tampico wing hand broom

Cynthia Main left her job of running a salvage building materials wood shop at the ReBuilding Exchange in Chicago Illinois in 2013 to spend a year at Tillers International: a traditional rural skills school near Kalamazoo, Michigan. There, she was able to dive into more traditional woodworking and blacksmithing. Together with Doug Stubbs, she created Sunhouse Craft. Broom-making may have claimed her, she says, and allowing that to happen feels to her like a reclamation of sorts.

Based on an Appalachian weaving pattern, Cynthia designed this lovely tampico wing soft bristled brush for a sturdy, but delicate sweep. Tampico are the fibers from a certain species of agave (agave lechuguilla), are strong and long lasting. The tampico turkey wings are tied with linen and cotton cord that Cynthia dyes with plants in house, and are finished with a leather hang tie (for the dark wings) and a checkered linen cord (for the light wings). The dark bristles are dark gray rather than brown like in some of the images. Due to the natural dying of these fibers, the result is often times different.

This turkey wing is a softer sweep than the broomcorn brushes, and is perfect for tabletop, or light dusting. This is also excellent for cleaning small coffee messes off the table top. This hand broom measures 31.7 x 19 x 3.8cm.