Back in the early 1970s, I was an avid woodcarver and woodcrafter. This was me turning a spinning wheel spindle on my good friend Charlie Smiths wood lathe. We made about 6 fully operational spinning wheels operated by a manual foot pedal. Charlie was a master craftsmen in many mediums, clay, hardwood & metal; Charlie was also an artist who painted in oil and water colour. He also was commissioned to paint several large murals for the towne of Sidney. His workshop was a Disney-world: Scattered about the workshop was a half-made wooden puppet worthy of Walts attention, hardwoods, drawings and plans (a draftsman by trade), huge metal lathe with steel shavings underneath glinting in the sunlight. The shop was surrounded by windows and set in the trees where you could catch a glimpse of the Sea. It was a magical place where he taught me things about working with different material which many times the conversation would wander into a discussion of Life... An enchanted property over-looking the sea of Saanich Inlet with house that was over a 100 years old in the sixties. Charlie told me that when they had first bought the property, he was rummaging about in the attic and found stacks of spruce and birds-eye maple wood and upon closer scrutiny, he discovered that these wooden pieces were coded, labeled, organized and matched for sound for making violins! I still have a piece of birds-eye maple that he gave me. Anyways this is me at 23 years old turning a spindle (yellow cedar) in that workshop.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:31:30 +0000
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