“How did y’all ever get into something like this?” Don and I were asked while selling our handcrafted wares at a show in Princeton.

Don paints signs that look authentically old, while I make robots and toy-sized vehicles out of random wood and metal parts.

Because we live in a railroad town, we often recreate vintage railroad-related signs, which were a hit at this particular show, since it was aimed at model-train enthusiasts.

“The way we got started was kind of an accident,” Don said.

He explained how, a few years back, he and I made each other’s Christmas gifts. Since I had once been a sign-painter myself, I had recreated the McCreery Hotel sign (from Hinton) for him, while he made a retro-looking sign for Cosmic Squirrel Squares, featuring an astronaut squirrel, for me.

Later, whe

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