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.
You people don't know how hard we work this time of year. It's Harvest! We arein the process of harvesting the nip that will go into those famous Colonel Clancy products: Colonel Clancy's Bastard Blend, Colonel Clancy's Maui Woweeeeee, Clancy's Massachusetts Gold, and the ever famous Colonel Clancy's Cat Nipshish ( flowers and seeds only). …
Even though he's not the most fleet-footed of cats, our favorite has to be Garfield. No, it's not quite an agape love, just an enjoyable feeling that, as far as cartoons go, he is the top. Always a snappy comeback to his realistically clueless human foil, a dedication to gourmet cuisine, and a love of …
During my years as an itinerant folksinger, I was careful in my choreography of where I stayed and how long for any particular location. Sometimes I was simply homeless. I spent a particularly nasty week in March once residing on a rooftop mattress.Not to place too much emphasis on it, but my first actual small apartment was a true …
Continue reading "Hip – a Flashback Friday Presentation From September 11, 2021"
Something critical happened to me in the mid-1990s. My job at the Department of the Interior was "reinvented" away. The result was several years of family poverty because I insisted on searching for "professional" employment. That ended in 1997 when I walked into a United Parcel Service hub and began loading packages and freight for …
Max: First of all, Lou, tell that no good mailman to step up to the plate! The UPS man always leaves me a treat when he delivers a package. That cheapskate mailman makes me scowl, and that's not easy for a dog's face to do. Tell the bum to get with it! And I'm not …
Many of us have genres we avoid or particularly love to the exclusion of others. I'm not too fond of the mystery genre, but I love science fiction. There are exceptions, though. One of my favorite science fiction novels of all time was Frank Herbert's Dune. And my least favorite series was all the add-on …
Airports and I have a distant relationship. Distant because I am rarely near enough to them to have a relationship. Best? Worst? Those are qualities that I am not well enough versed in to venture educated guesses. For many years, my primary means of transport was by highway, by way of using my thumb to …
A genre of stories, tales, novels, and movies is the "on the Road" variety. Before I began my life as a Pius Itinerant, I consumed lots of the genre in movies and television. The series Route 66 was required viewing for any young teen at that time who had dreams of adventure on the road. …
There is a famous quote stating that you can't go home again ( Thomas C Wolf); life moves on, people change, and circumstances alter. We can visit. Be a bit sentimental about the past. But move back in. No. I once tried to reinsert myself into a previous life barely a year after I'd left. …
I've done some truly fool hardy things. There was the time my friends and I walked calmly, no running, through the territory of a tough gang in Manhattan. We were on ur way home from Downtown, and had no money for the subway train. So we walked. We were taunted by the gang, laughed at, …
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