Gifts ~ Oh; isn’t that nice.

I guess the classic thing to do in your shop is to make gifts for Mom, Dad and unsuspecting friends and relatives. I mean, what can they say, “Oh; isn’t that nice”. Well my shop is no exception.

The glass flower was made a few years ago as an assignment for a Stained Glass workshop. It was a great class taught by a local artist Mike McDonald. I’ll link to his site if I can find the address.

The Clock was from Wood magazine. As I add to this blog, you’ll see a lot of things inspired by Wood magazine. They seem to favor Arts and Craft designs, which is my favorite as well. Although the clock was built exactly as shown, most often I use their plans as a starting point and add details of my own design.

http://www.woodmagazine.com/

The “Bird” box was an idea I had to use an antique button I found at the Farmers Market in Royal Oak. The box is quarter saw White Oak with hand cut dovetails. Seems to me that everyone now uses dovetail fixtures, but machine cut looks just to perfect for my taste. Besides, if it is only one piece, by the time you set up the jig, you might as well cut them by hand. As I said before, it’s a hobby, not piecework.

http://www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us/farmersmkt/