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Buying products "from people, rather than from unknown machines in faraway places," is the idea behind the 28-year-old Valley Craft Network, according to founding member Susan Hanson.

Hanson is the owner and artist of Catoctin Pottery in Jefferson, one of nine art and craft studios in the Middletown area that participate in the network and tours that are organized one weekend each year to kick off the holiday buying season. The most recent tour was held last weekend.

The network is made up of juried artists that meet four criteria, Hanson said. They must live within a 20-mile radius of Middletown, have an inspirational workspace, be fairly established and have a "top-notch craft," she said. While nine artists participated in the tour this year, there have been as few as seven and as many as 13 in the network at a time, she added.

The annual tour is also meant to give clientele a chance to see the "inspiration behind the work," Hanson said. That means the mountainous, rural landscape that surrounds the studios, as well as the studios themselves.

"They want to see where you live and what you do," said first-year network member Annie Kelley, who operates a sustainable agriculture farm and makes wool products using fleece from her sheep. For most of the artists, their chosen craft creates a unique lifestyle, which patrons get to see when they go on the tours, she said.

For example, Kelley raises her own sheep, has them sheared twice per year then designs and dyes the yarn she uses for crafts such as sweaters and scarves. Her weekend customers didn't just get to view her products, but also some of the sheep they came from, which were out grazing on her Middletown farm.

Kirke Martin, a four-year network member and the owner of M4 Studios, creates his pieces in the backyard of his Keedysville home. The type of ceramic work that he specializes in, made using a wood-fire kiln, requires a labor-intensive process. The Martins' property houses two kilns, a large one that is built into a hill in their yard and takes about three to five days to heat up, and a smaller one that takes about 36 hours to preheat. Wood has to be almost constantly added to the fire for it to reach the needed temperature of 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.

While Martin employs helpers for heating the large kiln, he often heats the small one on his own, causing a significant sleep shortage according to his wife, Meghan. Throughout the weekend, tour participants got to see the kilns as well as the ceramic art that came out of them.

Customers want to see how people "make a living outside of the mold," Kelley said.

"It's a very different buying experience when compared to a mall," said Bill van Gilder, a 24-year network member who owns van Gilder Pottery in Gapland and the Frederick Pottery School in Frederick.

Van Gilder, who also created and hosted a show about pottery for the DIY Network, said the tour is all about keeping it local. He even served his weekend patrons locally pressed cider from Burkittsville. And while the artists know each other through the network, many of them are also neighbors, friends and artistic influences to each other, they said.

Kesra Hoffman, an artist who isn't a member of the network, but who shows her paintings in the van Gilder Pottery studio, said she thinks there are so many artists and craftsmen in the immediate area because of the beauty of the landscape.

Even after traveling the world painting, "I keep coming back here because it's always beautiful, it's always inspiring," she said.

Bill van Gilder said that while "country living" can definitely be an inspiration for artists, himself included, there were cheap properties available in the area about 20 to 30 years ago when many of the network's participants moved there. With cheap homes and studios to be had, along with a good location near potential customers living in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., artists flocked to the area, he said.

"We just have a dedication to our work and we'll find a way to do it," he added.

Hardy agreed, saying the network got its start partially because many local artists were tired of shelling out as much as $1,000 in entry fees for area craft shows, which cut significantly into profits.

Plus, art is more meaningful if customers get to see the place where it's created, she said. That way, "it's more than just buying a pot," she said. Customers get to see "the whole [process], rather than just a piece."

Hardy hopes the studio tours will continue for years to come, and added that while business had been slower the last few years due to the sagging economy, this year's crowds were nearly back to normal for most studios.

E-mail Courtney Pomeroy at cpomeroy@gazette.net.