Authentic Nautical Accessories, and Custom Furnishings
Figureheads get lots of attention in maritime museum exhibits. There are even museum collections of figureheads lost at sea. Often, the names of the ships they graced are unknown. If we knew, we could reconstruct a travelogue of all the ports they'd seen. But many ships lacked figureheads. The old figure went overboard in a …
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a Drummer was not just a percussionist. A drummer was a traveling salesman who'd make the rounds with tools, clothes, or anything else you might wish to purchase but could not easily find at the small retail establishments in your town. Think no internet, no Walmart, and few …
Yesterday, I spent a significant part of the day working on a carving of a large schooner. I based it on research I did for an earlier schooner built by the same yard around the same time in the late 19th century. I used skills acquired in the earlier carving to ease the work on …
Photographs help me remember steps and processes. Years ago, I used photography only to record the results. But pictures of the in-between stages were more than a bit helpful. One of the big reasons I say this is because there are some things that I only do rarely. Reminders are valuable.I need to be a …
If you studied economics, process engineering or are an enthusiast of popular psychology, you might have heard of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It's alive and well in woodcarving too. Sunk costs are costs you have paid and can't get back. That's fine if everything works out. But if the project just hasn't been the success …
This is my second run at the Steam Yacht Zaida. I've used different techniques and am more satisfied with the outcome.
I found the wood sitting in the shorts at my favorite hardwood dealer. It was very dark, heavy, and dense. It was mahogany but so dark and heavy that I felt it was a wayward piece of Dominican, not Honduran. It was just what I wanted.
We all want to be instant experts. One of my sensei describes this in terms of the training montages that are standard fare in martial arts movies; the neophyte progresses from clumsy beginner to skilled pro in thirty seconds of cinematic snapshots.
I admit that the sort of non complex carving that happens when I carve a small bowl is pretty alluring. No antsy detail. No pattern that needs to be followed. Just follow the will of the wood.
We can easily get lost in the weeds talking about tradition in crafts.
This chest was not in stock long enough for me to do a proper set of photos. It sold at it's first appearance at the Maine Boatbuilder's Show to a pair of Boston Harbor pilots who were going to give it as a retirement gift to a colleague.
As consumers, there is much that you don't know about your favorite woods.
It sails on my wall with a cherry ocean and sky heading east from Japan or China towards Los Angelos. I think my father is pleased that his ship is restored to an essential place in our lives, through the unexpected kindness of a fellow seaman.
While teaching, I always like to decorate the workshop with carving examples for students to use as a reference. Week-long excursions to teach away from home mean emptying the house of many of my carvings. But samples in three dimensions often are better than pictures or demonstration, and the extra work was worth it.
The problem with imagination is that it's boundless. On the wall is a poster telling you that you can do it if you can imagine it. Don't take it too literally.
Confrontation? Not quite, a Catfrontation!
A life-changing tip? No need to go into an extensive dissertation here. Relax! It's so simple: Watch out for overly simplistic tips that promise to be life-changing. Life isn't simple, and changing it can't be reduced to a simple formula: one, two, three, and four. So there it is: Lou's life-changing simple tip for the …
Thanks to my allergies and an allergy season from hell, the garden has drawn the short straw this year for attention. Yesterday and today I spent some time cleaning up. I have lots and lots of zucchini "bats", you know zukes the size of major league baseball bats. My wife says they can be stuffed …
I had to drive my night-shift nurse wife to work when her car was in the shop. On the way home, the clouds were clearing, and the moon was putting on a show.
Got skills? I mean those that might transform a hobby into a business, or a sideline into a job? Pardon me, I may have harped on this before, but making a living in a changing job market may rely, not just on your current resume, but on the odd skill that you can pull out …
Back in the day, there was a fictional character that I closely related to -Gnossos Papadapolous, the main character in Richard Farina's book Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me. Paps was a staunch anti-establishment type like me, into pot, unable and unwilling to convert from the hip way of life he …
I almost titled this Rabbit Holes I Have Known. And the topic of why things happen is absorbing. Still, it's a WordPress daily prompt: "Do you think everything happens for a reason?", and I think that perhaps the folks in Prompt Central found the secret stash of good stuff hidden by Alphonse before he quit …
We've never been the sort of family who wandered into a furniture store and picked out a "themed" room. Frankly, it's not our style, nor did it ever fit our budget. Take, for instance, our living room: there are several chests for storage. One is an antique that came over with my wife's great-grandmother from …
"We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life." - William Osler This is a quote that many in Politics these days should take to heart.
'Well, I'm running down the road tryin' to loosen my load I've got seven women on my mind. Four that wanna own me, two that wanna stone me. One says she's a friend of mine." -Eagles, 1972 A repetitive earworm, periodically since it was released in 1972, has been Take It Easy. It's not too …
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