A Body of Work
I left 2024 feeling like I left some on the table, gas in the tank, dissatisfied with what I hadn’t accomplished. As I reflected and tried to understand that feeling better, I found myself homing to the idea of craft. Unlike many other chapters of my adult life, I was not a dedicated student of a craft in ‘24. In various studies over time I have developed intangible skills and forged essential relationships and, sometimes, physical things.
As I wrote my final journal entries of the year, I decided that in a year, at the end of 2025, I wanted to reflect upon the experience of learning, practicing, and observing a craft by producing a body of work. Inspired by some major achievements completed by a combination of crafts people I know personally or have followed for years, this feels like an undaunting task that I am excited to undertake.
My chosen craft is furniture making. Spurned by the non-existent availability of attractive, quality, or locally made furniture in the remote Alaskan town I call home. My partner K and I have done our best to create an inviting space in our home with copious art, gifted rugs, and a rotating cast of quilts draped over our second-hand couch. If for no other reason than I love coming home, I think we have done an alright job. Given that I collected a reasonable library of books, tools, and wishful ideas for our space at the end of last year, it is time to move those ideas to the tangible. The theory that you can create a beautiful life surrounded by work you built yourself is a thought well-examined and promoted by the folks at the Lost Art Press. I recommend their books and blog even if you are not so interested in woodworking.
So what? Allowing a few weeks for travel, hunting, and some sailing, I count 45 weeks where I’ll be able to build. Figure in time for dinner parties, sunny days, and even just downtime, I think it’s reasonable to believe that producing a piece of furniture every three weeks is achievable. By the last week of December, you should be able to return here to find at least a photo or two of the 15 pieces of furniture built for our house here on Aspen or friends around town.
Shavings will be a study of furniture making, hand tool work, and what it means to build things I am proud to stamp my name into. The first couple posts here will take a look back at a couple projects I did at the end of last year. December saw me crank out a coffee table for K, and a bedframe for our housemate that are part of the impetus to this project.
Project list:
Trestle dining table
Fireplace or pickin’ stool
Bookshelf (tall, dovetailed)
Bookshelf (short, boarded)
Wall Cabinet
Root veggie bin(s)
Lounge chair
High stool (2x)
Stick chair
Stick chair (low back)
Cookbook shelf
Interior door (2x)
Stereo cabinet