Wood has always been my first love in media. I have worked with it the longest. For me, walking into a Lowes or some other lumber yard, the smell of all those different woods is like the smell of biscuits and gravy. Making different kinds of inlays has been fun for me over the years. I made a bunch of coin displays with the map of America or the flag above the coins in a deliberate patriotic sort of fashion. So many people liked them that I even sold about 10 about 20 years ago.
The US Map inlay was done with 4 different woods sandwiched together and all states cut out that way. From there you have 4 US map “puzzles” to put together in such a way that different woods touch as little as possible. When done there are 4 complete maps that have been assembled including the border and it works because each state is the same shape when it’s cut out so colors are interchangeable.
I also made inlay boxes with the logos of places that I worked. My Merck box housed my notary stuff, and the box with the Continental Bank logo housed the main facilities key collection. The boxes too were appreciated by many; in fact the Continental Bank box was my contribution to our final Christmas party in 2014 for our White Elephant. It went around 5 different people before it was all over.
The Jefferson book stand was a puzzle unto itself. Back in 2005 a friend said it would be a cool thing to have…not suggesting that I make it, but that of course is what happened. I knew he would never buy it himself so I decided to create one and give it to him. I was only able to find a few pictures and not ones from all angles, nor did I have any measurements to go by. From the few pictures I did have I worked out how to make it, and it functioned perfectly. The idea is that you can look at 5 books at the same time (for those of you who don’t know what books are…before 1993 the internet was made of wood). Every book could lay at a different angle as well and it spun so that all of them could be at your fingertips in a moment of need. It’s made entirely out of oak with 5 layers of shellac on it. That finish just glowed in the sunlight! Ever since then whenever I have the excuse I make something that I can cover in shellac. I kept it a surprise just in case I decided to keep it rather than give it to him and I very nearly did. He loved it.
