Another Reason I Love Wood

This was the view from my bedroom window last Saturday morning.  Eva and I were in Emsdale staying with friends on Bay Lake.  It had snowed a bit the day before and the clean white snow rested heavily on the tree branches.  It was very nice, the view across the lake is to a ridge covered with evergreen trees and the vista reaches to the horizon.  If you could see further you would see the vista reach pretty much to North Bay.  The principle feature of the view is trees, or wood, it is not often that the raw material, in its rawest form is appealing in the way that wood is.  Most building materials are not visually appealing in their raw state.

   The other wood thing that caught my eye on the weekend was this clock.  This clock is from Belfast, the works are English and the case work Irish, and was made sometime between 1780 and 1830.  As you can see it is not as fancy as some large case clocks but the works still run and the case work is still subtle and tasteful.

  There are things are subtle and timeless and then there are small flights of fancy.

  This is a small Christmas tree I made last year for Kieran, a tree, presents and a old fashioned rag rug on the floor.  I didn't really expect to see it again this year, it warms my heart to think that some of my wooden silliness hangs around.

   Speaking of Christmas trees that have hung around for a long time.

Another Christmas Classic

Time to Put away Christmas

   Oddly enough I haven't shown this project before.  I think that it got sent to the grand kids before it was photographed in December 2010.
  The figures were originally just scroll saw cut outs but after cutting them out I added texture and general shape with a jack knife, I guess it is not carving as much as whittling.  The colours are aniline dyes and/or acrylic craft paint.  

  You can see that there is not really much detail to the whittling but the grain of the wood almost gives texture to the robes.  The blue and purple are dyes and so you can see some grain, the orange is paint and so covers the grain.

  While the project was not great art, it allows my grand kids to interact with the characters of the Christmas story as it is told and retold over the course of the season.

  The sharp eyes will see the Christmas tree in the back ground replacing the more authentic palm tree.  That is a detail to be explained when the children go older, for now the Christmas season and the Christmas story features a Christmas tree.

Christmas Trees, another reason to love wood

  This is a photo of this year's Christmas tree, seem from the loft of our house. 


   Since it is Christmas there is a reduced amount of wood working happening in the shop, but there remains the typical amount of fixing and adjusting happening. For example, the base of the tree needed to be cut off square and clean before it was erected and lit.  You need a saw for that.  I really don't know how people without a shop full of tools manage, especially if they own their home.


  Anyway, I digress, the tree is a Fraser Fir, it smells earthy  and does not drop its needles as badly as many of the other traditional trees used at this time of year.  Most all trees are beautiful and with care and planning no part is really wasted. (my wood chips go to a potter I know to make Raku pottery)  Our tree will get collected at curb side in January and be ground into mulch and the mulch will be used on the city's gardens. 

  Further, like any cash crop this tree was farmed; planted and tended with the knowledge that it would one day be cut and sold for a Christmas tree, it was not a tree in a forest that could have one day grown majestic and tall.  Growing the tree provided work for someone in either Canada or the United States.  An artificial tree made off shore maybe less work for us but....it does not have the chain of cause and effect, and contribution to the domestic economy that a real tree does.  Not only that an artificial tree is well...so..artificial. 

   Eva loves her tree and does a great job of choosing and decorating them. This year there will be two little Grand People that will help us enjoy the tree and decorations too.  Kieran is already looking forward to the surprises that are going to be under the tree.  I am lucky and glad that Eva is so committed to her trees and the tradition of a real tree.