Self-Taught New Member of the Guild

James and Ewanta Turner, Turner Specialty Products, Mena, AR are new members

of the Arkansas Craft Guild and recently had a booth at the Artisans Market on the Square during the Arkansas Folk Festival in Mountain View. Using a variety of woods, they make Shaker boxes, hinged boxes, charcuterie and cutting boards, laser cut painted wooden logos, maze puzzles, hanger boards, coasters, and Christmas ornaments. Their products with prices may be viewed on their Facebook page.

James grew up in residential construction with his father. Later he worked for several years in commercial construction as a superintendent building several churches, banks, and finished his career in more industrial type construction.

James describes his technical education: 

"During the last few years in commercial construction, I taught myself AutoCad and after leaving Arkansas I worked for several years doing CAD drafting for various architects creating finished working drawings. I also taught myself 3D Max and did several architectural renderings and animations. This work benefited me in learning programs that I use in creating some of our craft work. I have pretty much been self taught in most everything I’ve done. I would buy books and study what I was wanting to learn. I would talk to people that I thought were knowledgeable about what I was learning and try to take the best advice from each and put it with what I was doing. Now you can learn just about anything on the internet and YouTube. I’m always wanting to learn new things and new ways of doing things. I’ve often said that I don’t think I’ll live long enough to learn all that I would like to."

James and Ewanta bought equipment and existing inventory of parts from friends that made and sold Shaker boxes and Pillow Top boxes wholesale for several years. Instructions were included on how to prepare and assemble the Shaker boxes to do the prep work for the Shaker boxes. Once the wood is prepared the actual assembly of the boxes is done the same way it has been done for hundreds of years. The strips that make up the main body of the boxes is cut to width and then sawn to rough thickness on a band saw. The strips are then sanded to final thickness depending on the size of the box on a sander.  Each strip then has the tails cut and pilot holes drilled for the copper tacks that will hold them together. After they have been prepared they are boiled, shaped around the proper size form, tacked together with the copper tacks and left to dry for several days. Once dry, the tops and bottoms are custom filled for each box and installed using wooden pegs. There is no glue used in making the Shaker boxes. After they are assembled the chosen finish is applied, sanded, and buffed to create a smooth finish.

Mazes made from wood with an acrylic cover.

They do custom made items using laser cutting and engraving, CNC Router cutting, or CNC Plasma, "your design or ours." They plan on being a part of the 48th Annual Christmas Showcase Dec. 4-6, 2026 at the State Fairgrounds, Little Rock. See more of their work on their artist roster page.