Atlantic Puffin

Every Bird Has a Story.

Atlantic Puffin
Eastern White Pine, Bamboo, Leather & Glass
6" H × 4" L × 2¾" W

Growing up in coastal Maine in the early 1970s, Atlantic Puffins had all but disappeared from the islands where they had once nested.

One summer, while crossing the small bridge to our island, my mother suddenly pointed and shouted, "There's a puffin!" Before I could turn, my father pointed in the opposite direction. I looked right. I looked left. I never saw either bird.

A few years later, after puffins were reintroduced to Maine's coast, my family took a boat to Egg Rock. That day I finally caught my own glimpse of a single puffin flying low across the water. It lasted only a moment, but it stayed with me.

More than fifty years later, while teaching at Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, a student asked to carve a puffin. As I began to help her develop her pattern, that childhood memory returned, and this carving became more than a classroom example—it became a story finally told in wood.

Carved from Eastern White Pine with bamboo legs, leather accents, and hand-set glass eyes, this Atlantic Puffin is finished in traditional milk paint and wax using techniques that reflect the warmth and character of American folk art.

Whether displayed on a bookshelf, mantel, or cabinet, it serves as a reminder that some stories wait patiently for the right moment—and the right hands—to be told.

$325