A simple box

A simple box may have four sides and a top and bottom but are things really all that simple? There are a huge range of techniques involved as suggested by my students as they exercise their own creative inclinations. I will have a three day class in October.

I am currently working on a few  (28) boxes to sell though galleries and online.

Make, fix and create...

 

Three tiny Tiner

Three of my tiner arrived safely in Stavanger, Norway, while the ship replica of the Restauration, departed there for a voyage to America celebrating the immigration of Norwegians in America. The Restauration was the first ship carrying Norwegian families to America. This is the bi-centennial year. 

Tiner is the Norwegian plural of tine, meaning cheese box, and rather than them being used in the making of cheese as they once were, they've taken on a ceremonial role as gifts for weddings and special events. They are useful as well for keeping beautiful and useful things.

The tiny tiner are shown on a candle stand made from a piece of twice recycled Douglas Fir that had arrived in Stavanger as drift wood (a mast), then spent years as a barn timber before being crafted into a work of art.

The Restauration is expected to arrive in October.

Make, fix and create..

 

Today, happy 4th

In the shop I'm inlaying 27 boxes while out back folks are regrouting the flagstone patio, and playing ethnic music. I am thankful for skilled workers as we all could best be. How do we change things so that all would be afforded the dignity they deserve? Let's welcome all those who work to make the world and their own (for it is ours too) a better place.

Otto Salomon had suggested that the manual training Sloyd had two effects. One was economic in that it made us better workers. A second effect was formative, meaning that it had more general effects in making us more human. For that reason, it was offered to all people, including those going on to advance degrees, or jobs in religion or politics, for it would generate a respect for all labor, and sense to assess whether or not it was suitable work. As John Ruskin had said, Plane a plank or level a brick in its mortar and you'll have learn things that the lips of man could never tell. Though here, I'm making a feeble attempt  to tell.

Are you worried about the world? Do something about it. 

Make, fix and create...

twice the effect

The hands play a particularly important role in the development of human intelligence in that they are both sensory and active. We see and hear and that's basically the end of things for some folks. We might see something or hear something and be changed within, but the hands have the power to change the external reality of things. We touch and things are disrupted and transformed by our touch. 

If the purpose of schooling is only superficial, we do that quite well. If we are looking for deeper effect, we know how, and that is to make certain that the hands are engaged creatively in learning... that they are allowed to respond creatively with the hands to what the other senses have allowed them to feel.

ESSA, our Eureka Springs School of the Arts, has become one of my happy places because it is full of people learning to their deepest effect and are happily transformed be the experience. We may grow tired, and frustrated on occasion but the joy of creation wins out. We do things that we did not know that we could do, and in the process make the world a better place.

The photograph is the work of a friend and Arkansas Treasure, Hank Kaminsky. The words spell peace in a number of world languages, and as the globe spins  our hands and fingers tell us we are living with the same hopes. 

Make, fix and create...

small cabinets

I finished a five day class on making small cabinets at ESSA despite having had a stroke on December 1. It was a test for me of both endurance and temperament with it being the first 5 day class post stroke.

Fortunately my students were both productive and forgiving. A number of small cabinets in various student designs were made.

Make, fix and create...

Why woodworking can be a political act

This is an attempt to explain why woodworking is a political act.

A democracy cannot endure if a large segment of its population is denied access to education which has relevance and meaning to its life. . . . This is one of the reasons why we must provide vocational education. What is more important, it is one of the reasons why we must have a valid conception of what vocational education is and what it isn’t. – John Dewey, 1919

A 2024 article titled “AI, Misinformation, and Manual Training," by noted woodworker Doug Stowe claims that eliminating shop class and  related courses teaching a mix of manual and mental skills has left today’s students without the tools they need to combat misinformation in an age of artificial intelligence. Stowe’s argument is persuasive, and he makes it based on broad learning from texts ancient to modern plus decades of teaching woodworking at a progressive school in northwest Arkansas and blogging about the experience.— From a paper by Connie Goddard, "Lessons on Industrial Education." 

In some situations folks are insufficiently experienced to see their connections with others. One of the primary lessons of Frobel's original Kindergartens.

Tomorrow I begin a five day class in making small cabinets. The photo is from my book about making small cabinets. 

Make, fix and create...

I was asked...

In response to a reader question, these are the next steps in making inlaid boxes. I cut stock at about a 6 degree angle so the lids will be of sufficient depth at the back edge for the hinges, but sufficiently thin at the front edge. It would be bulky design-wise if not cut and the angle adds interesting effects to the box. The process also allows for cutting two lids at the same time from the original stock. Thrift comes into play. 

Next, I'll inlay the pieces of walnut and linden using the patterned stock I'd prepared in earlier steps. (These are shown in the photo and in my books.) 

I was asked to leave politics out of my posts. All things are political in nature, including the choices we make in the woodshop. We try to make things that are beautiful, useful, and lasting in the hopes that they will live beyond our times and be beautiful, useful and lasting in subsequent generations. That's political. We may not aways be successful. That's where forgiveness comes in. Self then others. 

 Make, fix and create...

Yesterday and next steps...

Yesterday I cut the mortise and tenon joints for 27 inlaid boxes, using the tablesaw and router table. The joints are barely visible in the finished box, but have lasting effects. The joints and floating panel bottoms (also prepared) will give the boxes (if cared for) a long life. Next I will cut and inlay the lids.

Make, fix and create...