Craftsman Weekend 2010 - Short Review

I can see that I will be going to this one again. I may have mentioned that I am at the point of adding some ebony plugs to a current project. I've put plenty of them in before but Darrel Peart was giving a demo first thing this morning on just that process so I held off. He has modified his technique and watching him do it just doesn't compare with the book. Learned lotsa good stuff that I will try out.

I joked with Darrell that we had brought in the weather special, just for him, so he wouldn't feel homesick. He got a kick out of that and said that the weather was just fine. Bear in mind these pics are at about 8am. This is not what we natives are used to around here. Here's the Convention Center main building:



Typical for this part of the country, an outdoor mall with apartment buildings looming in the background:



Something we rarely see out here, an empty street. It totally creeped me out, I thought maybe I had stumbled on to a closed set. I assume folks were staying indoors to avoid the horrendous weather conditions:



Just to prove it really is SoCal. I'm used to the gray color of the sky but, its usually brighter(?):



Off to the show:



Darrell doing his thing:



One of Darrell's chairs at his booth. He had so many beautiful pieces I should have taken pictures of:



David Wade's stuff is really unbelievable. I wish I would have gotten a picture of his table lamp. He finished the last two carved panels just in time to assemble it at the show. This "Grenov", (his term), is so stunning that my picture is almost useless. The top is formed from a single carved slab as are all other parts with the exception of a divider panel glue-up that doesn't show and the butterflied back panel:



I was really standing out as one of only two guys I saw with a camera so the pics are too few. All I can say is what a humbling experience. If you guys have not see the G&G approach of Darrell Peart, Thomas Stangeland, David Wade or Richard Massey (and others I can't recall), check them out online. Beautiful design, craftsmanship, finishing and presentation. Not to mention, Darrell, Thomas and David were warm and willing to talk technique, design philosophy, methods, etc. All very open and a great bunch of folks.

I just got back myself...sorry I missed seeing you there. Ah, such is life in Sunny SoCal, huh?

While I'm not as familiar with the names as you are, I was duly impressed by most of the work I saw. All of the guys you mentioned are doing stunning work. There was some gorgeous stuff for sale. I didn't get a chance to talk to Darryl, since each time I went by his booth he had a queue of people wanting to chat with him. I did talk for a while with a guy from Michigan. (The guy with the bentwood lamination bench and side table.) He and I swapped a few stories, and it sounds like the high-end furniture market has slowed about like the turned art market.

I brought my camera with me, but never took it out of the case at the show, as the only other photographer I saw had a Press badge. I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. To appease the Picture Police, here are a couple more street scenes...

The Hollywood method for putting the address on the outside of a building...done with mosaic tiles:



And just a cool tree I decided to take a picture of:

Is this show an annual affair? I sure would like to know about the next one.

This was the 19th year Carol. Thomas Stangeland said this was his 9th year. This was a good first experience for me. Darrell P said it used to be held in a giant old Masonic Temple with all sorts of wings and rooms in areas upstairs. While the setting was real classy and a great example of the period, a lot of people would miss entire sections of the show by not knowing there was a section "over there" or "upstairs". The convention center puts it all in one big room with aisles.