Crafting a second chance

Betty Denton dons her knickers, bonnet and other throwback attire on the first Saturday monthly, grabs her latest project and heads for Cracker Country.

While other docents in the 1890s-era village at the Florida State Fairgrounds churn butter, make rope or dip candles, Denton sits on the front porch of the Smith House practicing an increasingly rare art form that has become her heart's passion - caning.

Her adventure began in the early 1990s when, by chance, she ran across expert caner Ned Johnson, busy at his craft on the steps of the Plant Museum at the University of Tampa.

After much persuasion on her part and a lot of reluctance on his, Denton convinced Johnson to take her on as an apprentice. From him, she learned hand caning, primitive caning, splint, rush and press-in caning.

"I just felt like it was something not many people knew how to do," she said. "It was a craft that very few people do, and I saw there was a need for it. There were a lot of chairs out there that needed help."

Three years later, she stepped out on her own, away from the man who she learned through casual conversation and a little prying, was her distant cousin.

Today, the entrance to her Dover workshop is a revolving door through which old, sometimes abused, pieces of furniture travel, entering in ill repair then exiting with new life.

The fifth-generation Floridian, whose father wrangled cattle in Eastern Hillsborough County as a young man, has a following across the region.

"The neat thing about what I do is that I don't just have customers, I make friends," Denton explained.

It is also important to Cracker Country to have people with skills such as Denton's, said Dan Marshall, museum operations manager.

"Betty is maintaining an art and a craft that is getting lost," Marshall said. When the Doyle Carlton family founded Cracker Country, it was done to protect buildings and a way of life from the past, he said. Denton helps to do that.

In addition to the chair bottoms and backs she has re-done, occasionally there comes a special piece, such as a fabulous European couch once owned by David Carradine, the actor of "Kung Fu" fame in the 1970s. Denton recaned the arms and back of the couch for a woman who purchased it on eBay.

And there was a chair, once owned by President Abraham Lincoln's niece, that Denton recaned for a local woman. When Denton's work was done, the owner sat in the chair. "She said she was the first person in her lifetime that had gotten to sit in that chair," Denton said.

She promised Ned Johnson all those years ago that if he'd teach her caning, she wouldn't stop at just one piece, as many of his past students had done.

She has kept that promise, she said. Today, Denton teaches her art to others, such as an Orlando couple who traveled to her house at least 10 times for lessons and the classes she teaches at the Caladium Center in Lake Placid.

"It's a win-win for me," Denton said. "I really enjoy restoring people's heritage. I get a great deal of enjoyment from taking something that's broken and unusable and making it beautiful again. I sincerely enjoy what I do."