This little Scottie Dog stores my pen making supplies. He has wheels and his head opens for additional storage and it even swivels around.
Every once in a while I stray from woodworking. This is painted on a sheet of aluminum. Typically barn quilts are hung outdoors but this one will still indoors.
15 feet tall. Rudy poops peeps and candy corn and his nose lights up during the winter evenings.
Flamingo, Moose, Giraffe, Woodpecker, Horse, Ostrich, Panda, Dog, Sheep, Cardinal, Sloth, Cat and Squirrel ready to drive a Jeep, Subaru or VW Bug
Made from Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Quartersawn Sycamore and other woods.
My two year old nephew needed a boost to wash his hands so I went to work building a three step folding step stool. We actually measured by holding him up to the sink and discovered he required at least 20 inches in height to comfortably scrub off the grime. This brought up a concern for the tiny toddler’s safety so the solution was to make a stool with sides. He loves penguins so I sketched a penguin shape and enlarged it to 34 inches tall. Three steps at a 7 inch rise left plenty of room for the neck and head of the penguin to serve as protective sidewalls. Several peeps thought it was a duck so I decided to clear-coat it. That way, it is whatever they think it is.
One of my most ambitious, and slightly insane, projects was this glass display case made from oak and purple heart. I wanted something unique to display props and various items I managed to snag from Amber Benson’s independent film, “Lovers, Liars and Lunatics”. Due to the limited “flat space” it didn’t hold as much as I’d have preferred but all in all it turned out pretty cool.
Every once in a while I play with things that didn’t sprout from earth and grow to 30+ feet tall. My nephew loves to pretend his stuffed animals talk –what child doesn’t, eh? With the new Muppet Movie hitting the big screen I decided to try my hand at creating an actual puppet for the creative tyke. These are “professional style” puppets and relatively easy to make.
Years ago, Rapala, Rebel and other fishing lure companies made giant lures normally used for store displays available to the general public. I landed a couple nice ones but the prices started shooting through the roof. Some of the lures are going for well over 200 bucks –crazy! Next thing I know.. I’ve got a big sheet of polystyrene and I’m whittling away. I heard many folks say Rabble Rousers are the ugliest lures ever made. Hmmm.. beauty is in the eye.. as they say. Speaking of.. my giant Topwater’s equally giant eye channels the Mona Lisa as it seems to look at you no matter where you’re standing. Using a fisherman’s scale, this whooper is about 56 inches long which means it’s roughly 12 ½ inches.
A few years ago I created a PEZ themed word search puzzle. Richie Belyski of PEZ Collector’s News published it in the Oct/Nov 2009 issue. (Richie also runs the” Pez In The Sun” Convention in Myrtle Beach, SC and hosts www.myspaceforpezheads.com) One unique thing about this puzzle: every single letter is used to spell the name of a PEZ!! After circling all the names listed, unscramble the remaining letters to discover the five character names of a well-known set of PEZ. It’s not as easy as it looks. Here’s a hint: One Pez name can be found twice, another is in the puzzle multiple times. The trick is in figuring out which one not to circle!
My niece-in-law is a pre-school teacher and had an unpleasant dilemma: when the kids have naptime, they drool, sneeze and hack up all manner of nasty fluids getting the mats slimy and sticky. Then, when the mats are stored, they touch each other and spread all kinds of germs! What to do?? Number one: wipe them down first. Number two: build a sectioned cabinet to store the mats. The first one is her job, the second became mine. A popular book for preschoolers is Goodnight Moon so I toyed with that and decided a cow cabinet would be fun for the kids. Bessie’s head is attached with a metal lazy-susan so the kids can mooooove her head from side to side. I intentionally put the udders on the front since the backside wouldn’t have been visible up against the wall. Umm.. really… I meant to do that.
This is a cool little box originally designed by artisan Tony Lydgate. I took it a step further by cutting a slight angle midway to the base on all sides. The possibilities for creating unique boxes are endless. It’s also a great way to use tiny scraps of exotic woods. This box is made from pecan with paduak ears, trim and slip-feathers
Rockler.com has a plan and bar kit for this interesting little pull and play critter. Made of poplar and walnut, this cricket xylophone is a fun way to encourage kids to learn a musical instrument. When it’s in tow, the back legs bobble up and down! One issue I have with the plan is the placement of the legs. The body could be lengthened by a few inches to provide ample room to strike the notes.
You might be a PEZhead if.. You build a nearly 8 foot tall Hello Kitty Pez complete with tilting head action and a stem that opens to reveal a large display/storage area inside! A few months ago I downsized the giant PEZ idea for my favorite PEZ character, Yappy Dog. This mini-giant version stands just over 2 feet high with shelves inside the stem visible thru a sliding glass door. It’s a fun way to display Yappy Dog and his other feline pal, (Puzzy) Cat With Derby.
Snagging some of the world’s oldest wood turned out to be much easier than expected. A small shipment of various sized pieces of Ancient Kauri arrived the other day and after ten seconds of pondering over what to do with it, I decided on carving a bear. Okay, bears have nothing to do with New Zealand but when the voices in my head say, “Make a bear”, I’ve learned not to argue. They can be quite persistent. I began by drawing the shape based on a style used by many Zuni artisans. After carving and sanding to 1500 grit, the iridescent quality found in Ancient Kauri really pulled through. I was pleasantly surprised because the piece I started with really didn’t look like anything special. The wood is relatively easy to work and finishes nicely. It’s cool to know that a tiny piece of a grand old tree, once buried for thousands of years, is now sitting on my coffee table!
The Last Man Standing game has golf tees, similarly shaped pegs or marbles placed in holes/spaces arranged in a triangular pattern. There are 15 holes and 14 game pieces leaving one space empty. A single player must jump each game piece, like checkers, until all but one remains. I was asked to make this game and recalled seeing a template for it using marbles. The template was sold as a set which includes Tic Tac Toe so I decided to make a dual game. Marbles tend to roll off the table and under the couch, just beyond your reach, getting lost and forgotten until your vacuum cleaner rather noisily finds them! The logical solution was to build a box to store the marbles with a lid that serves as the board. I routed a rail on opposing sides to hold marbles for playing Tic Tac Toe, and drilled two holes completely through the lid. It’s much easier to quickly drop the marbles into the box after each jump (or when finished playing either game) than chasing the rolling buggers all over the place. Since the templates are the same size I put a game on each side of the lid.
I made two boxes (one to keep) and now I don’t lose my marbles anymore.. but.. I still flip my lid!
This dual marble game box is made from Bird Peck Figured Oregon Myrtle and Bloodwood.
I made two boxes (one to keep) and now I don’t lose my marbles anymore.. but.. I still flip my lid!
While leafing through American Woodworker magazine (issue#139), I came across one of the most beautiful boxes I had ever seen. Tine -pronounced “tee-nah”- are oval bentwood boxes first created by Scandinavian artisans. I, like most people, associated this style of box making with the Shakers. The feature article of Master craftsman and tine maker, Jim Anderson, demonstrates the art of bending boxes complete with scaled plans for building his Nordic-style Fjord horse tine box. I’m always up for a challenge, so I contacted John Wilson and other resources to order the supplies needed to steam bend wood. After gathering the tray, cane and heat resistant gloves, I got to work using Bird’s Eye Maple for the band and lid, and cocobolo for the horses, handle and locking pin. I substituted cocobolo for the square toothpicks required for the base pins –mainly because I forgot to order them! The carved horses aren’t as symmetrically matched as I would like, but I’m pleased with my first attempt at creating a bentwood box. One thing I discovered after completing the project: shaping the fingers on the band is much easier if done before steam bending.
One of my favorite projects started out as a typical square chest of drawers. I needed a dresser for a nautical themed basement bathroom and wanted it to match the vanity. Many hours were spent measuring and sketching designs, but the moment construction began, all plans went down the drain. On a whim, I decided to try something different --think outside the box. I had purchased large round mirrors and a working porthole for the room and realized a fishbowl shape would fit nicely with the theme. Going by a general height, width and depth, I started cutting a rounded shape and figured things out as work progressed. It took less time to build the entire piece than fleshing out the details for the original chest. The most difficult part of the project was applying ¼ inch plywood to the curved sides. Months after the dresser was completed I discovered bendable plywood! Next time…
As a woodcrafter, I spend a good amount of time fishing for unique pieces of wood, both common and exotic. My search runs the gamut from my own back yard, to digging thru cut offs discarded on an exotic wood dealers’ garage floor, to the swamps of North Island, New Zealand. No, I have not literally traveled across the pond for that special piece of exotic heaven; although the temptation to see, first hand, the recovery process for Ancient Kauri is indeed great. Instead, I turn to the web, where Robert Teisberg of Ancientwood, Ltd. has taken fishing for trees to a whole ‘nother level.
New Zealand’s most famous native tree, the Ancient Kauri, felled by natural forces and buried in a cocoon like state underground for thousands of years, is being excavated from farm and ranch lands of North Island. The logs are radio carbon dated to be over 50,000 years old and the oldest known ‘workable’ wood discovered. It has an iridescent quality called whitebait, aptly named after schools of New Zealand whitefish that emit light one minute, only to disappear the next, creating a shimmering effect. Ancientwood Ltd. recovers the logs in an eco-friendly way, returning the harvested sites back to its original landscape. A daunting task considering the giant Kauri grows up to 150 feet in height and 60 feet in girth. That’s a lot of tree!
Needless to say, with its rarity and intensely laborious harvesting process, a board of this exotic tree is extremely expensive. I’ve been contemplating a small purchase (under $100) for nearly a year now. My goal is to work with as many different species of trees I can snag, turning each into lasting pieces of art, art that is most times practical, sometimes whimsical and always pleasing to the eye. Some of my favorite projects, from Bocote guitar picks and ‘Dog Ear’ Boxes to an 8 foot tall Pez, will find their way to this blog –eventually. As for the Ancient Kauri tree.. It’s high time I reel this one in!
New Zealand’s most famous native tree, the Ancient Kauri, felled by natural forces and buried in a cocoon like state underground for thousands of years, is being excavated from farm and ranch lands of North Island. The logs are radio carbon dated to be over 50,000 years old and the oldest known ‘workable’ wood discovered. It has an iridescent quality called whitebait, aptly named after schools of New Zealand whitefish that emit light one minute, only to disappear the next, creating a shimmering effect. Ancientwood Ltd. recovers the logs in an eco-friendly way, returning the harvested sites back to its original landscape. A daunting task considering the giant Kauri grows up to 150 feet in height and 60 feet in girth. That’s a lot of tree!Needless to say, with its rarity and intensely laborious harvesting process, a board of this exotic tree is extremely expensive. I’ve been contemplating a small purchase (under $100) for nearly a year now. My goal is to work with as many different species of trees I can snag, turning each into lasting pieces of art, art that is most times practical, sometimes whimsical and always pleasing to the eye. Some of my favorite projects, from Bocote guitar picks and ‘Dog Ear’ Boxes to an 8 foot tall Pez, will find their way to this blog –eventually. As for the Ancient Kauri tree.. It’s high time I reel this one in!
