Sausalito and Beyond

Most people take that final vacation of the Summer over Labor Day weekend. My “holiday” was an intense 10 to 12 hours a day from Friday through Monday setting up and showing my crafts to many of those vacationers and locals. The weather was great (perhaps a little too warm on Sunday), and the aisles were packed as were many of the artists’ booths. 

My booth was in a single row of booths in the side and back of the main area. It was, unfortunately, facing the sun a lot, so we got an umbrella to help shade the instruments. The upside was that it was far away from both the music venues, which made it easier to demonstrate. If I get juried in next year, I’ll request a booth facing away from the sun.

I’ve been home a few days, and I’m still exhausted. However, there’s no time to sit back and relax, the Open Studios Art Tour is only three weeks away, and I’ve got to get a few more pieces done for it. Plus, I’ll have to clean up my studio and yard the week before Open Studios.

On the Workbench

Today I really got back to making sawdust again. After selling so many dulcimers last year, then only completing one more for the shows I just did, then selling another in Sausalito, my stock is, once again, depleted.  I have to get cranking on my next one, the “White Lady.” The head carving is nearly done so I figured I’d better steam bend the sides and clamp them up to dry.

Steam bending is a process that took me years to master, and years more to learn to be patient. When I first started bending wood, I would boil it in a long pan on a pair of hot plates, then clamp the wet and pliable wood in a form until it dried. Now, I use a hot iron (top photo) to bend dampened wood. I still clamp it in a form (bottom photo) for a few days until the wood is totally dry. It take patience. Try to bend to fast and the wood can snap.

I’ve also been working on my Chapter House Portative Organ. Just before I left for Sausalito, I made all the 1” pins that the keys will press. These pins open the airways so each pipe will play. The next step is to do some carving on the fronts of the keys then install them.

I’ve also been carving the gothic-style decorations on the sides. I still have a lot of smoothing and sanding to do.

The pipes are working well, but not tuned yet. I also want to carve faces at the top of the front rank of pipes.

Today I also cut out 9 more spoon and spurtle blanks. My spoon stock is also low, and I need a few more for Open Studios. So enough writing, I need to head back to the studio and work, work, work!

Onward through the fog.

 

San Francisco and Beyond

Last week, we had another fun American Craft Council Show at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. This year we actually seemed to have made a profit, which is great in this still-weak economy. It was a little cool and windy on setup day, but it warmed up during the three-day show quite nicely to short-sleeve weather.

I’ve done this show seven years now and this was the first time my booth was in the back of the exposition hall. All other times I’ve been very close to the front of the buildings. This used to be sort of a “dead zone”, where people didn’t quite make it to, but the new arrangements with wine tasting and “Alt-Craft” artists in the back really drew everyone to the area. We did have a lot of traffic.

Now it’s time to get ready for another big show, the Sausalito Art Festival, booth 121. That will be over Labor Day weekend, starting Friday evening and running through Monday.

Shop News

Once I get home from a show and unload, I try to take a day or two to decompress, to relax a little before jumping right into carving and creating again. Sometimes it’s hard to get myself back into a creative mode again, but I do finally get the energy flowing, and I did a couple of days ago. I finished another little fun birdhouse project that I’ve tentatively titled “Thrasher.”  I started doing a few “folk art” birdhouses a few years ago to use up some logs and branches that have been cluttering up my side yard for years. These were pieces of wood I couldn’t use for my instruments or carving, but I didn’t want to through them away. So, the idea came to create a few birdhouses to see if they sold. Little did I know that there are quite a few birdhouse collectors, so a couple of them sold right away. They’re fun pieces, and people really get a kick out of them.

Recently, I got into a research mood when I accidently came across a reference to the Trossingen lyre. The Trossingen lyre is a Germanic-style rote discovered in an 8th century grave (c. 785) in Trossingen, Germany. If was found being clutched by the body of a soldier. What made this find so exceptional is that the instrument had hardly any decomposition. It is the most complete instrument of that type and from that period of any yet found. All other lyre discoveries so far have been highly decomposed. None of my early music magazines or online resources ever mentioned the 2002 find, which came just one year after the English Prittlewell discovery, so I just had to keep searching to find out all I could about it.

Well, I did find a poorly translated (from the German) preliminary report on the lyre. It gave most, but not all, of the dimensions, types of wood used, and distinguishing features, like the use of sound holes and leather strap hooks. It was enough to allow me to draw up my own plans. There are a couple of luthiers in England who have already made copies, but I really want to make my own, as close as possible to the original as I can. More news on this as it progresses.

Meanwhile, time to think a little, carve a little, and create a lot. No fog. Onward anyway.