Gary pondering the world and all its charms these days.
I Get It
I am in a curious spot these days. We all are. This time is, our times are, so uncharted. No one knows which way is up. Are we on the verge of a revolution or will we calm down as a people and start acting ‘normal’ again? And were we normal before Covid? The Covid effect makes us feel even more strange. Is the internet surge in all of our lives something we can recover from, manage, or do we just go numb under its constant effects?
You know what I’m talking about: our phones, personal computers, digital toasters and ‘smart’ washing machines. What happened to technologies that we could put in neat little boxes? Here’s the phone technology and the computer technology and here’s the durable goods technology. Why ever should they all meet? Cui bono? I know, keep up with the times, but sometimes the times just don’t make sense.
A recent read of mine was ‘Deep Work’ by Calvin Newport. The book made me think about all the technology I shove in my face during a day. The issue he brings up is not how to escape the world of technology but how to mediate its effects on our brains, our focus, our happiness. How can we make personal time for ourselves that lets us go deeply into what matters most for us? This may be academic research as in Newport’s case or carving wood or learning to play Bach’s ‘English Suites’.
Our immersion, our concentration, our determination there can offer us this sense of Flow. This is where we do the work for its own sake, and focus just on it, and strive to get better with each attempt. Time disappears. We enter into a zone that is not like our digital world where our attention flits from one message to another. When in the ‘Zone’ we are almost unconscious in our ability to perform at a high level. ‘You can’t think and hit at the same time.” I think a famous Yogi once said this.
This Flow state is exactly what the Mastery Program is after. To give folks a framework within which to learn and grow and to design and make some cool furniture. And there is a lot of work and practice that goes into this. This repetition is what makes the difference. And the results can transcend simply being competent. They can take us one day into a space where we can offer our whole being into this effort.
So even though my phone and my several computers suck up my time, shatter my focus, and make me as jittery as a doppio espresso some days, I still have to figure out how to live with this technology in a way that keeps me whole. For me that is always at the bench. And at my bench, and until my new shop gets finished, I do offer online classes. Not the same as in person ones but in some areas it has proven to be more effective in considering topics that, in person, made a lot of students uncomfortable. You know what I’m talking about. The D word: Design. Drawing. Dreaming.
I get it. We are in an uncomfortable time now. Do something for yourself that will help you make sense of the world and help you focus and relax.
If you’re interested, please join me for a free class about the OMP, Saturday, Sept. 28 at 9am PT. Contact me at studio@NorthwestWoodworking.com for your free Zoom link. This two hour seminar will discuss the OMP, give a quick tour of the curriculum, show images of design work from graduate students and answer any and all questions about the program.
Pewter Leaves
Hammered pewter display trays for a commissioned Jewelry Cabinet.
Flow
I am sometimes busy working on a commission for a jewelry cabinet and it’s stalled a little bit. I have to design not just the cabinet but all the holders and hooks and shelves for a thousand earrings and rings and bracelets.
An idea came to me that I wanted to play around with. It was to hammer a kind of a shallow hammered bowl. I had done one once in aluminum years ago. Not the sexiest material around. I found some copper sheet instead but it seemed too thin. Then I found a small sheet of pewter saved in a box.
Pewter is super soft, malleable, easy to burn through when soldering. But when you hammer it, you not only get this great texture but the metal hardens. Hmm.
I grabbed my hammer and for the next hour I couldn’t stop making pewter leaves, pewter shapes, pewter bowls for the jewelry to rest in. It was so much fun. I didn’t care about time or if this would work. I was just into making into these shapes. I’ll figure out what to do with them later.
That was so much fun. A flow state for me and ideas started coming as fast as I’d let them through the door. It also opened up new possibilities. This is what the flow state is like.
Thanks again to Highland Woodworking for their continuing support of our educational efforts. Please check out their site if you need tools, hardware, band saw blades, the Wood Slicer is awesome, or just some general information.
https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/
And if you have a woodworking question you’d like answered on my upcoming podcasts, send it along. I would be happy to help. studio@Northwestwoodworking.com
Jeff Weist
Online Mastery Program
2022 Graduate
White Oak Frame
To see some great student work, please check out the Online Mastery Program Gallery. The OMP starts again in October 2024. Get in touch for more information: studio@NorthwestWoodworking.com.
Make something of yourself. Learn to build great furniture.