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Ashley Sosa is the owner of Hammer & Stain GloVa, a mobile wood sign workshop.
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Gloucester resident Mary Bonniville, who hosted a party for family and friends, works on her clock.
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An example of a clock painted at a recent party. The finished product included the clock mechanism.
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Workshop parties can be held at homes or restaurants–Sosa will come to you. Members of a party at Mobjack Tavern show off their projects
Ever wish you could craft like all those cute Pinterest ideas you see, but don’t know where to start?
Well, what if someone could show you exactly what to do, in the comfort of your own home? Or maybe at a local restaurant with a group of friends?
Enter Hammer & Stain, a type of do-it-yourself wood sign workshop that has been popping up around the country over the past five years. One of the newest is Hammer & Stain GloVa, which owner and Gloucester-resident Ashley Sosa has been operating as a mobile workshop since last summer.
That means Sosa will come to you and help you make that cute wooden porch sign you always wanted. You know, the one that says WELCOME in big letters, with a little paw print instead of an O, just to show how much you like dogs.
“It’s really about giving people the opportunity to make something without feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff that’s behind it,” Sosa said.
Sosa, a 39-year-old married mother of two, previously was a planner for the Newport News shipyard before she decided to start her own Hammer & Stain business. She first learned about the company in 2018 when she went to a class elsewhere. She fell in love with it, but at the time didn’t think it was in the cards.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. While at home teleworking, she gave the business idea some more thought. And by July 2021, she and her family had moved to Gloucester and she was holding her first class. In January, after months of success, she quit her day job to focus on Hammer & Stain.
The mobile workshop works like this: Someone books a party with at least six participants. The organizer then picks a few projects for guests to choose from, and each guest selects a design to stencil. There are about 13 different wood project options and 100s of designs to choose from.
Sosa cuts the stencils at her house and brings the unfinished pieces to the party, along with her mobile kit of paint and stain colors, sponges, paint brushes and the like. Then she and her assistant, Leigh Ann Abbott, lead the guests through completing the various projects. The parties can be in a house, in a garage, at a restaurant—you name it. One day, Sosa would also like to have a storefront in downtown Gloucester.
A recent party was at Mobjack Tavern on U.S. 17 in Gloucester County. One of Sosa’s larger parties, almost 20 women—and one toddler—set up shop to work on projects ranging from porch signs to wooden planters. For the next three hours, they toiled over their projects while laughing, sipping wine and snacking.
“It’s a fun way to get together with friends,” said Heather Boulay, who made a porch plank decorated with antlers and the words “Welcome to our neck of the woods.” “This is my second time. And I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
That’s what Sosa likes to hear. Word of mouth is how her business spreads, along with attracting business on her Facebook page and website. She’ll travel almost anywhere in Hampton Roads.
One of her favorite moments is when someone who was hesitant about crafting in the beginning loves their finished project. Or when she convinces a self-proclaimed perfectionist that their project is, in fact, amazing.
“It’s the handmade imperfections that will be loved by other people,” Sosa said. “Maybe that’s a lot coming from a wood sign but for me, it’s a lot, and it’ll be a memory that you’ll have far down the road.”
