Let’s face it, getting out into the shop is fun. As woodworkers, we take the money other folks would spend on golf clubs, fishing tackle or bowling balls and blow it on miter saws, hand planes and cabinet scrapers. We could spend hours standing in the same place in our shop using a belt sander to flatten a poorly glued end-grain cutting board (don’t ask, that’s what I was doing all day yesterday) and actually enjoy it.
But, as is often the case, we never get all the time we want doing what we love. All of those little obligations that we agreed to – or were agreed to tackle by others – tend to soak up the time we would otherwise spend creating masterpieces in the shop.
So, this week, I’m trying to see what the greatest obstacle is to you getting more shop time. Is it family? Work? Something else….
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Sometimes, a breath of fresh air is needed to keep everyone on their toes.
With her degree from San Diego State – along with an Associates of Applied Science degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Technology – Amy unleashed her creativity. With her strong background in fine woodworking, joinery, metal work and upholstery, she has created some very interesting pieces developed from a combination of materials. “Wood on its own is challenging, as you know. But any time you add new and different materials to the mix the technical and aesthetic challenges are much greater. Marrying diverse materials requires a greater deal of sensitivity to transitions, textures, and balance. Of course there’s an additional learning curve to working with the new material, plus there are the physical aspects of the different materials to consider.”
Now a celebrity among woodworking circles, Amy says she hasn’t yet lost the luxury of walking down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans. Her family has been exceptionally supportive of her work, but her interest in woodworking did catch her family a bit by surprise. “I’d always been into typically girly stuff – fashion, make-up, boys you know, the usual. I remember one Christmas I totally threw my parents for a loop when a cordless drill was #1 on my wish list, and high-heeled boots, and lipstick were demoted to #2 and #3.”
What does the future hold for Amy? Her vision not surprising in the generation that has come of age with instant communication through the Internet is to keep an open dialogue with her viewers. “I’m interested in how people are incorporating greener practices, and the resulting pros and cons. I’d also love to know what your readers would like to see on TV. Are they satisfied with the old guard of TV woodworkers? Are they interested specific techniques, materials, and styles? Also, I’d love, love, love to hear from people with green, creative methods of re-using or recycling saw dust!”
One of the things my oldest son loves more than football, fighter planes and annoying the heck out of his younger brother is playing chess. He can’t get enough of it.
