Woodworking and Jazz.

Nov 202011
 
 November 20, 2011  Posted by paultxsa at 11:16 pm Woodworking , , ,  No Responses »

The thing I miss most when I am away from woodworking is that feeling that comes when everything else stops, time included, and from dawn to dusk, nothing else matters.

…A rough board becomes square, with flat perpendicular faces, or a flat chisel finds the way to that precise point where the bottom of a mortise will wait for the tenon. Or even better, watching a rasp, chisel and gouge find a three-dimensional  surface that existed before only in my mind begin to show itself from some blank piece of wood.

This isn’t about how good or great I have become… I have so very much to learn. I’m really not talking about vanity here. This out-of-self euphoria I get to experience isn’t even because another person will see what I’m doing and recognize some higher degree of difficulty or artistry, although I certainly strive for that.  There is a deeper level of happiness that exists from doing a thing that I love, and knowing that I can do it well.  Recognition is nice, being paid for it is ‘swell’, but that intersection of the art, the craft, the difficulty and ability makes all the rest of the world fade slowly away and all that is left is the gift of the experience.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try pronouncing that with one hand tied behind your back!) says,

this state of flow where time flies… Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one…[is] like playing jazz. ♦

Moving from one task to the next, with no awareness of the effort of the analytical part of the brain deciding on the correct processes and order of each operation. Aware only of the overall art and design and willing to let practiced hands rely upon years of experience and muscle memory, knowing that a change in the grain is no different to the to a sharpened cutting edge than a chord change to the hand on the fretboard in the guitar solo… the hand leads, the change happens, and we follow our creative soul.

 

 

 

 

A while ago…

Sep 092011
 
 September 9, 2011  Posted by paultxsa at 12:52 am Mesquite Hardwood, Queen Anne , ,  No Responses »

So, a while ago, …in storyteller’s terms we are talking about something greater than a dozen years back, here in this part of Texas we had a terriffic rainstorm that we like to call a flash flood. This is also an indication of how long ago it was, since I now have grown children who are familiar with the concept of rain only through watching the Weather Channel on cable TV.   Anyway, as I was saying, …a while ago, after this particularly bad rainstorm, I got a call from a relative who asked for help removing a fallen tree. What I found was three fairly large mesquite trees that had grown up together at their bases and were let loose and turned out on the ground, each on it’s own path away from the others by the supersaturated earth below during this rainy period. Being the opportunist that I am, I went right out (two weeks later) and got myself a chainsaw mill and thus began my foray into milling my own hardwood.

Oh, I had so much fun that day. Sweating, cussing, wondering why chainsaw chains had to be resharpened after every 12 feet of mesquite, wondering why I decided any of it was a good idea at all. But, when all was said and done, I had far more beautiful hardwood than I could have imagined. Today, after making milling timber a part of my woodworking, you might find some wood from the local mill in my shop, but  you’re more likely to run into local hardwoods that have stories behind them, “Well you see, there was this tree…”

I have always loved roundabout chairs. (That’s what this entry is really about.)

The chair pictured here was  made with mesquite milled by me and is one of a group I made from the trees milled on that first day, one of which went to my local PBS affiliate for their auction. This one is similar to a Norm Vandal design that I thought worked for  the mesquite and leather in a way that I felt wouldn’t be the case with a design like the roundabout in the Boston MFA. This chair is kind of a middle of the road choice between the Boston chair and another in the Brooklyn Museum in that this has a little bit of a ‘Texas Chippendale’ feel because of the Mesquite and leather, and the turned legs to the side and rear and the single cabriole leg in front and the curved seat rails.

These chairs were a lot of fun to make. We’ll just have to see if I will make the same design again, or go for something completely different.  I do know that there are some boards out there that look like they want to be a chair…only time will tell.

Paul

Waiting…

Aug 242011
 
 August 24, 2011  Posted by paultxsa at 1:17 pm Biography, Queen Anne ,  No Responses »

Waiting…

 A recent injury due to a mix of gravity and my inability to fly has me thinking about things I would rather be doing…

While the scars heal and sutured tendons strengthen, this process of months of rehab requires that I stay away from lifting anything and leaves me with idle hands and the need to create something.  (does a blog count?)

I am, among other things, a furniture maker and American History ‘geek’.  I reproduce and adapt furniture pieces from the American past, using locally sourced hardwood with designs adapted, when necessary, to fit today’s homes, lifestyles, or “that little spot next to the door”.

The most amazing furniture was designed during America’s past, especially during the 18th and early 19th century. From the dawn of the 18thcentury with the William and Mary style and the graceful curves of Queen Anne straight through the next 100 years to the Shakers, these are the designs that ‘swirl around’ in my head anytime someone asks, “Can you make me a ____ that will fit here?”

I have a love affair with every piece I create. I know every curve and the fit of every mating surface. When it leaves my little space, I hope that it lives on long beyond me and does honor not only to my name upon it, but to the tree that it once was.

…and yet, here I sit. …healing …waiting.          I need to make something.

 

 

Paul

Bio

Jul 152011
 
 July 15, 2011  Posted by paultxsa at 10:02 pm Biography  No Responses »

I work and live in Texas, having spent some time in other places thanks to Uncle Sam, who generously turned many taxpayer dollars into an electronic warfare education, but I was finally able to return here to live under the Texas sun.

I have been a Reproduction Furniture and Custom Cabinet Maker for more than 20 years and am also a father, husband, and a veteran firefighter/paramedic.

My work in wood always tends to lean toward furniture in styles that remind me of early America, although I often adapt much later styles and sometimes, even purely decorative pieces have also been known to show themselves to me.

These collected thoughts are an effort to keep myself  ’a little sane’ while I wait for an injury to heal and a doctor to tell me that I won’t re-injure myself by getting back in the shop.  Once my shoulder is back in working order, I’ll be right back in the middle of the wood shavings. Until then, I’ll talk about it.    …and thanks for listening.

Paul

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