Change

Life can change in the blink of an eye. Since my last post just two and half months ago (surely it's been longer!), our lives have been turned upside down. Only a few days after New Year's had come and gone, Gorg had to call in sick after being hit by the flu for the second time this winter. The same afternoon, he received word that he wouldn't be needed at work for the foreseeable future. There was no more work; possibly for 6 months or more. Talk about a hit to the gut. I know he's not alone and we thought that there was a possibility of a slow time, but it still feels like a free fall through space when the ground that was underfoot suddenly disappears. No real warning. No time to prepare. Had it happened at any other time, I think it would have actually been harder. As it was, we had been in deep prayer for months. After the initial shock of learning that we were on our own with nothing to carry us through, I realized that this was the answer to our prayers. God was not being vague or mysterious here. This was a clear answer. 

Gorg has been wanting to have his own wood shop for a while. He had been putting in long hours at his real job and then coming home to work into the wee hours of the morning on 'side work' to make ends meet. The results of the stress and fatigue that he had to be under were heartbreaking for me to see. But yet, to take that plunge of going out on your own when you've nothing to fall back on, no capital to invest...it's foolhardy, or so it would seem. This 'disaster' took the decision out of our hands and in many ways, that is a relief. There is no way to just plan on waiting out a period of 6+ possible months for work to come back when you have 9 people to feed. Very quickly, we knew we had to look for another way. 

After 9 weeks or so of prayer and exploration, with our needs being met through all of the work and opportunities that God was providing and the loving support and generosity of friends and family, we are now taking the plunge and leaving behind the land of the employed for the shaky, exhilarating, and terrifying world of self-employment. I don't doubt that the ride will be bumpy. We've been down it before; however we've never done it without a steady paycheck to fall back upon. I don't doubt that there will be times of want; more so than the times of plenty, of that I'm fairly certain. But with God on our side, making sure that we are very much aware of who is in control and who is providing for us, we have nothing to fear. It's been 12 and a half weeks now since Gorg was at 'work' and by the grace of God we have yet to starve, miss a bill payment, or seek public assistance.


 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

-Matthew 6:25-34

These verses have always been a comfort to me and none more than this new year. We are at peace and excited to see just what God has in store for us. Gorg hopes to move out of the basement and into his new shop space in the next month, I am looking forward to having a house that is free of sawdust and wood chips, and the kids are looking forward to having an indoor space that they can run around in without getting into trouble :) It's going to be hard knowing that he will be putting many long hours away into this venture, but at least I can see that he is happy. This has brought us closer together; both to each other and to our Heavenly Father. 

So...I hope to be posting much more frequently both here and on Facebook. Once he is in his new space, he will have room to use his gifts to their full potential. I'm excited to see what he'll be asked to make. I pray that he will have customers who will challenge him to make works of art, not just bare-bones functioning pieces. He has a talent and a gift for the elaborate and the unusual. He's made pieces that were placed into museums and fooled antique appraisers...

Reproduction, Red Milk-Painted, Cherry Rope Bed made to hold a boxspring

hand-carved bedroom suite made for an outdoorsman

Turned Post Bed

Reproduction Hepplewhite, Hand-Carved Mahogany, Shield-back Chairs with Maple Inlay

A finished chair

Cherry, Chinese Table with Pin-burled Top

Corner Cupboard

Walnut Table with String Inlay and Hand-Carved Lion's Feet

Hand-Carved Maple and Cherry Pedestal Table

One of a Pair of Cupboards

Restoration of a Corner Cupboard

Completed Restoration- Finished to the customer's specs

Restored Step-back Cupboard

Cherry Entertainment Center with Maple String and Barber Pole Inlay

Reproduction Shaker Cupboard

Home Office with Burled Walnut Paneling

Sapele Desk

Poplar Kitchen with Walnut Countertops and Cupboard

Poplar Mantle

Butternut Gothic Mantle; dye-stained and finished with amber shellac

Wormy Applewood Stool

Windsor Swivel Stools

Mahogany Sheraton Table

Mahogany Sheraton 2-Drawer Stands

Trestle Table with Breadboard Ends

White Oak Table and Windsor Chairs with Carved Butterflys

And then of course, there are the off-the-wall requests that just bring a smile to your face. A friend of ours has a son who was very perturbed to find that his construction set did not include a porta-potty. How the manufacturer could have overlooked this key item, I don't know, but Gorg came to the rescue. The boy and his crew are very pleased with the result.

 Life is never boring! Here's to a new spring and a fresh start!

Pull Up A Chair... Or Five

It started with his siblings. As each one got married, they received a beautiful, handmade piece of furniture from him. He wanted to give them something that would last; something that they could pass along to their future kids. A couple of the pieces were a joint effort, made with love by Gorg and a visiting brother (also gifted in working with wood). Over the years, this tradition has extended to include our close friends. 

A little over a year ago, two friends of ours got married to one another. It was a joyous occasion and the wedding was beautiful. When asked what they could use, this couple had expressed a desire and need for a small dining table. So, a couple of hours after they said "I do," this Oak beauty with a turned Cherry pedestal and Cherry inlay was smuggled into their new home...

They were so pleased with the table that they requested chairs to go along with it several months later. Now one of these friends, Lisa, happens to be a talented local potter. We were in need of some new not-so-formal dishes, so a bartering deal was struck. Lisa agreed to make us a set of dishes and a few canisters in exchange for some dining room chairs. Several months later, I received these beauties...

Aren't they gorgeous?!

 So, now all that was left was for Gorg to crank out some chairs! Easy, right? Well, maybe for me since I didn't have to do much, but not so much for Gorg :) Chair making doesn't have to be terribly difficult, but it does take a lot of time and a lot of effort. Let the chair making begin!

designing new seat templates

Our friends decided on a set of Windsor Chairs. Those require a lot of turning, turning, and more turning. 

beginnings of a seat, legs, & spindles

It's a start.

Did I mention a lot of turning? "What is 'turning'?" you may ask. Well, it's generally accomplished with one of the machines pictured above. That is a lathe. It turns a block of wood at a high rate of speed. While it is spinning, those wooden handled tools in front of it are used to carve the turning wood. For a spindle, he starts with a piece of wood like this:

He then proceeds to power up the lathe and apply one of the lathe tools to begin the shaping.

Different tools are used for various types of shaping. Some use micrometers to check their measurements, but Gorg's eye has had years to develop a knack for 'eyeballing' it. It's downright uncanny how close he gets.

After he's finished with the lathe tools, it's a cinch to sand them down while they are still spinning. 

Take a look at this video showing Gorg turning a spindle from start to finish so that you can see what I'm talking about, not to mention how fast he is on the lathe. (Please forgive my autofocus.)

the completed spindles

All in all, there were 75 pieces turned by hand for this set of chairs.

just a few of the turnings

Once the turnings were finished, he began to shape the seats. Because, who wants to sit on giant, hard-edged slabs of Walnut, right? (This is probably his least favorite part of chair making, simply because it's soooo dusty. I couldn't even begin to video the shaping and getting an 'in progress' photo was difficult enough. When all 5 seats were finished, there was a good, solid inch of ultra fine Walnut dust in the shop and probably another eighth of an inch in our living room above; and that was with the shop doors wide open to allow the bulk of it to escape.)

Once the seats were shaped, he began to glue the chairs together. Legs and stretchers were the first to be assembled.

After the base of the chair was together and squared so that it sat properly, he wedged the tenons into the legs.

Then it was time for the spindles and crests.

  

a close up of the wedged tenon legs

Our friends had opted for a bit of a modern twist on an old Windsor style. The traditional 'bamboo' turnings were paired with Cherry circles in the crest in place of a more traditional 'butterfly' or 'birdcage'.   

I got a bit lazy with the photographs while he was assembling the crest, so we'll skip ahead to the final shaping and sanding.
 

A completed chair, ready for finish

The final products all ready to be delivered. Just in time for New Year's Eve partying!

Walnut seats, Oak spindles and legs, & Cherry circles

 And, just to brag a bit and show a couple of other Windsor styles that he's made, here are a couple more photos of Windsors that he's done in the past. Enjoy!

the traditional 'butterfly'

 

Curly Maple comb back Windsor