My Week’s Reward For Me
I spend a lot of my time making pieces. I’m a fortunate man. Beyond me there is other work going on whether its in apprentices or students, online or by other means. I’m currently doing a distance learning for someone and then in the morning I will be getting prepped for training thousands of others to make their projects for upcoming Christmas gifts. Today John Winter took his box to a wedding in Southport. he’s spent weeks making it, alongside his other duties. Now I see the fulfilment of much work and the reward is in the giving of the gift. It’s often a difficult choice to give up something you worked so hard on but then when you do you see your work expressing something of who you are. I photographed John’s box for his portfolio. The careful thought and workmanship was exemplary and of course all that he did can be scaled up to almost any other box type. The colour and contrast was a quite lovely really.
The other conclusion was Gerald who made his rocking chair and carried it away. This is the Craftsman-style chair made in oak. This may well be the last rocking chair workshop I teach and I so enjoyed it. How do you quantify the smile and the relief at the end of making something so prized? This is one of the most comfortable rocking chairs I have ever sat in.
I finished making the tool chest build and have just about finished restoring the original one to its former standard before the miserable restoration and stripping job someone did to it. It’s a great reward to me and I know people always understand restoration in an especially appreciative way.
To John: what an amazing gift made with amazing talent- I hope they will treasure it.
Brian
The smile on Johns face says it all. You can see the sense of pride and feel the pleasure he has experienced. Great work John anyone would be proud to sit in that chair.
Selfishly, I hope you do an online rocking chair workshop in the future, at least for WWMC! Three great pieces. I really do love the light and dark contrasts in the box, though. The joinery on the dovetails almost don’t look like dovetails, they are so slight in their angles.