Craft & Art

I enjoy working with my hands. As I described in Grain of Truth, the work of hands is an exemplary guide in the process of self-development. These days, I typically design and build craft projects as both a devotion and a practical adjunct to my writing on the creative process. I have made contemporary furniture using only hand tools, have reconstructed a boat, and have made a musical instrument (eight projects are detailed in Grain of Truth). Using a combination of traditional and modern methods and finishes, I often fashion unique pieces as gifts to my family and friends. Occasionally, I work by commission. If you are interested in commissioning a piece, please contact me directly.

Below is a partial listing of recent projects.

• Bowls (natural-edged, in maple and spalted birch)
• Knives (in the Japanese tradition, with ebony and cocobolo handles)
• Turned jewelry (rings and bracelets) in lignum vitae and cocobolo
• Aikido weapons (in maple, purpleheart, and cocobolo)
• Writing desk (bird’s-eye maple, hinged drawer, floating frame)
• Bed (Arts and Crafts style, birch and cocobolo, hand-finished with planes and scrapers)
• Stone sculpture (Sulawesi style, basalt)
• Dining table (Craftsman style, cherry)
• China cabinet (Craftsman style, hand-planed cherry)
• Canoe bowl (Northwest Coast style, cypress, purpleheart, brass)
• Bookshelves (pinned frame, purpleheart and pine)
• Sailing dinghy (9 foot, fiberglass, fir, maple)
• Funerary box (purpleheart, silky oak)
• Hand plane (maple, lignum vitae)
• Marimba (redwood, pine, steel)
• Garden lantern (Japanese style, cedar and sandblasted glass)
• Office table (Krenov style, maple)
• Garden bench (Krenov style, yellow cedar and Padauk)
• Bunk beds (early American style, pine)
• Woodworker’s custom toolbox and cabinetry (birch and fir)
• Woodworker’s custom bench (in the style of traditional craftsmen who completed every step from logging to completed furniture: I salvaged the Douglas Fir logs, milled them, dried the rough planks for two years and completed the final construction using only hand tools).