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The final Farmers Market of 2025 for the City of Dripping Springs is set for Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. The market will return on Jan. 3.
This week, visitors have one last chance to grab some fresh produce, baked goods and other treats before the holidays. There are also vendors offering some holiday gift shopping.
One of those is Tolly’s Turnings, which is run by twin brothers Jimmy and Johnny Tolly. They craft all kinds of items, from platters and bowls to Christmas ornaments, bells, spinning tops and more.
Both brothers are Air Force veterans and long-time woodturning enthusiasts.
“We both have our own studios. He has his own lathe, and I have my own lathe. We do kind of different things, but we do things together, too,” Johnny said. “And because he’s had cancer and I just went through a bout with it, we help each other. It’s kind of hard for one person to do everything by themselves.”
Their woodturning hobby actually pre-dates their time in the Air Force.
“Back on the farm in Kansas, we had a little bit of lathe,” Johnny said. “We put a washing machine motor on it and we did little stuff.”
When Jimmy got out of the service and was living in Connecticut, he got into woodturning again. Johnny was stationed in Oklahoma, and also started woodworking. At first, neither knew that their twin was back into the hobby.
Eventually, the brothers both ended up in Texas, working for Motorola and crafting on the side.
“It’s kind of therapeutic to be able to get out into the studio and do some wood turning and stuff like that,” Johnny said.
When Jimmy got cancer and lost his hair, he decided to turn his hobby towards a good cause. He heard that there was a big need for wigstands for people, especially women, who had lost their hair due to chemotherapy.
“So I started making wigstands to donate to Texas Oncology,” Jimmy said. “So far, I donated I think like 1330.”
Last week he donated another 21, and he’s got another 20 or 30 in the works.
“It’s something I do all the time,” Jimmy said.
Johnny also helps out with the effort.
“We scrounge around, if you will, and if somebody’s got wood that’s usable, we will take it and then repurpose it into the wigstands and we donate those free to the ladies,” Johnny said. “It’s kind of a way for us to give back for humanity.”
At Christmas time, the twins add a few more items to their inventory for the season. Jimmy makes ornaments in the shape of Christmas trees and bells.
“Those are basically made from branches of trees,” Jimmy said. “I find something anywhere from 2 to 3 inches diameter, about 4 1/2 inches long, put it between centers, and then I turn what we call a tenon. That’ll be the handle part, and I hollow out the bell part, and then I reverse it and put it on a chuck and then shape the bell and the handle. The hard part is to put in a little eyelet to put the bell inside.”
Johnny’s specialty is elegant Christmas ornaments made with chopsticks and epoxy. He uses those same materials to craft spinning tops for the kids.
“It’s a toy for kids of all ages, and they do not need batteries,” Johnny said. “These kids learn how to spin them and they’ll have them for the rest of their life.”
They also take old 4x4 wood pieces and turn them into a Christmas tree craft for the kids.
“We paint them green, like a Christmas tree would be. And then we give those to the kids free and they’ll come in here and they’ll paint them,” Johnny said. “We do that every December for the kids to have something that they can do here and take home as a gift.”
The twins take great pride in repurposing used wood for their projects.
“The best part is to take a junk piece of wood and turn something beautiful, so instead of going into the burn pile or the trash, it’s turned into something useful,” Jimmy said.
Both Jimmy and Johnny are members of Central Texas Woodturners Association, which meets the third Tuesday of every month at American YouthWorks in Austin. They have a mentor program that’s open to adults of all ages, as well as to teens. To learn more, visit www.ctwa.org.
