Concept

A message from Hank:

Finished Vase

Concept  comes first. It is up to the artist to translate an idea into reality.  Often this is a trial and error process -- it’s knowing what ideas to keep and work with, and  what to put in the garbage can.

The idea of waterproof wooden vases didn’t just happen; it started when I looked at a barrel planter and thought to myself “flower pot cover.” After I made one, I realized the inside had to be waterproof. Paint didn’t hold up; neither did automotive undercoating.  I tried polyester resin only to learn that it did not adhere  to hard wood, it had internal crazing, and  it  smelled awful.

A friend who saw me struggling suggested epoxy resin. Problem solved.  It’s waterproof, it  adheres to hard wood, has little odor and no internal crazing.  It was like putting a stamp on an envelope -- it just worked.

The flower pot cover soon  morphed into an artist’s  paint brush holder. I saw the paint brushes as flowers and the waterproof wooden vase was born. I showed  this work at craft shows and craft  galleries; people said they loved what they saw, but I made no sales.

Cherry Burl First Cut

I kept at it. I knew I had a good idea, but something was missing. Up to this point I was working with store-bought wood.  A friend, Brian, also a woodcrafter, gave me an apple wood log.  

At first I didn’t know what to do with it; to use it, I had to make boards out of it . I turned my table saw into a mini saw mill and boarded out the log. Unlike store-bought wood, It was full of knots and worm holes. I made a vase out of these boards and – BINGO -- it sold. I soon learned about book matching (arranging the panels so the grain patterns match at the edges), and how to do a  compound miter, which lets me make a tapered vase.



Rough Assembly

Nobody lives in a vacuum, and we are all influenced by our senses.  I can think of very little that is more  satisfying  than having an idea, applying what I have  learned, and then  turning that idea  into reality.



Cherry Burl Boards