(This article first appeared in the December print edition of the Hendersonian.)
Chances are anyone looking for a handmade Christmas gift in Henderson has crossed paths with the creations of woodworker Alan Hedgespeth.
For a few decades, Alan has made the colorful “puzzle stools” that local children have received at birth or as Christmas or birthday gifts with the letters of their own names forming the puzzle pieces.
He has hand-carved Santa Claus figures (which his artist wife Cathe paints), made wooden trucks, trains and other toys and created intricate inlaid wooden boxes and chopping boards for older gift recipients and collectors.
He’s even made a coffin for a beloved family pet.
With Cathe supporting him, his work has become a fixture at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, at other outlets for handmade items (including Audubon State Park, The Depot Gift Shop and local shops) and at arts and crafts shows.
“I’ve been really lucky,” said Alan, a juried member of the Kentucky Crafted program.
Both Alan and Cathe—Calan Originals, his wood pieces and her paintings—were exhibitors in this year’s Art Hop in downtown Henderson.
His workshop is a treasure trove of wood scraps, rescued at estate sales, left from previous projects and generally acquired “waiting for that special project.”
The boxes have become regular projects for him for the past five or six years, and they’re a good way to utilize smaller pieces of interesting and exotic wood. They’re also a popular item at the Kentucky Artisan Center, and no two are exactly the same.
“I use whatever wood I have,” the woodworker said, noting that he sets up his equipment to make several at a time for the sake of efficiency. “They do take a lot of time.”
The “pulls” on the boxes require special attention, he said, because they’re the most fragile element of the box, which becomes especially critical if he’s shipping them to a customer.
He’s made them in various sizes intended as a “gentleman’s vanity,” lined and partitioned for cuff links, tie bars, pins, loose change and other items.
He’s made them as cremation boxes, to contain and showcase customer’s special eagle feather and for a collection of pens.
“They’re what I spend most of my energy on these days,” Alan said.
When his now-grown daughters Garrett and Hallie were small, he was a woodworking novice who was self-taught except for one workshop. But that didn’t stop him from making them dollhouses and the furniture to outfit them. (Now he’s made both of them people-sized furniture for their “real” homes.)
With a little more skill acquired in his spare time while also working as a math professor at Henderson Community College (Cathe was also a math teacher at Henderson County High School), he moved on to puzzle stools and toys, including a wooden train with about nine or ten cars.
Cathe has a big collection of name templates for the puzzle pieces she paints for the stools, and she’s noticed that the spelling of names has become unpredictable over the years.
Once a lady ordered the entire train from him and he casually asked who it was for. “Me,” she replied.
Another time a customer ordered the train as a Christmas present for her two grandsons, expecting them to share it. A little later, she contacted him to order another train.
Alan, who retired in 2001, has fulfilled bulk orders for items, such as 300 cottonwood bark ornaments for a gift shop and items for and thank-you gifts to be used by state government on economic development trips.
As for the puzzle stools, the Hedgespeths have one customer who has purchased them for children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren, expanding the collections to 10 or 11 and apparently a family tradition.
“It’s fun,” Cathe said.
