Silky Goes National

The article that I wrote for Fine Woodworking has finally reached the printed page! It's about my crested rocker and will span two issues. When Mark Schofield suggested that we take my profile photo with my one day old goat, I assured him that it was one way to guarantee a big dumb smile. He said that dogs had become passe, but a goat, now that's worth printing.

Speaking of the crested rocker, here is one made by Walt Crawford here in my shop this week.

I had a great time teaching it, actually, more than I'd expected. Walt did a fine job and had made enough chairs to really appreciate the places where this chair diverges from the norm.
I have more spoons to post for the Hunger Project, but Walt kept me running this week, so stay tuned.

Put Down Your Coffee and Look at This!

I've always respected Greg Pennington as a chairmaker and teacher, but now I have to add genius to the list. Go to his blog and check out his latest idea. It really shows Greg's commitment to helping make chairmaking accessible. I also appreciate that Greg has embraced the mindset handed down by Dave Sawyer to freely share his techniques! Well Done!

Inspiration Drops by for a Visit

Today, Erik Buchakian stopped by the house and shop. Eric is another local resident here in the southern Catskills and we share a passion for spoon carving. Eric is also on the Board at Drew Langsner's Country Workshops and has taken classes with and befriended the Sunquist family. Wille and Jogge Sundquist are the renowned woodworkers and carvers that have inspired so many to pick up a knife and work some wood. Wille was in Fine Woodworking back when they would still take photos of you in nothing but jean shorts and a hatchet!






Eric brought along his collection of Sunquist spoons. The red ones are by the son Jogge and the others are Willes'. It was like having the museum come to me!

Here are some close ups.

One of the areas that I've yet to become comfortable with is designing pattern and detailing, these pieces show such mastery, that I am going to work at it.

These are so soulful that you just have to hold them.

This salad fork was especially eye catching.

I loved the shape of this spoon, and the utility of it makes perfect sense, it gets into squared or rounded containers. I've been working on leaving consistent facets on my unsanded spoons, but this shows just how far I have to go.

The play of thick and thin is especially dramatic in this side view.

I've never gotten to see spoons by these guys up close. Like most true mastery, they ring of simplicity and clarity. Thanks Erik for the great visit!

On other spoon related news, Harry Miller won the latest drawing for the Spoons for Hunger drawing. I have been busy making more (ah winter) and will post the next one early next week.