These are a Few of my Favorite Woods

During the few years that Steve has been turning and carving wood I have seen some of the prettiest pieces go into and come out of the studio. You know the end product is oh so beautiful but the start of it can be just as wonderful.

To see the log roll out of the Jeep and into the studio is a joy to behold. Some of the wood gets squared off and sealed on the ends right away and other pieces he just can't wait to get the tool into. When we lived in NY, Yellowheart was my favorite. Maybe that was because living there you couldn't just walk around the neighborhood and find a dead tree on the side of the road. In fact I will never understand why so many New Yorkers would cut down beautiful live trees and then spend exorbitant amounts of money to replant another tree just as large. Oh well.

Now that we are down here in the south other woods have taken over the race for my favorite. It was and probably will still be Osage Orange. The warmth in the color is just magnificent. We are blessed to have some friend who has this tree on their property and have offered it to us from time to time. The latest piece from this tree is our #799 Osage Orange Goblet found in the Studio Gallery. It is just the right size to hold in your hand filled to the brim with your favorite drink. I also think it would look great on your desk holding my favorite candy…M&M's.

#798 Plum Spirit Fire Necklace
SOLD

But now for this month's favorite wood… Plum. Steve was fortunate to again have some wonderful friends at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market offer us some of their plum tree limbs. My oh my is that a beautiful wood. Now because you know this is Debbie writing you will find that I am only chatting about the beauty of the wood. Steve does tell me that any of these fruit trees are great for carving and turning but for this blog it is all about the prettiness. So anyway this plum is absolutely gorgeous. It has just the slightest hint of pink emerging from the grain. I love pink! Who doesn't?

As you can easily see in this Spirit Fire Necklace the pink makes for the tongues of fire. What a perfect gift it will make. You just need to decide for whom.

Until next we meet... choose the right branch.

Away no, Busy yes!

I bet that some of you out there may have thought that we fell into the deep Shenandoah Valley, but I am here to report that we didn't. As so many of you already know and those of you who have guessed it is me, Debbie, wife who writes these blogs. I had read so much about blogs before I started this one and the one thing that I clearly noted and had promised to do to you and to myself was to be consistent with posting. So I owe you all the big apology for breaking the promise.

Life has been oh so busy and sad to say that writing, which does not come as second nature to me, has taken the rear seat in my life; although I have to say that I was a tiny bit good and did keep up with the Studio Gallery part of this blog. We have added new pictures and have posted to our facebook page and have kept up with what items have gone to happy homes. This segues into the question… Why do you keep sold items up in the gallery? Well to us it is kind of simple. Even though a piece cannot be exactly duplicated due to wood being unique unto itself, sometimes and I repeat, sometimes the design can be simulated. So this way if you found the piece that you liked on our site or in one of our selling venues and hesitated in the purchase of it, soon to find that someone else also liked it and did purchase it you can contact us and talk about what we can do to satisfy your need for wood. Sometimes he can and sometimes he can't and the moral to that tale is don't hesitate. Purchasing an original piece is what makes it all the more special for you.

Now back to the life in and out of the studio. Steve has been busy creating various pieces big and small. I have just finished doing a count and see that we have 69 pieces Sold in the Studio Gallery and 73 pieces waiting to get to your home. Well I didn't like that balance so I just finished adding eleven new pieces for your eyes. Even had a bit of fun making them a bit larger on the viewing field. At the end of September Steve was invited to host the James Madison University Lifelong Learning Institute group for a mini demonstration on woodturning. September also found Steve at the 2012 Virginia Woodturners Symposium which again was a wonderful experience. So much wood and so little time. October has us involved with "The Wonders of Wood" exhibit at C'VilleArts in Charlottesville and Steve will be in the gallery on October 14th. So stop by if you are in the area and say hello.

Eucalyptus

As for me I also have been busy. We are still at two markets a week which keeps us on our toes at all times. In fact Steve has also started to do some of the markets when I am over at OASIS Art Gallery being the docent of the day. I have also taken huge leaps with my GenealogicalAppointments. Not that I have blogged much there either but I have started to teach again. I have just finished up three classes with beginners starting at age 11 and heading on up from there. They were an amazing cluster of students eager to learn what all of those leaves mean and how to organize them on their tree. I am preparing class schedules for late winter, early spring at the moment so watch for that information in addition to all of the wood stuff that happens in and around The WoodArt Studio.

And so I will try my best to be more consistent with this blog, especially as we head into the active holiday season. Remember that we are always at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, barring horrible rainy snowy weather. We are trying to add a few more mini shows in between also. The Market will also have its first ever unofficial-official Thanksgiving Saturday Market on November 24th from 9am to Noon. Posting on that event will be on facebook.

Create an awesome day for yourself and until next we meet…. Take the right branch.