spooky talk and kerf bent boxes...

This article on ancient American woodworking tools, has a small section kerf bent boxes as made by tribes in the Pacific Northwest. Using hand tools, they were made tight enough to hold boiling water and in a variety of sizes. This article also sheds light on the process.

I am planning my Tuesday morning introduction to woodworking for my 5 first grade students.

My wife and I went for a walk yesterday morning and the reason for my having dreamed that I was caring for a tiny baby in the wood shop became clear. Years ago I made a cradle of cherry that I later wrote an article about in Woodwork Magazine. The cradle became the one that my wife and I loaned out to friends, and the first child to have used it was the son of the founder of Clear Spring School. At this point, the cradle is once again on loan to the same person and her husband as they wait for the arrival of their first grandchild on or about September 15.

And so on  our walk, we ran into our friends unexpectedly and they turned about to walk with us for a ways as we caught up on each other's lives.

Is it too spooky for my readers to consider that the infant I dreamed about caring for in my school wood shop would be the first grandchild to sleep in the cradle I had made so many years before?

When we started the Wisdom of the Hands program at Clear Spring School in 2001, one of the goals was stated as being that of helping the children to understand the interconnectedness of all things. When your experience of the world grows from the touch outwards, and through the integration of all the senses, you begin to sense the world as an interconnected wholeness. From that vantage point, even the dream lives of separate persons can intertwine.

Make, fix and create...