Three more desk risers just dropped off into consignment September 18/15, here’s an after photo (but before final polishing):

and before they were sealed,

Two of these were cedar, with live edges that had been wormed really well because they laid on the ground under a pile of wood for 2 years.  The third one was a thick piece of nice rustic pine from over in Granville.

Update, March 5, 2015.  I’m making two more of the desk risers:

There they are unsealed and dusty!  But they will look like the others soon.

I’ve been looking for projects that not only grow my skills as a woodworker, but also help to support the studio income.  Along with knife displays and boxes, I’m also going to “branch out”   (LOL I find I am full of woodworking puns lately) into simple furnishings.

Here’s a shelf made from osage orange wood

it’s beautiful.  Took a little fiddling to get it level and to get the round supports just perfect, but I’m very happy with it.  Am looking for local shops to carry these shelves and gun racks, along with these slab tables:

I have to build the bases for those this week.  The top one is Cherry, the bottom one Walnut.

I also have the wood laid out for doing a very nice, large gun rack with osage orange, some of it live edged.

The neat thing about the woodworking is that I’m coming at the situation from an artist’s direction.  Many crafters in a variety of mediums, work from pattern, work to create “the picture on the front of the box,” as Calvin would have put it.  I am seeing the natural beauty of the wood pieces, and begin there to see what it can become, with my assistance, not what I will force it to be, driven by my preconceived notions.  Am hoping others see these items and appreciate them.

The shelf is done, felt strips on base, photo’d and going to be packed away today: