Authentic Nautical Accessories, and Custom Furnishings
Fair curves are important to ship & boat builders, carvers, furniture makers, and traditional sailmakers. The Oxford English Dictionary describes a fair curve as "a smooth curve; especially (Nautical) one in the body of a ship." That works out well until you put practitioners of different crafts together on a stage and ask them to …
Continue reading "The Fair Curve – closing your eyes to see"
It's true. Sometimes, less is more, or less allows you to develop more in new directions. My shop output has dropped dramatically from a year ago. Most of the decrease is in small items like treen ( wooden kitchenware). Why? I decided to stop doing craft shows. And I discovered that it improved my life …
Well, only some of your explorations turn into full-fledged completed projects. About thirty years ago, a customer approached me about a billet head for their boat. Eventually, they settled on a rather uninspiring traditional carved spiral design. But I spent a little time on some quickie samples of other designs. This one was never shown …
Daily writing promptWhat have you been putting off doing? Why?View all responses Let's not be too quick to dismiss procrastination. It can actually serve a useful purpose. I once learned from a friend in historic preservation that procrastination was one of his most valuable tools in saving landmark structures from demolition. By slowing, distracting, and …
Here's what I stated last year when I replied to this same prompt: "As I style myself as a ship's carver, I can see myself as an apprentice in the shops of McIntire, Bellamy, Robb, or one of the Skillins brothers. When I visit the Mystic Seaport or Salem's Peabody Essex Museum, I find myself …
Going into Will's workshop was always on par with entering a sorcerer's hut. He might be working on anything. Sometimes it was toys for the grandkids, trap stock to make lobster pots for Lowell down at the Cove, or a boat. The rafters hung with templates for boats made anytime in the past century or more. Will's father before …
The picture above is of my most recent work - "Reefing Before the Blow." Yesterday was my first opportunity to display it for the public. There was a lot of interest in it, so I don't think it will be hanging on my wall for too long. But something interesting was going on with the …
Boat shows, street fairs, festivals, and other events teach you a lot about human nature. You run into all types. You meet petty thieves who are out to steal a spoon off the table. And thieves who are interested in stealing intellectual property. The latter secretly try to take photos of your work to show …
from a 1930's manual on chip carving my chip carving knives Small boat box Eagle head modeled on the one on the Constitution's boarding plan large, thin cherry bowl - So, the number 158 yielded relatively few illustrations, but ones I like. The first is from a 1930s booklet that my wife's Great-Grandfather owned. He …
The photo captures a piece of art that caught my eye in a restaurant in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Its reductionist style immediately drew my attention, reminding me that schooner sails are all different sorts of triangles, each varying in angles and sizes.It was appropriate that I found this in a seafood restaurant in one of the …
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