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Bodger:  A highly skilled woodworker from the 1600's through the 1900's of green (freshly felled) wood that uses a pole lathe, shave horse and tools such a froe, drawknife, and axe to create furniture spindles (legs, stretchers, etc.) that are then sold to a furniture maker to create the final chairs, stools and tables.  He moved from area to area in the countryside to work the local woods before moving on searching for suitable woods to work and furniture builders in the area to supply.


There are 28 Journal Items in 6 pages and your are on page number 6

Drying out
Today is the kind of day that really dries wood out. High temps (80+ F), low humidity (30's) and strong winds makes for some serious moisture loss. I checked all of my green or semi-green wood to be sure it was either covered, kept out of the wind or sealed well so it wouldn't dry too quickly. Hopefully, it'll get back to being Winter again soon.
Posted by Andrew Hilton on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 18:32

Creative, Original, Puke
I was just recently at a meeting of woodturners where I was giving a presentation. That's not too unusual though. I was waiting in the back listening to the first presenter, an accomplished and well-known artistic turner, give his presentation on Design in Woodturning. I certainly don't have the same amount of formal design or arts training of some turners out there so I was really interested.
One thing that he mentioned, which went completely without discussion from the group, unfortunately, was that "Creative people, and, in extension, the pieces that they create shouldn't be held to boundaries." and "Truly creative people are born, not created."
I agree, somewhat, with some of this philosophy but this got me to thinking of something. Creativity, just for the sake of creativity .... just to be original is a mess. I think we've all seen some artistic woodturnings that look like ... well ... like originality was puked out all over a perfectly nice looking piece of wood.
In my mind, creativity without a focus or some kind of structure (however loose it is) or even purpose beyond just being "original" is sad. It's sad that either they think they must do it this way because that is expected by jurors, buyers / collectors or critics, or that they know of no other way but just to throw it all out there and see what sticks.
My message to myself ... Allow creativity to come from within and draw from my own experiences, attitudes, beliefs. Let it loose and experiment but let it be embraced with focus and purpose.
Posted by Andrew Hilton on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 18:32

Apple Butter was bitter

Last weekend was a busy one for me.  I had a craft show I was setup at and a symposium to demonstrate at.  Luckily, I had some help at the show so that I could do both.  The show was the 2006 Mt Vernon, MO Apple Butter Makin' Days.  It's a big event for this tiny southwest Missouri town and has been in existence for a few decades.

Unfortunately, the organizers didn't have a clue as to what they were doing and weren't very friendly about it either.  This was the absolute worst show I've ever done.  Sales at the show were really poor.  Commissioned work that I got from people asking if I could make this or that was fantastic though.  But I don't count money as the only measure of a shows' success.

Yes, this is juried show ... BUT ... it's not really a crafts or arts show.  If you're selling $2.00 marshmallow guns, you did pretty well.  I think the organic vegetarian pet food booths did good too.  I know that the many antique and junk booths did a brisk business.  As for the crafts vendors?  Ummmm ... no.  Terrible direct sales for those that don't just give your stuff away.

The show touts tens of thousands of visitors in the 3 day event.  What they don't say is that 90% of those show up on Saturday to see the bands / parade and then leave ... ALL AT ONCE.  The place was completely packed for about 3 hours but noone was selling anything because nobody wanted to get stuck in a booth.  So, for vendors, you can figure on maybe 2 to 4 thousand.

Here's some advice for those of you vendors going to this event. Make sure you have your packet of information in advance and verify that at least 3 times before you get there.  Trust me, the organizers aren't actually organized.  As tempting as it is, don't set up a booth in front of the food vendors.  The vendors themselves are annoying beyond belief with all of their yelling and antics trying to get people to come to their booth instead of their competition and propositing passing girls (the worst was from a Church-sponsored one!).  The place is crowded during setup and there's nothing you can do about it.  Setup early on the night before?  Nope, completely crowded and you'll get stuck for hours.

One terrible show.  Poorly organized.  Poorly attended (by people that will actually go into the booths to look around).  High cost for the area. Poor vendor neighbors  (with few exceptions).  But, hey, I won $50 for the best show demonstration ... and, NO, I won't be applying that to next years' show booth fee no matter how much the organizers pressured me into it instead of just cutting me a check.
Posted by Andrew Hilton on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 20:33

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