design

The Benthic Vessel

Benthic:  of, relating to, or occurring in the depths of the ocean (from Merriam-Webster).  So dubbed by my friend, Tom, this form is known as The Benthic Vessel (in red oak).  No one is sure whether they like it or not at first, including me.

Crosstimber Tables

These images document a build in its early stage of a family of black walnut tables, centered around a richly grained and beautifully colored walnut tree which we salvaged from a farm near Winfield, Kansas.  The tables are a collaboration between my best friend/business partner and myself, sharing designing and building tasks to create, what we hope, are some authentically good pieces of furniture in the continuing tradition of live-edge/natural-slab furniture.

Prints of “The Living Tree” Are Available for Sale

at the BaumWerk Etsy StoreDear friends,  I thank you for all of your kind words and interest regarding this new print of the Living Tree.  I am grateful that it seems to have struck a chord with many of you.  A number of you have made inquiries into when and if prints would be available to purchase.  As of Friday, a limited number (there will be more as I continue to print the edition) have been listed on my ETSY store.  I am selling these first fifteen for $125, after that the price will increase to $150.  Click here to go to the listing.   Please read more below for some details about the print, and thank you again for your support!

The image itself is 12″ wide and 22 1/2″ tall and is printed on French’s 100# Butcher Off White Dur-o-tone paper, which is 18″ wide and 25″ tall.  French’s paper is American made in Niles Michigan.The edition will be 1oo prints, which is the biggest edition I have ever made.  Every single print is hand made by me on my Wepplo etching press in my Rose Hill, Kansas workshop. The print is made using three linoleum blocks, as a composite image.  It took me over a year to design and carve the image into the blocks (although I was doing lots of other things during that year, besides carving linoleum).Many hours of painstaking carving went into creating all of the details in The Living Tree.The Tree and it’s roots are loaded with life, like this little owl. There are many spiritual and natural beliefs and dreams symbolically represented in this print.  There are many things which I see and believe about who my God is, and also things which I strive to cultivate in my life and stewardship on the land.  I don’t have many words as a companion for this image just yet, but perhaps in the future I may try to lay out those ideas for those who are interested.

The Book of Jonah

The following is a preliminary in a series of thumbnail sketches attempting to outline the story of Jonah.  These drawings, working out various ways to represent the various parts of the story, are a trial towards making an illustrated book of the story of Jonah.  The book may be a handmade one, possibly of linoleum-block or woodblock prints, or alternatively one which is printed with reproduced ink drawings.

Below is a larger format and more detailed, though unfinished, ink drawing illustrating Jonah building his shelter, as the gourd-vine appointed to grow by God begins to grow behind.

Walnut Timber Mantelpiece

The six and a half inch thick, 13 foot long walnut slab filled the shop as it came from the chainsaw mill.

Beam cutter on the old worm-drive

“rough-sawn” to the max

Using the “beam-cutter” to rip the slab into a six inch square timber

Pulling the saw at the end of the cut to save the last bit of slab for the corbels

Aluminum C-channel as a guide

start of the smoothing

a jack plane with a radius set to take heavy shavings

Now the joiner

pretty obvious

chopping out for a patch over a rotten knot

the same, fitted

filing the edges of a little copper butterfly template

bench-top with tools for making butterfly templates

variety of butterfly templates

Scribing the timber for butterflies to bind the main check

Routing out the waste

chopping the rest

right up to the knife line

ready for the joining

carving the corbels (my documentation fell off for most of this process)

mating the various natural edges of the corbels to the mantel

a little further back

fitting the opposite corbel

rough-cut cove on the left corbel

both corbels with coves-cut and awaiting final shaping

apply the final touches on the ends of the timber

“C” for the covenant

installed over the fire box, and the home-owner’s sandstone work.

I look forward to seeing it with the stone work done

Gallery

Carved Spoons

carved walnut ladle
carved pear spoon
carved pear spoon
cherry wood spoon
cherry wood spoon
Walnut spoon
walnut spoon
carved pear-wood spoon
carved pear-wood spoon
carved pear-wood spoon
walnut spoon
walnut spoon
pear wood cooking spoon
pear-wood spoon (root and leaf)

Sister Hog, Brother Tree, and the Voice of Copper: a Celebration of Long Labor and Process

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