January is for sweeping up the accumulated dust from the holiday market rush. It is also a time to reorganize my set up, sort through my wood stash, and try out ideas that have been left on the back burner. Last October, I got an idea for a cactus box and I sketched it on paper for this kind of down time.
Now that I have time to play, I picked out some wood to try it with. The pot was easy enough, and I wasn’t sure how tall it should be in the end, so I didn’t drill down that far. Fair enough though, it will just be a shallower box. The top, cactus part is in maple and I mixed up some yellow and blue dye to color it. The “dirt” part is probably elm, but I’m not totally sure since I got the wood from a shop sale. There’s a tenon at the bottom of the cactus that is glued into a recess in the “dirt” disc.
Laying out the spikes involved drawing a grid on the cactus and then drilling out every-other point. Bamboo skewers trimmed with garden sheers and sanded round form the spikes.
I’m happy with how this turned out and I already have an order for another one. Be in touch if you would like one too.
Another January activity is spending time thinking about future classes to teach, with a focus on functional items like this salt shaker.
Learning how to make a mallet is a good class for beginners and I made a sample in ash wood.
When I’m not working on mentally intense projects, I have been using up scrap wood to make bag clips. It’s been a nice way to decompress while my schedule is less busy.
Soon I’ll start making bud vases for Valentine’s Day and springtime flowers. I’m refining my process for making larger vases for bigger arrangements. Once I get that figured out, I want to try making lamps. Look for those this coming spring!
Upcoming classes:
Turn a Wooden Bud Vase on Saturday, February 1, 10 am to 2 pm at Brookfield Craft Center
Intro to Spindle-Grain Woodturning, Vases and Apothecary May 17 and 18 at Peters Valley School of Craft
Shop:
Rivertown General in Dobbs Ferry, NY
Somers General Store in Yorktown Heights, NY