Paul is a fascinating person from so many angles its hard to choose one. He is a blacksmith, a master potter, printer, and retired teacher.
He studied Marine Biology, art, he took welding classes, saddle making, veterinary medicine. He has a woodworking shop, orchards and gardens.He entered the printing trade from necessity, to print labels for his clay business instead of tediously hand stamping them. Now, he is a master printer and has over 120 printers in his collection. But, the 1899 press, one of only 12 in the world, rarely gets used.
Paul, at 82, remembers the days when trade secrets were jealously guarded. If he couldn't get into a guild, he'd figure out how to do the task himself, whether it was printing, making clay that didn't explode, building a house or a kiln, he would do it. You forge something, fix something, make your own tools, a philosophy that today seems arcane in a throw-away, assembly line style of doing things. Self sufficiency is as ancient as the rocks where passing on skills to the next generation is the natural order of things. It works for the Quyles where a new generation of family artisans now run the ranch, a winery, the pottery and continue what Paul started while he still plays with printing and blacksmithing.
Here students of Paul's work in his blacksmith shop.
