Musings on the craft of woodturning and the creative process afforded by a machine Several years ago a friend of mine, a music professor...

Although it’s been years now since JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy first came out at the cinemas, a good story stays with you,...

This is the lamp I made while I was still working with the square grid lattice While writing the last post on Kumiko, I didn’t think I would be at it again – at least not so soon! But before I go any further, perhaps I need to define some terms, given that there’s so much talk about the subject, tutorials galore, people selling special jigs for cutting the angles, etc., etc. Shoji are room dividers: panels consisting of a frame with a lattice grid inside (the Kumiko) covered

Hello fellow tinkerers and friends! No, I haven’t fallen off the planet - in fact, I've been rather busy making “stuff,” and I might as...

Rustic chair with Maloof inspired seat Ever since I first saw Sam Maloof’s work, I have been an admirer of his, and I've always thought,...

Recycle, up-cycle, repurpose I remember a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon with that title where the little guy, with Hobbs at his side, is...

With Maia In the past I've organized summer art camps for kids, and I'd like to do another one this summer. Art Camp is meant to be first...

What I learned Do you know how it is when you’re at a cookout and they’re roasting big, juicy bratwurst, and you have one, and it’s as...

The hemp-leaf pattern, a traditional decorative motif used in Japanese Shoji screens Thirty some years ago, while attending a woodworking...

Every toddler needs one of these! Recently we had a couple of warm, sunny days, and I took advantage of them by doing some work in the...

No, the bears are not out on a rampage, they’re just sunning on a corbel! They could be sunning on a bench, or on a windowsill, or up on...

Recently we visited my wife’s birthplace, a village tucked under the mountains in the heart of Transylvania, Romania, and as a...

"Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary?" Mark 6:3 "The reward of something well done, is to have done it" I’ve been “tinkering” with...

Departing from the traditional "six-board-box" may give birth to some interesting new shapes When one hears the word “box”, almost...

One-two-three-Done! Eliza is my nephew’s daughter and in a couple of days she’ll be five years old. I decided to make a treasure box for her birthday and since I imagined that this box might end up in her toy chest, together with the rest of her toys, I thought that it should be a simple, sturdy little box that can take abuse without falling apart, and still look like a treasure box fit for a “princess”. Because of the time constraints and a five-year old’s lack of appreciat

An exercise in hand-tool use and an approach to minimalism “Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be...

Enjoy your craft and do it safely! Because woodworking entails the use of cutting tools, hand and power ones, it has the potential for...

Machines or hand tools? Whatever gets the job done! I enjoy the process and the challenges that arise when working with wood and while I...

Want to improve your skills while making something useful? Make a box! A Tea Box in Goncalo Alves, White Oak and Cherry. There are a lot of tutorials on box making out there, it’s not like the world needs one more, and yet, I think there are a few aspects of such an endeavor that warrant a closer look and an opportunity to gain new skills and sharpen old ones, and to quote a friend of mine, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”, or make a box, for that matter. Why boxes?

A comeback for the toys of yesteryear “Play is the work of childhood” Jean Piaget-Child Psychologist Anybody wants to join me in the...