Karen Gartel

The quiet work behind a Fern & Fable workshop A Fern & Fable gathering doesn't begin when eight people sit down around the studio table. Sometimes it begins months earlier, with three oranges, a kitchen knife, and an oven set very, very low. This morning, that's exactly what it looked like in the cottage. I'm starting to gather and prepare materials for a Yule Broom workshop planned for later this winter. The workshop itself hasn't even made its way onto the calendar yet, but apparently the...

There are certain smells that seem to make a house feel instantly like home. Warm apples. Cinnamon. Brown sugar. A cake baking in the oven while you’re puttering around getting ready for people to arrive. Last week, as I prepared Fern & Fable Cottage for our Petals & Plaster workshop, that smell was Apple Fritter Cake. It was our very first workshop here at the cottage, which meant there was a slightly ridiculous amount of fussing happening beforehand. Flowers were gathered. Aprons were hung....

A few weeks ago, if you had driven past this little cottage, you probably would have seen what most people see. A weathered old house. Untended gardens. A little rough around the edges. Maybe even a place someone else would drive right past. I looked at the very same cottage... ...and saw something completely different. Not because it already looked like the image on the right, but because I could imagine what it might become. That's one of the things I love most about creativity. Artists...