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Most of my posts on this site are about the process, my personal successes and the oopsies. As I say in the first post, my goal with this blog is just to entertain and inspire my friends and family.

So today, I think it’s time for a bit of inspiration! I recently finished three rough turned cherry pieces. I had no idea as I was finishing them that they would turn out to be so perfectly matched. Here is a mini story of beautiful accidents.

These three pieces all came from the same tree, and the two larger pieces most likely even came from the same half log. I can guess all this because I number all my rough turned blanks and keep a record of when they were rough-turned, where the wood came from, and other tidbits. These three pieces were all numbered consecutively.

Let’s take a closer look at them. I love how the larger shallow pieces are exact opposites of each other. One is heartwood with a touch of sapwood on the edges, and the smaller is primarily sapwood with just a splash of heartwood. I couldn’t have planned that if I tried!

And then, when we look carefully at the inside of the small bowl, we see an echo of this balancing. There is a light space of sapwood, but then a matching dark space that was most likely a branch.

Don’t they all fit together perfectly? I gotta say, it will be hard to let go of these three. But …. they can’t all be precious. If I’m going to make a go of this obsession, I have to let my babies find new homes. But for now, I’ll be walking by them and admiring for a little bit longer.

Hello, everyone. Did you miss me? I know it’s been a while.

I do have something amazing to share. In the fall, before it got too cold, we converted the tool shed on the back of the house into a heated, well lit and storage-filled workshop. Check it out.

The walls and loft were there. But that’s about it. We did spray foam insulation on the ceiling. The old floor was torn out, and replaced with floor insulation and a nice new tile floor.

We ran hot water heating, with a wi-fi thermostat so I can start heating up the space before I go down.

The shed had a single, sorry little fluorescent fixture, but now it has two large LED overhead fixtures–one to light up the whole space and one focused on the lathe area. And then there are three big windows and a window in the door for plenty of natural light.

The door had to be refit because of the raised floor, and we had to run lots of wiring and circuits to accommodate the lathe, the sharpeners, and other accessories. To keep things clean and the air healthy, we installed a dust collection array along the walls around the lathe, and hung an air filtration unit overhead.

Finally, we tore down an overly large workbench that was always in the way in the main shop, and used the material to build a custom fitted workbench.

The finishing touches are additional shelves, a raised platform for storing logs, and a TV.

Isn’t it amazing? Wait till you see what I’ve been able to do in some dedicated space…

Quick post today. First, I wanted to let people know that I’ve started putting up items for sale. Check out the Market section. I have a lot more than is posted (my actual camera is broken, so getting good photos has become a new hurdle), so be sure to check back in later or reach out if you’re looking for something. And watch for Christmas ornaments coming mid-fall!

I also wanted to share a bit of musing. I was out in the shop a few days ago, turning either the ash or the apple from our friend who brought all the different woods. As is my nature, I started mentally listing all the woods I’ve had the opportunity to turn, and then all the people and places that wood came from. It’s so amazing to me, I just needed to share.

I’ve received chunks of wood in so many forms: logs, pieces of logs, semi-dried blanks from another turner’s stash, trimmed slabs, offcuts from cabinetry making. I’ve cut up whole trunks and branches that fell in my backyard. I’ve turned (in alphabetical order) apple, ash, beech, black walnut, box elder, butternut, cherry, chestnut, lilac, mahogany, mulberry, oak of unknown variety, olive ash, silver maple, sugar maple, and walnut. Then, in the shed waiting for me are cedar, elm (two kinds), honey locust, poplar, red oak, white oak, and yew.

In addition to my own backyard, my stash has grown thanks to Bill (who sold me the lathe and sent me home with a pile of wood for experimenting), my brother Mike (who had a bunch of trees fall in a late winter storm), Cory (who had two cherry trees down on his property), Steve (a fellow turner who cut me my first bowl blanks to learn with), John S and the other John S (friends with interesting logs sitting around), the people cutting up the tree that fell on the abandoned house across the street, a new friend Keith who happens to be an arborist, the DOT guys cleaning up after a summer storm (who very nicely stopped their cleanup efforts to load a log into my car), and of course Eric (the source of the latest mother lode). And then there is the wood I used in the various classes and workshops.

I’m not sure I can think of any other craft with such a unique procurement chain for the raw materials. Thank you everyone!!!!