Insubordiknit: What I used to did.

December 16, 2007

What I used to did.

Do you know what I did before I did what I do now? Do you? Let me tell ya. My life's work has gone like this--
waitress
waitress
waitress
and then all the sudden...woodworker!
and then all the sudden...woolsmith (that's my fancy word for what I do now).

Yeah, before I sat my pink bum down in the spinning chair, I built furniture (hence the woodworker's crack over there). I know, right? Weird. It started innocently enough - when I was twenty-five years old and I was five months pregnant, I made ol’ Crazy Pete. At the time, my belly barely rounded but I wrapped my arm around it like it was the weight, or the jewel, of the world. K.ad was out of town for the weekend and I was feeling alone, a bit co-dependently lost, and what-do-I-do-now when I noticed, for the gazillionth time, that the bathroom door was held open by a rusty pair of needle nose pliers that had been wedged between it and the floor. This makeshift doorstop was put in place to keep the out-of-plumb door from swinging open and settling somewhere around the middle of its trajectory. Aside from shakily and unattractively doing its job, it had gouged a hole in the already slightly dingy linoleum. I decided, in all my pregnant glory, to do something about it. With that decision I became a woodworker.

Ol’ Crazy Pete was what I named the piece I made that day, although I wasn’t calling them pieces yet. He was a wooden wedge about five inches long with a spiky, red haired-head cut into the non-tapering end so that when placed under the door, you could see the two faces, one coming and the other going. I made it out of an old piece of two-by-four stud that I found in the garage, nothing fancy. I carefully cut it with a jigsaw (after I figured out how to use it – kind of), sanded it by hand, and painted it with acrylic paint. I painted red and blue spirals where eyes would normally go and named it Ol' Crazy Pete.

It didn’t feel like art, it felt like some home improvement crafty project. I wasn’t creating, I was stretching my new homeowner muscles. But this was the first time I'd done anything artistic and I ate it up. By the end of that week I had made five more doorstops. By the end of the month, fifteen -- plus I had started carving tiny features in their tiny faces. I started to feel a bit more confident, artistic, and creative. I decided to call myself carveGirl, build a website and start selling doorstops. However, after the first 40 doorstops, I never wanted to look at a doorstop again, much less make one. I moved on to bookends and light-switch plates -- from there, on to kids toys, mirrors, and tables, learning as I went and loving every new project. With each bit of woodworking I did, a little bit more of the artist hiding inside me came out. Had I not been pregnant, my artistic side would have been forever confined to wistful, rainy-day musings done mostly while staring out of trendy coffee shop windows furtively glancing at hip art students with paint and plaster on their worn dickies. Secretly hating.

I don't really have pictures of many of these projects, though when I discovered fiber and decided it was my true love, I kept a few pieces for, you know, posterity, or something. I sold lots of this stuff, never enough to support us, but enough to make me feel like I was doing something cool. I even got one large job, designing and making the coffee tables for a local coffeeshop. K.ad (which is what bill is going by now, in case you didn't know) and I did it together, him building the bases, me doing the tops. They turned out really well, something I'm still proud of.

So there were 7, I think. Each had some warpy version of something they sold at the shop (herbal tea, coffee, espresso, cap, baked goods...) and along the curve of the item I routed a shape and filled it with coffee beans or herbal tea and epoxy. The shop loved them! The customers loved them as well, as least judging by the number of people that wanted us to make the exact same tables for our own home. Yeah, I thought it a bit strange too. We filled a few of the orders because we needed the money, some were diner style tables, some were coffee tables (like the one below) but everyone wanted the same coffee theme. I was so sick of coffee and woodworking by the time fiber saved me.

My point in telling you all this? Well, I've updated the shop but it's a light update. The reason? Bill has been locked in the art room all week covered in wood dust and old memories, working on some carved signs for our favorite local indie bookstore. They look awesome but man, so much time! All week it's been me and the kids and I'm exhausted.

With all the woodworking going on around here, it will be the first of the year until my brand new awesome new product will be in the shop. It'll be worth the wait, I feel sure.

Also, if you read this far, the winner for the first week of happy holiday free yarn is number 28! Rae who came this way via the Rav. You, my gal, get to pick any yarn you'd like. It need not be from this update, hold on to that free yarn card as long as you like and when you see something that strikes your fancy, gimme a holla!

As for the rest of you -- this is the post for the 2nd week of happy holiday free yarn. I'll take comments until Tuesday, get the Boy Boggs to pick a number and announce it Tuesday night! Happy holidays.

Posted by jacey at December 16, 2007 06:07 PM

Comments

Those are awesome tables, and if it helped keep food on the table and the bills paid that's all that matters. I've been in suspense all week about your new product and I have to wait longer. Well, then I'll be entry number one in your contest.

Posted by: sharon at December 16, 2007 06:47 PM

Dude, I wish you had the time to take on a furniture commission now. I need a map cabinet for my thesis exhibition and can't find the perfect thing anywhere, nor do I have the time (what with having to finish the thesis work and all) to learn the skills I'd need in time. These tables are gorgeous.

ps, don't count me for the raffle, 'kay? Since I just won not too long ago, it wouldn't be fair. xo

Posted by: jodi at December 16, 2007 07:59 PM

I love those tables. You are so creative!

Posted by: amanda at December 16, 2007 08:24 PM

Those are some awesome tables. I've been wanting to try woodworking for ages, but I don't have tools (or space for them). Eventually.

Posted by: Country Mouse at December 16, 2007 11:35 PM

Those really are great tables/folk art pieces! Though I completely understand the way that fibre would take over all else... No matter what, it's so wonderful that you can make art your living!

Posted by: Em at December 17, 2007 10:56 AM

Those tables are awesome! We just bought a house and have been planning to do our kitchen in a kind of French/Italian coffeehouse feel.

I'm kind of looking forward to flexing my homeowner muscles soon. First up for me....a headboard for the master bedroom.

Posted by: Kelley at December 17, 2007 10:57 AM

Always great to see how talented you are. Good girl.. ;o)

Posted by: Bente at December 17, 2007 04:16 PM

Those are gorgeous -- I can see why people would have commissioned you to make more!

Posted by: Gladys at December 17, 2007 04:37 PM

Cute tables!

Posted by: frances at December 17, 2007 05:05 PM

Woodworking is totally on my list of someday hobbies! Those tables remind me of some awesome chairs we were using at a coffee shop in a student film I was working on. It had just been bought and the new owners started painting the chairs solid black halfway through production! So much for continuity....

Posted by: ellie at December 17, 2007 05:21 PM

Ha! You had me at the crack. :D

Jacey, I admire your creativity! And now, I'm happy to go listen to the latest episode. Rock on!

Posted by: Anna at December 17, 2007 05:35 PM

The tables really are great! I'm so impressed with everything you make!

Posted by: Valerie at December 17, 2007 06:40 PM

I totally get the "I can't stand to look at another ______ ever again" thing. That's one of my fears about doing what I love to do for a hobby as a business. So far, I haven't started hating doing massage or drumming/dancing/teaching for (part of) a living, but even the experience of Holiday Knitting will sometimes put me off certain projects for months if not forever (no more Interminable Harry Potter scarves. Ever.).

Posted by: Resourceress at December 17, 2007 06:47 PM

Coffeehouses are better with funky tables. Those are really beautiful! Now you need to make spinning wheels with yarn inlays! ;-)

Posted by: Finlay at December 17, 2007 06:49 PM

I SO hear you on the .... I never want to see another... aircraft seat, scood, t-tunic.... whatever I have made for cash in the past. But after a couple, it gets faster, and therefore more worth it. Then... it gets slower because you can think of anything in the world you would rather do that sew another... whatever. If you come up with a solution.. let us know ok?

Posted by: Beaweezil at December 17, 2007 08:18 PM

wow! yay!!! :D the ONE day i don't get on ravelry to check for messages, you sent me one! oh man, this is exciting, i'm going to have to take my time and think about this... i love your fantastic yarns! now i'm going to run off and tell my husband, thanks! :D

ps. those tables are freakin' awesome!

Posted by: rae at December 17, 2007 11:47 PM

LOVE the cafe tables. If you ever go back into production, I want one (will need to think about where to put it).

Can't wait for your new product.

Posted by: johannab at December 17, 2007 11:56 PM

Your tables are lovely! and I am so glad you ditched them in favour of the fibre! It has enriched the lives of many. i have made a vitreous humour scarf and it creates a bit of a ruckus wherever we go. the scarf and i. you understand. its a buddy now. a gruesome, soft, warm, freakazoid buddy.
anyway. happy solstice time to you and yours. thanks for the fantabulous yarns you spin.

Posted by: Julie at December 18, 2007 02:13 AM

well those tables are super cool, but i'm glad fiber took over!! and i'm intrigued by that idea above about spinning wheels with yarn inlays...

Posted by: Lee at December 18, 2007 02:15 AM

Very nice tables :)

You've very multi-talented :D

Posted by: Jenn at December 18, 2007 09:22 AM

ah, so you are one of those who can do anything! i'm so impressed with the woodworking. tools are so intimidating!

Posted by: andrea at December 18, 2007 11:51 AM

love the tables!

Posted by: Janice at December 18, 2007 12:27 PM

The tables look great!

I'd love to enter the draw if I'm not too late.

Posted by: Nicole at December 18, 2007 02:23 PM

talented, you are.

Posted by: charolotta at December 18, 2007 06:55 PM

Am I late? If so count me out. That Noro is beautiful and you came by it with such love. The sweater will be great.

Posted by: Tal at December 19, 2007 10:52 AM

Am I late? If so count me out. That Noro is beautiful and you came by it with such love. The sweater will be great.

Posted by: Tal at December 19, 2007 10:52 AM

I wish I could build like that. I love the coffee table version with all of the drawers. Very nice stuff, you should be proud.

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