I was pleasantly surprised to hear from CustomMade.com that we were chosen as one of their top ten favorites just before Christmas!  Scroll down through the other beautiful pieces to find my dresser "Took A Hit". CustomMade is a great website begun by one guy trying to promote the work of bespoke furniture makers in North America. It's now expanded considerably and includes jewellers, glass makers, and many others.

It's quite humbling to see the standard of workmanship out there; it reminds me of preparing for the show in Cody each year. I think - "yes, I like the piece I have created" and then I get there and see the incredible creativity and standard of work by my fellow woodworkers. That's why it's good to go to shows in my opinion - it reminds us that nothing is new under the sun! I'm getting ready for a show in March - the Scottsdale Arts Festival. I think my pieces will be different and unique - and yet, and yet... we shall see.

Here is a peek at the end tables I am making for Scottsdale. Not quite finished but three quarters of the way there. Today I'm working on the copper; you will have to wait and see what it's purpose will be!

P.S. CustomMade.com is an online marketplace that connects buyers of custom furrniture, decorative items and other products with the artisans who make them.

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.

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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FineIdeas-GameOn-Part6.mp4 (40.99 MB)

Things are a bit out of sequence in this video but I'll try to briefly sort it out. To recap, the mould is the tool which was created to produce the curved component of the game table (as well as the desk). The last video shows how we adhered the oyster veneer onto this core. 

This video starts out with me making the top half of the mould. Then the video switches to making that core for the game table and then again switches back to the making of the top half of the mould where I am attaching the steel bolting angles.  It is a bit long but not nearly as long as it actually took.

These TV shows where they make a desk or a table in an hour is bull-ony.  They don't show the many set-ups or trial runs.  That has already been done.  If they have to do an operation ten times they only show you once.  And they never show you a wreck.  They don't have a 40 year old wide belt sander that destroys a belt once in a while.  Now that would be some quality viewing.  I hate it when that happens and don't think of it as quality viewing, but it is real life.  Hence the bumper sticker, "..it happens."

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FineIdeas-GameOn-Part5.mp4 (30.12 MB)

You may have seen my latest creation which I named "Game On". My sweet and most devoted fan, Susie, has made a series of videos that might be of interest. What a fantastic job she has done putting this together. I am always amazed at the things she figures out how to do and in such a short amount of time.

There are numerous clips so we won't put them all up at one time but here a couple to start things off. 

If you have't seen the album of photos, you can check that out on the Facebook Page.

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part0_opening-description-for-game-on_20111004.mp4 (19.07 MB)

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part1_describing-the-vision_20110928.mp4 (24.5 MB)