The rains have returned and the air on the way to town is sweetened by newly bursting blossoms of black acacia (Acacia melanoxlyon). A relative of koa, wood from black acacia is dense and reddish-orange, with deep streaks of burgundy brown, and white sapwood. Properly cured, the wood is stable and resistant to rot and […]
Category Archives: all
Outbuildings of West Sonoma
My favorite buildings around here tend to be ruins, left to dissolve back into the land from which they sprung, not unlike orchard tree prunings or rusted jalopies in a culvert. There appears to be a consensus among local commercial farmers to not repair or maintain buildings once their function has been rendered obsolete by […]
Steady Hand of Chaos
There are rare times when I find myself aware of what I am doing or making as though I am watching myself and all else momentarily recedes. It is in this state that I am most attuned to the graceful and Steady Hand of Chaos.
Shop Shrine
I love my portable drawing cabinet, built by H. Gerstner & Sons in Dayton, Ohio about fifty years ago. It has developed into something of a Shop Shrine, a catch-all for small, meaningful, or valuable things- my treasures. I did not intend for this to happen, but now that I think of it I realize […]
Little Discoveries
We’ve had a stretch of unusually dry, balmy days, forcing the ‘flowering quince’ (Chaenomelles Japonica) to bloom early. As you may have noticed, our land was planted with many exotic species by the former owners, and there is always something in bloom, and usually something to pick and eat. I walk the grounds when I […]
Interview With Jason Takeuchi-Krist
I’m beginning to feature an ongoing series of interviews and studio visits with other makers/artisans/crafters. If you would like to introduce yourself and your work to a growing Deep Craft network, I invite you to visit the PARTICIPATE page of this site. Meanwhile, allow me to introduce you to Jason Takeuchi-Krist, blacksmith.
What Makes a Good Day?
I saw this Purple Shore Crab yesterday (Hemigrapsus nudus) while I was Having A Good Day. Our projects overwhelm at times and it can be challenging to keep the perspective on their origins and intentions, the contour of individual days lost in a whir of activity. The conceptual underpinnings of my work and collaborations with […]