Whether the intended outcome is a new sculpture, furniture design or product idea, I often begin the ‘Proof of Concept’ phase with a stroll through the salvage yards. My absolute favorite is Maselli & Sons in Petaluma, CA. With over seven acres of neatly organized machine parts, scrap metal, salvaged tools, motors and hardware, it’s […]
Category Archives: studio process
Research Topics du Jour
One of the challenges and pleasures of developing site specific, public sculpture is following several threads of research simultaneously and trying to find unexpected connections that make sense. Here is a sampling of some topics we are researching as we design a series of kinetic sculptures for the Pendleton neighborhood of Cincinnati: 1. […]
Clifford E Martin and the Stanley #57
Original patent drawing of the Core Box Plane, Stanley #57 For reasons beyond my grasp, my mother’s side of the family has always been somewhat shrouded in mystery. It was often a challenge to parse reality from myth in her stories, and in truth the two were often interchangeable. True, her mother tamed foundling […]
Announcing deepcraft.com
I recently launched my new deepcraft.com website. Though still in prototype form, deepcraft.com has five live pages that I’m hoping will generate traffic as I continue build to out its content and ecommerce potential over the coming months. For now, the site features my Deep Deck longboard, available for commission as a made-to-order item. The […]
Orphan Tools
I’ve so far drawn the line at a scale of operations I call ‘Forklift and a Warehouse’. If it ever seems like I need a forklift and/or a warehouse, I know I made the wrong turn somewhere. My current production capabilities allow me to efficiently make one-offs, prototypes and very small production runs, but not […]
Nettoyez les Champs
Reconsidering Shellac
Shellac is a natural by-product of the lac beetle’s secretions. Like so many craftsy kids who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, I had my own rock polisher, a wood-burning set, access to my dad’s tools, collections of yarn and twine, old National Geographics, mucelage, rubber cement and shellac, and a basement, attic and […]