Mill’s LDA Creations Makes Memories
March 23, 2018
Crafts Items For Service Organizations, Governments
Daily News-Record 3-21-18 DAYTON — Silver Lake Mill got off to a rocky start, to say the least.
It was burned and rebuilt twice in a span of 15 years in the mid-1800s before making it as a working mill.
Once milling operations ceased, it sat vacant for a decade and fell into disrepair until the turn of the 21st century.
Now, the mill is home to LDA Creations, which crafts and designs items for governments, service organizations and individual people. Typically, it fills large wholesale orders of dinnerware or souvenirs, but sometimes takes small orders.
“At least once a month or so, a little old lady will call us up and say, ‘My church is celebrating its 125th anniversary’ or something like that,” co-owner Stan Farthing said. “A lot of times I’ll tell people, ‘We’ll sell you one plate for $300, but a dozen for $5 [each].’”
The Mill
The first mill on Silver Lake was constructed in 1822, according to LDA’s website. It burned in 1856 and was quickly rebuilt.
During the Civil War, the mill was burned again against the orders of Union Gen. Philip Sheridan, who was marching through the Valley in 1864.
Sheridan opted not to burn the mill because its owner at the time, Daniel Bowman, was a Unionist. The two reached an agreement and Bowman received documentation of it. But Gen. George Armstrong Custer, who famously died at the Battle of Little Bighorn against the Sioux 12 years later, burned the mill anyway.
Bowman was discouraged because the mill had been destroyed for the second time in such a short period. He didn’t want to rebuild it, but changed his mind at the behest of townsfolk who saw it as vital to the local economy.
The mill was last operated by Rockingham Milling Co., which ceased operations around 1990 after constructing a new facility near Harrisonburg.
The Business
Founder Cheryl Lyon said LDA started “by accident” in 1984, when she created a design for the Richmond Salvation Army’s Christmas ornaments.
“I was trying to do a favor for a friend,” she said.
By 1992, her side business had morphed into a full-time job. It was based out of Harrisonburg and outgrowing its space in the late 1990s, when Lyon heard about the mill.
Rockingham Milling Co. offered to donate the abandoned mill to the Harrisonburg- Rockingham Historical Society in the mid-1990s. The society saw it in a state of disrepair and wasn’t sure it could be salvaged.
Lyon, a member of the society’s board, thought it would be the perfect place for
her business and purchased it around 1999. Thus began her 18-month renovation project.
“I’m a history fan, and I just could not stand the thought of working inside a modern, metal building,” she said.
Three years ago, Lyon retired and transferred ownership of LDA to Stan and Candace Farthing.
The Designs
Customers approach the company with an idea that Candace Farthing will turn into a design. Some of those designs are turned into a decal that is placed on the object and inspected by workers. The item is then placed in a heater to fuse the decal. Other designs are etched using a laser cutter. Once the designs are finished, they’re inspected for imperfections. Items that don’t make the cut are sold in the store downstairs, which also has space for local artists to sell their work. The store also hosts workshops.
Some of LDA’s customers include Mount Vernon and Monticello. They’ve also filled orders for Georgia’sembassy to the U.S. “Usually, it’s a question of taking the art from the customer and modifying it in the way it needs to be modified so it will look right on whatever it wants to go on,” Stan Farthing said. “We do so many different things for so many different customers for so many different reasons via so many different processes and with so many different materials.”
Stan Farthing quickly summed up LDA’s business model.
“You could say,” he said, “we put images on objects for the purpose of making a memory.”
Jason Blomstrom lines up a screen printing machine on March 15 as he prints the black layer of water-slide decals at LDA Creations inside the Silver Lake Mill in Dayton. The business crafts and designs items for governments, service organizations and individual people. Typically, it fills large wholesale orders of dinnerware or souvenirs, but sometimes takes small orders.
Tabatha Shifflett, a production manager at LDA Creations, applies decals to pie birds while at work on March 15. LDA Founder Cheryl Lyon said the business started “by accident” in 1984, when she created a design for the Richmond Salvation Army’s Christmas ornaments.
Dorian Ward packages a custom order of pin trays for the Daughters of the American Revolution at LDA Creations on March 15.
Daily News-Record 3-21-18 DAYTON — Silver Lake Mill got off to a rocky start, to say the least.
It was burned and rebuilt twice in a span of 15 years in the mid-1800s before making it as a working mill.
Once milling operations ceased, it sat vacant for a decade and fell into disrepair until the turn of the 21st century.
Now, the mill is home to LDA Creations, which crafts and designs items for governments, service organizations and individual people. Typically, it fills large wholesale orders of dinnerware or souvenirs, but sometimes takes small orders.
“At least once a month or so, a little old lady will call us up and say, ‘My church is celebrating its 125th anniversary’ or something like that,” co-owner Stan Farthing said. “A lot of times I’ll tell people, ‘We’ll sell you one plate for $300, but a dozen for $5 [each].’”
The Mill
The first mill on Silver Lake was constructed in 1822, according to LDA’s website. It burned in 1856 and was quickly rebuilt.
During the Civil War, the mill was burned again against the orders of Union Gen. Philip Sheridan, who was marching through the Valley in 1864.
Sheridan opted not to burn the mill because its owner at the time, Daniel Bowman, was a Unionist. The two reached an agreement and Bowman received documentation of it. But Gen. George Armstrong Custer, who famously died at the Battle of Little Bighorn against the Sioux 12 years later, burned the mill anyway.
Bowman was discouraged because the mill had been destroyed for the second time in such a short period. He didn’t want to rebuild it, but changed his mind at the behest of townsfolk who saw it as vital to the local economy.
The mill was last operated by Rockingham Milling Co., which ceased operations around 1990 after constructing a new facility near Harrisonburg.
The Business
Founder Cheryl Lyon said LDA started “by accident” in 1984, when she created a design for the Richmond Salvation Army’s Christmas ornaments.
“I was trying to do a favor for a friend,” she said.
By 1992, her side business had morphed into a full-time job. It was based out of Harrisonburg and outgrowing its space in the late 1990s, when Lyon heard about the mill.
Rockingham Milling Co. offered to donate the abandoned mill to the Harrisonburg- Rockingham Historical Society in the mid-1990s. The society saw it in a state of disrepair and wasn’t sure it could be salvaged.
Lyon, a member of the society’s board, thought it would be the perfect place for
her business and purchased it around 1999. Thus began her 18-month renovation project.
“I’m a history fan, and I just could not stand the thought of working inside a modern, metal building,” she said.
Three years ago, Lyon retired and transferred ownership of LDA to Stan and Candace Farthing.
The Designs
Customers approach the company with an idea that Candace Farthing will turn into a design. Some of those designs are turned into a decal that is placed on the object and inspected by workers. The item is then placed in a heater to fuse the decal. Other designs are etched using a laser cutter. Once the designs are finished, they’re inspected for imperfections. Items that don’t make the cut are sold in the store downstairs, which also has space for local artists to sell their work. The store also hosts workshops.
Some of LDA’s customers include Mount Vernon and Monticello. They’ve also filled orders for Georgia’sembassy to the U.S. “Usually, it’s a question of taking the art from the customer and modifying it in the way it needs to be modified so it will look right on whatever it wants to go on,” Stan Farthing said. “We do so many different things for so many different customers for so many different reasons via so many different processes and with so many different materials.”
Stan Farthing quickly summed up LDA’s business model.
“You could say,” he said, “we put images on objects for the purpose of making a memory.”
Jason Blomstrom lines up a screen printing machine on March 15 as he prints the black layer of water-slide decals at LDA Creations inside the Silver Lake Mill in Dayton. The business crafts and designs items for governments, service organizations and individual people. Typically, it fills large wholesale orders of dinnerware or souvenirs, but sometimes takes small orders.
Tabatha Shifflett, a production manager at LDA Creations, applies decals to pie birds while at work on March 15. LDA Founder Cheryl Lyon said the business started “by accident” in 1984, when she created a design for the Richmond Salvation Army’s Christmas ornaments.
Dorian Ward packages a custom order of pin trays for the Daughters of the American Revolution at LDA Creations on March 15.
