The price of a thing and the value of a thing are in my opinion, relatives but not siblings and certainly not identical twins. Like most people, I would like to pay two bucks for a bottle of nice Cabernet Sauvignon or two bucks a pound for well raised, fed and aged filet Mignon. But that isn't going to happen and it shouldn't. In the case of furniture (mine anyway) it's mostly simple arithmetic with the added original art component.
Let's say a large furniture manufacturer wants to produce a new and unique end table. The front end cost to get that end table to production is not insignificant. There is the designer or more likely a design team, the marketing team, probably an engineer, there is the making of a few prototypes, CNC (computerized machinery) programming, tooling, material purchasing and probably a few more things I have left out before the end tables even begins it's journey to being a finished product. I'm making an educated guess here, but that front end cost for a new end table might be in the neighborhood of $10,000 It should be, and most often is, a very well made piece of furniture but it won't cost you $10k. So here's where the very simple arithmetic (my favorite kind) comes in...if they make 10,000 end tables, that front end cost is a dollar per end table.
For those of us in the custom furniture making business, the process is similar. The main difference is that we usually wear all the hats and the front end cost isn't even close to that of a large manufacturer. To be sure, there is some front end cost (mostly in time spent) but the bulk of our cost is in the time and energy we spend "giving birth" to a new and unique piece of functional art. Look at this link - do you think the creator of this amazing piece was thinking about cost at this point or being creative? My guess is that he was thinking about a unique creation.
Finally another link to an article on the website CustomMade.com. I mostly agree with what they say, although I would add below a comment about Sam Maloof's rockers - his work was so admired as a work of art that its perceived value justified its cost.
"I would make one minor adjustment in the equation utility-price=value. This works fine for something utilitarian like toys, or even a basic table or desk that needs to fit a specific spot. But in high-end furniture, the equation clearly goes beyond just utility. Certainly a Maloof rocker did not provide tens of thousands of dollars of utility to its owner, but was so admired as a work of art that its perceived value justified its cost. While many custom inquiries are indeed based purely on utilitarian value, these ignores the importance of quality design, careful selection of materials and grain, and the artistic qualities a hand-crafted piece can exhibit. I don’t claim to be in the same universe as Sam Maloof, but I do strive to create beautiful things out of wood that I hope carry more value than just their usefulness as a table, box, or chair."
So, what do you think is value?
There are many facets to an artist, but one quality that most, if not all artists possess to some degree is in... in... insecurity. There! I've said it. Not that I want to admit it but it's true, if we're honest that is. So who wants to show that bit of dirty laundry? NO ONE! That's a character flaw for Pete's sake. So, we cover it up, or try to anyway.
It is 200 years ago today that Charles Dickens was born, and as a consequence there is much in the media celebrating his life and amazing writings. I heard Simon Callow, the actor and also biographer of a new book on Dickens, say today : '"Dickens' greatest fiction was his own character.....People think of him as a jolly chap ... but he was ... increasingly plagued with depression and a sense of hopelessness and despair. And that's worth knowing. I think it's always good to know that great creative individuals have their struggle, their drama." How well put. Or as writer friend said to me when I asked, "do you ever wonder if you're good enough?" and he answered, as he puffed on his pipe, "Ah yes, that is a question we really don't want to ask ourselves."
So then I think, perhaps it is the insecurity that drives us on in some way, to prove to ourselves that we do have a gift, but then we try to take it back as if we were the source, rather than what it is, a gift.
It may be that you feel somewhat relieved to reach the end of this particular video project! In the two videos below you will see the completion of Game On, and then off to Cody we go. The final video briefly shows the area in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (which we call The Museum) where we and other artists display original pieces of art furniture "from these here western parts" in the Cody High Style Show - It is a great time, and very well attended by some of the most talented artists and artisans. By the way, what the heck is the difference between an artist and an artisan? Not much me thinks.
You may not know the museum, but the National Tour Association recently honored the Buffalo Bill Historical Center as one of America's "favorite museums for group travelers" and the Smithsonian of the West I read somewhere. We couldn't agree more. Susie & I really look forward to the show each September - Cody has a unique atmousphere, full of friendly people, artisans, artists, and creative souls showing their wares and what-nots to the public. I think you better come. heck, make a little holiday out of it and go through Yellowstone while your at it. It is "other worldly" in my opinion. No better artist that God. I think he may have done his best work there.
The show this year is September 18 to September 22 - so put it on your calendars!
This video shows the final assembled piece and the application of the pudding like paste wood filler. It has taken a good deal of time, effort, and head scratching to get this baby down the birth canal, but it looks as though it has been worth while. By all indications it is going to finish out to be a very cool piece and a Fine Idea. As I said in the last blog, not every idea turns out to be a good one, but I do believe that the sooner we can accept that simple but so-true statement the less burdened we are with the worry of having what we think is a good idea turn out to be a bad idea. It's a given...we will all have bad ideas from time to time. Wow! how liberating.
So next time you have a great idea that turns out to be not so good or even bad, extend yourself some grace. And when someone else you know has a similar experience, extend them some grace as well. Perhaps this is one way we learn humility and compassion
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It can seem that way sometimes when designing and making an art piece. Will it all hold together? Will it look good? Will I like it? Will others like it? As a fellow artist said to me at Christmas "I've come to learn over the years that not every idea is a good one!". That is rather comforting actually. Well, happily, I think that all of the details came together to make a good piece.
In this video you will see some final components completed. The drawers were a considerable challenge as there were no flat surfaces or square edges with which to clamp or make the dovetails.
It was a nice change working on the lathe making the shakers for the dice. The wood for them actually came from an discarded root burl that Susie and I found when looking at houses to fix up last year. It turns out to be Box Elder, weighing some 300 lbs but we managed to heave it into the trailer. I think it will be in our inventory for several years!
This video describes the top slab for the Game Table. Susie and I cut down this large scrub oak tree last spring at a neighbor's ranch. It was large and mostly dead with many spalted areas which really just added to the spectacular color and grain variation. It did however need a healthy infusion of epoxy to renew it's strength and hardness.
I have to confess, I am usually a bit nauseated when people over spiritualize stuff. And when they say that God told them "thus and such" or worse, they were given, "a word for me", the yellow caution lights glare in my cerebellum. But I digress. The thought process here is just to say; as with the lowly scrub oak, the splits, knots, decay and whatever else makes up the criteria for discard, can be transformed into beauty when the master is given a chance to work his kind of magic. God knows, scrub oak requires a good deal of work to make it look like some kind of magic has occurred...just like this knot-head.
Happy New Year and don't be too bummed if you don't hit the resolution targets. I think most of them are 200 yard shots with a bow anyway. And don't be too O'bummered if the election doesn't go the way you want or the economy doesn't improve as quickly as you'd like. With few exceptions, we are not even close to what my parents described of their experience in the great depression.
This video shows the attachment of the legs for the Game Table, "Game On". These support both the curved bit as well as the top. The legs, which are tapered, do indeed pierce the top. It was tricky but worth all the head scratching. Reviewing the video reminded me of the expression "we all put our trousers on, one leg at a time", and today was one of those days.
Because lest anyone thinks I or any other wood worker/artist (who has been at it professionally for around 27 years) is by now exempt from screw-ups, then you are severely mistaken. I was reminded yet again today that the finishing process can, has, and did once again kick my ass. And it seems to happen most often, when I am being the most conscientious, methodical and all that. I do indeed put my pants on one leg at a time.
You wan t to know what happened? If not skip the rest of this. If so, here it is in a nutshell. I paste wood filler (a pudding like product to fill pores) to the top of a very nice looking quarter-sawn, white oak tabletop. Then I stained it with a dye stain that I had cut with a bit of gum turpentine and mixed with another color to get the color I wanted. It was perfect. It was left to dry overnight but was face down as I intended to finish the bottom first. The bottom turned out fine as I was using a standard precat lacquer. I then turned the top over the next day and prepared to finish it. As this was to be a heavily used table, I intended to use a conversion varnish, which is very durable and moisture resistant. It is also very finicky in that it requires ideal surface conditions for top performance. I have determined that the stain and paste wood filler had not completely flashed off all of the solvents and I ended up with a top full of "fish eyes" or craters. Essentially, it looks like it has been shot with a shotgun from about a hundred yards. So, it is now scraped. Tomorrow it will be sanded and I will begin again, but this time allowing time for all solvents to evaporate.
Yep. Not such a good day. But there is always something to learn from it.
This is Dan Rieple. Believe it!
I was going to talk about the "bad breath" wood this time but upon reflection I have decided that topic stinks! So in brief, the wood is Russian Olive and it stinks in so many ways. First it's a messy and dirty tree with nasty thorns. Second it is a water sucker, and Third, it smells like cat pee when you work it. It does have one redeeming quality however, it is pretty nice looking when all finished up. Here is a website that has many pictures of stuff made from it. Some pretty cool stuff.
You will want to keep your distance from all the woodworkers however, as they will now and forever smell of cat pee. Not a good marketing strategy I think. Ok, so they don't smell like cat pee any more, but they did. Give me scrub oak...it smells of a whiskey barrel.
The video here attached shows how Game On is beginning to take shape. With much effort, tedium and persistence, a design gradually becomes a tangible piece of...well...Art. There is not another one like it that I have ever seen or heard of and it is doubtful it will ever be mass produced. What you see here are the stages of a piece that excite me. You start off with some graphite and a lot of eraser marks on a few pieces of paper. Then you gather the raw material, from the forest in this case. Some of it you mill into planks that are then "Stickered" and left to air dry for months (slow is better me thinks) or kiln dry for days. Then you make the parts to make other parts to make other parts to eventually combine the parts to make the sum of the parts and voila! you now have something that looks like part of your original sketch, and it is good. Sometimes very good. Sometimes not so good, which is very bad but in this case it was very good.
At these times, I often think of the line in Young Frankenstein where Gene Wilder (aka Dr. "roll in da hay" Fronkensteen) says, "It's a-l-i-v-e!"
So...now you are beginning to "see it" where as before you did not.
This is Dan Rieple, Believe it.
It seems that in recent years I am drawn to wood that can often be overlooked. It started with old fence-posts from a ranching neighbor. It was so satisfying to work with something that would normally be put tossed away when it's apparent usefulness was finished. In sanding and sculpting the old juniper or pitch pine posts, I was never disappointed by the resulting new life it was given. They were beautiful this time with a new and more refined purpose - a lamp, a wine holder, a yule log, or table legs.
This episode of the "Game On" video, you will see me making the pulls for the drawers that will hold the chess and backgammon pieces. Happily to say, no deer lost it's life giving up its antlers for a higher cause. In fact, as many of your know, Deer shed their antlers annually as a prelude to the regeneration or re-growth, of new ones. Here it is again, the theme of renewal, new life - second chances.
Of late however, I have been intrigued by the wood from trees almost never even considered for a piece of furniture. A desk and chair I have named "The Least of These" and "Sit" and a game table called "Game On" are all made from the lowly scrub oak (quercus gambelii). Mostly it is fuel wood and shreds you and your clothes when you ride or walk through it, but it has other attributes of which most people are unaware. It is a snow catcher so the pasture grass is almost always thickest and greenest in an oak brush patch. It is great cover for new-borns...deer, calves, elk, birds and more. And, in the fall it gives us all the fall colors in one species. How does it do that? And finally, I would have to say that it makes for beautiful furniture. Because of it's small stature and rarely straight, it will not be fashioned by conventional methods. It requires more time to cure, more effort to work and more quantity 'cause their small but tough, very tough.
And one last thing about scrub oak...when it is old and near the end of it's life, the wood is often not as tough or hard. But it is far more interesting and colorful and fragrant. Does that remind you of anything or anyone?
Next time, if I remember, I must write something about Bad Breath Wood that is just nasty in almost every way. But wait, there may be a glimmer of hope for it as a furniture wood. Just wear a mask if you want to be kissed later.
Signing off, Dan Rieple. Believe it!
The Making of a checker board is really a beginning woodworking project taught to kids in wood shop classes around the age of 15. Oh, hang on, what wood shop classes? There are very few nowadays due to budget cuts or liability or whatever reason. What a shame. Not all kids are University bound nor should they be. There is a Proverb that says something like, "Raise up a child in the way they should go." I used to think the parents were the ones who determined the best course for their kids, but I've been enlightened. The Proverb says, "...the way THEY should go." not the way we think they should go. Ya Ya you want your kid to do something considered a part of the intelligentsia like those in the current big banking industry. Who do you think designed and fabricated the desk and office they work in? And where will the next designers and builders come from? I think it might be time to reinstate the old wood and metal shop classes.
In this video of the Game On series I show how the checker board is laminated to a core material. The backgammon board is laminated to the other side of the same core. As I mentioned, a checker board is a beginning wood shop project so portions of the video take me back to "wood shop 101" or age 15. Wow that was a long time ago, as I will soon be 54.
So, where have all the wood shops gone? As a result of the ever fading Industrial Arts classes, as they once were, I believe there will be some developmental stuff that just won't happen. Kids won't learn a lot of stuff. Making a wooden chess board (or something similar) and the problems that are solved in the process, is just a tiny precursor to the bigger issues in life.
Now I'll get off of my soap box (which is made of wood incidentally) and refer to a couple of articles that give some hope that the wisdom of the ages is still relevant. The Economist recently wrote an excellent article on this. Check out "Wisdom of the Hands" blog and finally another great article from the New York Times entitled "Kindergarten Shop Class" which I found very inspirational.
So there you have it! This is Dan Rieple. Believe it!
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