Jimmy Carter's Woodshop

Here's a old video I found that shows President Jimmy Carter in his woodshop-Good Stuff!



Jimmy Carter

Best Known For:
39th President of the United States
Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2002

Loves:

Peanuts

Homebuilding
Construction Experience:

Habitat for Humanity

Furniture/Cabinet Maker

Currently:

Bestselling Author

Builds and auctions furniture to advance human rights

and alleviate human suffering.

Favorite Tools:

Drawknife, Spokeshave

Sensitive Carpenter Level:

Very High

Holiday Gifts Ideas: Great Book by Cedric Pollet

Cedric Pollett, a photographer from Nice France, has assembled an amazing book of photographs of bark from trees around the world.

A great holiday gift for carpenters, wood enthusiasts, nature lovers or anyone who appreciates beautiful things.

Bark: An Intimate Look at the World's Trees

Holiday Gifts: Great Book: Julian Beever

I was in my local bookstore and thumbed through this book and was amazed. Julian Beever is crazy. His 3 dimensional mind bending pavement art is something to see.

Thanksgiving Foam Turkey

 Although Thanksgiving is over, I'm still thinking about turkey.  Here's a job I did for the 11th Street Workshop where I sculpted a 10 ft. tall  foam turkey for a magazine photo shoot.  I think I will see this turkey in my dreams.....

Production Design for Low Budget Film

I recently made a short film called "Art Space" with my friends. Sets were designed and built with very little money to do so. Much of the materials were salvaged items from the street and others were scraps in my shop. I converted my shop into a makeshift soundstage complete with a 2x4 and broomstick lighting grid. Craft services was off to the side on my table saw.

I made a paper mache tree, a mobile, cut out paper birds and a lot of other props & set pieces with found materials. It just goes to show that a lot of great things can be made and found with very little expense to anything but the imagination.

Interversion- Montreal

I recently visited a great store called Interversion in Montreal.

They are a furniture/design store that sells local artists' work.

They offer custom made pieces.

One artist named Louis Laprise makes a really cool one of a kind table.

Check it out.

Also A Carpenter: William H. Macy

William H. Macy

Best Known For:

The 1996 film Fargo.
Founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Loves:
Playing ukulele & Felicity Huffman.
Construction Experience:

Featured in Fine Woodworking's 2007 Woodturning Basics issue.
Currently:

Can be seen in the upcoming film: The Maiden Heist.
Favorite Tool:

Lathe
Sensitive Carpenter Level:

Ya' you betcha

Lobster Crown Moulding Update

A while back, I wrote about some plastic lobster medallions I was casting for an architects personal residence in Maine.
150 lobsters and a little more than a year later, they're up!
Installed by Mac Patterson himself (of Austin, Patterson, Disston).
Mac and the painter are so happy with the results, that they're planning on featuring the crown moulding in more rooms of the house.
Ahh...the fruits of labor are lobster flavored.

Inspirational Bookshelves

My brother sent me a link to Toxel.com, a blog dedicated to all things design.
Check out this collection of inspirational bookshelves.

Exotic Wood iPod Cases

iWood by Miniot
This is a luxury item that has been on my wish list for awhile. Made in Holland, from "Well Managed Forests", Miniot makes exotic wood carrying cases for ipods, iphones and the itouch. At the risk of being an uber dork, the Heritage Collection is pretty wow.

Jim Seffens Papier-Mache Artist

Jim Seffens is the most talented papier-mache artist I've ever met and I'm pleased to share he has a new website.
It is an unbelievable craft and he makes it look too easy. His studio/store in Hell's Kitchen NY is where I first started selling my cutting boards. I always enjoy stopping by his shop to see what new piece he is working on and he has always been happy to share his process with me and anyone wanting to know more about papier-mache.
He has been featured on PBS' Antiques Roadshow and is a top mask maker for many theatrical productions.
He is also a big supporter of other artists, inviting them to sell or show their work in his studio.
One day soon I hope to sit down and interview Jim and share more about his craft, but until then
check out his website.

Vertical Gardens & Sky Farms

A friend just sent me a cool article about Vertical Garden & Sky Farms-Courtesy of Environmental Graffiti, a UK based blog.

April Fool's Joke Not Ridiculous Enough

April Fool's joke goes Unmentioned.
Perhaps it was the all too believable photoshop photo I made,
or the convincing story that a multi millionaire would tinker away in his garage making a hand crafted mahogany time capsule.
Maybe I just didn't push the envelope enough-maybe the time capsule should have opened and everyone's face melts off.

Harrison Ford Time Capsule Celebrates Clinton & Obama

Kodak Theatre Hollywood California March 31, 2008

Carpenter turned Hollywood A-List Actor, Harrison Ford, has resurrected his tool belt and artisan skills in a gesture of political posterity.  Ford's long time companion Calista Flockhart, "Indiana Jones" director Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and former President Bill Clinton mixed with Hollywood brass and political big-wigs as Ford unveiled a hand crafted mahogany time capsule meant to commemorate the momentous occasion of Presidential Candidates Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama being the forerunners for the top executive position in American politics.  California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said of Clinton and Obama's candidacy, "This is the first time anything has happened in American Politics that could have happened in a movie I was in.  No longer can they say only in Hollywood".

Yellow Pencil;Carpenter Couture

Policeman have badges. Doctors have stethoscopes.  Yuppies have blackberries.  Carpenters have pencils.

Of course there are many writing & marking implements to choose from, but none quite as a versatile or as wearable as the yellow graphite pencil that sheaths so neatly above the ear.  

Always at the ready, it is an essential for measurement dictation, plan-sketching & creating an easily removable mark on wood being milled for fabrication.

The first American wood pencils were made in 1812 by William Monroe, a cabinetmaker from Concord Massachusetts.  In the 1800's the best graphite in the world was found in China. Pencil manufacturers began painting pencils yellow to identify the Chinese graphite.  The color, which then symbolized Chinese royalty, has since become synonymous with wooden pencils.

Although the flat and chunky "carpenter's" pencil is a top choice for many, the yellow no. 2 is sleeker, looks smart and proves useful for many things beyond carpentry such as artistic sketching, crossword puzzles and all brands of standardized testing like the SAT's.  That's right kids, it's not just a cool looking earpiece that resembles a school bus dangling on the edge of a cliff, the pencil is a tool and a fashion.  (Another plus, it usually comes with its own eraser).

Sensitive Carpentry: 2007

As the Sensitive Carpenter blog celebrates it's one year anniversary, I find myself reflecting on a list of varied & interesting jobs that I want to write about. Fabrication of furniture, cabinets & set pieces require an investment of energy and resources, which doesn't always leave time for the writing muse.  And then there's that whole thing about wood chips and microchips not mixing.  Let's face it, sawdust & computers aren't really on friendly terms.  Nonetheless, I consider it a privilege and an honor to do this work & I want to pay the joy forward-to you.  So here are a few of this years projects that I enjoyed & I hope you will too..thank you. -SC

• As a freelance art & craft journeyman in New York City, I take on all sorts of neat projects, many of them in production as a scenic/set carpenter. Whether Off Broadway or on the runway, every job has its own unique vision and identity.  I designed and built sets for a friend's production of five one-acts appropriately titled "A Night of One Acts" - Highlights from this job were a dilapidated kitchen set equipped with a butcher block island and sink with fleck counter tops and an Upper East side balcony set comprised of stucco walls, french doors and a banister made of insulation foam painted to look like concrete & slate.
• Another set for a different play, "Dossier: Ronald Ackerman", consisted of a bench & cube reflective of design in the plays country of origin, Holland.  I was pleased with the modern and sleek look of the pieces and am inspired to use elements in future furniture projects.
• The right piece of furniture can illuminate, uplift & really turn a room into a "place". In keeping with my polychromatic love of wood, I designed a space efficient kitchen table & stools for my small NYC apartment.
• I also built set pieces for a MAC cosmetic photo shoot.  Nothing says make-up better than 20 over sized enamel cherry cut-outs!
• I had a couple of cabinet jobs that coincidentally were for the home offices of two different teachers.  One was an addition to a college professor's library in a Manhattan townhouse-it was designed & built to blend with existing wall to wall bookcases that have been there at least 30 years.  The other job, for a Baltimore High School teacher, was a large maple work desk custom designed to fit in the corner of the room & accommodate optimum function for the small space.  It was a pleasure to enhance the lives of two people who've devoted themselves to enriching and enhancing the lives of so many others.
• A neighbor of mine asked me to contribute some original artwork to a skateboard he and his son were building as a gift for a 10 year old relative.  I made a crazy graffiti spraying monkey and released my inner 10 year old.
• I revisited set design elements & foam carving with a 6 foot alligator for a theme party thrown for family & friends during the holiday season entitled "Christmas on the Bayou". We all ate crayfish & gumbo and celebrated yuletide spirit admiring the colorful and festive alligator, instead of the more traditional...log.
• The Christmas season also proved to be busy with a whole lot of small woodworking projects.  I made decorative & functional necklace trees for my sisters and a multi-colored keepsake box for my brother and of course...cutting boards.  I love making & selling each unique handmade board.  They may not be my bread & butter, but they are most certainly my butter.  

Stay Tuned for Updates

After a long break, filled with much carpentry, I will be updating soon.

More sawdust-more tears to come.

Golfer in Paint Pants

Next Stop...Central Illinois.

I spent over 2 weeks right in the middle of cornfields, bean fields and stories of Abraham Lincoln. While there, I took a job as a painter. Donning the required white paint pants and white t-shirt, I reported to work at 6:30AM & clocked out at 4:00PM for a week. I spent my days touching up dorm rooms at Illinois College in preparation for the fall semester. After work, I spent time on my newest athletic pursuit-Golf. I would tee up in my newly marked paint pants. My hair would be speckled with little white dots & the paint was still dripping from my hands as I gripped my 7 wood. Working on my swing at the driving range was a great way to relax & let the paint dry.

I'd never played golf before, minus the windmill...mini-castle...putt-putt variety. Driving on a course, pitching with an iron and putting on the alien surface of green was a recreational revelation. Who knew you could have so much fun carrying around a big heavy bag of tools. Swinging a club is a bit like swinging a hammer-nice & smooth with the follow through, staying square with your target & keeping focus on a single point. And like it is for any carpenter, it is also true for any golfer: know your tools & know what they do.

I loved being outside exploring the contours of the course, choosing the right clubs & swinging away- sending my little white dimpled ball on a scouting flight as we mapped our journey together. I loved hitting balls in the afternoon and I loved my time in Central Illinois as a golfer in paint pants.

A Walk in Oak Park Illinois

It's been a busy summer.
Lots of sawdust and lots of tears, along with a little travel.
I was fortunate enough to have a month to travel and work throughout the Midwestern United States and see some of its architectural and geographic treasures.
The first stop on this journey was Oak Park Illinois, a Chicago suburb & early home of famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, where he designed & built his first residence and studio.
The streets of this Victorian village were full of beautiful gardens and well kept homes, many of them designed by Mr. Wright during and for a few years after his employment as draftsman for the well known turn of the century firm Adler & Sullivan.
My walk through Oak Park was a peaceful botanical & architectural feast.

Woodweb

There's a great website called Woodweb that I find myself coming back to-not only to use their extensive knowledge base and to read their really great forums on everything from adhesives to cabinetmaking-but also to read stories and advice from other carpenters and remodeling professionals.

Below is an excerpt from a forum about dealing with a client that is impossible to please. One carpenter found himself in a precarious situation after installing a vanity and asked for advice about how to walk off a job...

From contributor J: What you've got here is a job that has gone sour due to the behavior of the client. There is nothing you can do to make this person happy, bar doing the rest of the work to museum standards and paying him for the privilege of his letting you work on his house. Your job now is to detach yourself from this situation as quickly and as gracefully as you can. If you can't manage graceful, then settle for quick.
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From contributor B: I too have had clients this way. There is nothing you can do to satisfy this guy... nothing. He will always find something to complain about. If not yesterday, it's today or tomorrow. I'd take the above advice. Remove the vanity, saying that he's not pleased with it. Also take yourself off the job, saying that it is beyond your ability to make maple look like cherry... color, grain and all. The client I had like this, I figured he suffered from OCD and had to have everything perfect, which is impossible to achieve. I am convinced he contributed to my heart attack. Walk and be in better health.
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From contributor L: Been there, analyzed it to death, finally concluded the same thing everyone above has said - bow out quickly and whatever you do, don't go back. Some things never change their stripes!
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From contributor K: Absolutely... get out now. He sounds like the kind of guy that will be shocked that you don't kiss his butt. When he frantically says "What are you doing?" (while you're carrying your stuff out), just tell him how sorry you are that there was an obvious misunderstanding from the beginning and that you cannot give him what he wants at that price. If he tries to barter with you, ask you to stay, agree to pay more, etc. (savor the moment), tell him you'll consider it and then just keep on walking. Leave him hanging.