-old from Bakersfield has, however, stitched up cloth portraits of the domestic diva. Kern has also painted, printed and sewn hundreds of patchwork robots and felt log pillows sold for $45 online -- and in the process pieced together a living as a full-time "maker," the Facebook-generation term for do-it-yourselfer.

In an era of global sourcing and computer-aided design, Gregory Townsend builds custom steel bicycle frames in his Monrovia garage. The 50-year-old British expatriate, who learned metal crafting in a high school shop class, is part of a small but growing number of craftspeople in California catering to bicycle enthusiasts who eschew the super-light carbon fiber cycles of the Tour de France for hand-built frames with meticulous fittings and elaborate paint jobs.

The scent of scorched metal and whine of a grinder drift through the cool, cavernous warehouse as 15 workers forge swords coveted by collectors who long for a piece of medieval history. "When you hold it in your hand, it's an amazing feeling, a feeling of power," said Gabriel Ghazarian, 59. "The sword has always been a symbol of honor, of courage and virtue. Even though it's obsolete, that symbol remains." Albion Swords is the largest producer of authentic swords in the U.S.

Janet Fanucchi has made jewelry since her teenage years. But it wasn't until three years ago that, at age 50, she made her first rosary -- Indian amber beads with a golden vintage cross -- and came to understand its ability to forge an intimate connection between human and divine. "I've always loved the rosary," Fanucchi said. "It's a spiritual experience to make one." Fanucchi joined the guild at St.

A key piece to this spring's romantic look may already be in your living room: the low-hanging stars of a sparkling chandelier. At Viktor & Rolf's ballroom dance of a runway show, big crystal drops dangled from the necklines of dresses, skittered up the sides of pearly white tights and even formed the heels of shoes. Marc Jacobs showed faceted stone heels too, plus necklaces and headbands made with clear chunky stones.

Patricia Fry, whose son is a Marine infantryman, was explaining the fine art of creating a scrapbook to Rita Swift, whose son is a Marine helicopter pilot. "I think the blue looks great because it brings out the blue in the flag," Fry told Swift as she arranged a picture of her son, Maj. Mike Swift, on a page in her book. The scrapbooks have a dual purpose: They keep parents busy during the anxious days of their son's or daughter's deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Lorenzo Re might just have the fashion industry's least glamorous job. Alone in his dusty Paris workshop, he carves, chisels and sands limewood chunks into rounded molds used to shape extravagant toques and fedoras for the likes of Dior and Chanel. So how will the show go on when he retires? No one is sure. The 62-year-old is Paris' last hat-block maker. He has searched in vain for an apprentice to keep his savoir-faire alive.

A three-part program on the art of craft -- the furniture makers, potters, quilters and others who have charted American culture with their hands -- is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on PBS. "Craft in America" consists of three hour-long shows looking at pioneers in various fields, artists' connection to the environment and the spiritual and community links that result from their work.