ASL Pewter Foundry

ASL Pewter Foundry – A Working Pewter Studio Where Tom and Pat Hooper Keep Colonial Metalworking Alive

A working pewter foundry in Missouri’s oldest town sounds improbable until you remember that Sainte Geneviève has always been a place where history isn’t just preserved but practiced. At 183 South 3rd Street, Tom and Patricia Hooper have spent nearly 40 years creating museum-quality pewter pieces using techniques that colonial craftspeople would recognize—casting molten tin alloy into antique molds, spinning flat pewter discs on an 1873 water-powered lathe (now electrified), and welding handles onto tankards with micro-torch precision. This isn’t a demonstration for tourists watching behind ropes. This is an active studio where you can commission custom pieces, watch the Hoopers work, learn the chemistry and history of the tin-based alloy that graced America’s founding families’ tables, and leave with functional heirlooms made by hands that understand centuries-old craft traditions. The work has earned White House recognition (Pat and Tom visited during George W. Bush’s administration, meeting First Lady Laura Bush), appeared in HBO’s John Adams miniseries starring Paul Giamatti, and attracted collectors who recognize that genuinely handcrafted American pewter—100% lead-free, made using antique tools and traditional methods—has become exceptionally rare in an era of mass production and overseas manufacturing.

What Makes Pewter Special (And Rare)

If the term “pewter” is unfamiliar, you’re confirming its rarity—this lustrous tin-based alloy that once represented middle-class prosperity in colonial America has largely disappeared from contemporary craft production. If you know what pewter is, you understand just how unusual finding a working pewter foundry has become. Either way, ASL Pewter offers encounter with craft tradition that’s survived through dedication rather than market demand.

Pewter is primarily tin (85-99%), alloyed with small amounts of copper, antimony, or bismuth for hardness and workability. Historically, pewter sometimes contained lead (making it toxic), but modern craftspeople like the Hoopers create only lead-free pewter safe for drinking vessels, plates, and decorative items that touch food. The alloy melts at relatively low temperatures (around 500°F compared to 1,200°F+ for silver or copper), making it accessible to individual craftspeople without industrial equipment. It polishes to a warm, satiny sheen distinct from silver’s bright shine or copper’s reddish glow. It develops gentle patina over time that enhances rather than diminishes its beauty. And crucially, it holds fine detail in casting—colonial pewterers could create elaborate patterns, decorative borders, and intricate designs that mass production has never successfully replicated.

In colonial America, pewter occupied the middle ground between expensive silver (for the wealthy) and cheap earthenware or wooden plates (for the poor). A prosperous farmer, successful merchant, or skilled tradesperson would own pewter tankards, plates, bowls, and candlesticks demonstrating economic success without the extravagance of silver. When you see museum displays of colonial dining, the pewter pieces represent how most “comfortable” families actually lived—not aristocratic luxury, but solid prosperity.

By the late 1800s, cheaper alternatives (tin-plated steel, mass-produced ceramics, eventually aluminum and stainless steel) replaced pewter for utilitarian purposes. Studio pewter survived primarily as decorative craft or as reproductions for historical sites. Today, perhaps a few dozen American craftspeople work pewter seriously. The Hoopers represent the tiny minority who’ve mastered the full range of techniques—casting, spinning, welding, finishing—required to create complete pieces from raw materials rather than just assembling components or working from limited mold collections.

The Hooper Story: From Fragrance Business to Foundry

Tom and Patricia Hooper didn’t start as pewterers. They began with a fragrance products business creating incense, bath salts, and perfume oils—distinctly 1990s entrepreneurship capitalizing on aromatherapy trends and natural products movements. Their customers repeatedly requested American-made accessories to complement the fragrance products. The Hoopers started working with pewter to create incense burners and potpourri holders, discovering both market demand for quality American craft and personal fascination with the metalworking itself.

They began collecting antique pewter molds—the crucial tools that colonial pewterers created for specific designs and guarded jealously as proprietary assets. These molds, often made from bronze or brass, represent generations of refinement—designs that worked visually, cast cleanly, and pleased customers enough to justify the mold’s creation. By 2001, the fragrance business had become secondary to the pewter work. The Hoopers sold the fragrance operation and committed fully to Early American traditional pewter, establishing ASL Pewter as a comprehensive studio creating both traditional and contemporary pieces that are 100% lead-free, functional, and completely unique to their design and production.

The nearly 40-year timeline (beginning with fragrance business in mid-1980s, transitioning fully to pewter by 2001, continuing through 2025) represents the kind of sustained commitment that mastery requires. You don’t learn pewter techniques in weekend workshops. You learn through years of experimenting with alloy compositions, understanding how different tin-copper-antimony ratios affect workability and finished appearance, discovering which molds cast cleanly and which require constant adjustment, developing the hand-eye coordination for metal spinning on a lathe, and acquiring the judgment to know when a piece meets quality standards versus needing to be melted down and recast.

The Renaissance Faire circuit provided crucial market testing and reputation building. Renaissance Faires attract discerning collectors who understand period crafts, recognize quality work, and willingly pay appropriate prices for handcrafted items. The Faire community spreads word-of-mouth recommendations rapidly—exceptional craftspeople become known across the circuit while mediocre producers struggle to sustain business. The Hoopers’ success in this competitive marketplace validated their work and built the customer base that supported the transition to full-time pewter production.

White House Recognition and HBO’s John Adams

The quality and historical accuracy of ASL Pewter’s work earned the Hoopers an invitation to the White House during George W. Bush’s administration—recognition as premier American craftspeople worthy of presidential acknowledgment. The cherished photograph of Tom and Pat with First Lady Laura Bush hanging in their office represents more than personal pride. It’s external validation that their work meets the highest standards of American craft tradition, that the effort invested in mastering colonial techniques has produced results that national cultural arbiters recognize as significant.

The HBO miniseries John Adams (2008, starring Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams) represented different validation—filmmakers and production designers whose reputations depend on historical accuracy chose ASL Pewter pieces for on-screen use. Historical dramas face constant scrutiny from history enthusiasts, scholars, and eagle-eyed viewers who delight in spotting anachronisms. The pewter drinking vessels, candlesticks, and tableware visible in the miniseries needed to withstand high-definition camera scrutiny and pass inspection by consultants ensuring period accuracy. The fact that production designers turned to ASL Pewter demonstrates that the Hoopers’ pieces are visually indistinguishable from actual 18th-century pewter while meeting modern safety standards (lead-free) and production requirements (durable enough for filming, replaceable if damaged, available in sufficient quantities).

Seeing ASL Pewter in John Adams creates compelling marketing narrative: “The same pieces you’re holding in your hands appeared in the HBO miniseries about America’s second president.” That connection elevates the Hoopers’ work from “nice craft item” to “museum-quality reproduction trusted by Hollywood productions with multi-million-dollar budgets and obsessive attention to historical detail.”

The Techniques: Casting, Spinning, and Welding

ASL Pewter employs three primary metalworking techniques, each with colonial roots and specific applications:

Casting – The oldest and most fundamental metalworking technique. The process involves:

1. Melting pewter to liquid state (around 500°F)
2. Pouring molten metal into prepared molds
3. Allowing metal to cool and solidify
4. Opening molds and extracting castings
5. Finishing cast pieces (removing rough edges, polishing)

The Hoopers use antique molds they’ve collected over decades—each mold represents specific design (a particular tankard style, decorative plate border, candlestick base, etc.) developed by colonial craftspeople and refined through use. Modern pewter workers can create new molds through investment casting or 3D printing, but antique molds carry authenticity that reproduction tools cannot match. When you buy a cast piece from ASL Pewter, you’re often holding a design that’s 200+ years old, produced using molds that may have served colonial pewterers.

Metal Spinning – The Hoopers take measured, flat pewter discs and shape them over wooden forms on a metal spinning lathe. The lathe itself is historically significant—first put into service in 1873, originally water-powered and belt-driven, ASL Pewter was the first to electrify it, maintaining the tool while adapting it to modern power sources. The Hoopers cut their own wooden forms (called chucks) to desired shapes—drinking vessels, bowls, trays, serving pieces—then hold spinning tools against rotating pewter discs, gradually forming flat metal over the wooden chucks through pressure and heat friction.

Metal spinning creates seamless hollow forms impossible to achieve through casting alone. The technique requires remarkable hand-eye coordination—too much pressure tears the metal, too little fails to shape it, incorrect angles create wrinkles or folds, and poor technique produces lopsided vessels. Watching Tom or Pat spin pewter demonstrates mastery—their hands move confidently, the pewter flows smoothly, and finished pieces emerge symmetrical and thin-walled despite being formed from solid discs through nothing but pressure and rotation.

Welding – Joining separate pieces using pewter wire of exactly the same alloy as the casting and spinning alloys, heated with micro-torch. This is how stems attach to goblet bowls, how handles join tankard bodies, how decorative elements embellish finished pieces. Pewter welding requires delicate temperature control—hot enough to melt the wire and create strong joints, but not so hot that the underlying pewter distorts or melts through. The micro-torch allows precision work impossible with larger torches or soldering irons.

These three techniques—casting, spinning, welding—combine to create the complete pieces in ASL Pewter’s showroom. A tankard might have a cast body, spun lid, and welded handle. A goblet might feature spun bowl, cast stem, and cast foot welded together. A decorative plate might combine cast center medallion with spun rim and welded decorative elements. The integration of techniques demonstrates comprehensive mastery rather than single-skill competency.

The Studio Experience: Watch Pewter Being Made

ASL Pewter isn’t a retail shop with items made off-site—it’s an active working studio where you can watch Tom and Pat create pieces using the same techniques described above. Daily demonstrations (the shop is open 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM daily) let visitors observe:

• Pewter being melted in crucibles
• Molten metal poured into molds
• Finished castings extracted and cleaned
• Flat discs spun into hollow vessels on the 1873 lathe
• Handles welded onto tankard bodies
• Pieces polished to final finish

This transparency serves multiple functions. It proves the work is genuinely handcrafted rather than mass-produced and stamped with “handmade” labels. It educates visitors about metalworking processes most have never witnessed. It allows customization—watching the techniques helps customers understand what’s possible when commissioning custom pieces (“Can you make a tankard with my family crest?” becomes answerable when you’ve seen how casting and welding work). And it creates memorable experience that shopping in conventional stores cannot match—you’re not just buying a pewter piece, you’re taking home an object you watched being made by craftspeople who explained the process while demonstrating

Custom Work and Design Collaboration

ASL Pewter accepts custom commissions, allowing customers to bring specific ideas to life through collaboration with the Hoopers. Custom possibilities include:

• Corporate or organizational logos cast into pieces
• Family crests or heraldic designs
• Personalized engravings
• Unique size or proportion modifications to standard designs
• Entirely original pieces designed specifically for customer needs

The custom work capability distinguishes ASL from mass producers who offer only pre-designed catalog items. Want a tankard commemorating a specific event? A candlestick set matching your historic home’s period? A presentation piece incorporating organizational symbols? The Hoopers can likely create it, working directly with you to refine designs, select appropriate techniques, and deliver pieces that meet your exact specifications while maintaining the quality standards that earned them White House recognition and Hollywood employment.

The Savannah Cats: Unexpected Studio Companions

No description of ASL Pewter is complete without mentioning the two friendly Savannah cats who roam the showroom. These elegant felines (Savannahs are domestic cats bred with serval ancestry, creating large, spotted, dog-like cats) add charm to visits and happily accept gentle pets from admirers. The cats serve unofficial greeting committee, creating immediate warm atmosphere that contrasts with sterile retail environments. They also demonstrate the Hoopers’ personality—people who allow cats free run of a pewter studio are clearly comfortable, confident in their work’s durability, and prioritizing hospitable experience over rigid commercial formality.

Practical Information

Location: 183 South 3rd Street, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670

Hours: Daily 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM (demonstrations daily)

Contact: (573) 883-2095

Services:

• Daily demonstrations of pewter-making techniques
• Custom commissions (ask about bringing your ideas to life)
• Work by 60+ other American artists
• Knowledgeable hosts who explain techniques and history
• Functional, lead-free pewter safe for food and drink

What to Buy:

Traditional Pieces:

• Tankards (drinking vessels with handles)
• Plates and chargers
• Bowls and serving pieces
• Candlesticks
• Goblets and chalices

Contemporary Designs:

• Modern interpretations of historical forms
• Decorative items
• Custom commissioned pieces

Complementary Crafts:

• Pottery, jewelry, treenware, textiles by other American artists

For Whom:

• History enthusiasts seeking authentic reproductions
• Collectors of fine metalwork and American craft
• Gift shoppers wanting unique, meaningful items
• Historic homeowners furnishing period-appropriate interiors
• Reenactors needing accurate period pieces
• Anyone appreciating handcrafted work and traditional techniques

Why ASL Pewter Matters

In Sainte Geneviève, a town where history comes alive rather than being merely preserved, ASL Pewter Foundry represents something essential: a craft that colonial pewterers would recognize being practiced by modern artisans who’ve mastered the same techniques their predecessors used 250 years ago. The Hoopers aren’t recreating history—they’re continuing it, using antique molds and an 1873 lathe to create pieces that honor historical designs while meeting contemporary safety and quality standards.

When you hold ASL Pewter, you’re touching an object made using techniques passed down through generations, connecting directly to the colonial craftspeople who once plied their trade in towns like Sainte Geneviève. The weight, the finish, the subtle imperfections that prove human hands rather than machines shaped the metal—all communicate authenticity that mass production cannot fake.

Visit ASL Pewter Foundry at 183 South 3rd Street. Watch Tom and Pat work. Ask questions. Pet the Savannah cats. Commission a custom piece or select from completed inventory. And leave with a functional heirloom made by American craftspeople who’ve dedicated 40 years to keeping an ancient tradition alive in Missouri’s oldest town, where history isn’t just remembered but actively practiced by skilled hands doing work that matters.