Mondell’s Montana Crafts braved the elements last Saturday, sitting out for sale without the protection of a tent at the Sandpiper Gallery Outdoor Art Festival in Polson.

Displaying his signature elk and deer antler pens, artist Mondell Metz had made the right decision.

After a down pour on Friday and the forecasted rain, no tent was necessary as the sun broke through the clouds instead. The hot August weather was replaced by a breezy, comfortable day for the hundreds of people who strolled through the tents of vendors.

A crafter all his life, Metz brought some of his latest creations to sell. Deer and antler pens smoothed from antlers from across Montana have become his signature pieces. But also among the wares were yew wood pens and new pens with .50 caliber shells bottoms.

“Genuine elk bullets,” Metz called them. 

In the first hour of the cool morning sales, a customer from Seattle, Wash., had just picked up one of his yew wood pens, which is another craft Metz makes from pieces of local wood. She’d heard the healing power of yew wood and wanted to have the pens to help her with her battle through cancer,  Metz said.

“I’ve never seen antler pens before,” another passerby said.

Metz, who grew up in Polson and spent time in southern California after receiving a masters degree in electrical engineering, has for more than 30 years taken whatever hard wood he can find and molded it into art. He’s been crafting pens for about five years.

Spinning one antler pen on a lathe takes Metz a full day. The soft brown and spotted bone that makes up the bulk of the pens is smoothed down first. Then Metz fills the vessels through a “secret” process, drills the hole for the pen, assembles it and seals the bone on his lathe with an Australian shell wax.

“It’s something that keeps me out of trouble,” Metz said. “Off the couch.”

The courthouse lawn was crowded last weekend with more than 100 vendors, and each  donated a potion of sales to the gallery. Entertainment from groups like the Ladies of the Lake Oriental dancers and an Allegretto trio with Kim Sheesley on cello, Ruth Sheesley  playing violin and Kathy Quist on the flute.

The gallery’s past director, Mary Sale, said it was the best show in years.

“It was fabulous, it was the best one we’ve had in years. It wasn’t too hot and it didn’t rain, and everyone was smiling,” Sale said. “I personally was just thrilled.”

The gallery uses the show as its main fund raiser for the scholarship fund it has set up for local students, all while featuring local artists.

Metz’s sales continued throughout the day. He’s sold more than 100 around the valley this year, mostly through “word of mouth,” Metz said.

Most of his antler pens come out of donated sheds. He gets them from all over, trading a rack for a pen, sometimes two if the shed is big enough.

The idea for turning the pens came after Metz and a friend were crafting things in Southern California. Metz and a friend spent time at wood craft shows and developed the idea together. They still talk every week.

Metz’s next venture is online sales - just to make sure he stays busy.