MJ Isles
Member
- Messages
- 176
- Location
- Suburban DC (formerly western PA)
... I believe an introduction is in order. Hello, everyone!
Wood speaks to me in a different way... always has. I love the way it looks and feels, the way it smells. My stepfather was a woodworker in western PA, and my childhood was filled with the whine of saws, the smell of cut wood, and his colorful epithets. And I loved tools. Such a strange girl-child.
My husband also worked in wood professionally. When he was working on projects in the basement, there was that great smell again. I knew he was creating something wonderful... so much so that after we split up, walking through those DYI stores and smelling the cut wood brought me close to tears from the memories.
During those years, I taught painting classes, and my husband cut out all of the wooden forms I used and built me his version of things I'd see while we were out here or there. I was really lucky. From his influence, I took my first run at carving/painting wood clear back in 1992-- in fact, still have the first life-sized, primitive Santa I made, and he stands on my porch every year at Christmas. I did a few more, started painting and carving driftwood, then my life took a dramatic change and shifted away to other adventures.
Recently I wandered back in the direction and found this forum while searching for information on drilling and working with bamboo, so I decided to hang around for a while. Now, I'm not a traditional woodworker like you all and your beautiful projects put anything I've created to shame, but I still love the stuff and have drawn inspiration and gathered many helpful hints from this forum. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and creations.
My interest in technology and online community function sometimes gets me into "dutch" as my mom would say, and it's nearly impossible for me to restrain myself from commenting on these threads. By profession, I'm the Web Marketing Director at a large eastern school, and it can be hard to leave work at the office. Don't take me too seriously... I'm just "banging pots" like a kid, for the joy of the noise.
It's also nearly impossible for me to keep from commenting on conversations about dogs. I LOVE dogs, love my three Beagles, rescue dogs, and any dogs that don't try to bite me... or even those who do try to bite me. They all need love too, like people, and when they bark or bite, they're usually just scared, like us.
Thanks for letting me hang out for a while.
--MJ & The Three A'Beagos (Molly, Buzzie and Lady Noodles)
Wood speaks to me in a different way... always has. I love the way it looks and feels, the way it smells. My stepfather was a woodworker in western PA, and my childhood was filled with the whine of saws, the smell of cut wood, and his colorful epithets. And I loved tools. Such a strange girl-child.
My husband also worked in wood professionally. When he was working on projects in the basement, there was that great smell again. I knew he was creating something wonderful... so much so that after we split up, walking through those DYI stores and smelling the cut wood brought me close to tears from the memories.
During those years, I taught painting classes, and my husband cut out all of the wooden forms I used and built me his version of things I'd see while we were out here or there. I was really lucky. From his influence, I took my first run at carving/painting wood clear back in 1992-- in fact, still have the first life-sized, primitive Santa I made, and he stands on my porch every year at Christmas. I did a few more, started painting and carving driftwood, then my life took a dramatic change and shifted away to other adventures.
Recently I wandered back in the direction and found this forum while searching for information on drilling and working with bamboo, so I decided to hang around for a while. Now, I'm not a traditional woodworker like you all and your beautiful projects put anything I've created to shame, but I still love the stuff and have drawn inspiration and gathered many helpful hints from this forum. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and creations.
My interest in technology and online community function sometimes gets me into "dutch" as my mom would say, and it's nearly impossible for me to restrain myself from commenting on these threads. By profession, I'm the Web Marketing Director at a large eastern school, and it can be hard to leave work at the office. Don't take me too seriously... I'm just "banging pots" like a kid, for the joy of the noise.
It's also nearly impossible for me to keep from commenting on conversations about dogs. I LOVE dogs, love my three Beagles, rescue dogs, and any dogs that don't try to bite me... or even those who do try to bite me. They all need love too, like people, and when they bark or bite, they're usually just scared, like us.
Thanks for letting me hang out for a while.
--MJ & The Three A'Beagos (Molly, Buzzie and Lady Noodles)