 Located in the rolling hills of northern Baltimore County in Maryland, the work shops at Sweetpea Cottage have been around since the late 1980's. Originally fine woodworking was the focus of the shop where quality furniture was built primarily using Pennsylvania black cherry, figured maple, and quartersawn white oak. Eventually the emphasis of the wood shop changed so that fine furniture was replaced with the creation of smaller items that would be accessible to a larger group of people. Ultimately, the transition was completed and the wood shop now focuses primarily on creating modern versions of antique Scandinavian boxes called tine or svepask. In addition, occasionally work on other types of items is done whenever an appropriate piece of figured wood is available.
Eventually a hot glass shop, or lampworking studio, was added for the creation of custom glass items used in jewelry making. Over time the need for more space increased until a dedicated studio building was constructed in the fall of 2013. As the hot glass studio has grown, output has increased and expanded to include not only lampworked glass beads and jewelry, but also fused glass items. On any given day, the torch and kiln will both be working hard as Joan creates new and wonderful items while she experiments with her ideas to be expressed in hot glass.
Today, both shops at Sweetpea Cottage are working full-time to keep up with the demand for the specialty items that they produce.
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