Home Sweet Home!

Welp - I made it home with no incidents (except for the warning for speeding...) and no storms.  (Would you believe that as I wrote that I heard thunder??)
It's great to be here and now I have the chore of unpacking and catching up with people and chores. 
Life is good!

My brother, my hero

Here's the snow I didn't have to drive in. My brother is plowing his driveway around my car. You saw the news, you know the story. But all my driving was clear roads and mostly blue skies. I'm safely tucked in in Minnesota now. My mom promises the high will be almost 20 today.

I had a lovely visit with my brother John and his kids in Madison. Nice to rest and hang out and not be in a car for a day or so.

I miss messing about with wood and can't wait to get going with it again.

more projects

Georgia's desk

Brandon and Tim's boxes

Steve with his hall table

So. Yesterday was the last day of class. I learned SO much! Not just the nuts and bolts like dovetails and mortise/tenon joints but also how to use and be confident that I'm safely using a machine. How to slow down (ok that one I'm still working on). The joys of handwork and the speed of machine work. A new kind of community. I didn't think I'd ever want to come home but now that we are done I'm ready. Not really looking forward to the drive back across the country by myself but I've got two and a half great books on cd

(the second half of A Confederacy of Dunces, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, as well as The Pillars of the Earth). So wish me luck and I'll post when I can if I have anything to report!

last few moments of class

here we are on our last day (just missing Devon who had to go home to rescue a tree house !?)

Lucas' chess board!

close up of one of my panels

these panels will eventually become the back to a bench

other people's projects

This is Steve Hall's chair mock up a few days ago.....

...and today!



















this is James' gun cabinet.  It will soon have veneered doors















this is Tim Rousseau's tool cabinet - I'd love to make one just like it.  See the snow in the window?  We had a fun snowball fight after our visit with him!

A visit to Tim Rousseau's workshop

His woodpile and Big bandsaw

His lathe

A really cool chair he designed and built

This is Brian Reid, instructor/mentor to the Fellowship program. He's giving us a demo on his version of marquetry which is much more like quilting. Demands less perfection. Sloppy Good he calls it

project updates

Here is the lid to the box getting its trim/veneer applied. You can never use too much carpenters tape!

Here's the box - the leaf is made of walnut veneer that I cut on the bandsaw (as opposed to commercial veneer which is much thinner)

And the lid insides detail. I actually made some purpleheart plywood! Tiny sheets perfect for this purpose (findings)

And here's the hexagonal box I tried to make. It's not perfectly hexagonal. But really close. It will likely just get an ash top and bottom, nothing fancy.