David McLain is an artisan, but he’s also quite the salesman. Robert St. John considers him a rock star.
McLain was set up last Thursday in the lobby of Crescent City Grill selling his colorful potholders. Funds raised through the sale of these, as well as afghans, scarves and hats which he crochets, goes toward paying his way to Abbie Rogers Civitan Camp each summer. He also contributes money from the sale of a collection of pink or pink and white merchandise to the Forrest General Hospital Cancer Center. He’s been donating to them for about three years and got the idea from something he saw on TV about a cancer fund and thought that would be something nice to do.
He sells the larger potholders for $6.50 and ones just a bit smaller for $5.
“I try to pay my way each year,” McLain said. “I like to help my family.”
McLain, who lives in Sand Hill with his parents, Michael and Sharon, works weaving the colorful cotton loops on an oversize grid his father made for him as plates full of delicious food carried by CCG staff find their way to the lunchtime diners in the nearby dining rooms. Guests stop and talk to him, admiring his handiwork, and picking up a colorful potholder or two to examine.
McLain said his friend, and restaurant owner, St. John, also lets him eat whatever he wants before he leaves. Shrimp is his favorite and he also likes the mashed potatoes.
The two men have been friends for about 10 years.
“Crescent City Grill takes over the kitchen for one night every year at Civitan Camp,” St. John said. “We give everyone the night off and feed the entire camp. I met David 10 years ago on one of those nights.”
When St. John learned that David made potholders to help pay his way to camp, he offered up space at Crescent City Grill to help him sell them.
“On that first visit he sold out in an hour,” said St. John.
After their initial meeting, McLain said he saw St. John at camp one year and gave him one of his potholders.
“The next day he came back and asked me to make him 100 potholders,” McLain said. “I made over 100 and had them all done before Christmas.”
On this day in the 90 minutes he’s been set up, he was finishing up his third creation.
“I’m quick,” he said.
McLain loves what he does and although he can’t remember exactly how long he’s been weaving his creations, he knows it’s a “long time.”
He got started using a small potholder weaving machine. “The little ones you get, like the old folks used to make in the old days,” he said. “I started doing them and my momma said my daddy could make a bigger board for me.”
The larger board has 36 nails on four different sides and are used to hold the cotton and nylon loops as he weaves them through.
That’s when he started making the larger potholders.
His work is also exclusive to Crescent City.
At Civitan Camp, McLain is partial to the water activities.
“One year I didn’t like the canoe,” he said. “They told me to scoot over one inch and the next thing I knew I was upside down. I said, ‘No way, Hosea.”
But he has taken a liking to a new favorite – the kayaks.
McLain said he’s made lots of friends through his years at camp and even has a girlfriend he gets to see each summer. He thinks he’s probably been going to came since he was 15 or 16. He turned 43 during the first week of August. “My momma got me a cookie cake,” he said.
You can forget about getting anything plain from McLain’s booth. His creations are very colorful.
There’s no rhyme or reason to his color scheme, he just makes it up as he goes.
McLain is sharp when it comes to dates talking about specific life events, while giving a time stamp for when they occurred.
For two or three years, McLain wasn’t able to attend camp because of the deaths of family members – from a grandmother to his sister, aunts, uncles and even a great-grandson. “It was one right after the other,” he said.
On this day, McLain sports a Captain Marvel T-shirt from camp. “I have so many camp shirts I can’t keep up with them,” he said. He also has on a Golden Eagle baseball cap proclaiming his love for the black and gold, which also includes the New Orleans Saints. He throws in the Alabama Crimson Tide at the end. He enjoys sitting in the comfort of his living room, where it’s cooler, to watch his favorite teams on TV.
Much of McLain’s work is done while he sits at home watching television. His favorite shows are HGTV, DIY and the pet shows where people bring their animals in to the veterinarian.
He admits that at time he messes up and has to pull a loop out and start over, but that’s OK.
McLain demonstrates how he weaves the cotton loop at the end of a long hooked needle through the already stretched loops on the loom.
“My hands give me problems sometimes,” he said as he holds out his hand to show a slight tremor. “That’s from getting on up in age.”
As a potential customer walks up, McLain stops what he’s doing to detail his prices and why he’s raising the money and invites the customer to pick whichever color they like best.
McLain has no idea how many potholders he makes a year. “A lot,” he said. “I just make them and sell them.”
He quietly talks about a secret project he has in the works, saying only one person knows about it. It’s something he’ll do for someone else, but isn’t quite ready to talk about it publically yet. But he is excited about it.
As most people do, McLain talks to his creations, telling them to “Behave!” when something goes askew. “They don’t want to behave today. There are days like that.”
The potholders can be put in the washing machine, “with the towels,” he suggested.
When explaining his different color combinations, he points out one that could be for an Ole Miss fan that could also double as red, white and blue. There’s another with the colors of the Auburn and Florida football teams. And the male cook, he’s even got John Deere yellow and green.
He talks about the family’s cats, Cleopatra, Aries and Luna, short for lunatic. “She thinks she’s the boss, too.”
While McLain sits and works, his mom has gone off to run errands.
‘ I love helping my family out,” he said.
His bag for carring all his wares and supplies is made from an old pair of his camouflage shorts that his mom has sewed a bottom into.
Drop by and say hi (you’ll likely get a big hug, too). David McLain is a rock star!
