Reflections and Thoughts

This post was to have been done last week, but since I had been away at the show a week before, I was behind on my job, and had to work last Sunday in order to try to catch up a bit, and keep the client happy.

The show I was at was called the York Folk and Fine Art Show, in York Pennsylvania. If I went there to make any money, it was pretty much a waste of time. However, since I went there mostly in hopes of "getting my name 'out there'", more, perhaps I had some impact. Mostly, though, it is my intention in this post, to pass on some observations that I made regarding crafts and the people who do them, whilst attending the show.

Let the show begin...

The first thing, which I have been noting more and more in the last four years that I have again tried to get into some sort of show circuit, is the average age of those involved. At 48 years of age, I was the 'kid on the block', as in, out of some 80+ exhibitors, there were only two, who were younger than myself. (both furniture makers also.) There was a wide range to the variety of arts and crafts at the show, but the common thread throughout, was that the artists were almost all in their mid 50's to 80's. (This fact helped me to realise I still have a lot of mileage left in me; since I began this career about 20 years ago, I guess I am just getting warmed up actually.)

Doing a little bit of demonstration to pass the time

I do not like to sit and do nothing at a show; I prefer to work at something, which demonstrates what it is that I do, for anyone interested in seeing the work in action. This also allows me to get some work done on whatever project I happen to be working on at the time. In this case, it was more of my moulding project; I finished two more sections whilst attending this show. I also got a bit more carved on my 9th century box.

I was able to finish a couple more sections of my
rococo moulding project

Back to the topic of my musings, the second thing that I noticed, was how few young people were in the crowd who attended. At the Waterford Show that I do, there were more kids, but even there, the vast majority of the visitors to the show were over 45. This makes me wonder who is going to pick up the mantle when those of my generation are no longer able to continue. Perhaps by then, there will not be anyone left alive who even cares?

This past week, a client sent me a picture of a console table with the subject line of "what do you think?"

http://www.wayfair.com/International-Caravan-Windsor-Wood-Console-Table-3808-INC1447.html

What am I supposed to think. What I think is that it is no wonder the craft shows keep getting smaller and less people attend them, either as exhibitors or customers. Think about the implications of this table. If an artist were really on top of his game, working quickly and efficiently, it would still take most of a week to produce this table (based on an 8 hour work day) That would come out to 48.60$ per day, or 7.32$ per hour, but that is not even the amount one would get, because he would still have to buy the wood. Assuming one made it out of the cheapest wood available, here in America, (poplar) which sells for about 2.50$ per 'board foot' (the way timber is sold in the country) it would cost a bit north of 50$ for the timber, then there would be hardware, stain, and varnish on top of that, the final material cost for this table would be close to 100$. When one considers this, the real question should be, why would anyone deliberately sell something so cheaply? I understand that it is produced in China, and labour costs are much cheaper there, but a lot of the timber for pieces like this is actually sent from here to there to be worked and then returned. Even if it does cost little to produce, what does one gain from selling it so cheaply?

This table is for sale on Wayfair for 293$ I hope readers can recognise the
difference between it and my work

In order to make money selling a product this low, a company would have to sell thousands, if not millions of them, to make any money. To make it worse, the company which is selling this table, is a publicly traded company, whose stock is currently worth more than 45$ per share. I am sure the President and CEO are making a bit more than 7.32$ per hour.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing particular against capitalism and people finding a need and filling it, or even getting rich in the process, but by selling cheaply made products at such ridiculous prices, it ruins the game for most everyone else. It is a race to the bottom, and the consumer, not knowing any better, wonders why he should buy a table for 5 or 6 thousand dollars when he can get one for less than 300$. In the end, however, all the companies competing with each other for business keep slashing the prices further, trying to "capture market share" and wind up not making any profit and going bust.

I know of at least 4 large retail stores which sold this type of furniture in the area where I live, which have gone out of business in the past two years. It seems that even at 293$ not enough people are interested in a table to keep the business going. What happened to the notion of communities supplying the majority of the labour needed to support their own economies? In those days, there were lots of young people who were eager to learn trades, crafts and skills, because they could provide for their families by doing so. Now it seems that nearly everyone still doing this type of work is retired and doing it "for fun".

I attended a class with Peter Follansbee about a month ago at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking; there were three other classes going on at the school at the same time, and nearly everyone in attendance was either retired or past retirement age. Back in January, I attended a workshop at Colonial Williamsburg, same thing there as well, I was again the lone "kid" in the crowd.

I hope it is not all doom and gloom for artists like myself who have a passion for creating things by hand, but somehow, we have to get more people interested in understanding what we do, and why it is valuable, or we will all be gone the way of the Dodo Bird; and the kids will not even know that it happened, because they are all bent over some electronic gizmo doing who-knows-what, (certainly not creating anything).

A collection of my work, representing thousands of hours, as well as a
big part of my heart and soul; from a Chinese import store the lot would
probably sell for a couple grand.

The Advantages of being an artist

This blog site is intended to be about many things related to me and my work. So far I have shown the process of creating a piece, and the various stages of that process. I wrote an article about making things by hand because that is something I am very passionate about; I wish to help spark a larger awareness of the importance of such things for others to share in as well. Last week I wrote about one little element in connection with the subject of furniture in the Middle ages, which is another great interest of mine. This week I want to have something a little less intellectual than that, and decided to share a new project I have, as well as some more about my artistic approach to designing things in general.

Many people who work with wood need plans and even full scale drawings, and if that is what works for them, then that is what they should use. Other people who create historically inspired pieces go to museums or books and copy as best they know how, the piece they have in mind, keeping the original measurements to the millimetre . As an artist, however, I feel a sense of liberty and freedom to be able to do as I wish without having the bother of consulting plans and diagrams in many of my works.

To be sure, if I am making a large cabinet with many parts or a library or some such thing, I will make a scale drawing of the elevation, and perhaps even some of the details, but in simpler projects, such as a box, a chest, a table, or a hanging shelf I may draw nothing more than a sketch or a template for the cut-out shapes I wish to use. Some projects, I have completed with no drawing at all. Below is the sketch I made for the box which is my 'icon' for this blog site, and also the sketch made for the hanging shelf featured in my first posting. (As I showed there, paper templates were also used for the sides and shelves; the carving elements were drawn free-hand on their respective pieces.)

Quick sketch inspired by a box seen
in a photo on the internet

Notice that my "sketch" is actually more of a scribble. I have more than a dozen proper sketchbooks in my possession, but it inevitably seems that none of them are to hand when inspiration strikes! If I am lucky, I find a notebook, otherwise the back of a bank statement or even a piece of wood has to stand in for the sketchbook. (the spontaneity of inspiration!)

The actual box which resulted from the above sketch

Here you can see the process of working as an artist. The sketch was the product of a moment of inspiration, then reality and necessity took over. The proportions were worked out based on the width and thickness of the piece of timber I had available, and were then refined by my own sense of aesthetics. (The entire body of the box was carved out of a solid block which measured 260 x 140 x 70mm thick. I plan to use the core I cut from the centre to make another one at some point in future.)

A similar evolution took place in the making of the hanging shelf.

The original sketch done on the same day
as the previous one
.(hence in the same book)

The sides remained remarkably accurate to my sketch, but at this point the idea of carving a bead around the entire perimeter had not yet occurred to me. There was an addition of a small moulded finial at the bottom of each side as well. The big difference came when I got to the back rails.

Not much about this looks like what
was initially sketched...
(the weather was much more pleasant then!)

This illustrates even better than the box, the artistic license I have, by not being bound by a piece to be copied or by having a full size plan laid out which I must follow. I noticed just now, in comparing these pieces, the same process at work which I use when doing paintings. I get an initial idea, but continue my creative process of refining it as the work progresses. If you look carefully you will also note that in the original idea, the shelf was to have had a square front edge; as work progressed, that seemed too boring, thus the carved edge was added. No carving was intended for the lower rail in the beginning, but by the time all the other enhancements had been done, it was obvious it wanted an upgrade as well.

 This brings me to the topic of my latest commission which has been in the makings since right after my show. A client from Annapolis is in need of a very specific table to suit a particular position in their house. When I visited their home, it was obvious to me that they would need a curved table; not something one encounters on a daily basis. I was happy for the challenge, as I thrive on doing things I have not yet done. Simple and ordinary just doesn't work for me, the more challenging the project, the more I relish it. This table will be a lot of fun

.

So far, we have agreed on the basic dimension and form of it, and also on the overall elements of ornament. I made a life size template of the top, which is shown below. The table will be of renaissance 'draw top' form, which means to say it will have two leaves under the main top which will pull out to extend the length. These extensions will have the same curved form as the main top and therefore I will be making a steaming box to bend the stay bars. Stay tuned...

The template rests on an heart pine table,
one of my 16th century style
 benches rests underneath.

The table will be supported on two vase shaped columns, with carved transverse feet. Because of its curved shape, a conventional 'trestle' stretcher would be quite a challenge to make from timber, the solution occurred to me in the form of Spanish renaissance tables with iron stretchers. This way, the stretcher can be shaped to follow the curvature of the table. I hope the blacksmith sees my vision as clearly as I do, or I will have to put on another of my hats...

From the book; The Encyclopedia of Furniture,
 by Joseph Aronson

This quick sketch below shows the basic idea a little more clearly.

the general form of leg and stretcher

The foot will be carved as a scroll with acanthus leaf on the top and channel gouge carving to the side. The sketch below shows the basic idea for that. Notice again that sketchbook issue of mine.

Foot design

In all, this is a very exciting project and I will enjoy it tremendously, thank you for the commission! 

Stay tuned for updates as it progresses over the next few months.