In 1970, La Placita Fine Crafts was started by Rosalie Dunlap and Mickey Thomas in a small area at the west end of the Tunstall Store. Ralph Dunlap was the Lincoln County Extension Agent and the store was an offshoot of his work with the wool growers in the area. Wool was selling for 19 cents a pound and by spinning and weaving wool, the growers could show others the unique qualities of wool. Rosalie began spinning and weaving in order to teach the techniques to anyone who wanted to learn. Ralph, whose hobby was woodworking, turned his first spinning wheel from a Popular Mechanics pattern in 1972. He is currently working on his 50th spinning wheel. If you stop by the shop in Historic Lincoln, NM you can often find him still spinning on the 25th spinning wheel he made. He will tell you about the unique qualities of wool. Ralph will amaze you as he sits and spins wool into yarn and spins yarns to entertain you.

Rosalie and her friend Mickey Thomas then moved her shop to the Montano Store where as she was cleaning and getting the shop ready to move into, she fell from the vegas and lit on a cement floor 10 feet below.

In 1973, Ralph and Rosalie bought the Huff and Carbajal houses and began work to turn them into a home and the current shop.

Ralph served as County Extension Agent for 30 years, from 1952 to 1982. He and Rosalie spent 2 years (1979 to 1981) in Tunisia where Ralph was the Sheep Advisor and Rosalie continued spinning and weaving.

After Ralph's retirement, he began helping in the shop and when Rosalie turned her creative talents as a photographer into another career, Ralph began weaving. He became interested in the wool dyeing process and now dyes most of the wool he spins using natural dyes from local plants. His favorite is the dark bronze/brown he gets from using fresh green walnut leaves.