Tag Archives: Small Business Owner

Saturday Short – Small Business Saturday – Franklin Engraving

What do you do when you meet up with an artist you admire? 1) You get a picture with her, and 2) you buy up a chunk of the inventory in her store. That’s how today went!

In America, we celebrate Thanksgiving on a Thursday. Then comes Black Friday with huge sales in all the major retailers. After fighting the crowds on Friday, we rally again to shop Small Business Saturday. That’s how I spent today. Shopping via my favorite small business.

Franklin Engraving is the creative venture of a petite powerhouse of a woman. Katie Franklin is a USAF veteran and mom of two. She clearly loves people and it shows in her personalized, made-to-order creations. Her love for other cultures is also obvious in her ease with all comers and her eye for what appeals to her wide range of clients.

I had the opportunity to visit her studio today. The fragrance and beauty of wood welcomed us in. Katie specializes in laser engraving and matches the wood to the designs she creates. I especially loved seeing some of the old reclaimed wood pieces, wondering what barn or old house yielded them for Katie’s repurposing.

Seeing her work was intriguing. Her designs are programmed into the engraver, and then she must set up the laser field to etch the pattern accurately, as designed, on the piece of wood.

It was a little unnerving for me, watching her. No wonder the end products are so beautiful. Unique and exact in expressing the design.

I bought two etched wall hangings that she had fashioned for me. They were more beautiful than I had imagined when I commissioned her to do them. Other gifts caught my eye, so I left happily with more than I had planned originally.

She even threw in some apples from a local orchard for our trip home.

If you appreciate the beauty of natural wood, and if words are a language of love for you, Franklin Engraving is a business you will engage again and again.

Katie, owner-designer, can be reached through her Facebook and Etsy pages. You are going to love her work…and be enchanted by her joy in creating products personalized for you or those you love.

Since it’s Small Business Saturday, take advantage of today’s discount as well… If you miss it, there’s always Cyber Monday.

Franklin Engraving Facebook Page

Franklin Engraving Etsy Page