Today with the Diablo Woodworkers, we cut more mortises in the front legs, arms and seat sides. Our discussion of furniture design was very animated in the morning, and it was exciting for me to see such enthusiasm. Tomorrow evening I'll meet with a group of woodworking teachers and educators to help stimulate some interest in working with the Diablo club to create an area high school woodworking competition. As you may know, I do love the opportunity to discuss the relationship between the hands and learning. Keep your fingers crossed please that the discussion helps to build confidence in the value of woodworking programs in schools. The photos above were taken in today's class

We had a busy day at the Diablo Adult Education center working on children's rockers. We started the morning with lecture and discussion of furniture design and had fun with the golden proportion detectors. At this point, the students are designing and carving the backs for their chairs. Most have the rockers shaped and we are beginning to cut the mortises in the back legs. In the photos shown below are students at work and a view of the fine woodworking facility.

I am in Walnut Creek California, preparing for my class with Diablo Woodworkers to start in the morning. One thing about our computer age... there are times when we love computers for what they do, and then there are other times when they remind us of our humanity, vulnerability and dependence on others. I had burned a CD with my PowerPoint presentation, labeled what I thought was the right disc, put it in my laptop case and flew to California with a blank CD and leaving the important one unlabeled on my desk. My wife, daughter, FedEx-Kinko and hosts Bob and Missy Barnett came through to save the day and saved me and my class from having to discuss design without necessary visual aids. At this point, I am feeling relieved, but know my psychic well-being is sustained by the love of family and friends. Whew. A relief. But it is always good to be reminded of such things.

Today, Bob, Missy and I took a drive to the top of Mount Diablo, the nearby mountain that gives the Diablo Woodworkers its name. It doesn't look like such a large mountain when you are below, but the journey up the winding road puts many things in perspective, and the view from the top is breath-taking.

I am leaving this afternoon for my week-long class with the Diablo Woodworkers. The Diablo Woodworkers set a great example for the role that local woodworkers can play in a renewal of hands-on learning in schools. In preparation for my box making class with Diablo Woodworkers last year, the club adopted a local high school wood shop and did a complete cleaning, and restoration of the facility involving over 1000 hours of volunteer time from club members. My class was the first to use the restored facility with freshly sanded benches, fresh paint, clean, well organized closets and cabinets and sharp tools. When school administrators and school boards see this kind of community support, they get the message!

I will try to post some photos of this year's class as it proceeds through the week. The photo below is from last year's Ygnacio Valley High School Woodshop renovation.

This week at ESSA, in addition to the flute making, we had classes in water color painting, found object sculpture and jewelry making. Photos are shown at left and below:

On Saturday I leave for the San Francisco Bay area of California to teach a class with the Diablo Woodworkers. Since part of the class will be about furniture design, I'm offering you a bit of stay-at-home self study. The device shown gluing at left and completed below is to examine the world of manufactured or hand made things in search of the golden proportion. The golden proportion is commonly discussed as a means to design greater beauty (even perfection) in the making of objects. Hold the stick between the eye and the object being examined. By moving the stick until the edges of the window align with the edges of the object, you can see if the object was made consciously or unconsciously to the golden proportion. It has to be held and viewed dead-on to work. It should be a fun experiment. To make your own Golden Proportion Detector, cut spaces 1/2" x 1.618" in two pieces of equal length stock. Glue those together as shown in the photo above, then cut that into thin pieces as shown below. A single gluing will make enough Golden Proportion Detectors for you and 3 friends to join in the fun.

The students in Jim Pesek's flute class at Clear Spring School are working on their second flutes with the intention of having them finished for tomorrow's show. The photo at left is a finished flute with buffalo effigy tuner. Two grey foxes have been showing themselves to the students regularly in the woods behind the woodshop. A good omen for delight in working with the hands and heart. Is there spirit in the work of the hands? There are many who would deny such things. There are some who argue that we need formal prayer in our schools, and the hands stilled and held in supplication. To them I suggest that the spirit of discovery required in eduction is not a matter of preaching, control and mindless recitation, but of the direct use of the hands to engage the heart in learning.

The following is from Azby Brown, Director of the KIT Future Design Institute in Japan and is copied from the introduction of Volume 2 of the Future Design Journal. If you want to know more about Azby Brown, search for him as an author on Amazon.com

Our humanity is closely held in our hands. In their functional detail, the degree to which they are cognitively integrated with our brains, and the cultural significance which has accrued to them over millennia of evolution, our hands distinguish us from other animals. They allow us a peculiarly intense means of exploring our world and lend us identity. They are communicative and manipulative, demonstrative and inquisitive, and in addition to giving us knowledge about the external world, they enhance our knowledge of ourselves. Particularly, they are a means of action.

Take the simple act of peeling an apple as an example: our hands sense the weight of the apple, its temperature, wetness, smoothness. They sense the resistance of the apple to the blade, and must rotate the apple as it is cut, requiring fine coordination of the fingers of each hand, the wrists, and the forearm. Because the actual point of contact between the blade and the apple is likely concealed under the peel being removed, the most immediate information about the progress and accuracy of the cut are received through tactile sensations, as friction and the textured rhythm transmitted through the blade to the handle of the knife and thence to our fingertips and palm. We detect moisture, and we obtain a very clear sense of the complex curvature of even the obscured areas of the apple's surface. Our hands are perfectly designed to obtain a deluge of useful information from something like an apple, and to manipulate it skillfully; when performing this kind of action our hands speak to us very clearly and unambiguously.

Until the dawn of the industrial era, our hands were in constant contact with either natural objects with which the human hand had co-evolved and so were sensorially suited --plants, stones, other animals -- or items made from natural materials and which still possessed many natural characteristics.

People the world over know the significance of the hands in learning and the development of the world's culture. It is tribute to the stupidity of education that we seem to do nothing about it. In pure foolishness we continue to ignore our primary means of engaging the hearts of our children in learning.

Jim Pesek's ESSA students have been busy this week in the Clear Spring School wood shop. Each has finished a first flute and has started another. Two are shown in the photos at left and below. If you have never learned anything like this, you have no idea of the pride students and teacher feel at this moment. If you have done something of this sort with your hands, you may feel inclined to get busy and maybe teach others. Sharing and putting to use what you have learned is consummation of learning. It is the line that separates those who are smart from those who who express wisdom.

I have a box article in the Sept. 07 issue of Woodcraft Magazine. The photo from the contents age is shown below. The boxes are made using a conventional bandsawn box technique, and using barrel type hinges installed using my "flipping story stick" technique which allows top and bottom holes to be perfectly aligned.

This week in the Clear Spring School woodshop, we have an ESSA class on making cedar native American flutes. Flute maker, Jim Pesek is leading his class in the making of two flutes which they hope to have finished by the end of the week. The photos at left and below show some rough blanks and examples that Jim brought for display to the class, and a student carving the effigy tuning piece.

Greg Mitchell sent me the photo below from his class on making rustic furniture with kids, a class from the Eureka Springs School of the Arts held in the Clear Spring School woodshop. Luke, a Clear Spring High School sophomore helped as Greg's assistant, and made furniture of his own in the afternoon class. The photo was taken by Peggy Kjelgaard, ESSA director.

I want to mention the value of living in a small, vibrant community. As a point of comparison, the publisher of Harry Potter books, Scholastic Press in New York City had a celebration of the release of the last book in the series. Their celebration offered little more than juggling and face painting in a city of millions.

Here in Eureka Springs, our small Carnegie Library was turned into Hogwarts using a staff of about 25 costumed volunteers. Over 300 citizens of all ages from many of the surrounding communities attended. I can't possibly tell all the many details, but believe me, there was much more than juggling and face painting. It's what happens when an active citizenry takes their love of libraries and love of reading seriously and adds the work of their hands to the feelings in their hearts.

Several of the activities were "hands-on" from making magic wands to magical creatures painted and converted from rocks.

I can try to describe the value of living in a small, hand-crafted community. I can allude to it. I can show you photos. I can even tell you how to build one yourself. Few have the patience for it. It helps to start when you are young. You may be lucky and get to live in one carefully constructed by others for generations. Unless you have lived in a place like Eureka Springs and made an investment of some part of your life in it, you will never fully understand.

I just got back last night from the Stowe family reunion in Idaho. We had a great time, but Jean, Lucy and I weren't able to stay the whole week. Tonight is the big Harry Potter Party at our local Carnegie Public Library. The 1910 limestone building, the adjoining community rooms, side alleys and adjacent park have been converted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and hundreds of children and adults will attend. My wife and her fellow librarians have been preparing for weeks and after arriving home very late last night, we were off to an early start this morning to finish the decorating and many last minute details.

The letter that follows is my response to an inmate from the Indiana Penitentiary, telling me his story and asking for guidance in becoming a box maker.

I am so grateful that early in my life, I received encouragement in working with my hands, and letters like the one I received remind me of my many blessings.

Dear Allen,

Thank you for your letter. I’m glad the box making has you thinking about your future, and I hope you find success. You are right that set-up and careful planning can help box making to be more efficient and possibly even profitable, provided you have established a market for your work. It seems that for most woodworkers, that is the hardest part, and if boxes were easier to sell at a good price, there would be a lot more competition (and there is plenty of competition as there is.)

It sounds as though you could use a basic introduction to general woodworking, like you would have found in the high school class that you dropped out of years ago. Unfortunately, our system of education doesn’t do very well at showing us the relevance of what we are being taught. Patience is one of the most important things we can learn, and sanding a block smooth by hand is a valuable thing, as it can help us to understand the qualities of the material. Anyone can stick a board into a planer and have it come out relatively smooth, or at least smoother than it went in. Understanding wood grain will guide the craftsman to better results regardless of the tool used, whether hand or power, and I wish at this point of your arising interest, that you had seen your way clear to understand the value of what was being offered.

I assume that you don’t have any opportunities in the Indiana penitentiary to learn woodworking skills. The jointer and planer serve similar but different functions. The jointer is used to flatten and straighten a side or edge of lumber. The planer is used to provide uniform thickness and smoothness to stock. It won’t flatten or straighten stock, so you can think of the jointer and planer as a one-two punch.

There are many good woodworking books that will provide a more basic foundation for your work than my books on box making. A small box can be as complicated and as difficult to make as a large piece of furniture. My best advice is to start simple. There are hundreds of small products you can make. Use your interest in woodworking to express love and sincerity for your work, and you may find others willing to buy what you make and enable your growth.

I have to warn you that self-employment isn’t easy. It requires you to wear lots of hats, and some may not be the best fit. You might look for employment in a cabinet shop upon your release. You may not make the highest wages, but you will have put yourself in a position to learn. Give it your best. Remember that patience is a skill that has to be learned and practiced over and over. People often use “lack of patience,” as an excuse, but when you really care about the outcome of things, you will find patience for what you do. And we either live shallow in the broad surface of life, or we dive deep. Diving deep requires patience, repetition, a bit of bravery, and deep caring about results.

Very best wishes,

Doug

Yesterday, we went on the traditional Stowe family hike. My cousin Russell usually does research and plans a manageable destination. Today’s hike was supposed to be moderate difficulty, and as a cousin Michael said, yes, the trail was moderate in the same way George W. Bush is a “moderate” Republican.

Most of us found it challenging to the knees and thighs, as it was all uphill in one direction, much of the time steep, and then back over the same path. This has nothing to do with furniture design or the wisdom of the hands, right? If you have been reading the blog for some period of time, you will know it really does.

The photo above is of a waterfall found on the journey up. The lake below was our beautiful destination. The hike is always a time to discuss our lives and the world and culture we live in… the connections we feel despite living in different parts of the US and despite coming from different generations. Furniture design and the wisdom of the hands are not unrelated to the broad expressions of human culture and to the time in which we live.

Today I took an excursion boat with my family from our place on Lake Coeur D’Alene to the City of Coeur D’Alene, and spent a couple hours walking between galleries in my exploration of selling prices of boxes. I found nothing comparable to examine. It’s not that my boxes are incomparable, but that the shopping was limited. The galleries were promoting “fine art,” which usually means work with little utilitarian value. In fact, the less utilitarian value an object may have, the greater the likelihood that it will become labeled “art.”

I did find one shop of particular interest, an antique store specializing in western antiques, including items from the American Indians and the western cowboy culture. There was nothing in the shop that wasn’t hand-made, and from a time in which things were made with a greater level of human attention… kind of like box making when it is done at its best. Best about my visit to this shop was that a fellow woodworker, Bill Foster, was manning the shop and attending to customers. Woodworkers, perhaps more than most other people in our current society know the significance of working with their hands.

We live in an age in which most people come to an understanding of the value of objects through comparative shopping. Woodworkers and other makers of beautiful things tend to look through a different set of eyes and experience. We often marvel at how things are made, we look at things with a greater curiosity, and because we often see the challenges involved, we may understand and appreciate work completely beyond economic variables.

I mentioned the importance of family in the encouragement of a craftsman’s work. Above and below are a couple photos of work done for my family. The walnut table above was made early in my career for my Aunt Wuzzie. The cherry table, chairs and sideboard below were made for my cousin Mary Lou and her husband Michael. This set was featured in articles in Woodworker’s Journal in 1995.

I am in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho this week for a family reunion. This place is beautiful, and as I write this, I’m sitting in a balcony overlooking the lake as shown in the photos at left and below. Our Stowe family reunions were started by my grandfather in the late 1940’s and have happened every other year since then. Now instead of meeting in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, my father’s family home, we meet in beautiful resort areas for a week to enjoy each other’s company and see a bit of the beauty of various parts of the US.

It is wonderful meeting with family every two years and feeling the impact and support that they offer. While this may seem unrelated to the subject of furniture design, please believe me when I say it is not. I grew up in a house full of antiques that came from the Stowe family. The homes of my aunts and uncles were full of family heirlooms collected and distributed by my Aunt Allene.

Everything that we are has the opportunity to become expressed through our work with wood, and my own career as a craftsman and furniture maker has received the support and encouragement of my family.

The photo at left shows the rocking chair design we will be making with the Diablo Woodworkers. I made the first of these for a Leather shop in Eureka Springs during the mid 1980's. They were used in a reading area designed to keep the children occupied as their parents shopped. I wrote an article about making this chair which was published in Woodwork Magazine, April 2002.

I will be teaching a class with the Diablo Wood Workers in California in two weeks on Furniture design and the making of a child's rocking chair and will be using the blog to prepare. Design has always interested me, particularly as it relates to personal creativity. The drawing at left, and the essay below are from my first book Creating Beautiful Boxes With Inlay Techniques and are my attempt to explain the sources of personal inspiration. In essence, inspiration is the first step in the process of design and I hope that this essay helps in the beginnings of our exploration.

RELATIONSHIPS

The drawing above shows a complex set of relationships, within which each of us as a woodworker is unique. We approach our work from a particular focus or set of values. While one of us may be very focused on his tools and the enjoyment he derives from having and using them, another woodworker may be more interested in the materials he uses; still another may be thinking of a small business to supplement his income, or of finding a way of having nice things in the home without having to pay so much for them, and the pride of accomplishment. I am not implying that any particular focus is correct. I believe that we can become better woodworkers by becoming better acquainted with ourselves as woodworkers, knowing our own values enough to establish a more confident direction in our work, and to thereby express more of our own natures in the work we do with wood. We also differ in levels of motivation, self-confidence and experience. Opportunity (in the drawing) is my way of describing the encouragement we receive from our environment to do our work. For an amateur, this encouragement may be a spouse or grandchildren with a long list of desires, encouraging our time in the shop and allowing our purchase of the tools and materials necessary for our work. It might take the form of being given the opportunity to work with a particularly rare and beautiful piece of wood, or of finding and falling in love with an ancient band saw, or being given an old plane. For the professional, opportunity could take the form of a market for one's work, providing enough economic return and encouragement to continue. Each woodworker also finds himself or herself in a relationship between tradition and innovation. Tradition is the relationship with other woodworkers, past or present, the way things are done or were done. Innovation is the relationship with the unknown and vast uncharted world of possibilities. It is ironic that today, with the widespread use of the router to do every conceivable woodworking operation, it has become innovative to learn what was traditional in woodworking, the use of hand planes and other non-electrical woodworking tools, It is in the balance between tradition and innovation that real creativity takes place. True creativity is not the result of trying to be different, but of allowing one's own unique values within the complex matrix of relationships to be expressed in one's work. It might come from a woodworker's special relationship with a species of wood, or a particular method of work or with a favorite tool. It can center around one's special loving relationship for a wife or girlfriend, or around a personal interest outside the shop-like hunting or fly-fishing. These connections empower our work and give it greater meaning. Woodworking is not something that takes place only in the isolation of our garages and
Work shops. It is an expression of the complex relationships with the worlds of nature, technology, fellow woodworkers, our friends and family, and even with the growth and discovery of ourselves.