I’d never known that towel craft was a thing until I walked into my cabin on the cruise ship and found this whimsical elephant made of towels. Our cabin attendants made some interesting creatures almost every night. The cruise line wasn’t out of pocket for any costly goodies, and it was a great way to please the guests.
Without entering into a huge discussion about found objects as materials for craft and art, versus costly prepared materials, the elephant points out that whimsical and attractive craft can be material independent, just depending upon the skill of the creator.
Some sellers of art and craft obsess on material. It’s the finest Circassian what-not available. The most rarified gem-quality doodad from Lower Slobovia. Horse Pucky. In my experience as a carver, some of the most expensive wood has resulted in the most tame grain patterns and boring textures I’ve seen. Yes, I want to avoid knots and physical imperfection in the wood. But I’d also like a bit of color, grain, and variety.
Here is my favorite example. I heat the house with a wood stove. Every year I get about five to six cords of locally cut and split wood delivered. One year my regular wood guy delivered two cords of cut and split cherry. Curious about the firewood, I grabbed a hunk and took it to my bandsaw and opened it up. After sanding, I discovered beautifully figured and colored wood that I decided was superior to the rather bland plank stock from the Appalachians that I had been using for spoons, spatulas, and bowls. Now the only plank stock I use is for larger projects like ship portraits. Yes. My work features the best quality Native, locally sourced wild cherry from Northern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Only the best.
That’s right, my spoons are made from cord wood for the stove. Tough!
My advice to anyone about materials is this: pay attention to the craft, not the bill of materials. After seeing the towel elephant, I went online to find out more. It is sometimes called towel origami, and has been widely adopted by cruise lines to delight guests.
Don’t obsess with what it’s made from; enjoy what it was used to create.
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This made me think about a book on chewing gum art that I read with students. It’s a thing, painting used chewing gum…definitely have to get past what it’s made from to enjoy the art. Ben Wilson does this art, you can google him if you want to learn more, but here’s a link to a blog interview with him. https://designgood.com/blog/ben-wilson
Yes, sometimes getting past what it’s made from is an issue.
Nice
The spoons are a nice color, is that the natural wood color?
I can’t use stain and keep it food-safe. So yes, those are the actual colors of the wood with the mineral oil (USP)on it. With use, the wood darkens. and I always advise periodic recoating with mineral oil – not vegetable oil.
Fortunate to find that cherry! Kellen’s dad, Dennis, worked at the Vermont Furniture Factory when we lived there. They work almost entirely in cherry, and had a bin out front where they tossed their kiln-dried cherry reject pieces. Once my work supervisor heard about it, he made weekly trips to visit the bin and grab wood for his projects at home. Cherry is a fine wood to work with. Dennis told me that if you never clear coat the cherry, and just oil it, the wood continues to grow darker and darker.
It does, especially with exposure to light.
It does, especially with exposure to light. The spoons also darken with use. Thdy need to be recoated with mineral oil as a protective finish periodically.
I think what people notice when they are looking at something made by a crafter has nothing to do with if that crafter bought the fanciest anything. I think people look for humor, beauty, usefulness and, depending on the product, good packaging, and — as with that towel elephant — charm and wit. There was a woman at the Christmas craft fair in my town who made picture frames out of old books. I was really taken by one and I’m 100% sure that neither she nor my friend who bought it for me knew that it wasn’t the cleverness of the frame — it was that it was a (maimed) very old anthology of American literature. That said, in general the frames were cute and the woman’s display was engaging. I’m going to have to find a picture to put in it before my friend comes for a visit 🙃
P.S. No one looking at my paintings knows I made the blue myself or that the pigment I used was a stone that was once rarer and more expensive than gold. They just see blue. And when I explain it? Usually their eyes kind of glaze over. Seriously. But…I know. 💙
You are right. But we know it!
Yep! 😀
When I go visit one of my sons, he always leaves an origami towel critter on my bed as a welcome. It’s just a little thing that makes both of us smile.
I have a good friend who turns bowls. He’s always looking for the wood that is spalted to make things from.
Spalting is an interesting phenomenon in wood, and does look lovely in a bowl.
The spoons look beautiful and I love the last reminder 🙂
Towel origami? Well, I just learned something. The elephant was adorable.
I chuckled about the special wood arriving as stove fuel. Good for you for spotting the potential.