lady_fingers

A passion for Fine Woodworking.

My background and my love of woodwork starts, as a lot of people's stories do, with my father. Dad was a carpenter and a mason, odd-jobber for most of his life. Gave up a career as a chemist to do it because it was what he liked better - something I admire in him now, tho didn't always understand when I was younger.

Our whole family has a history of working hands-on trades. My dad's dad was a machinist (back when it was a little more complicated than it is today), and his mother a hobby painter (pretty good for not having any lessons). My great-granddad (dad's granddad), a Master Carpenter; three (!) of dad's great-granddads were stone-cutters in Germany; another great-granddad, a Master Woodcarver in Germany, and the same after coming to America (I say with no small amount of pride that he was a little famous in his day and his work well-known, still there to see in many European churches). My dad's brother, is a sign-maker, hobby-painter and restoration mechanic. SO -- Uncles, aunts, granddads, grandmas... lots of people in dad's line of our family - more than I have listed here - worked (or still do work) at trades that required dependable, nimble fingers, strong hands, clever problem solving, creative design. I doubt most before WWI had more than a 6th grade education.


Now, I am no New-Ager, no hippie - I am actually a pretty conservative sort of girl. However, I do think that remembering those who made YOU, who contributed to making your life possible -- those who laid the foundation of the road upon which you walk, where you decide which turns to take, which people to walk with, etc., through your Life -- your ancestors, they deserve some credit and a little Thanks fairly regularly. It's polite, if nothing else...

In all seriousness, I do believe the satisfaction - that 'peaceful easy feeling' - that I get after a day of work in my shop comes to me because the work I do connects me to and allows me to pay homage to my ancestors.

My work, in this way, is something that truly completes me.
It feeds me and my family, meets our material needs - directly through what I can make for us, and with the money we earn. And, finally, all the things I get to do daily, from fine inlay work to designing and building a piece of furniture to turning a simple bowl - it all stimulates and satisfies me mentally, physically and spiritually. I am passionate about it, to say the least.

I opened my shop a little over a year ago. And I can say, with completely honesty and confidence that I can't think of a better way to spend my time.