MONTVILLE — As Maine Craft Weekend approaches, there’s one artist in Liberty who is living the artist’s dream. Mark Guido, like many people who live in Maine, had to get by on multiple jobs, working as a mason, a builder, and even a teacher, before he discovered his true path. 

“I started making rustic furniture out of found materials in the woods, such as Speckled Alder,” he said. “Initially, I was introduced to a guy who made furniture like this and I figured out how to do it on my own, making chairs, tables, shelves and magazine racks. But, then, I began to collect stones. I was still working as a mason at the time and still had a lot of tools to work with brick and stone, so I just started making decorative pieces out of them.”

For the last six years, Guido has been self-employed making and selling rustic furnishings in a business called Timberstone Rustic Arts. His studio can be found in  Montville on Route 3.

Guido said he goes out to approved areas, such as certain islands and private landowner’s beach areas with permission and find smooth rocks, mostly granite.

“Mother Nature shaped it; I just collect it,” he said.

His smallest stone pieces are toothpick holders and beautifully Japanese inspired single flower vases. The largest pieces are shallow birdbaths and fountains.

“When I see a stone, I’ll instantly see what I’m going to make out of it,” he said.

Guido said some of his ideas have come from other stone workers, and some just come from seeing items in stores or online made out of wood plastic, such an an iPod holder.

“If I see something like that, a functional piece of art, I just figure out a way to make it out of stone,” he said. 

A few of his crafted pieces are his own original concepts such as the stacked stone lamp. The stones range from biggest to smallest and he works with a 14-year-old apprentice down the road named Dylan Marsh to create the handmade paper lampshades. Dylan is homeschooled and helps Guido three hours a day on his orders, from polishing and drilling rocks to constructing the lampshades by hand. Learning this kind of craft from Guido has prompted Dylan to make his own stone crafts.

“Mark said he’d come hunt me down if I competed with his business,” Dylan joked.

Another original concept Guido invented is a liquor dispenser made from a chunk of granite he finds in a Frankfort quarry. After shaping and polishing the rectangular block, he drills the top down in and affixes a spigot, with the bottle resting upside down at the top and a spigot below, an invention he’s currently getting a patent on.

He said other ideas come from customers themselves. At a recent craft show, he said a customer came up to him and said, “Mark, when are you going to make sponge holders?”

That, as they, say,was a no-brainer. All he had to do is drill out a slot in a relatively flat round rock. 

“I probably sell about 500 a year,” he said.

Guido collects rocks probably about five times a year, enough to keep him working and selling year round.

“Figuring out how to create cool things out of found materials, and knowing that people love them is probably the most satisfying part of this,” he said. “A finished piece starts in the woods or on a beach and I know that’s going to keep me in a job for the next year.”

Guido, like other crafters, artisans and brewers is gearing up for the Maine Craft Weekend in the Midcoast October 1-2. The Midcoast section of the self-guided tour features participants who are not regularly open to the public, or who have planned special MCW events and demonstrations at their locations. Tour-takers are invited to plan a route that includes a lesson, a demo, a craft beer lunch and a craft exhibit to name a few. For more information about Maine Craft Weekend, visit mainecraftweekend.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com