The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 14

The News and Observer Saturday, September 1, 1979, page 14 PEOPLE In his mind, every one's an heirloom By JANE A. WELCH Staff Writer WATHA Ka-ching. Kaching. Faster and faster. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

The sound gathered momentum like a train pulling out of the station. Charles Schoonmaker never hesitated, never looked up. Hammer and chisel flew over the sheet of tin with a ping each time a hole was punched. Quicker than most folks can buckle their bootstraps, Schoonmaker had punched holes in concentric circles. He shrugged off the accomplishment.

punching a couple hundred thousand of these things," he said, "you get used to doing it." Schoonmaker punches tin or copper sheets with family shields, flowers, chickens or the circles and swirls of his own design. The punched sheets then become panels for pie safes, window shutters or bread boxes. Bent and shaped, they become Paul Revere lanterns or candleholders. Some people might call him a tinsmith and Schoonmaker often does to avoid confusion but his proper title is whitesmith. Tin isn't the only metal he works with.

A blacksmith, the fellow who fits horseshoes, works in heavy iron, cast iron and steel. A goldsmith, naturally, works in gold; a silversmith, in silver. Other metals works other metals: A whitesmith copper and brass. There's not many whitesmiths around anymore. Whitesmithing is a Yankee custom, which accounts for the scarcity of whitesmiths in the South.

Technology has accelerated the demise of the whitesmith. Machines can punch the metal quicker and, fortunately for Schoonmaker, without any thought to originality. A machine punches thousands of perfectly cloned panels for pie safes, antique food cabinets common before refrigerators. Schoonmaker can't make any two alike. "If I had to do a thousand just alike I'd go bazooka," he said.

Schoonmaker takes pride in working metals the same way Paul Revere and his ilk did. "I always say I'm not making a reproduction. I'm making an heirloom," he said. "I don't want it where every single one looks like a GM showroom." Schoonmaker, with wire-rim glasses and longish hair curled over his ears, resembles a colonial craftsman. A tiny electric fan stirring the humid air in the workshop off the garage was the only tool not handpowered.

Schoonmaker's tools belong to the pre-electric days. People go for items with the little imperfections that says they're handmade, unique as a fingerprint. "If something is perfect, I can't give it away," he said. "It's got to be nice, but not too nice." Schoonmaker strives to tailor his design to the buyer. Whether it's the family's the alma mater's shield, Schoonmaker aims for the personalized touch.

He also wants what he makes to be used. make things that are not just decorative, bout said. are "I very really utilitarian, stress that." too," SchoonmakSome of these decorative but useful items include a roasting oven for the fireplace, kitchen cabinet panels, interior window shutters (to replace drapes) and cookie cutters. Cutting pastime The tips of Schoonmaker's thumbs have been scraped white with small shreds of dead skin a problem Revere and anyone else who cuts metal with their hands knows. "I have more Band-Aids than folding money," Schoonmaker said, patting his wallet.

"This can really cut you up." In his 8-to-5 job, Schoonmaker is a counselor at two junior high schools in Pender County. The whitesmith work is strictly a hobby, and he wants to keep it that way. He picked up his first chisel the Christmas after he got married 10 years ago. The idea was to make Christmas gifts since the Schoonmakers couldn't afford the storebought variety. Their family liked the candleholders; their friends liked them and asked for more.

Soon Schoonmaker found himself in demand as a whitesmith. The Schoonmakers started going to craft fairs in 1969, before the craft movement shifted out of first gear. Betty Schoonmaker would bring her handpainted Christmas ornaments. "We've been in at the very beginning of this movement," Mrs. Schoonmaker said.

"We went to one show when only two other (craftsmen) showed up." That hasn't happened in a long time. The Schoonmakers have gotten particular about which craft shows they participate in. Their first criterion is that the show must be free to the public. "I don't want people to feel like they do when they go in Belk's," Schoonmaker said, "where you feel compelled to buy." Schoonmaker sells a medium-sized Revere lantern for $25. "You figure it took me 18 hours labor," Schoonmaker said, "and you see I'm not making the minimum wage." Prices for special-orders vary.

The Schoonmakers will be showing their wares today and Sunday at the Piney Woods Festival in Hugh McRae Park in Wilmington. You can contact Charles Schoonmaker at The Tinker's Dam, Rt. 1 Box 430, Watha, N.C. 28471. Charles Schoonmaker punches out a lantern top of tin Resume should highlight strengths, hide Third of six parts Choose a resume style that headlines your strengths and hides your faults.

0 Most familiar is the chronological format. Beginning with your most recent job or education, your background is arranged in reverse order of time showing dates and employers. This approach is shrewd for individuals who have a steady, upward track record but poor for those with gaps or reverses in their history. While this model permits highlighting of accomplishments and skills, it takes special care to construct without clutter. The functional format groups what you offer by function such as budgeting, purchasing or personnel management without regard to time sequence or where you Pair recalls day the money ended DETROIT (AP) Barbara Singleton doesn't go to the hairdresser any more and she and her husband wash their two cars themselves.

Their evening drives are now on bicycles. Annie Boozer couldn't take a vacation this summer. Instead, she and her two sons go on picnics and to the movies and "stick close to home." The women are two of some 28,000 auto workers laid off from their jobs at Chrysler among more than 70.000 indefinitely furloughed from the "Big companies in the current sales slump. They agree that until this week, staying home wasn't bad. They had state unemployment and Supplemental Unemployment Benefit checks coming in.

Together, the two programs give auto workers about 95 percent of what they would have brought home in their paychecks. But last week, the fund at Chrysler where more than one in four production employees have been laid off, far more than elsewhere suspended payments to workers with less than 10 years seniority. The company must cut benefits under the contract when the fund gets low so that something will be left for high-seniority workers in case they get laid off. Ms. Boozer is losing $101 a week and Mrs.

Singleton is losing $103. That's about half of their weekly layoff income. But the effect of the suspension varies, and the two households illustrate just how much: The Singletons are cutting corners; Ms. Boozer is Staff photos by Harry Lynch Completed Paul Revere lantern weaknesses Careers By Joyce Lain Kennedy because gained each competency not listed. The functional resume than merely reporting deals in transferable trying to sell her house.

"I'm learning to economize," Mrs. Singleton said. "Our lifestyle was based on two checks coming in. It's quite a change when you can't count on two of them anymore." Mrs. Singleton, who says she's "in her 40s," worked as an assembly line supplier at the Warren truck plant for seven years and escaped the massive 1975 layoffs.

Of her three daughters, two are grown and living away. Her husband is a construction worker who is laid off for three months every winter. There are no SUB payments for him. The daughter at home, Linda, 21, was forced to move out of her $800- per-semester dormitory room at Eastern Michigan University and move back home. Her carpool 25 miles each way will cost less than the dorm rent.

Do-it-yourselfer Beaming with pride, Mrs. Single- ton showed a visitor her freshly painted, fastidiously kept living room. "I painted it myself this year and saved $275," she said. She said not taking the two cars to the car wash and doing her own hair saves about $70 a month. "My husband and I went to a flea market the other day and bought a $15 bicycle for him," said Mrs.

Singleton, who already had her own bicycle. "I used to cook every day, using the oven and stove. Now I use my three pressure cookers more to save gas. I find that a roast that takes three or switching careers. And by selectively focusing on your qualifications, the functional style downplays irrelevant jobs, spotty work records, career reversals.

Disadvantages: It can be confusing and may make an employer suspicious of your past. A model that works well for maximizing scant work experience is the concept resume, a slight variation of the functional style. If a real difference exists, it is that the concept approach combines elements of several experiences paid and unpaid under one function or skill. Suppose you are a young person who has worked as a camp counselor and hospital volunteer. Under a heading of "sales experience," you could say "worked in a hospital gift store and summer camp canteen; doubled monthly sales at canteen." 0 For many job seekers, a hybrid format, the best of chronological and functional, is the resume of choice: A functional summary tops a chronological resume.

A functional resume is followed by a brief chronological page with dates, employers, addresses and capsules of assignments. A single page begins with functional groupings followed by chronological documentation. Speaking of a single page, that's the length most counselors advise. But less dogmatic experts, such as Washington resume consultant Phoebe Taylor, says your resume should be as long as needed, to get your message across concisely with zip and punch. Monday: What goes in your resume.

1979 Suburban Features dates and employers are shouts what you skills, it is what you can do rather have done. Because it particularly useful for The Associated Press Annie Boozer no vacations four hours in the oven only takes 45 minutes in the pressure cooker." Ms. Boozer, 32, is an inspector at the Warren stamping plant for nine years and was laid off for seven months during the last big slump. She is separated from her husband and said she will have to find "whatever I can" if she is not called back by the end of September. She now shops for sales, both in food and clothing, and expects that "once the boys are outfitted for school, clothes will be cut out completely." Her sons are 11 and 13.

A "For Sale" sign sits on the tiny lawn of her modest two home. She said she hopes find another home. Her sons, she said, tell playmates go to the show today. Momma 'idn't get her Woman's depressed about her chronic case of flapping jaws Dear Ann Landers: My husband and I are a very average couple. Why we get invitations I don't know, but we do get a few.

But after an evening out, I am always depressed. For example: This morning I am asking myself, why did I talk the ear off a man I know only slightly? I went on and on about my children, their lives, my life, etc. That poor guy must have been bored to death and glad when the dinner ended. Sometimes I talk to another woman whoever is stuck with me and I always talk too much. I try to psych myself up before we leave the house.

I tell myself, "This time, dummy, listen!" I start out fine, but if I happen to get with someone who is not much of a talker and I'm asked a question, off I go, telling more than I should, certainly more than anyone wants to hear. It's not that I never get to talk except at parties; I do have a couple good friends and I talk them to death. I'm so mad at myself I could cry. 1 I am crying. That's why I'm writing.

How can I learn to shut up? Why, when someone listens politely, do I have to talk, talk, talk? Mary Lou Dear Mary Lou: Many people talk because they find silence embarrassing. Others talk because they're afraid if they don't, people will think they are stupid. Clip this column and carry it in your purse. When you feel yourself going off on a verbal binge, go to a powder room and read it. I hope it helps.

Dear Ann Landers: I am eight years old and already I am writing to you with a problem. Since I was very young I have been saving pennies. I now have more than 1,000 pennies saved up. My mother said she is going to put them in the bank. I don't want her to because I like to play with my pennies.

I would miss them. Please say you are on my side. It would help. Waiting To Hear Ann Landers Dear Waiting: A thousand pennies is $10. If you put them in a savings account the bank will pay you interest.

This is a good way to make money. Also, money kept at home can be stolen. So find something else to play with, honey, and ask your mother to take the pennies to the bank. I am glad you wrote because a lot of adults can use the same advice. Dear Ann Landers: Our daughter is 16.

We cannot afford to buy her many clothes, but what we do get is of good quality. They should last a long time, but they don't. The problem: Our big-hearted daughter is forever loaning her clothes to friends. They keep the garments for weeks and she usually ends up going after them. Several blouses, sweaters, dresses and skirts have been washed improperly and have faded or shrunk.

Many of her better things have been torn. I have pleaded with her to say no when friends ask if they can borrow her clothes, but she can't seem to do it. Is there a solution to this costly problem? A Mother Who Can't Get Through Dear Mother: Advise your daughter that from now on she must tell anyone who asks to borrow clothes that her parents won't allow it. Period. If the girl were paying for her own things it would be different.

Since she is not, you have every right to forbid her from lending her wardrobe. Send questions to Ann Landers, P.O. Box 11995, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Field Newspaper Syndicate.