Sand & Sea Woodcraft
I Made A Thing. They Thought It Was Kinda Cool
Hop on in, kick your shoes off, and come along for this short jaunty tale about trying to earn a living in a tiny woodshop.
its magical ੈ✩‧₊˚*͛ ⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ —- - - ԅ(‾⌣‾ԅ)
Tips & Tails (Yes, I spelled that right)
Have you ever wondered how artisan stained glass is made? Really? Well, I’m glad you asked! The principle is simple, they put all the ingredients into an oven hotter than a Firebird with black vinyl seats and moon-roof in an Arizona traffic jam, then it is fired until soft and rolled flat like cookie dough, sans the flour. Of course it is a lot more complicated than that, but that’s above my paygrade. When the mixture is in a molten state, they use a steel roller to stretch it to the desired thickness, but that leaves the rounded edges that have to get cut off in order to make a nice square piece of glass suitable for windows or crafts. Those ‘edges’ that have been cut free are called tips and tails.
These glass tips and tails are more or less discarded to be broken into small pieces and used in art projects such as in a mosaic. But darn it, some crazy guy came up with an idea to make art from them, while in tact! Yesiree Bob, I started making use of these long, strange pieces of glass by embedding the straight-cut edge into wood.
It so happened that Kory Dollar got herself a heapin’ helpin’ of them and decided to drop off a nice big stack with me and said “Here, you deal with ‘em.”, so I decided that I would take a crack at it.
I found three pieces from the same run and, using my 3-I’s method, first came up with the idea for a project. Inspired by the thought, I set out to build something with the most ideal use for the materials at hand.
To me, the glass looked like ocean waves one would see lap up on the shore, with foam at the edge, and as the waves go in a series, I figured so should the glass. I just so happened to have a bit of reclaimed mahogany with variegated colors, so it was a match, which makes this project 100% recycled materials!
I started with the denser and heavier mahogany to embed the glass into, next the lighter wood encased the scene, and to top it off I planed down some extra-light pieces to put along the edges as a way of accentuating the waveform, the curvature of water. Last I put a slightly darker straight-edge frame to bring it all into focus.
I was putting the finishing touches on it over the weekend April 12 - 13, I wanted to show it to someone who would appreciate the amount of work that went into it, so I immediately thought of Brenda. I had not heard from Brenda in quite a while, so it was high time I sent my good friend a text so she could come over and see it first hand.
Brenda loves woodwork and has some good Earthly experience that make her idealy suited to become a gifted craftswoman. She is of a generation who still is not afraid to get their hands dirty and has been setting up a wood shop of her own. She and her husband Ted came over, looked at it, and they then looked at each other and asked, “Umm, just what would you sell something like this for?”
Not knowing I was being plumbed I said, “Around $$$ (undisclosed).”
“Well, we want to buy it.”
ヽ(⚈‿⚈ )ノ
“WHAT? - I mean, SOLD!”
Who Is Brenda?
During the summer of 2017, Brenda was the mail carrier for our neighborhood. Every day she faithfully delivered the junk mail and bills with a smile and all was fine, that is until she would pass by our house and look with bewilderment at this maniac (me) building some crazy looking fabrication. As the summer sun soon gave way to autumn leaves, the slow, methodical work of the poor unhinged fellow (me again) kept apace, his bizarre quest undaunted by the cool winds of fall.
As the project grew, so did her curiosity. Brenda watched day after day as the disturbed man (yep, me again) continued to use discarded parts and pieces of a dismantled house and fashion them into the shape of what appeared to be a smaller house. It soon became obvious to Brenda that something really odd, and yet strangely beautiful, was afoot. It seems that she was keenly aware that a touch of madness often dwells within the mind of a creative person.
(ʘₒʘ)
As the little house took shape with its kaleidoscope array of stained glass, Brenda knew that she would have to ask this singularly strange person the reason for building this beguiling assemblage, even though to her it was undeniable the dude was lacking a prize in his Happy Meal®.
Then one day - It. Was. Gone!
The building had left the building, it got up and took a powder. In the span of a single day, the whole thing went Splitsville, man, it had vamoosed without a trace!
¯\_(° ͜ʖ °)_/¯ WHUT?
Then the next summer came around and even though Brenda was no longer delivering the post, the madman (yep, still me) just happened to be outside messing around with something in the yard when she just happened to drive by. Although this time, she worked up the nerve to approach him and say, “Hey, what flavor of whack-a-doodle are you?!”
No, I lied. Brenda was very polite and said, “Hark, I pray thee, good sir, wouldst thou be so kind as to sate my yearning to know what thy copious mound of refuse doeth? Tis very much killeth the cat with curiosity.”
Okay, that was another lie. She just laid on a straight ahead “Are you the guy who built that greenhouse thing?”
”Yes, I’m the culprit with the old windows.”
Once she put away her bear spray, we became instant friends. Brenda has even been an apprentice. Over the past two years, when time allows, she has been coming to my shop to learn the art of woodworking and tool safety. She also has a really nice blog Dropping Rocks where she tells some well crafted story’s. My favorite is She Was Out Of My League, one of those tales that has the most fantastic twist, so you should definitely read this to the end, it’s well worth it.
[NOTE: If this post is unexpectedly cut short, that’s because it is too long for your email. To read the entire post and experience the full features, click on the title above to be taken to the publication.]
Here are a couple more images during the making of this project.
See the contrasting colors in this mahogany? It would have been THROWN AWAY but for the sane person who salvaged it.
Next post will be about the Glass & Bead Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada where Kathie and several other gals went to set up a booth.
If you enjoyed this post, please, take a small hammer and delicately SMASH that little heart-shaped thing below, it really helps others know I exist.
This is such a cool story! I'm glad your beautiful art found a good home.
What an honor to be the recipient of such a fine piece. The coffee, time, and knowledge have been equally meaningful.
I was laughing so much with your recount of our introduction! The second version most epic 😂. Thank you for the fun post and for sharing my work as well. You are most gracious. I’ll share pictures once it’s up.
Keep doing what you’re doing my friend. 💫